A UCLA student was tasered by police after being asked to leave a library computer lab and creating a disturbance on his way out. Another student in the library took a video with a cameraphone and capture some shocking footage. The police tasered the man and then demanded he get up. Bystanders pleaded with the police to let the man rest since he had be tasered. The police then threatened the man saying he would be tasered again if he did not get up. They then tasered him. Bystanders asked for police identification but none was produced.

Today is the Day Against DRM, the official day assigned to oppose Digital Rights Managment. DRM is a technology designed to stop you from reading, listening, and watching books, articles, magazines, newspapers, DVDs, movies, videos, TV, radio, and music. A few corporate groups are strong-arming your government into trying to change the law so that DRM is required in all media, and to make it a crime punishable with jail-time to avoid DRM.

DRM provides you with no value. It doesn’t help you read the newspaper online; it makes it harder to read. It doesn’t make it easier or more enjoyable to watch a movie; it makes it harder or in some cases impossible to watch a movie that you have PAID for. It doesn’t help you listen to music you have purchased; in fact it may require you to pay over-and-over again to keep listening to a single song that you have purchased.

DRM doens’t help artists either. It makes it harder for them to get their work out to an receptive audience. It makes it more expensive for them to publish their work.

Lobby groups for companies that buy the licensing rights for books, music, and movies from the artists that create content are fighting hard to make DRM part of your life. Maybe you want to fight back? Maybe you don’t? Here are a few things you can do either way:

• Don’t use iTunes, don’t buy an iPod, and don’t buy form the iTunes store. The files you get from iTunes can be “turned off” by Apple anytime they want. If they want to make a few extra bucks off you next year, they just have to change the system so that your files won’t play anymore unless you pay for an “upgrade.” There are plenty of places that sell plain-old MP3s.
• Check out MusicIP Mixer from musicip.com. Not only will it play regular old MP3s, but it will play Ogg Vorbis file. Ogg Vorbis files give you better quality for the same size file, AND the format isn’t owned by any company… you will always be able to play your Ogg music… forever and ever.

For more information visit Ten Things for OCT3

Last night, just after 11 PM, I was talking on the phone and looking out a window that faces the street in front of my house. I saw a truck come around the corner, but as he rounded the corner he did not straighten out and stuck my neighbors car. Just a moment before the truck hit the car, the truck swerved a tiny bit back and forth. It was a pretty good impact and there was a loud crash. The driver of the truck didn’t hesitate for even a moment. The truck immediately reversed direction and sped away. The driver didn’t get out to see if anyone was in the car or injured. Did not check to see if their own vehicle was damaged. They didn’t even take enough time to check if there was anything behind them before reversing direction. Cowardice on Wheels.

Perhaps the driver thought that, late at night on a residential street, that no one would witness his crime and that he could flee the consequences of his accident. Not so. I immediately went out side to inform my neighbor, but before I got there there was already another person there. Someone who got an even better look at what had happened.

The neighbors themselves heard a scream and a crash but dismissed it. The other witness knew where the scream came from. The passenger in the truck has scream when the truck impacted the parked care. Sadly, I couldn’t even make out what type of truck it was and wasn’t able to see the occupants or get a license plate number.

The neighbors were upset of course. They called the police to report this hit-and-run. At about 1 AM the police arrived and took a witness statement from me. The constable was really nice; friendly but authoritative. My few encounters with the police have not been good. Not that I have been in trouble with the law; I mean those mundane encounters of reporting problems or dealing with paperwork. Even in those routine interactions I have found police to be offensive and their behavior often inappropriate. This was really refreshing. It is also nice to see anyone who does their job with competence, confidence, and respect. I still don’t like talking to people who have guns though.

The neighbors car suffered a fair bit of damage. In this case the car was hit with enough force that the back end was pushed onto the curb. To make matters worse, my neighbors had just got it back from the shop after having been rear-ended the week before!

Now, you might think this isn’t a big deal. Somebody did a little property damage and ran off. The police won’t catch him and you probably understand that my neighbors are mad. You probably can empathize with them in this frustrating situation. They feel powerless and they will have to pay the price because now that they have reported this their insurance premiums will rise (even if they do not make a claim, the police report ensures that eventually the insurance company will find out and raise their rates as they have been “involved” in a collision even though not at fault). That is not the worst of it though.

The real problem here is for the driver. He probably thought that he could take off and nobody would be the wiser. He probably thought about the property damage and his insurance premiums. He probably thought that it wasn’t such a big crime to run off knowing that they would have to pay the price through higher-insurance. But what he probably did not think about was that someone might have been in or around that car.

The drive clearly did not see the car or was travelling to fast or was in a condition where they could not drive properly (intoxicated? tired? distracted?). Given any of those three possibilities the driver could not reasonably believe that they knew weather or not there were passengers in the parked car or anyone nearby the car who might have been struck. But the driver did not stop. Not knowing if anyone was injured, the driver still ran. Further, the driver didn’t check their own vehicle for damage. After that collision how could the driver know if their own vehicle was road worthy and safe? Further, the driver immediately backed up at high speed. Clearly, if they could not avoid the parked car in front of them, they could not reasonable believe that backing up immediately and quickly was safe.

This coward, through some brief irresponsibility, committed a grave crime. The put the residence of my neighborhood at risk and showed no sign of concern for our safety. Cowardice on Wheels.

My only solace is that I suspect the driver is probably stupid enough to get caught despite the relative ease with which capture could be avoided.