Gearfuse

Fuck the system! Break it down! That’s what a lot of people are chanting today after it was discovered last night that the judge in the landmark Pirate Bay trial is a member of several pro-copyright lobby groups that are in cahoots with the entertainment industry. Judge Tomas Norström belongs to the Swedish Association of Copyright, Swedish Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property, oversees the .SE domain name and then some.

As messed up as this is, the groups this judge belongs to are not only legitimate, they’re something a person of law would become involved with. Now due to members of the entertainment industry belonging to these groups as well, it’s easy to see how Judge Tomas may have been persuaded. Either way, a retrial would be good for everyone in this situation.

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It’s Friday and you know what that means: Ryan is menstruating again.

We’re currently locked in a heated battle over IM on who reigns supreme in the world of music: Metallica or Judas Priest. It all started when I told Ryan that anything Metallica did in the 1980s was harder than Judas Priest or any other band, including but not limited to, Iron Maiden. I’m talking about some heavy shit here. We’re talking albums like Master of Puppets, …and Justice for All and Ride The Lightning. Chugging guitars, pounding drums and James Hetfield belting out rough vocals at metal fans across the globe. Their fucking name is Metallica, for crying out loud!

Now Ryan’s argument. He says: “While Metallica’s band members were still feuding over who would play bass in their high school battle of the bands, Judas Priest had already begun touring across England in the early ’70s. Vince seems to think that due to Rob Halford’s sexual orientation, Judas Priest is incapable of rocking hard (Not true!) Clearly he’s missed out on such songs as Blood Red Skies and Beyond The Realms of Death. It was the ’80s which brought Judas into the mainstream, but the late ’70s is when they truly shined. Metallica’s Lars was busy crying about Napster and the music industry while Judas was winning a lawsuit over a fan who thought that Judas’ metal was so rockin‘ that the music was asking him to literally go ‘Beyond The Realms Of Death’.”

Whatever. Our points have been made. After the jump, a music video for Metallica’s “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and a video for Judas Priest’s “So and So.” Watch them both and then leave us a comment, letting us know who’s better. This one is your call.

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In Japan, you apparently can be charged with illegal access of a computer and manipulating electronic data if found guilty of intentionally “killing” someone’s MMO character. Some guy divorced his online wife’s avatar in Maple Story and in her anger she killed his character. Now, she faces a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine of up to $5,000 dollars.

Yowch! I believe a few lessons can be learned here. Firstly, never marry in a video game. Virtual settings and life-long relationships don’t mesh. Secondly, don’t play Maple Story. It sucks.

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This past weekend, during the Defcon hacker convention in Las Vegas, several MIT students who were prepared to give a talk regarding the security of Boston’s public transit system were stopped. A judge ruled to ban the presentation after the city realized a gaping vulnerability was about to become exposed. For now, the talks have been stopped, but now everyone has focused attention to Boston. The city must have quite the security flaw going on.

Though the talks were stopped, Defcon attendees received the key data on a CD. It’s only a matter of time before the system is duped and Boston is forced to plug it’s security holes.

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