After a long public campaign, Ebay has dropped ALEC.

Reportedly some Iraqi Sunni tribes want to fight PISSI, and the US is training their soldiers.

The US is not above exaggerating good news in war, but it would be good if this is true.

Movie theaters refused to show Sony's film, The Interview, after bomb threats against theaters, so Sony cancelled the release.

This is censorship by threat. Even worse, it is likely to make others self-censor in anticipation of a threat. (I wish they didn't call these crackers "hackers" — it seems clear that playful cleverness is not a significant part of their mentality.)

We should not be quick to believe claims about who is responsible. I wouldn't put this past North Korea or China, but I also wouldn't put it past the FBI to falsely accuse them.

It takes no expertise to make a false bomb threat. Anyone could have done that. Reportedly, Sony's computer security was so incompetent that even a kid could have cracked it.

Senator Feinstein is already using this to promote the privacy-threatening bill that would allow companies to give your personal data to Big Brother in bulk "voluntarily".

Sony is not an innocent victim: it has a history of launching cyber attacks against its own customers.

Remember the Corrupt Disks with the rootkit that took over the users' operating systems to install DRM software? Remember when Sony forced each PlayStation 3 owner to forfeit either the ability to run GNU/Linux or the ability to talk with Sony's game network? Remember when Sony sent thugs to arrest George Hotz for publishing how to jailbreak the PS3?

We must take action to prevent further attacks of the sort that was made against Sony, and to prevent further attacks of the sort that Sony launched. But governments are not interested in protecting us from the power of big business. The US is negotiating treaties such as the TPP that would strengthen the power of companies such as Sony against us.

Thus, I continue to say, Boycott Sony!

Most children kept in institutions are not orphans. Their parents can't afford to care for them.

Kurdish forces are attacking PISSI, trying to recapture territory.

I hope they will be prepared also to welcome and care for women freed from PISSI captivity.