Legal help

January 26th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

What I like about this country, is that for those most in need, those that can’t afford it themselves, there is legal aid provided for them.

PCC Editors Code of Practice review: Important Update

January 25th, 2010 § 3 comments § permalink

As you can see, if you follow the link to our petition, iPetitons dog ate it.

For all his efforts, Tim couldn’t get iPetitions to feed it some canine laxatives so we could have it back in a timely manner, and so is still waiting the data that was collected and probably won’t see it this side of March. Which will be too late.

So what we need you to do, even if you left your name and suggestions for the review on the petition is to send an email to:

Vivien Hepworth, Chairman, (PCC) Independent Governance Review:
governancereview@pcc.org.uk

This one needs to be done today (25 January) as it closes today. If you do not want your submission to be made public, you will have to specifically tell them. Also send you suggestions to:

Ian Beales, Code Committee Secretary, Editor’s Code of Practice Committee:
ianbeales@mac.com

The deadline for this one is 31 January.

Here are the five suggestions on the original petition…

SUGGESTION ONE: Like-for-like placement of retractions, corrections and apologies in print and online (as standard).
Retractions, corrections, and apologies should normally be at least equally prominent to the original article, in both print and online editions. Any departure from this rule should only be in exceptional circumstances, and the onus on showing such circumstances should be on the publication.

SUGGESTION TWO: Original or redirected URLs for retractions, corrections & apologies online (as standard).

Retractions, corrections, and apologies in respect of online articles should always be displayed either at the original URL or at a URL to which the reader is redirected.

SUGGESTION THREE: The current Code contains no reference to headlines, and this loophole should be closed immediately.

Headlines should be covered by the same rules as the rest of a story. Further, headlines and titles for links should never be misleading in what they imply or offer and should always be substantiated by the article/contents.

SUGGESTION FOUR: Sources to be credited unless they do not wish to be credited or require anonymity/protection.

Sources should normally be credited. Any departure from this rule should only be when the source does not wish to be credited or if the source requires anonymity/protection.

SUGGESTION FIVE: A longer and more interactive consultation period for open discussion of more fundamental issues.

I submit all of the above without implying support for the PCC, the remainder of Code as it stands, or even the concept of self-regulation, and request that the 20th year of the PCC be marked with an open debate about its progress to date, and its future direction.

There is also a post at Liberal Conspiracy where submissions can also be left via the comments.

[title removed due to possible copyright infringement]

January 21st, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

A Belgian couple are sueing some magazines for infringing copyright on a photo of themselves. Only not all of the magazines they are suing published the photo some only mentioned it.
Tech Dirt

‘a mere reference to an image should be considered a reproduction of the image’!”

WTF?

via 21st Century Fix

An interesting link

January 21st, 2010 § 0 comments § permalink

data.gov.uk

Junk

January 20th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

I just checked the spam bin and there was one in there from “a big site of amazing facts” with a link to a post titled somewhere along the lines of can animals, other than dogs, get rabies?

Obviously I haven’t visited the site, but presumably the answer to the question is the amazing fact that yes, animals of all kinds can get rabies.

No wonder the poor cunts reduced to spamming.

Help wanted

January 20th, 2010 § 4 comments § permalink

Get a fucking grip, people. Please…

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

“That’s all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about ‘Avatar.’ I guess that helps. It’s so hard I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na’vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie,” Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site “Naviblue” that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

“Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mike posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.’ “

via Anorak

PPC Code of Practice suggestions: Now with added video

January 19th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

If reading a page full of text about how the PCC Editors Code of Practice could be improved isn’t your thing and you’d rather watch a lovely spangley video with some great music, then watch this (there’s even a game at the end for you to enjoy).

go and sign the petition and maybe even leave your own suggestion.

Oh, and tell yer mates, too.

Press Complaints Commission annual review

January 18th, 2010 § 2 comments § permalink

Update: A quick note from Tim Ireland…

[NOTE – It’s probably something to do with the sudden popularity of our petition, but ipetitions.com have now started displaying a donation page (instead of a ‘thank you’ page) after you submit your details. I understand why ipetitions.com have done this – and Dog knows they deserve a donation or two for providing a superior petition service – but I’m less-than-impressed by the way they’ve gone about it. At this stage, I can only apologise for this unexpected feature and provide new people with advance warning; you do not have to make a donation for your signature to register.]

The PCC is holding its’ annual review of its’ Code of Practice, the rules that govern the behaviour of the press and it’s members.

The PCC want suggestions from, not just the industry itself, but from the general public too.

(Update: We will also be submitting our suggestions to the to the Independent Governance Review in time for the 25 Jan 2010 deadline

A few of us bloggers that take an interest in this sort of thing have got together and come up with some suggestions, which we feel, should be a priority for the PCC to incorporate into its’ Code of Practice, while we await and try to get started a bigger discussion of who and how it should regulate.

The idea being a ‘safety in numbers’ thing, the more people put their names to these suggestions the harder it will be for the PCC to ignore than if a lot of suggestions come from individuals.

We need you to sign the petition and also, in the comments section, you can leave you’re own suggestion. The petition will be delivered in a format that means that any individual suggestions can be responded to by the PCC, not just the main group petition. You can use a nickname or your real name (if you use your real name it can be hidden from public view if you wish) and the PCC will still count as valid.

For more, see Bloggerheads.com

The text of the petition is below, just follow the link and digitally sign it, please.

SUGGESTION ONE: Like-for-like placement of retractions, corrections and apologies in print and online (as standard).

Retractions, corrections, and apologies should normally be at least equally prominent to the original article, in both print and online editions. Any departure from this rule should only be in exceptional circumstances, and the onus on showing such circumstances should be on the publication.

SUGGESTION TWO: Original or redirected URLs for retractions, corrections & apologies online (as standard).

Retractions, corrections, and apologies in respect of online articles should always be displayed either at the original URL or at a URL to which the reader is redirected.

SUGGESTION THREE: The current Code contains no reference to headlines, and this loophole should be closed immediately.

Headlines should be covered by the same rules as the rest of a story. Further, headlines and titles for links should never be misleading in what they imply or offer and should always be substantiated by the article/contents.

SUGGESTION FOUR: Sources to be credited unless they do not wish to be credited or require anonymity/protection.

Sources should normally be credited. Any departure from this rule should only be when the source does not wish to be credited or if the source requires anonymity/protection.

SUGGESTION FIVE: A longer and more interactive consultation period for open discussion of more fundamental issues.

We submit all of the above without implying support for the PCC, the remainder of Code as it stands, or even the concept of self-regulation, and request that the 20th year of the PCC be marked with an open debate about its progress to date, and its future direction.

Further issues or suggestions may be included as a ‘comment’ and individual responses to these concerns/suggestions (via the corresponding email address) would be appreciated.

Thank you.

sign here

These suggestions were decided upon by Tim Ireland, Kevin Arscott, Adam Bienkov, Dave Cross, Sunny Hundal, Jack of Kent, Justin McKeating, MacGuffin, Mark Pack, septicisle, Jamie Sport, Clive Summerfield, Unity, Anton Vowl.

God (watch out for Godwins’ Law).

January 18th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

God. Where to start, eh?

God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations.

Nations are made up of individuals. Even during the Nuremburg trials, individuals were prosecuted, not the German nation. What that statement above says is that God is into collective punishment. But we already knew that anyway.

Look at the original sin. Man is born a sinner now because of the decision of an individual, Adam, to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

What the Vatican says about the original sin is…

It is a sin which will be transmitted by propagation to all mankind, that is, by the transmission of a human nature deprived of original holiness and justice. And that is why original sin is called “sin” only in an analogical sense: it is a sin “contracted” and not “committed” – a state and not an act.

Original sin is not something someone’s done, it is inherited. Even a baby that is just born, that has no chance to develop a character, never mind any knowledge, opinion or attitude about anything, is doomed.

Unless of course it renounces a life without god in a ceremony usually taking place before it has any concept of consent never mind the deeper logical and theological concepts involved in a baptism.

Hmm. Isn’t it also usually considered bad form to do stuff to/make someone do stuff that they have no understanding of?

Another Cameron poster

January 14th, 2010 § 1 comment § permalink

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