[00:00.000 --> 00:07.240]  And truth be told, politicians, even the most powerful, are but puppets of those more powerful than they.
[00:07.680 --> 00:15.040]  Such is American cash culture at the beginning of this century, where everything is for sale for the right price.
[00:15.400 --> 00:18.760]  From Death Row, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
[00:20.240 --> 00:24.180]  These commentaries are produced by Noelle Hanrahan for Prison Radio.
[00:33.690 --> 00:38.810]  And that was Free Speech Radio News heard here on WBAR New York, where it's now 7 o'clock.
[00:39.050 --> 00:40.790]  Time, once again, for Off the Hook.
[00:46.020 --> 00:50.500]  The telephone keeps ringing, so I ripped it off the wall.
[00:51.460 --> 00:53.480]  I cut myself while shaving.
[00:54.060 --> 00:56.000]  Now I can't make a call.
[00:56.620 --> 00:58.840]  We couldn't get much worse.
[01:01.630 --> 01:04.270]  Bum-de-li-bom, for the best, expect the worst.
[01:04.850 --> 01:06.770]  I hope that's understood.
[01:06.990 --> 01:07.810]  Bum-de-li-bo!
[02:30.870 --> 02:31.690]  And a good evening to everybody.
[02:31.810 --> 02:33.170]  The program is Off the Hook.
[02:33.450 --> 02:40.830]  Emmanuel Goldstein here with you on this Wednesday evening, as we're all sick here in the studio, joined by Mike this week.
[02:41.010 --> 02:43.910]  Wait, I am not sick, and I don't want any of you people to get me sick.
[02:44.010 --> 02:45.030]  But I think you got us sick.
[02:45.210 --> 02:48.630]  Well, actually, I'm not sick at all, but Redbird, I think you just sneezed or something.
[02:48.670 --> 02:49.310]  I am not sick.
[02:49.350 --> 02:49.910]  Good evening.
[02:50.130 --> 02:50.450]  Okay.
[02:50.970 --> 02:52.330]  And over on the other side, not Kevin.
[02:52.490 --> 02:53.270]  I am very sick.
[02:53.410 --> 02:54.710]  Bernie, how's your health holding out?
[02:55.310 --> 02:58.730]  My health is good here in Philadelphia, and I hope we don't get any of our listeners sick.
[03:00.210 --> 03:04.170]  Well, that's been a common complaint over the years, but we'll see if we can continue the tradition.
[03:04.370 --> 03:08.890]  I want to thank our listeners, by the way, because we did so well in the last few weeks for the fundraiser.
[03:09.010 --> 03:11.110]  I think we did better than we've ever done before.
[03:11.270 --> 03:17.470]  We raised at least $1,000 each hour, and last show, last week, we raised over $2,000.
[03:17.890 --> 03:19.030]  It was almost $3,000.
[03:19.050 --> 03:19.710]  It was almost $3,000?
[03:19.810 --> 03:20.370]  Yeah, I think so.
[03:20.430 --> 03:21.330]  I think it was those Legos.
[03:21.430 --> 03:22.430]  People went nuts for Legos.
[03:22.750 --> 03:23.530]  Don't understand it.
[03:23.550 --> 03:26.030]  And if you like Legos, you're going to love Hope, because we're going to have all kinds.
[03:26.070 --> 03:27.250]  It's going to be a Lego theme, I think.
[03:27.570 --> 03:28.190]  Legos everywhere.
[03:28.190 --> 03:29.530]  That might be pushing it.
[03:29.590 --> 03:33.730]  We're going to have a Lego-like speaker somehow, an actual address by a Lego character.
[03:33.870 --> 03:34.590]  I don't know how it works.
[03:34.630 --> 03:37.170]  I don't understand the technology, but it's incredible.
[03:37.370 --> 03:38.210]  You shouldn't say these things.
[03:38.410 --> 03:40.130]  People are going to expect you to actually do it.
[03:40.250 --> 03:41.910]  No, people are going to come forward and do it.
[03:41.990 --> 03:43.410]  That's how the hacker world works.
[03:43.510 --> 03:45.050]  You say something that's completely impossible.
[03:45.050 --> 03:45.790]  Someone says, you know what?
[03:45.790 --> 03:48.710]  I could do this, because I know how to solder, and I can build things.
[03:48.790 --> 03:49.950]  You don't solder Legos.
[03:50.130 --> 03:51.550]  Ah, you see, now you're a naysayer.
[03:51.890 --> 03:54.010]  That's why you will never be a Lego master.
[03:54.550 --> 03:55.150]  All right.
[03:55.430 --> 03:57.130]  Well, yeah, it's going to happen.
[03:57.850 --> 04:00.770]  And by the way, Hope registration, peer registration is now open.
[04:00.910 --> 04:02.470]  www.hope.net.
[04:03.210 --> 04:04.650]  The process has begun.
[04:05.230 --> 04:08.070]  Boy, you know, there have been so many things going on in the last few weeks.
[04:08.150 --> 04:12.250]  We just got the spring issue done yesterday, and just all this activity.
[04:12.730 --> 04:16.010]  And now the conference is coming up, so it's going to be an action-packed year.
[04:16.030 --> 04:16.950]  So looking forward to it all.
[04:17.590 --> 04:21.970]  Now, we have all kinds of news to catch up on, because we haven't really done much of that in the last month.
[04:22.090 --> 04:23.850]  So, and we also want to take phone calls tonight.
[04:24.050 --> 04:27.070]  So write down the number, 212-209-2900.
[04:27.070 --> 04:30.610]  We'll be taking phone calls, probably about the half hour mark, trying to get as many in as possible tonight.
[04:31.410 --> 04:36.390]  Now, Mike, I know you have a story that you've been itching to talk about for the last couple of weeks, and we just didn't have time, so...
[04:36.390 --> 04:37.290]  Well, we weren't on the air.
[04:37.450 --> 04:42.970]  We weren't on the air, and then we were on the air, but we were asking for money, and we were going to talk about Legos, and now let's focus on...
[04:42.970 --> 04:44.950]  And there's breaking news in this story.
[04:45.030 --> 04:46.450]  Well, you might as well go for the breaking news first.
[04:46.450 --> 04:55.050]  Yes, the breaking news is that the Swiss bank, which is Bank Julius Barr, in the WikiLeaks case, has abruptly abandoned its lawsuit.
[04:55.150 --> 04:56.030]  Let me just stop you right there.
[04:56.110 --> 04:58.250]  You just sort of jumped over WikiLeaks case.
[04:58.370 --> 05:00.190]  I think most people have no idea what that even means.
[05:00.310 --> 05:05.550]  Well, that's very sad, because WikiLeaks is this website where people can leak documents to.
[05:05.630 --> 05:13.370]  So if you work for a corporation or a government, and you have a secret, and you can send your document there, and they'll post it for all the world to see.
[05:13.590 --> 05:28.010]  So if I, for instance, knew something about 2600 Magazine, which I work for, and I wanted to let the world know about the unfair labor practices or something inside that organization, I would send my memo or my document or whatever it is I'm able to uncover to...
[05:28.010 --> 05:28.610]  What's the website?
[05:29.150 --> 05:30.030]  WikiLeaks.org.
[05:30.070 --> 05:33.290]  That's W-I-K-I-L-E-A-K-S dot O-R-G?
[05:33.470 --> 05:33.910]  That's right.
[05:34.030 --> 05:34.330]  All right.
[05:34.330 --> 05:40.570]  And for a while, if you tried to go to WikiLeaks.org, you wouldn't go there.
[05:40.850 --> 05:41.510]  What do you mean?
[05:41.910 --> 05:46.850]  Their domain name was deregistered temporarily as a result of this lawsuit.
[05:47.910 --> 06:00.770]  The bank, the Swiss bank, which I already tried to pronounce and probably got wrong, sued Dynadot, which is a registrar, and they sued WikiLeaks.
[06:00.770 --> 06:04.150]  And WikiLeaks was kind of busy, so I guess they didn't show up.
[06:04.670 --> 06:06.070]  And Dynadot was like, you know what?
[06:06.070 --> 06:06.650]  Just go away.
[06:06.750 --> 06:07.670]  We'll do whatever you want.
[06:07.670 --> 06:11.070]  And what the bank wanted was for the domain name to be pulled.
[06:11.590 --> 06:13.470]  You're saying they didn't show up for their own lawsuit?
[06:13.690 --> 06:15.590]  Well, you know, they're not in California.
[06:15.590 --> 06:17.690]  They can't just be showing up all the time.
[06:17.770 --> 06:20.290]  Well, I got sued in California, and somehow I managed to deal with it.
[06:20.330 --> 06:21.630]  Well, they started to show up later.
[06:21.710 --> 06:22.030]  Okay.
[06:22.250 --> 06:24.170]  But at the very beginning, they were unavailable.
[06:24.170 --> 06:25.330]  You've got to show up for your own lawsuits.
[06:25.470 --> 06:27.570]  I mean, that's, if nothing else, just to mock the people.
[06:27.570 --> 06:28.690]  Well, it was a very short schedule.
[06:29.090 --> 06:32.770]  You can't just, you know, say, hey, show up tomorrow, or we're going to take down your website.
[06:32.970 --> 06:35.650]  Yeah, we had like one day, I remember, back in 2000 to respond.
[06:35.790 --> 06:37.090]  But yeah, okay, I can see that.
[06:37.190 --> 06:40.830]  So, all right, so this registrar, they're located in California?
[06:41.010 --> 06:42.510]  Yeah, Dynadot is in California.
[06:42.550 --> 06:44.650]  Okay, and they just deregistered their site?
[06:44.830 --> 06:44.990]  Yeah.
[06:45.270 --> 06:46.150]  Or deactivated it?
[06:46.250 --> 06:47.830]  Well, I don't know what the difference is.
[06:47.870 --> 06:49.270]  Well, if you deregister it, then it's open.
[06:49.330 --> 06:50.330]  Anybody can register it, right?
[06:50.650 --> 06:54.010]  No, it was locked, so no one could register it, but no one could use it either.
[06:54.150 --> 06:54.650]  I see.
[06:55.470 --> 06:55.750]  Okay.
[06:55.750 --> 07:01.530]  Now, in the case of WikiLeaks, this wasn't so bad, because they had all kinds of other domain names in other jurisdictions.
[07:01.910 --> 07:04.590]  So, WikiLeaks.be worked throughout the whole thing.
[07:04.990 --> 07:07.130]  WikiLeaks.cx, all this stuff.
[07:07.790 --> 07:13.310]  The servers themselves are, I guess, in Sweden, although they don't announce that anywhere.
[07:13.410 --> 07:15.030]  It just seems to be the case.
[07:16.590 --> 07:26.890]  But what's interesting here is that, regardless of the merits, these documents in question allege sort of tax havens.
[07:26.970 --> 07:28.110]  I downloaded them.
[07:28.210 --> 07:29.330]  They didn't make any sense to me.
[07:29.430 --> 07:33.070]  I don't know if they're real or fake or show illegality or not.
[07:33.350 --> 07:43.570]  But regardless of these particular documents, the bank was able to get the entire WikiLeaks website removed from the .org landscape.
[07:43.570 --> 07:45.170]  Well, banks can do things like that.
[07:45.270 --> 07:46.890]  They have a lot of intimidation power.
[07:47.070 --> 07:47.950]  Well, which is...
[07:47.950 --> 07:56.690]  And they were able to do it by suing this third party who didn't want to spend a lot of money on lawyers, just wanted the whole thing to go away as quickly as possible.
[07:56.950 --> 07:57.990]  So, it's a really...
[07:57.990 --> 08:04.350]  I think it's a new technique, or relatively uncommon, at least, for getting websites shut down.
[08:04.350 --> 08:08.610]  And it's really frightening that other people will try and use this in the future as well.
[08:08.610 --> 08:24.770]  Well, I mean, an analogy I read is, imagine if there were one article in the New York Times that someone didn't like, and they sued the printing company, not the New York Times itself, but some printing company, and forced them to print only blank pages instead of newspapers.
[08:24.770 --> 08:29.350]  Or simply took down their entire website, deregisterednewyorktimes.com website.
[08:29.510 --> 08:30.070]  That would be something.
[08:30.210 --> 08:30.550]  That would be something.
[08:30.550 --> 08:33.590]  Although, I do suspect the New York Times would respond to a lawsuit threat.
[08:33.810 --> 08:34.870]  I do suspect that.
[08:34.950 --> 08:38.850]  That's why it's important to always take these things seriously when they come through.
[08:38.990 --> 08:40.590]  We always take our lawsuit threat seriously.
[08:40.710 --> 08:41.870]  In fact, we usually print the letters.
[08:42.650 --> 08:43.670]  It's important to do that.
[08:43.910 --> 08:59.130]  Now, it would be nice to know what companies exist, domain registrars and web hosting services and magazines, for instance, that are willing to respond to lawsuits and fight them instead of just giving in and saying, okay, well, we won't print this material or take this website down or something.
[08:59.250 --> 09:09.790]  So, I don't know of any list that exists, but it would be nice to compile such a thing so that people know, like, okay, if there's something that might be considered controversial, you know, that these are safe places to host it.
[09:09.930 --> 09:10.190]  Yeah.
[09:10.350 --> 09:11.350]  Well, we tried that, remember?
[09:11.510 --> 09:15.190]  Back in 2000, we tried to host the ECSS, and they went right after us.
[09:15.250 --> 09:17.050]  I guess our name came up first in the alphabetical list.
[09:17.750 --> 09:24.310]  But as far as this particular case goes, now, do we even know what the information was that was posted in the first place?
[09:24.410 --> 09:25.590]  Something having to do with the Swiss bank?
[09:26.030 --> 09:26.390]  Yeah.
[09:26.710 --> 09:33.530]  You can, like I said, you could always get to wikileaks.be, and now you can go back to wikileaks.org, and you can download the documents.
[09:33.770 --> 09:34.870]  Dot B-E or D-E?
[09:35.090 --> 09:36.010]  B-E for Belgium.
[09:36.130 --> 09:36.530]  Belgium, okay.
[09:39.190 --> 09:41.030]  And like I said, I downloaded one.
[09:41.170 --> 09:42.410]  I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
[09:42.410 --> 09:56.010]  There was some rich guy in Manhattan who was making trusts, and there was a note saying, look, this shows evidence of illegality, but I don't know enough about the banking system to know if it did or not.
[09:56.090 --> 09:58.370]  Now, the WikiLeaks site is back up.
[09:58.470 --> 09:58.610]  Yeah.
[09:58.810 --> 10:00.670]  Is it through the same register right now, or is it a different one?
[10:00.690 --> 10:01.730]  I guess it's the same one.
[10:01.850 --> 10:02.210]  All right.
[10:02.250 --> 10:05.570]  Now, is that information about the bank there, or has that been taken down?
[10:06.110 --> 10:07.710]  All the information is still there.
[10:07.790 --> 10:07.970]  Okay.
[10:08.050 --> 10:09.090]  So, people can now look at that.
[10:09.210 --> 10:10.930]  So, where does the lawsuit stand exactly?
[10:11.650 --> 10:15.990]  As I said, as of today, the bank seems to have at least temporarily given up.
[10:16.930 --> 10:20.550]  Because, you know, no one ever heard of them before, this Swiss bank.
[10:20.550 --> 10:21.050]  So, they succeeded.
[10:21.050 --> 10:23.010]  And now they're getting all this bad press.
[10:23.130 --> 10:23.770]  Yeah, that's the thing.
[10:23.770 --> 10:26.330]  When you sue people, you've got to be ready for the ramifications.
[10:26.550 --> 10:31.030]  And in the internet world, it can spread like you would not believe your worst nightmares.
[10:31.050 --> 10:31.330]  Emmanuel.
[10:31.530 --> 10:31.910]  Yes, go ahead.
[10:32.590 --> 10:36.230]  This is, I think, known in the community as the Streisand effect.
[10:37.110 --> 10:52.530]  I don't know if the listeners are aware that a few years ago, some company that was surveying the California coastline for environmental purposes photographed the whole coastline from an airplane, which happened to include Barbara Streisand's house.
[10:52.530 --> 10:53.730]  And it was all posted on the web.
[10:53.730 --> 11:00.290]  But then people just started linking to or copying the picture of her house from above.
[11:00.550 --> 11:01.670]  And she didn't like that.
[11:01.750 --> 11:06.290]  So, she sued the company who took the picture of her house.
[11:09.090 --> 11:13.150]  And it garnered so much more attention than if she just ignored it.
[11:14.250 --> 11:19.030]  And as a result of the lawsuit, a lot of other people mirrored the pictures of her house.
[11:19.030 --> 11:25.670]  And it got probably thousands of times more attention than would have if she didn't sue them.
[11:25.890 --> 11:28.750]  So, the same thing happened with this bank, this Swiss bank.
[11:29.370 --> 11:35.550]  Probably not very many people would have been interested in this data until they realized that, oh, I'm not supposed to see this.
[11:35.570 --> 11:36.710]  I really want to see it now.
[11:36.890 --> 11:40.710]  And I'd like to see that kind of a response every time people are threatened.
[11:40.810 --> 11:45.230]  For instance, with arrest, if you take pictures inside the subway system.
[11:45.330 --> 11:47.550]  When people threaten you with that, there need to be more pictures than ever.
[11:47.550 --> 11:54.270]  Or when we're forbidden from taking pictures of the Verrazano Bridge, there should be a whole photo album of that kind of stuff.
[11:54.970 --> 11:56.430]  We just need to challenge.
[11:56.430 --> 12:02.450]  Every time we're told that we can't do something that we believe we should be able to do, more people do it than ever before.
[12:02.450 --> 12:03.750]  That's part of the power of the net.
[12:05.090 --> 12:05.710]  Good thing.
[12:06.150 --> 12:06.370]  All right.
[12:06.430 --> 12:12.410]  Now, there's something else going on that's just kind of disturbing having to do with domains being taken away.
[12:17.990 --> 12:21.730]  It's about this guy, Steve Marshall, who's an English guy living in Spain.
[12:21.730 --> 12:25.850]  And I don't know if he's ever been to the United States, but he certainly doesn't have any business here.
[12:25.950 --> 12:27.270]  Sounds legitimate to me.
[12:27.350 --> 12:28.350]  I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
[12:28.370 --> 12:30.910]  What he does is he sells trips.
[12:30.910 --> 12:31.890]  He's a travel agent.
[12:32.090 --> 12:34.290]  And among the places he sells trips to is Cuba.
[12:34.530 --> 12:34.830]  Aha.
[12:35.210 --> 12:35.590]  Okay.
[12:35.590 --> 12:37.230]  So that's his big offense.
[12:37.230 --> 12:39.890]  He sells trips to Cuba from Europe to Europeans.
[12:40.190 --> 12:42.510]  Which is perfectly legal under European law.
[12:42.610 --> 12:43.650]  It is perfectly legal, isn't it?
[12:43.650 --> 12:44.930]  There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
[12:45.670 --> 12:52.350]  And in fact, his only business interest in the United States is that his domain registrar is in the United States.
[12:52.590 --> 12:54.450]  So his domain registrar is in the United...
[12:54.450 --> 12:56.050]  Which domain registrar is this?
[12:56.430 --> 12:57.250]  It's not the same one.
[12:57.570 --> 12:59.170]  Enom, this one is called.
[12:59.270 --> 13:03.850]  I guess the lesson we're learning here is don't register your domain in the United States if you don't want trouble.
[13:03.990 --> 13:06.310]  I mean, other countries have crazy laws, too.
[13:06.430 --> 13:07.250]  So what happened to his domain?
[13:07.490 --> 13:15.550]  They got taken away because he got put on something called the Specially Designated Nationals list, which is something that the...
[13:15.550 --> 13:16.590]  I want in on that list.
[13:16.770 --> 13:18.370]  Which is something that the U.S.
[13:18.550 --> 13:23.610]  Treasury Department maintains to say, even though this guy is not himself Cuban, U.S.
[13:23.970 --> 13:29.050]  companies are forbidden from doing business with him because he does too much business with Cuba.
[13:30.030 --> 13:31.270]  Oh, that's beautiful.
[13:31.670 --> 13:34.410]  This is part of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.
[13:34.830 --> 13:35.430]  Go ahead, Barney.
[13:35.430 --> 13:44.170]  I think the issue is, though, the crux of the matter is that he was not doing business in the United States.
[13:44.430 --> 13:46.170]  He's not an American citizen.
[13:46.610 --> 13:48.770]  His business is not located in the United States.
[13:48.770 --> 13:50.150]  Only his domain registrar were.
[13:50.270 --> 13:51.650]  So I think the point that U.S.
[13:51.770 --> 14:05.350]  government made was that this registrar, this American registrar, was indirectly doing business with Cuba simply by maintaining the domain for this company.
[14:05.550 --> 14:05.970]  So they're guilty.
[14:06.270 --> 14:07.130]  Which is really ludicrous, yeah.
[14:07.370 --> 14:08.070]  Oh, okay.
[14:08.210 --> 14:08.550]  So they didn't...
[14:08.550 --> 14:11.170]  You know, I think that was the legal argument that the U.S.
[14:11.510 --> 14:14.770]  used, or at least the excuse they used, to shut down all those guys' domains.
[14:15.610 --> 14:16.550]  It's a real...
[14:16.550 --> 14:18.930]  Well, wait, wouldn't that be the excuse to use to shut down the registrar?
[14:19.690 --> 14:21.170]  Well, they didn't shut down the whole registrar.
[14:21.270 --> 14:21.770]  They just shut...
[14:21.770 --> 14:25.490]  They instructed the registrar to pull those domains.
[14:26.650 --> 14:27.210]  Now, I probably...
[14:27.210 --> 14:27.890]  Isn't that what happened, Mike?
[14:28.430 --> 14:29.750]  That's more or less what happened.
[14:29.770 --> 14:34.010]  A prominent lawyer in New York said, quote, The U.S.
[14:34.070 --> 14:36.970]  can certainly criminalize the expenditure of money by U.S.
[14:37.390 --> 14:42.970]  citizens in Cuba, but it doesn't properly have any jurisdiction over foreign sites that are not targeted at the U.S.
[14:43.010 --> 14:44.830]  and which are lawful under foreign law.
[14:45.050 --> 14:50.610]  The prominent lawyer in New York is Charles Sims, who is familiar to you, Emanuel.
[14:51.570 --> 14:51.850]  Oh, yeah.
[14:52.030 --> 14:52.110]  Yeah.
[14:52.170 --> 14:53.610]  In fact, he was one of the people suing us.
[14:54.650 --> 14:55.570]  This is the thing.
[14:55.650 --> 15:05.930]  You see the same people that face off against you in court sometimes standing on the right side, standing up for First Amendment issues, standing up for something you agree with.
[15:06.190 --> 15:15.230]  And at the same time, and I'm not going to name names, sometimes you see the people that represent you standing in a situation that you find absolutely appalling.
[15:15.450 --> 15:17.490]  And that's just the way the legal world works.
[15:17.650 --> 15:20.010]  You defend people who seem indefensible.
[15:20.410 --> 15:22.830]  You stand up for things you don't necessarily believe in.
[15:22.990 --> 15:24.970]  And that's one of the reasons why I'm not in the legal world.
[15:25.850 --> 15:27.370]  So it's very interesting.
[15:27.370 --> 15:36.610]  This list of specially designated nationals is apparently sort of like the no-fly list in that no one knows how you get on it or how you get off it or very much about it.
[15:36.710 --> 15:39.450]  Well, some of the domains in question are...
[15:39.450 --> 15:43.630]  And we'll just eliminate the www because it's silly to keep saying www over and over again.
[15:43.630 --> 15:47.190]  In fact, I'm surprised here in 2008, we still say www.
[15:47.590 --> 15:50.070]  That should be something a lot shorter than www.
[15:50.330 --> 15:51.230]  Like maybe just one w?
[15:51.510 --> 15:52.490]  Maybe no w's?
[15:52.550 --> 15:53.130]  Why do we need it?
[15:53.230 --> 15:53.870]  World Wide Web.
[15:53.870 --> 15:54.950]  We know it's the World Wide Web.
[15:55.010 --> 15:56.150]  What else could you possibly type there?
[15:56.210 --> 15:58.470]  You've just spent far longer than any amount of w's.
[15:58.550 --> 15:58.650]  Right.
[15:58.710 --> 16:02.570]  It's a one-time investment in the discussion to eliminate www once and for all.
[16:02.630 --> 16:03.170]  I'm just saying.
[16:03.250 --> 16:04.690]  It takes time to say.
[16:04.890 --> 16:05.690]  You stumble over it.
[16:05.870 --> 16:06.650]  All that time wasted.
[16:06.810 --> 16:09.710]  So we're going to not say the www for all these domains.
[16:11.390 --> 16:13.490]  Cuba-HavanaCity.com.
[16:15.790 --> 16:17.110]  And CiaoCuba.com.
[16:17.170 --> 16:19.450]  C-I-A-O-C-U-B-A.com.
[16:19.590 --> 16:21.430]  And also BonjourCuba.com.
[16:21.430 --> 16:23.790]  Now, keep in mind, that might not work without the www.
[16:24.050 --> 16:27.290]  You might have to put the www in there, but I'm saying I didn't say it because...
[16:27.290 --> 16:28.010]  It doesn't work at all.
[16:28.330 --> 16:31.150]  Well, right now it doesn't work at all because they took the domains away.
[16:31.350 --> 16:44.330]  But also, if you type .net instead of .com for those sites, the guy owning them, Mr. Marshall, said that he put them on a European registrar with .net, so those should work as well.
[16:44.330 --> 16:49.770]  And also not shut down for no known reason is Cuba-Guantanamo.com.
[16:49.870 --> 16:50.930]  You can still go there.
[16:51.030 --> 16:51.210]  Really?
[16:51.410 --> 16:51.670]  Okay.
[16:52.470 --> 16:57.210]  Well, it's a dangerous world out there on the Internet, so you've got to be careful.
[16:57.510 --> 16:58.570]  You're a bunch of commies.
[16:59.830 --> 17:00.430]  All right.
[17:00.690 --> 17:01.470]  You know, Emmanuel?
[17:01.690 --> 17:01.950]  Yes.
[17:01.950 --> 17:21.430]  This seems like a great business opportunity for some company, not owned by an American, to set up a domain registrar in a country that doesn't necessarily have a do-whatever-you-want attitude towards the United States, do-whatever-the-U.S.
[17:21.450 --> 17:22.070]  -wants attitude.
[17:22.670 --> 17:31.210]  I would be happy to register some of my domains with a company that would not just buckle to the request of a U.S.
[17:32.290 --> 17:33.890]  government agency or a U.S.
[17:33.950 --> 17:35.950]  government court just because they said so.
[17:36.230 --> 17:36.710]  Right, right.
[17:36.890 --> 17:46.510]  We should probably try to find out what registrars around the world are least likely to buckle and have this chilling effect on free speech.
[17:46.510 --> 17:53.550]  I would imagine maybe ones in Russia, although they might have their own issues, and certainly if you can find a registrar in Cuba, that would work.
[17:54.370 --> 17:55.690]  Probably wouldn't be able to connect to it, though.
[17:55.810 --> 18:02.470]  Well, but I don't think there could be a registrar in Cuba because they would have to do business with ICANN, which is forbidden.
[18:03.030 --> 18:04.930]  They can't do business with ICANN, but there has to be.
[18:05.010 --> 18:05.730]  There's .cu.
[18:05.910 --> 18:08.690]  There's .cu, but not .com in Cuba.
[18:08.750 --> 18:09.530]  Okay, yeah, that's true.
[18:10.870 --> 18:11.830]  Okay, moving on.
[18:12.130 --> 18:13.170]  This just happened.
[18:13.270 --> 18:14.590]  Actually, Redbird, this affects you.
[18:14.590 --> 18:26.850]  This past Saturday, March 1st, New Jersey's revised cell phone law went into effect, and apparently, if you talk on a handheld cell phone, you get a ticket.
[18:27.310 --> 18:35.650]  It includes all kinds of electronic communication devices, which includes CBs and FRS and various things like that.
[18:35.850 --> 18:39.750]  However, however, amateur radio is excluded.
[18:39.930 --> 18:41.410]  There is a very specific clause.
[18:41.410 --> 18:46.170]  I mean, it's very obvious that amateur radio is excluded if you read the law, and I think that's...
[18:46.170 --> 18:47.250]  Why is amateur radio...
[18:47.250 --> 18:55.230]  Why do they get to go around holding things that are exactly the same as cell phones, except it's amateur radio, so all of a sudden, that's okay?
[18:55.450 --> 18:59.750]  I mean, keep in mind, I'm against it, period, but why special treatment for amateur radio?
[18:59.850 --> 19:18.010]  Well, I don't know what the proper way to defend this is, but it seems to me that it's not as distracting as talking on a cell phone, partially because most of the conversations that you have over the amateur radio frequencies, if you're identified as a mobile station,
[19:18.050 --> 19:25.110]  it's understood that you may not get to reply as quickly as other stations who are fixed or whatever.
[19:25.290 --> 19:29.890]  Anyway, it's just a lot easier to say, you know, hold on or whatever.
[19:29.890 --> 19:32.930]  You know, it's understood that you may not be able to talk as much.
[19:33.330 --> 19:35.950]  You really think that's the rationale behind it?
[19:36.010 --> 19:36.170]  It's all...
[19:36.170 --> 19:38.530]  Okay, so the rationale behind the law is most...
[19:38.530 --> 19:45.190]  I think that may be a reason why it makes it safer, but the rationale behind the law is that it can be used for emergency communications.
[19:45.430 --> 19:50.190]  Well, I mean, does anybody get a ticket for dialing 911 to report an accident because they used a cell phone to do it?
[19:50.190 --> 19:50.890]  I don't think that's it.
[19:50.950 --> 19:59.890]  I think it's because of the lobby of the amateur radio people, which, you know, my hat's off to them for actually having that kind of influence, but I don't think it's fair to the rest of the people.
[20:00.230 --> 20:12.110]  I mean, yeah, there's a lot of idiots out there who don't know how to drive and do something else at the same time, whether it's talking to a passenger or talking on a cell phone or, you know, eating a burger or whatever it is they do when they're driving.
[20:12.810 --> 20:14.590]  There's another exception, Emanuel.
[20:14.770 --> 20:20.330]  There's another exception in this law for two-way radio.
[20:20.530 --> 20:23.630]  So the cops in their cars can talk on their two-way radio.
[20:23.770 --> 20:24.770]  Well, I didn't think they'd get tickets.
[20:24.770 --> 20:25.710]  Well, you know...
[20:25.710 --> 20:26.930]  Cops and firefighters...
[20:26.930 --> 20:32.050]  But if you notice, almost every law has an exemption for law enforcement, and this does not apply to law enforcement officials.
[20:32.670 --> 20:35.130]  Yeah, like shooting people is an exemption for that.
[20:35.210 --> 20:36.130]  There's all kinds of exemptions.
[20:36.230 --> 20:36.510]  That's true.
[20:36.970 --> 20:39.870]  They also cover cell phones for cops and firefighters.
[20:40.010 --> 20:40.410]  There is a...
[20:40.410 --> 20:41.530]  There is definitely...
[20:41.530 --> 20:42.490]  Redbird is correct.
[20:42.490 --> 20:46.030]  There is a public safety nexus for amateur radio.
[20:46.150 --> 21:01.910]  Amateur radio was specifically designed, besides to advance the radio art, back in the day when it was a new technology, and in fact, hams still continue to develop a lot of new radio technologies prior to industry.
[21:02.390 --> 21:06.870]  But there is a public safety reason for existence for amateur radio.
[21:07.090 --> 21:08.310]  They help out on a lot of...
[21:08.810 --> 21:18.510]  Like down in Louisiana, when the Hurricane Katrina came through, ham radio was really the only communications link to the outside world.
[21:18.510 --> 21:23.350]  That's all fine and good, but we're talking about people driving in their cars, holding phones, and the equivalent.
[21:24.210 --> 21:25.110]  You know, I just...
[21:25.110 --> 21:29.770]  I've heard a lot of amateur radio conversations as I'm tuning on the radio, which is legal, by the way.
[21:30.130 --> 21:33.050]  And most of it isn't to help the public.
[21:33.050 --> 21:36.090]  It's not for public service, just like most of cell phone conversations aren't.
[21:36.250 --> 21:38.130]  And those that are, are not exempt.
[21:38.530 --> 21:42.490]  It just seems like it's just kind of not fair.
[21:42.490 --> 21:48.990]  Maybe the thinking, maybe the thinking is that the ham radio conversations are not really compelling enough to distract people.
[21:49.850 --> 21:50.910]  Yeah, I guess if you've...
[21:50.910 --> 21:51.770]  That's probably true, too.
[21:52.750 --> 22:02.350]  Speaking of cell phones, I was on the Long Island Railroad, and to help, help pass the time, I picked up those little newsletters called Train Talk that they leave in the seats.
[22:02.890 --> 22:05.530]  It's a publication for MTA, Long Island Railroad customers.
[22:05.590 --> 22:09.830]  Usually it's basically focusing on, well, we're sorry about last month, and we'll try to do better next month.
[22:09.830 --> 22:15.710]  Uh, this one, though, had a little interesting piece, uh, called, um, cell phones for train crews.
[22:15.970 --> 22:16.670]  Listen to this.
[22:16.750 --> 22:17.450]  This is exciting news.
[22:17.610 --> 22:27.910]  As part of an ongoing effort to improve communications with customers during service disruptions, your train crews will be receiving cell phones with text messaging capabilities.
[22:28.490 --> 22:28.870]  Wow.
[22:29.310 --> 22:30.150]  Isn't that amazing?
[22:30.430 --> 22:32.630]  They are moving right into the 1990s, aren't they?
[22:33.050 --> 22:37.890]  We plan to have the cell phones in the field and operational for more than 1,000 train personnel by April.
[22:38.010 --> 22:41.730]  But in the meantime, 20 of the phones have been deployed as a test.
[22:42.890 --> 22:43.770]  That's really funny.
[22:43.950 --> 22:44.590]  Oh, my God.
[22:44.710 --> 22:45.070]  20.
[22:45.230 --> 22:46.430]  Do you think that's too much, maybe?
[22:46.590 --> 22:48.350]  You don't want to overwhelm the Long Island Railroad here.
[22:48.450 --> 22:50.370]  20 cell phones with text messaging.
[22:50.530 --> 22:51.090]  Oh, my God.
[22:51.270 --> 22:57.630]  I don't know about the Long Island Railroad, but when I take Amtrak, there's often no cell service for, like, half my trip.
[22:57.830 --> 22:59.870]  How did they consider this?
[23:00.230 --> 23:02.070]  Uh, I'm sure they didn't, knowing that.
[23:02.070 --> 23:03.150]  It's mostly above ground, right?
[23:03.230 --> 23:04.070]  The Long Island Railroad.
[23:04.190 --> 23:04.330]  Yeah, yeah.
[23:04.430 --> 23:04.790]  So...
[23:04.790 --> 23:05.350]  That's true.
[23:05.450 --> 23:09.230]  But, you know, I was driving in today, and I'll admit it, I was talking on my cell phone as I was driving in.
[23:09.250 --> 23:10.330]  People call me, I have to answer.
[23:10.470 --> 23:10.750]  Criminal.
[23:11.050 --> 23:11.330]  Yeah.
[23:11.550 --> 23:16.330]  And I'm losing signal in Queens, on a major highway in Queens.
[23:16.630 --> 23:17.530]  I mean, that's...
[23:17.530 --> 23:19.030]  There are so many gaps.
[23:19.210 --> 23:20.190]  If you had amateur radio.
[23:20.570 --> 23:21.190]  Yeah, that's true.
[23:21.310 --> 23:21.870]  That's another point.
[23:22.050 --> 23:24.830]  Amateur radio, you don't lose signal nearly as much.
[23:25.170 --> 23:26.010]  I'll consider that.
[23:26.830 --> 23:28.330]  Okay, what else do we have going on?
[23:28.470 --> 23:29.910]  This I just saw, this is kind of weird.
[23:30.370 --> 23:37.690]  Travelers using Denver International Airport's free Wi-Fi service cannot visit internet sites that airport officials consider provocative.
[23:37.830 --> 23:38.730]  I'll bet we're on that list.
[23:38.990 --> 23:45.290]  A report in the Denver Post says the airport is blocking, get this, Vanity Fair Magazine's website.
[23:45.750 --> 23:46.270]  Yeah.
[23:46.610 --> 23:51.690]  And, um, also, uh, they're blocking boingboing.net and various other sites.
[23:52.070 --> 23:53.690]  Well, I'd love to know if we're on there.
[23:53.790 --> 23:54.330]  I'm sure we are.
[23:54.450 --> 23:58.510]  The important thing to remember is not the airport officials who consider these sites provocative.
[23:58.730 --> 24:06.150]  It's their, uh, sensorware vendor who's considering these sites provocative and even more likely the sensorware vendor's automated computer.
[24:06.570 --> 24:16.590]  Well, according to airport spokesman Chuck Cannon, he says airport officials decided to block access to potentially racy sites when the airport made its wireless internet service free in November.
[24:16.770 --> 24:25.270]  He says the airport would rather deal with infrequent complaints about access that can get ignored pretty easily than handle angry parents whose children might see pornography.
[24:25.450 --> 24:26.250]  It's all about the children.
[24:26.370 --> 24:26.910]  Don't forget that.
[24:26.910 --> 24:32.670]  Uh, critics say the airport is using the same technology used by repressive regimes in the Sudan and Kuwait.
[24:32.830 --> 24:34.930]  I'm not sure why they picked those two countries, but interesting.
[24:35.170 --> 24:38.630]  This is not an uncommon thing in, uh, free wireless providers.
[24:39.010 --> 24:39.490]  That's true.
[24:39.690 --> 24:40.710]  So why is this coming up now?
[24:41.330 --> 24:44.910]  Uh, I guess somebody made a big stink about it, but, um...
[24:44.910 --> 24:51.390]  It's incredible to me that that's actually the rationale, though, that, that they, they don't want children to see, you know, racy sites or whatever.
[24:51.490 --> 24:52.510]  But how do you argue with that?
[24:52.590 --> 24:53.870]  How do you argue with that sentiment?
[24:54.090 --> 24:56.910]  You know, if, if you disagree with this guy, then you're for pornography for children.
[24:56.910 --> 24:57.350]  Well, no.
[24:57.630 --> 25:01.750]  I mean, that's, that's, that's not the- How do you justify yourself by, by standing up for that kind of thing?
[25:01.910 --> 25:03.890]  You don't, you don't justify the behavior.
[25:04.090 --> 25:07.190]  You justify it based on the fact that they have access to it anywhere they go.
[25:07.890 --> 25:09.650]  I mean, it's not- So two wrongs make a right.
[25:10.390 --> 25:10.830]  You know?
[25:10.930 --> 25:11.530]  You see how it works?
[25:12.350 --> 25:13.910]  Yeah, no, I see exactly what you're saying, though.
[25:14.490 --> 25:23.770]  Um, it's, uh, I, I'd like to know how many sites like that exist, how many areas like that exist that block, um, sites like Vanity Fair and Boing Boing.
[25:24.110 --> 25:28.510]  I mean, reading pornography in public is not really my thing, but there are other ways to do it.
[25:28.970 --> 25:29.710]  Yeah, that's true.
[25:29.830 --> 25:30.290]  If it is your thing.
[25:31.290 --> 25:34.850]  Um, yeah, they sell those- In fact, most of the newsstands- They sell those magazines there, don't they?
[25:34.850 --> 25:35.350]  That's true.
[25:36.510 --> 25:38.550]  Okay, uh, what else is going on?
[25:38.650 --> 25:44.990]  Uh, Germany's highest court has restricted the right of the security services to spy on the computers of suspected criminals and terrorists.
[25:45.430 --> 25:50.590]  Under the technique, software sent in an email enables the authorities to spy on a suspect's computer hard drive.
[25:50.790 --> 25:59.710]  The federal constitutional court said, uh, cyber-spying violated individuals' rights to privacy and could be used only in exceptional cases.
[25:59.990 --> 26:04.450]  Civil liberties activists had warned of an unacceptable invasion of privacy.
[26:04.590 --> 26:05.930]  Why can't we pass a law like this?
[26:06.050 --> 26:06.890]  Because we're not German.
[26:07.650 --> 26:08.690]  But we're American.
[26:08.970 --> 26:09.350]  That's true.
[26:09.570 --> 26:17.450]  Well, to be fair, to be fair, the German, uh, uh, parliament did pass a law enabling this spying, and it's only the court that blocked it.
[26:17.590 --> 26:17.810]  Yeah.
[26:17.810 --> 26:18.290]  They're not.
[26:18.690 --> 26:24.450]  We could use that court to, uh, pass some, some laws, or, uh, I guess, uh, turn down some laws over here.
[26:24.830 --> 26:26.610]  Uh, can you borrow courts like that?
[26:26.810 --> 26:27.270]  Uh, maybe.
[26:27.510 --> 26:27.890]  Uh, yes, Bernie?
[26:28.470 --> 26:47.390]  It's worth noting that even if such a law were passed in this country, various, uh, law enforcement and intelligent agencies would, would flagrantly, uh, flout the law and just ignore it, like our own NSA and FBI and other law enforcement agencies routinely violate these privacy laws.
[26:47.570 --> 26:49.830]  With the help of telephone companies who later get exempted.
[26:50.370 --> 26:50.730]  Exactly.
[26:50.730 --> 26:55.110]  That's, that's what this whole, this whole, uh, immunity, uh, thing is about.
[26:55.290 --> 26:56.350]  It hasn't happened yet, though.
[26:56.450 --> 26:57.350]  It has not happened yet.
[26:57.630 --> 26:59.570]  Uh, that, that, that particular, uh, what is it?
[26:59.670 --> 27:04.250]  The 19, uh, I'm sorry, the 2007, uh, Protect America Act or something?
[27:04.410 --> 27:04.990]  Is that what it is?
[27:05.350 --> 27:07.270]  They always put these flowery names on it.
[27:07.470 --> 27:07.470]  Yeah.
[27:07.810 --> 27:11.410]  But it's still, it's, it has not been, uh, been, uh, extended.
[27:11.710 --> 27:13.410]  So it's, it's in limbo, which is a good thing.
[27:13.490 --> 27:19.970]  But there've been all these commercials on television, uh, about how right now we can't monitor terrorists because Congress refuses to act.
[27:20.110 --> 27:25.430]  And, you know, it's, it's this conservative think tank that's, uh, sponsoring all of this and really kind of scaring people.
[27:25.790 --> 27:28.250]  So, uh, not, not, don't believe what you hear.
[27:28.630 --> 27:29.850]  It's not necessarily true.
[27:30.010 --> 27:36.930]  Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble, who is the, uh, target of the, the Stasi 2.0 campaign that maybe some of our audience has seen.
[27:37.210 --> 27:41.810]  He welcomes the possibility of using this strategy of, of spying on users.
[27:41.810 --> 27:42.410]  Oh, I'm sure.
[27:42.810 --> 27:43.970]  Well, it's more than just spying.
[27:44.050 --> 27:48.610]  It's actually injecting their computers with, uh, uh, malware, I guess is the best way to say it.
[27:49.070 --> 27:49.390]  Sure.
[27:49.950 --> 27:50.430]  All right.
[27:50.650 --> 27:55.610]  Um, over in this country, uh, FBI director, Robert, uh, is it Mueller?
[27:56.130 --> 27:56.450]  Mueller?
[27:56.890 --> 27:57.210]  Miller?
[27:57.610 --> 27:57.990]  I don't know.
[27:58.170 --> 27:59.570]  It's M-U-E-L-L-E-R.
[27:59.710 --> 28:01.910]  I think it's, how would you say that, Bernie?
[28:02.690 --> 28:03.790]  I think it's pronounced Mueller.
[28:03.930 --> 28:04.090]  Mueller.
[28:04.250 --> 28:04.350]  Okay.
[28:04.370 --> 28:05.210]  That's what I, that's what I thought.
[28:05.310 --> 28:05.430]  Okay.
[28:05.430 --> 28:06.930]  Anyway, uh, apologies.
[28:07.130 --> 28:17.490]  Robert Mueller says, an upcoming Justice Department report will show the Bureau improperly used national security letters to obtain personal data on Americans during terror and spy investigations.
[28:17.790 --> 28:18.690]  Yes, I'm not kidding.
[28:18.930 --> 28:25.950]  It's actually the FBI director is saying an upcoming Justice Department report is going to show that they improperly use those national security letters.
[28:26.050 --> 28:27.410]  Those are really frightening letters, by the way.
[28:27.710 --> 28:29.490]  If you ever get one, you're not allowed to talk about it ever.
[28:29.730 --> 28:32.010]  And you have to give all the information about whoever they're asking about.
[28:32.650 --> 28:33.910]  Uh, now what's the catch?
[28:34.030 --> 28:37.670]  He says, yes, yes, we messed up, but only up until 2006.
[28:37.670 --> 28:42.650]  And after 2006, we enacted sweeping new reforms to prevent this from happening in the future.
[28:42.770 --> 28:45.090]  So everything's cool now, but look how bad it was before.
[28:45.770 --> 28:46.030]  Yeah.
[28:46.330 --> 28:47.530]  This is how they work.
[28:47.830 --> 28:48.870]  So get ready for that.
[28:48.990 --> 28:50.030]  That, that report's coming out.
[28:50.210 --> 28:54.850]  So do they explain in this report what other tools they found to abuse instead?
[28:55.130 --> 28:56.510]  No, it's a very short story, actually.
[28:56.750 --> 29:09.850]  Uh, but, uh, the, uh, report, uh, found that over a three-year period, the FBI had demanded personal data on, uh, people from banks, telephone, and internet providers, and credit bureaus without official authorization and in non-emergency circumstances.
[29:10.550 --> 29:11.950]  I guess they were just curious.
[29:12.610 --> 29:13.130]  Okay.
[29:13.330 --> 29:14.930]  And, uh, this is an interesting story.
[29:15.430 --> 29:21.990]  Um, Pakistan has rejected claims that it was responsible for blocking global access to the YouTube video clip site.
[29:22.230 --> 29:23.390]  You guys might've heard about that.
[29:23.550 --> 29:32.490]  Uh, YouTube was hard to reach this week following action by Pakistan to block access inside its borders for its hosting of a blasphemous video clip.
[29:32.790 --> 29:38.250]  Analysis suggests the block was taken up by net hardware that routes data effectively cutting off the site.
[29:38.390 --> 29:44.730]  But a spokeswoman for Pakistan's telecoms authority said the problem was caused by a malfunction elsewhere.
[29:45.370 --> 29:52.030]  Get this quote from, uh, uh, Shahzada Alam Malik, the head of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
[29:52.070 --> 29:55.290]  She said to the Associated Press, we are not hackers.
[29:55.530 --> 29:56.630]  Why would we do that?
[29:57.710 --> 29:59.690]  Why is YouTube being routed through Pakistan?
[30:00.010 --> 30:02.330]  Uh, no, this is for Pakistani users wanting to get to it.
[30:02.570 --> 30:02.710]  Okay.
[30:02.990 --> 30:03.150]  Yes.
[30:03.290 --> 30:03.290]  Yes.
[30:03.370 --> 30:04.810]  All of YouTube is not routed through Pakistan.
[30:05.130 --> 30:06.570]  But, uh, yeah, we are not hackers.
[30:06.730 --> 30:07.470]  We are not hackers.
[30:07.630 --> 30:08.750]  Why did we do such a thing?
[30:08.950 --> 30:11.410]  The answer is because they're government censors.
[30:11.790 --> 30:11.890]  Yeah.
[30:12.070 --> 30:14.510]  But, and because hackers don't do that kind of thing.
[30:14.630 --> 30:19.750]  Hackers figure out ways to route around the government Okay, what else?
[30:19.810 --> 30:20.770]  A lot of catching up to do.
[30:22.050 --> 30:22.850]  This is interesting.
[30:23.010 --> 30:25.530]  You know, of course, digital television is coming.
[30:26.310 --> 30:26.910]  It's coming.
[30:27.810 --> 30:30.190]  It's coming down our throats, you know.
[30:30.190 --> 30:31.450]  You know, I never got my voucher.
[30:31.950 --> 30:33.150]  I never got one either.
[30:33.230 --> 30:34.510]  I applied for my voucher.
[30:34.610 --> 30:35.110]  I never got it.
[30:35.230 --> 30:42.170]  Well, next year, next February 2009, you're going to have to have digital television or you won't be able to watch TV anymore.
[30:43.470 --> 30:44.370]  Except for cable.
[30:44.370 --> 30:46.730]  If you have digital cable, if you have a satellite, it doesn't affect you.
[30:46.730 --> 30:47.150]  No, no, no, no.
[30:47.250 --> 30:48.310]  Regular cable works.
[30:48.930 --> 30:50.210]  Regular cable will not be affected.
[30:50.290 --> 30:51.490]  Will there even be regular cable then?
[30:51.610 --> 30:51.990]  Yeah, sure.
[30:52.070 --> 30:52.330]  All right.
[30:52.810 --> 30:55.190]  So if you have cable, if you have satellite, then you're not affected.
[30:55.250 --> 30:57.450]  But if you don't, then you have to get one of these vouchers.
[30:57.490 --> 31:00.050]  Does anybody have the email or the website address for that?
[31:00.650 --> 31:02.790]  I'm going to give people a website that doesn't do anything?
[31:02.990 --> 31:04.370]  Well, actually, I was accepted.
[31:04.490 --> 31:05.750]  I gave a different address this time.
[31:05.890 --> 31:07.830]  You were accepted, but did you actually get the mail?
[31:08.050 --> 31:09.070]  No, but I know somebody who did.
[31:09.210 --> 31:12.270]  I forget who they were, but somebody got their actual voucher.
[31:12.270 --> 31:16.350]  All right, so at least one person somewhere in America has indeed received their voucher.
[31:16.430 --> 31:16.770]  That's good.
[31:16.950 --> 31:18.570]  Yeah, it does happen occasionally.
[31:18.810 --> 31:24.150]  Now, this is a voucher to get a converter box to convert your television set to digital.
[31:24.470 --> 31:26.690]  Well, it's a $40 voucher.
[31:27.670 --> 31:32.130]  The digital converter box probably won't be as cheap as $40.
[31:32.130 --> 31:34.170]  It'll probably be between $50 and $60.
[31:34.170 --> 31:42.770]  But it will largely subsidize the cost of up to two digital television receiver converter boxes per household.
[31:43.510 --> 31:44.110]  Okay.
[31:45.170 --> 31:55.430]  Yeah, and anyway, the story here is Hispanics are nearly twice as likely as whites to be left without television service following the nationwide transition to digital broadcasting next year.
[31:55.430 --> 31:56.530]  That's according to a new survey.
[31:56.810 --> 32:10.570]  Now, as we mentioned, beginning in February 2009, full-power broadcast stations will transmit digital-only signals, meaning people who get their television programming over an antenna and do not have a digital set won't get a picture without a special converter box.
[32:10.830 --> 32:16.210]  The Nielsen survey released on Friday estimates that more than 13 million households in the U.S.
[32:16.290 --> 32:20.970]  receive television programming over the air on non-digital sets, meaning they will need converter boxes.
[32:21.110 --> 32:24.550]  Another 6 million households contain at least one television set that fits that description.
[32:25.610 --> 32:34.190]  And basically, the researchers found that 10.1% of all households would have no access to television signals if the transition occurred today, broken down by race.
[32:34.430 --> 32:42.410]  8.8% of whites would be unready, 11.7% of Asians, 12.4% of blacks, and 17.3% of Hispanics.
[32:42.910 --> 32:50.870]  And by age, if you're interested in that, those 35 and younger, 12.3%, 55 and older, 9.4%.
[32:50.870 --> 32:52.690]  So actually, more younger people.
[32:52.690 --> 33:06.690]  You know, as much as I hate, this is a side note, as much as I hate the analog or the removal of the analog stations, I got to say, there are some really neat PC receivers for the digital television, for the ATSC stations.
[33:07.810 --> 33:08.810]  And it's incredible.
[33:08.930 --> 33:15.710]  I mean, it is incredible the amount of bandwidth that they're pushing over the air for like, you know, 1080i reception and stuff like that.
[33:15.790 --> 33:17.930]  I mean, it looks really great, you know, on your PC.
[33:18.650 --> 33:23.790]  So now you have to have a computer to watch television, if you don't have a digital...
[33:25.930 --> 33:26.770]  I don't know.
[33:26.870 --> 33:34.550]  I just think that this is going to be a train wreck, that, you know, in less than a year from now, there's going to be millions of people who won't be able to get television anymore.
[33:34.650 --> 33:35.230]  Oh, I don't disagree.
[33:35.890 --> 33:39.130]  And while it's not necessarily a bad thing, they're going to be screaming mad.
[33:39.330 --> 33:59.390]  And just this past few days, FCC Commissioner Copps, his last name, C-O-P-P-S, he's probably one of the best FCC commissioners, he argued that this is going to be a train wreck, and we need to start doing some testing now, like, to see where people are going to not be able to receive digital television,
[33:59.390 --> 34:04.650]  because there's a lot of communities where they can receive analog, but the range of the digital stations is much less.
[34:05.010 --> 34:10.590]  So, and you don't get a snowy picture, like a weak picture you can sort of tolerate when digital television is weak.
[34:10.730 --> 34:12.030]  It just drops off completely.
[34:13.050 --> 34:18.950]  Yeah, it's going to be madness and mayhem February 2009, and you know, all the blame is going to fall on President Obama.
[34:20.690 --> 34:21.810]  Kevin, not Kevin, sorry.
[34:22.690 --> 34:23.290]  Well, I think this is...
[34:23.290 --> 34:24.510]  Kevin, you sit down, not Kevin, go ahead.
[34:24.670 --> 34:25.750]  I think this is a great thing.
[34:25.850 --> 34:28.970]  I hope it is a complete train wreck, because then more people might actually go outside.
[34:29.490 --> 34:30.270]  That would be nice.
[34:30.390 --> 34:30.950]  That would be nice.
[34:31.390 --> 34:31.710]  Yeah.
[34:32.130 --> 34:32.670]  I found the website.
[34:32.670 --> 34:33.930]  They could listen to radio, WBAN.
[34:33.930 --> 34:34.350]  That's true.
[34:34.550 --> 34:35.390]  Radio's not going anywhere.
[34:36.030 --> 34:37.430]  I mean, radio's not changing.
[34:37.710 --> 34:38.690]  We're going places, for sure.
[34:38.690 --> 34:41.270]  But I found the website, www...
[34:41.270 --> 34:42.050]  I did it again.
[34:42.190 --> 34:42.790]  I'm sorry.
[34:42.910 --> 34:43.730]  I'm sorry for saying that again.
[34:46.410 --> 34:47.290]  DTV2009.gov.
[34:48.250 --> 34:49.130]  DTV2009.gov.
[34:50.070 --> 34:56.470]  Now, just to add to Bernie's point, there are contour maps that you can look up online, and I don't remember specifically the source for them.
[34:56.590 --> 35:03.390]  But there are contour maps that show the digital television reception areas and, like, marginal reception areas and whatnot.
[35:03.390 --> 35:11.470]  But there have been a number of research studies that have actually taken samples and shown that it's nowhere near the prediction.
[35:11.690 --> 35:15.390]  I mean, the prediction models that they use for these contour service maps were just terrible.
[35:15.630 --> 35:23.890]  And it's actually a real problem that people who are able to receive analog television now aren't going to get anything with the digital television receivers.
[35:24.990 --> 35:25.710]  All right.
[35:25.910 --> 35:27.430]  Well, we promised we'd take phone calls.
[35:27.550 --> 35:29.970]  Our phone number, 212-209-2900.
[35:29.970 --> 35:35.250]  Please start calling us, and we'll take phone calls as soon as those lights start lighting up.
[35:36.110 --> 35:43.650]  I guess we hit a milestone over the last few weeks when we weren't on the air or when we were doing fundraising.
[35:44.130 --> 35:47.090]  But the United States now imprisons 1 in 100 adults.
[35:47.290 --> 35:47.970]  What do you think of that, Bernie?
[35:48.730 --> 35:50.370]  It's actually slightly more than that.
[35:50.450 --> 35:53.990]  It's like 1 out of 99 adults is now in prison.
[35:54.170 --> 36:00.010]  So the United States now is the world leader, as in many things, a world leader in incarcerating its own citizens.
[36:00.470 --> 36:03.830]  Do you think Americans are just in generally badder people?
[36:04.270 --> 36:05.710]  Or is there something else going on here?
[36:05.710 --> 36:06.390]  Well, we're pretty bad.
[36:06.550 --> 36:08.290]  You know, we fought the law all the time.
[36:08.450 --> 36:12.950]  As I mentioned, I talked on my cell phone on the way into the city while I was driving in my car, so there's that.
[36:13.070 --> 36:14.350]  I'm sure the people are doing worse things.
[36:14.710 --> 36:20.590]  We should be clear that what happened over the recently is not that all these Americans suddenly got locked up.
[36:20.690 --> 36:23.410]  It's that someone finally bothered to count and do a study.
[36:23.610 --> 36:25.810]  So this has been going on for at least some time.
[36:25.810 --> 36:30.490]  And now we know for sure that it is indeed 1% of American adults are in prison.
[36:30.690 --> 36:39.370]  And 1 in 15 adult black men is in prison, or 1 in 9 black men ages 20 to 34, 1 in 36 adult Hispanic men.
[36:39.670 --> 36:41.170]  It's simply incredible.
[36:41.370 --> 36:50.590]  And the total prison population, it grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to almost 1.6 million after three decades of growth.
[36:51.330 --> 36:56.150]  And in addition to that, another 723,000 people are in local jails.
[36:57.190 --> 36:58.950]  So that's, you know, it's a sizable.
[36:58.990 --> 37:01.470]  We only have, what, a couple of hundred million people in this country?
[37:01.670 --> 37:02.890]  And crime was down.
[37:03.130 --> 37:04.330]  I mean, especially violent crime.
[37:04.330 --> 37:06.750]  And they're going to say that's why crime is down, because all these people are locked away.
[37:06.830 --> 37:10.010]  Well, that's sort of silly, but okay.
[37:10.210 --> 37:14.750]  But that's the same logic that makes it so that President Bush has been protecting us.
[37:14.890 --> 37:16.450]  And that's why there hasn't been another 9-11.
[37:17.170 --> 37:19.010]  All right, enough of that.
[37:19.130 --> 37:20.590]  212-209-2900.
[37:20.930 --> 37:21.810]  Is the phone broken?
[37:22.010 --> 37:24.730]  The opportunity for another 9-11 only comes around once a year.
[37:25.430 --> 37:26.410]  That's a good point.
[37:27.350 --> 37:29.290]  I'll bring that up next time somebody says that.
[37:30.790 --> 37:32.190]  Okay, let's see what we got here.
[37:33.350 --> 37:35.390]  Let's read a couple of letters.
[37:35.530 --> 37:39.610]  We have gotten a lot of letters to OTH at 2600.com.
[37:39.730 --> 37:43.890]  And we have not been able to catch up to quite a few of them, actually.
[37:44.830 --> 37:47.370]  I was listening to your latest show, January 10th.
[37:47.430 --> 37:51.390]  You can see how out of date we are.
[37:51.570 --> 37:54.050]  I heard you shout out to other hack radio shows.
[37:54.090 --> 37:58.790]  I do a show on one of Olympia, Washington's pirate radio stations, Free Radio Olympia, 98.5 FM.
[38:00.150 --> 38:00.950]  Or WW...
[38:00.950 --> 38:01.610]  Sorry.
[38:04.150 --> 38:04.950]  FROlympia.org.
[38:05.410 --> 38:07.050]  FreeRadioOlympia.org for the stream.
[38:07.250 --> 38:09.550]  I don't do a hacker show, per se, as I mostly play music.
[38:09.550 --> 38:15.150]  But whenever I discover a new hack, whether techno or societal, I like to share it with my listeners.
[38:15.450 --> 38:16.830]  I've read your magazine before.
[38:17.750 --> 38:18.590]  Hope you don't mind.
[38:18.670 --> 38:21.130]  But we are pirate, and I promoted your magazine and website.
[38:21.250 --> 38:24.770]  Yeah, we take a very strict view about pirate radio stations promoting us.
[38:25.510 --> 38:26.890]  We insist upon it.
[38:27.590 --> 38:33.710]  Anyway, I admit I was waiting for the FCC to kick in our door and my teeth after I read the article on the air about Target's Wi-Fi network.
[38:34.410 --> 38:38.210]  I get the off-the-hook show on our station.
[38:38.330 --> 38:41.730]  I put the off-the-hook show on our station, and I hope that's also okay.
[38:42.890 --> 38:43.290]  Signed...
[38:43.290 --> 38:46.770]  Well, I can't read your name on the air because it contains an obscenity, but I'll just say DJ.
[38:48.350 --> 38:52.950]  Yes, we definitely encourage people to do just that, to take our show.
[38:53.090 --> 38:53.790]  Take it off the internet.
[38:54.270 --> 39:01.610]  You can even get a high-fidelity version for a couple of weeks after it goes up and download that.
[39:01.770 --> 39:03.170]  Play that on your radio station, for sure.
[39:03.830 --> 39:06.390]  Just make sure you're not kicking somebody local off to do that.
[39:06.530 --> 39:09.170]  This is a good thing to do when you have nobody to fill the time.
[39:10.390 --> 39:17.930]  And if you're listening to us on a different... on a pirate radio station somewhere, or if you listen to us on the station from Olympia, Washington, we'd like to hear it from you.
[39:18.250 --> 39:19.790]  OTH at 2600.com.
[39:20.550 --> 39:23.070]  Right now, we'd like to hear from people at 212-209-2900.
[39:23.470 --> 39:24.110]  See who's out there.
[39:24.170 --> 39:24.830]  We have a few calls.
[39:25.850 --> 39:26.090]  All right.
[39:26.310 --> 39:27.410]  See, hopefully we won't get a dial tone.
[39:27.530 --> 39:27.890]  Good evening.
[39:28.430 --> 39:29.090]  You're on Off The Hook.
[39:29.490 --> 39:30.050]  Yes, hi.
[39:30.170 --> 39:30.990]  Where do we get...
[39:30.990 --> 39:32.050]  Where can we buy the magazine?
[39:32.250 --> 39:32.790]  I'm a new listener.
[39:32.790 --> 39:34.310]  Where can you buy the magazine?
[39:34.590 --> 39:36.350]  Well, basically, most of the...
[39:36.350 --> 39:37.070]  Are you in the United States?
[39:37.790 --> 39:38.150]  Oh, yeah.
[39:38.270 --> 39:38.910]  In New York, Manhattan.
[39:39.270 --> 39:39.450]  Okay.
[39:40.110 --> 39:42.650]  The chain bookstores...
[39:42.650 --> 39:43.350]  Chain bookstores?
[39:43.450 --> 39:44.390]  Yeah, you know, the chain bookstores.
[39:44.410 --> 39:46.030]  I don't want to mention them by name, but you know what they are.
[39:46.530 --> 39:49.750]  They're the ones that have like a thousand stores around the country.
[39:50.250 --> 39:54.330]  And also, in New York, a lot of the local bookstores as well.
[39:54.430 --> 39:55.930]  In fact, practically all the local bookstores.
[39:56.450 --> 39:57.790]  You'll be able to find us there as well.
[39:58.050 --> 39:59.790]  And your website is 2600 at...
[40:01.190 --> 40:01.830]  2600.com.
[40:02.090 --> 40:02.750]  Dot com.
[40:03.070 --> 40:04.610]  And you can put the W's in front of it if you want.
[40:05.050 --> 40:05.290]  Right.
[40:05.630 --> 40:05.930]  All right.
[40:06.150 --> 40:06.950]  2600.com.
[40:07.670 --> 40:11.350]  And what do you think of this new television thing?
[40:11.410 --> 40:13.010]  Because you were mentioning it a few minutes ago.
[40:13.850 --> 40:17.330]  But the percentages of people that won't be able to get...
[40:17.330 --> 40:18.630]  They're going to do well with analog.
[40:19.010 --> 40:20.470]  Yeah, well, you know, it's...
[40:20.470 --> 40:22.170]  To me, I wonder why...
[40:22.170 --> 40:27.430]  Of all the things to upgrade in this country, why focus so much attention on that?
[40:27.530 --> 40:28.030]  On the television.
[40:28.170 --> 40:28.910]  Yeah, I was wondering about that.
[40:28.910 --> 40:30.690]  Why not upgrade our rail system?
[40:30.810 --> 40:33.470]  Why not upgrade the roads, which are atrocious?
[40:33.650 --> 40:36.190]  Why not build more schools?
[40:36.430 --> 40:36.850]  Or I don't know.
[40:36.910 --> 40:40.210]  There's too many things we could be doing instead of making TV digital.
[40:40.210 --> 40:41.870]  Because it's still going to be crap.
[40:41.910 --> 40:44.050]  And it's just going to be looking nicer.
[40:44.170 --> 40:44.850]  But it's still going to be nonsense.
[40:44.850 --> 40:48.570]  I was going to say, if they must upgrade television, the least they could do was upgrade the content.
[40:49.310 --> 40:50.790]  Yeah, how do you do that exactly?
[40:51.050 --> 40:52.170]  Thanks for that call.
[40:52.250 --> 40:53.290]  Let's go down here now.
[40:53.710 --> 40:54.110]  Good evening.
[40:54.230 --> 40:54.910]  You're on Off the Hook.
[40:56.230 --> 40:56.790]  Go ahead.
[40:56.930 --> 40:57.070]  Hello.
[40:57.330 --> 40:58.290]  Yes, what's on your mind?
[40:58.810 --> 41:02.910]  What's your objection to having one out of a hundred Americans incarcerated?
[41:03.190 --> 41:04.050]  Maybe they deserve it.
[41:04.790 --> 41:05.790]  You really believe that?
[41:05.990 --> 41:08.390]  I mean, do you see a lot of people out there committing crimes?
[41:08.550 --> 41:10.690]  Or do you really think that many people are bad?
[41:11.370 --> 41:11.690]  Both.
[41:12.250 --> 41:12.650]  Okay.
[41:12.910 --> 41:15.530]  Well, give me some background on that.
[41:16.130 --> 41:18.530]  Well, look at the illegal immigrant population.
[41:18.530 --> 41:21.050]  All of them should be incarcerated until they're deported.
[41:21.630 --> 41:26.370]  And then you just have so many other people who are doing things that are illegal and should be illegal.
[41:26.690 --> 41:28.770]  So I don't have any objection to it at all.
[41:28.870 --> 41:29.970]  I don't see why anybody would.
[41:30.250 --> 41:31.910]  Mike, what kinds of things are you referring to?
[41:31.970 --> 41:33.250]  Are you referring to just violent crimes?
[41:33.250 --> 41:35.010]  Are you referring to just jaywalking?
[41:35.150 --> 41:35.250]  What?
[41:36.270 --> 41:38.050]  Well, not so much the jaywalking.
[41:38.150 --> 41:40.110]  You know, let's not get carried away.
[41:40.870 --> 41:43.690]  But anybody driving a smart car, we can start with that.
[41:45.850 --> 41:46.450]  Thank you.
[41:46.550 --> 41:47.610]  Thank you so much for that.
[41:47.670 --> 41:48.750]  You just made my day.
[41:50.050 --> 41:50.390]  Okay.
[41:50.550 --> 41:51.410]  Well, you know, it's important.
[41:51.430 --> 41:56.330]  With over 2 million people incarcerated in this country, that we not get carried away.
[41:56.550 --> 41:57.590]  Yeah, that's an important thing to remember.
[41:57.810 --> 41:58.610]  What were the...
[41:58.610 --> 42:00.790]  Did it say whether or not they were citizens?
[42:01.270 --> 42:02.050]  Of course, yeah.
[42:02.250 --> 42:04.630]  This is just people who are citizens of the country.
[42:04.630 --> 42:05.670]  I don't think we're...
[42:05.670 --> 42:08.550]  I mean, we're locking people who aren't citizens of the country in Guantanamo Bay.
[42:08.730 --> 42:11.650]  So, we have standards for where we put people.
[42:11.810 --> 42:12.130]  Good evening.
[42:12.230 --> 42:12.730]  You're on Off the Hook.
[42:12.950 --> 42:15.730]  Yeah, I think we should lock up the rich, actually.
[42:15.730 --> 42:23.270]  I think the ruling class and all the cops and the FBI and those that serve Wall Street, they really deserve to be in jail.
[42:23.330 --> 42:24.390]  Well, you know, we're on Wall Street.
[42:24.450 --> 42:24.970]  You know that, right?
[42:25.030 --> 42:25.730]  Yes, I know.
[42:25.730 --> 42:26.630]  I've been down there.
[42:26.750 --> 42:28.590]  I've been on Bob Fass's show.
[42:28.830 --> 42:30.770]  So, yeah, I know.
[42:30.970 --> 42:33.130]  How about Wall Street west of Water Street?
[42:33.210 --> 42:33.770]  How about that?
[42:34.630 --> 42:35.450]  That's your problem.
[42:35.710 --> 42:36.310]  Well, it is.
[42:36.350 --> 42:37.150]  You're right about that.
[42:37.270 --> 42:37.550]  Okay.
[42:39.570 --> 42:40.290]  I'm personally...
[42:40.290 --> 42:51.570]  You know, my big bug up my butt is when I hook my TV set up to my DVD player, which is brand new, I get snow all over my screen.
[42:51.770 --> 42:53.030]  And, like, I don't know how...
[42:53.030 --> 42:57.230]  I go through incredible changes trying to get rid of it now.
[42:57.410 --> 42:57.810]  Wait, wait, wait.
[42:57.870 --> 43:01.050]  You get no signal at all if you hook your DVD player up to your TV set?
[43:01.070 --> 43:01.710]  I get a signal.
[43:01.710 --> 43:02.750]  Well, but...
[43:02.750 --> 43:10.190]  And, you know, it comes through with a picture, but the picture is covered with, like, I guess for lack of a better term, snow.
[43:10.510 --> 43:10.810]  Uh-huh.
[43:10.990 --> 43:12.710]  And do you see a picture at all?
[43:13.050 --> 43:13.410]  As far as...
[43:13.410 --> 43:15.890]  Okay, so it's just basically a bad picture you're seeing.
[43:16.010 --> 43:16.270]  Yeah.
[43:16.370 --> 43:18.730]  I don't know if it's my TV or the DVD player.
[43:18.750 --> 43:19.910]  I think it might be the cable.
[43:20.030 --> 43:21.330]  Have you tried swapping it out?
[43:22.430 --> 43:22.790]  No.
[43:23.090 --> 43:23.950]  Use a different cable.
[43:24.130 --> 43:25.870]  Just try everything twice.
[43:27.010 --> 43:30.510]  Yeah, it could be a connection inside either the DVD player or the TV set.
[43:30.670 --> 43:33.770]  If you've been able to connect something else to the TV set, then you know it's not that.
[43:33.990 --> 43:39.750]  If the DVD player takes it to a friend's house, if you can connect that to their TV set, then you know it's not the DVD player.
[43:39.830 --> 43:42.030]  You just got to eliminate all the possibilities.
[43:42.650 --> 43:42.810]  Okay.
[43:43.090 --> 43:43.310]  All right.
[43:43.370 --> 43:43.710]  Good luck.
[43:44.810 --> 43:47.030]  Hopefully, you'll be able to watch digital television when it comes out.
[43:47.110 --> 43:47.430]  Good evening.
[43:47.930 --> 43:48.830]  You're on Off the Hook.
[43:49.590 --> 43:49.910]  Yes.
[43:50.470 --> 43:51.030]  What's on your mind?
[43:51.510 --> 43:56.310]  I just wanted to tell you why hams are exempt in Jersey.
[43:56.710 --> 43:56.850]  Okay.
[43:56.930 --> 43:57.150]  Go ahead.
[43:58.650 --> 43:59.350]  Well, oh.
[43:59.550 --> 43:59.690]  Okay.
[43:59.750 --> 44:00.130]  We're on the air.
[44:00.250 --> 44:00.450]  Let me turn off the radio.
[44:00.470 --> 44:00.630]  Yes.
[44:00.630 --> 44:01.770]  You're on the air and you're on delay.
[44:02.030 --> 44:02.330]  Right.
[44:02.370 --> 44:02.810]  All right.
[44:03.230 --> 44:11.270]  Well, the reason is that the ham license is a federal license and it supersedes anything the city and state may want to license.
[44:11.670 --> 44:12.030]  Interesting.
[44:12.250 --> 44:12.870]  That's a good point.
[44:12.990 --> 44:13.090]  Yeah.
[44:13.450 --> 44:16.450]  And a federal license would supersede that, I suppose.
[44:16.650 --> 44:23.330]  It's one of the reasons why I became a ham, so I could listen to the cops in the car on a ham radio and not have to be bothering with the scanner permit.
[44:23.690 --> 44:23.990]  That's true.
[44:24.210 --> 44:24.370]  Yeah.
[44:24.510 --> 44:25.230]  That's another good point.
[44:25.390 --> 44:29.270]  But also, in relation to that, I think there's something you guys may want to look into.
[44:29.530 --> 44:35.690]  I saw the NYPD Auto Crime Squad slowly moving through the neighborhood.
[44:36.790 --> 44:48.530]  It looked like they had two small spotlight things hooked to the trunk that were sort of aimed, as they were driving by, they'd be aimed at the license plates.
[44:48.650 --> 44:49.170]  Oh, yes.
[44:49.190 --> 44:50.750]  They may be using some license plate reader.
[44:50.870 --> 44:52.010]  I don't know if you guys are aware of that.
[44:52.070 --> 44:52.910]  Well, we know that exists.
[44:53.010 --> 44:56.110]  I have not yet seen them doing that, but about how fast were they going?
[44:57.010 --> 45:05.330]  Slow enough that, you know, I always catch the guys working for the marshals doing it, but they're coming down the street typing into some wireless thing with no hands on the wheel.
[45:05.690 --> 45:09.010]  I always get into fights with them because they take their picture and they get all bent out of shape.
[45:10.290 --> 45:12.430]  But, you know, they were going about that fast.
[45:12.770 --> 45:17.790]  So, you know, slow enough that you knew that if you thought they were trying to read something, that's what it looked like.
[45:18.270 --> 45:21.670]  I'm actually starting to see a lot more of these license plate readers all up and down the East Coast.
[45:21.850 --> 45:21.970]  Yeah.
[45:22.010 --> 45:22.950]  Well, I took a picture of it.
[45:23.010 --> 45:23.650]  I have a picture of it.
[45:23.750 --> 45:23.990]  Really?
[45:24.090 --> 45:24.870]  Could you send that to us?
[45:24.930 --> 45:25.710]  Can you send it by email?
[45:26.510 --> 45:27.070]  Let's see.
[45:27.370 --> 45:28.750]  I was just on your thing there.
[45:28.850 --> 45:29.070]  All right.
[45:29.570 --> 45:31.350]  If I can find it, I'll send it over to you.
[45:31.850 --> 45:41.270]  All it looks like is, have you ever seen those lamps that, imitate like a Klieg light that you have on your desk, like a black cylinder the size of a beer can?
[45:41.630 --> 45:42.030]  Okay.
[45:42.050 --> 45:42.470]  I think so.
[45:42.730 --> 45:45.050]  And I don't know if you know what a trunk-mounted antenna is.
[45:45.070 --> 45:49.590]  You know, on the lip, it would be mounted there with two wires, obviously a temporary hookup.
[45:49.750 --> 45:49.990]  Uh-huh.
[45:50.130 --> 45:53.850]  And they'd be pointing forwards at a 45-degree angle down.
[45:54.370 --> 46:00.390]  So if you were, like, aiming a flashlight off the trunk of the car at the license plates as they go by, that's how it was aimed.
[46:00.610 --> 46:01.270]  Ooh, Morse code.
[46:01.530 --> 46:01.890]  Yes.
[46:02.130 --> 46:02.270]  All right.
[46:02.270 --> 46:03.390]  Let's not put that over the edge.
[46:03.490 --> 46:04.230]  You know who I am.
[46:04.470 --> 46:07.410]  Some of you guys actually can do that by ear.
[46:07.510 --> 46:09.710]  Now, I'm sure people are already gathering to figure that out.
[46:09.930 --> 46:12.750]  Well, the guys who can do that, they recognize my voice.
[46:12.890 --> 46:13.370]  They know who I am.
[46:13.750 --> 46:20.950]  Now, as far as these license plate readers, though, I was under the impression they could go much faster, like highway speed, and still be able to grab every plate that passed.
[46:20.950 --> 46:22.290]  I have no information on that.
[46:22.470 --> 46:35.070]  All I know is that a police car, and actually, I was headed to the corner where they arrested somebody, and I don't know if this was an arrest in connection with them driving along and reading the plate and finding out it was a stolen car, but before I got there,
[46:35.090 --> 46:47.650]  they turned the corner and came towards me, so I couldn't see what actually went on there, but I know they were the police because that's where they were coming from, and as they left, they went slow enough that it looked like they were reading the plates.
[46:47.650 --> 46:59.070]  But how fast they can go with that, I don't know, I'm just, all I'm actually calling and telling you, I've seen an undercover police car with some strange stuff on the trunk that I haven't seen before, and I know all the antennas and all of that, so.
[46:59.470 --> 47:07.650]  When we first talked about this a few months back, I remember having a statistic of like a thousand plates a minute, or some ridiculously high number like that.
[47:07.790 --> 47:10.710]  Yeah, so you could do that from an airplane, I guess, and get everything.
[47:10.910 --> 47:12.730]  It's scary, but thanks for letting us know.
[47:12.850 --> 47:13.510]  Okay, no problem.
[47:13.610 --> 47:13.890]  All right.
[47:14.110 --> 47:16.730]  That's what we depend on, is our listeners keeping their eyes open.
[47:16.730 --> 47:19.130]  212-209-2900 is our phone number.
[47:19.330 --> 47:24.530]  Well, I mean, cops are always driving around really slowly, so they could have been doing something else while staying.
[47:24.530 --> 47:28.070]  Yeah, thinking about other things, you know, you can't expect them to always be focusing on the job at hand.
[47:28.590 --> 47:34.170]  They're thinking about whether they're going to buy milk on the way home, and who won the ball game today, and various things like that.
[47:34.690 --> 47:36.330]  It's a good thing they're not doing that while they're speeding.
[47:37.010 --> 47:37.890]  Okay, let's take another phone call.
[47:37.990 --> 47:39.370]  212-209-2900.
[47:39.490 --> 47:40.150]  Do you have something in that, Kevin?
[47:40.230 --> 47:41.010]  Just about the cameras.
[47:41.210 --> 47:43.250]  Again, they're not always rear-mounted.
[47:43.550 --> 47:46.410]  I've seen several versions of them on top of the car.
[47:46.410 --> 47:48.950]  Next time you see one of these, let me know, because I've yet to see one.
[47:49.130 --> 47:49.970]  They're all over the place.
[47:50.070 --> 47:50.550]  Are they really?
[47:50.770 --> 47:54.270]  Okay, we're going to go out scouting for them later on tonight, because I want to see these things.
[47:55.090 --> 47:55.410]  Emmanuel?
[47:55.570 --> 47:55.950]  Yes, go ahead.
[47:56.230 --> 47:59.030]  This brings up an interesting opportunity for spoofing these things.
[48:02.030 --> 48:16.570]  Well, if someone could find out what the... some wanted license plates of, like, some really, really bad people that they're looking for, like somebody on the terrorist watch list or something, if they have license plates, to just make facsimiles of these,
[48:16.770 --> 48:22.530]  you know, just make fake versions of these license plates, which would not be illegal unless you put them on a vehicle.
[48:22.770 --> 48:42.930]  But if you tack them onto, like, utility poles, or sort of at the same angle that these license cameras would be scanning, it would really slow down the police a lot, because it would be grabbing all these fake plates that belong to really bad... the number belonged to really bad people.
[48:43.090 --> 48:45.510]  I think we should try to experiment with that, and I don't think it would be illegal.
[48:45.770 --> 48:53.010]  I nominate you as the head of that committee to explore a particular project that sounds like a whole lot of fun for everybody.
[48:53.210 --> 48:54.390]  Let's take a phone call.
[48:55.350 --> 48:55.830]  And good evening.
[48:55.990 --> 48:56.590]  You're on Off the Hook.
[48:57.270 --> 48:58.050]  Hey, how's it going?
[48:58.210 --> 48:58.610]  How you doing?
[48:59.530 --> 49:11.570]  I'm just curious, with all the... with the switch, the television switch to digital, what's going to happen to all the analog equipment, and is this an opportunity for people to start, like, pirate television stations?
[49:12.850 --> 49:13.670]  Well, interesting.
[49:13.930 --> 49:16.790]  Those frequencies are going to be occupied by other services at that point.
[49:16.930 --> 49:18.770]  But what are you going to see on your old TV set?
[49:18.850 --> 49:23.350]  Are you going to see something like the equivalent of, say, cell phone calls on Channel 83?
[49:23.570 --> 49:26.050]  Well, you're not going to be able to demodulate anything with your television set.
[49:26.110 --> 49:30.690]  You might see stranger-looking noise, but depending on the modulation scheme that the transmitters are using.
[49:31.150 --> 49:31.470]  Right.
[49:31.590 --> 49:34.310]  But the analog equipment is still going to work if you have cable.
[49:34.310 --> 49:35.530]  So, it's not a matter of...
[49:35.530 --> 49:37.330]  Is it analog equipment in terms of broadcasting?
[49:37.650 --> 49:38.870]  Oh, in terms of broadcasting?
[49:38.950 --> 49:39.850]  Yeah, I have no idea.
[49:40.090 --> 49:51.270]  You know, I would like if they would extend the FM band below 88, which they could do, because they're freeing up the analog signal, which is Channel 6, at, I think, 87.7 or something like that.
[49:51.790 --> 49:58.030]  They could go all the way down to, say, I don't know, 85 or 84, and that would open up the spectrum to a lot more outlets.
[49:58.550 --> 49:58.750]  Yeah.
[49:58.750 --> 50:03.450]  But instead, I don't know, I think they're going to give it to some government wireless service.
[50:03.450 --> 50:05.530]  But put pressure on the FCC to do that.
[50:05.650 --> 50:06.310]  Maybe there's still time.
[50:06.810 --> 50:06.930]  Yeah.
[50:07.130 --> 50:07.770]  Thanks for your call.
[50:08.170 --> 50:08.410]  All right.
[50:08.530 --> 50:08.610]  Thanks.
[50:08.890 --> 50:10.570]  And let's go and take another one.
[50:10.790 --> 50:11.650]  How about over here?
[50:12.150 --> 50:12.730]  Good evening.
[50:12.870 --> 50:13.450]  You're on Off the Hook.
[50:14.410 --> 50:14.810]  Yeah.
[50:15.070 --> 50:15.710]  I am.
[50:15.910 --> 50:17.530]  I have a simple question.
[50:17.810 --> 50:18.070]  Go ahead.
[50:19.150 --> 50:25.690]  I bought a new Dell computer, like, two months ago, and it's running Vista, of course.
[50:25.910 --> 50:25.930]  All right.
[50:25.930 --> 50:26.650]  Let me stop you right there.
[50:26.650 --> 50:29.030]  Are you sure this is not a question for the Personal Computer Show?
[50:29.610 --> 50:29.970]  Yeah.
[50:30.090 --> 50:30.850]  It's for the Personal Computer Show.
[50:30.850 --> 50:31.150]  Okay.
[50:31.150 --> 50:32.270]  That's on in 10 minutes.
[50:33.050 --> 50:33.410]  Oh.
[50:33.590 --> 50:37.510]  Call up after 8 o'clock, and you can ask questions about your computers then.
[50:38.110 --> 50:39.150]  Thanks for that call.
[50:39.670 --> 50:40.430]  Let's take another one.
[50:40.770 --> 50:41.230]  Good evening.
[50:41.410 --> 50:42.050]  You're on Off the Hook.
[50:42.530 --> 50:43.170]  Hey, Emmanuel.
[50:43.270 --> 50:43.730]  How are you?
[50:43.830 --> 50:44.210]  How are you doing?
[50:44.210 --> 50:44.670]  Where are you calling from?
[50:44.670 --> 50:46.270]  I'm actually calling from Jersey.
[50:46.690 --> 50:46.970]  Wow.
[50:47.030 --> 50:47.990]  You sound pretty far away.
[50:48.470 --> 50:49.970]  I'm using voice over IP.
[50:49.970 --> 50:50.590]  That's why.
[50:50.750 --> 50:51.050]  Ah.
[50:51.290 --> 50:52.010]  Well, it shows.
[50:52.170 --> 50:52.310]  Okay.
[50:52.350 --> 50:53.310]  What's on your mind?
[50:53.570 --> 50:58.630]  As I was setting up my brand new digital converter box, I was listening to the show.
[50:59.370 --> 51:02.990]  And it seems like I got 17 stations down in central New Jersey.
[51:03.430 --> 51:08.910]  Well, the one station I couldn't get is the one that I really wanted, which was the public radio station down in New York, WNET.
[51:09.630 --> 51:10.990]  I've got no signal there.
[51:11.210 --> 51:11.450]  Really?
[51:11.710 --> 51:12.630]  You're talking about television.
[51:13.090 --> 51:13.870]  Television, yes.
[51:14.630 --> 51:15.270]  That's interesting.
[51:15.470 --> 51:16.570]  Well, actually, aren't they from Newark?
[51:16.710 --> 51:17.910]  Don't they broadcast from Newark?
[51:18.030 --> 51:18.530]  I thought that...
[51:18.950 --> 51:23.010]  I think they may have been broadcasting off the World Trade Center, but I don't know what they're doing right now.
[51:23.130 --> 51:28.210]  But I just thought it was interesting that I'm going through there on the one channel I wanted that is not showing up.
[51:28.450 --> 51:30.430]  What kind of antenna are you using, just out of curiosity?
[51:31.450 --> 51:37.370]  I'm actually using, I would call it one of the old-fashioned roof antennas, but it's in my attic.
[51:37.590 --> 51:37.830]  Okay.
[51:38.170 --> 51:40.430]  So, I mean, it's, you know, it's getting a decent enough signal.
[51:40.550 --> 51:43.450]  Yeah, you're in a better position than most people to receive that sort of thing, so...
[51:43.450 --> 51:47.130]  Because I was anticipating this coming down the road, so that's why I put it up in the attic.
[51:47.310 --> 51:47.770]  I would try...
[51:47.770 --> 51:48.630]  I have a suggestion.
[51:48.810 --> 51:49.170]  Go ahead, Bernie.
[51:49.170 --> 51:58.690]  The suggestion is, your old TV antennas are not for the resonant frequency of the new digital radio frequencies.
[51:59.170 --> 52:04.210]  You really need to get an antenna that's designed for these new digital television frequencies.
[52:04.410 --> 52:05.330]  It's a much higher frequency.
[52:05.930 --> 52:08.070]  Your old TV antenna won't work as well.
[52:08.190 --> 52:10.590]  The UHF frequencies are very similar.
[52:10.730 --> 52:15.110]  I think they range from, like, 500 to 700 megahertz-ish, right?
[52:16.210 --> 52:17.130]  I think they're...
[52:17.130 --> 52:21.510]  I don't actually know what the new television frequencies are, but I know they're higher in frequency than the older ones.
[52:22.010 --> 52:23.830]  So that might be the issue.
[52:24.350 --> 52:26.170]  You might just check out your antenna, too.
[52:26.250 --> 52:29.470]  Check the connections on your feed line between your antenna and your TV.
[52:29.630 --> 52:30.570]  That could help a lot, too.
[52:30.770 --> 52:36.870]  But were you able to receive this public television station in analog format, and now you can't get it in digital?
[52:36.990 --> 52:37.530]  Is that the problem?
[52:37.730 --> 52:38.330]  And that was...
[52:38.330 --> 52:39.470]  Yes, that is correct.
[52:39.490 --> 52:41.610]  And that channel is actually one of the better recept...
[52:41.610 --> 52:43.110]  Better recepting channels.
[52:43.110 --> 52:44.970]  I was able to get that much clearer than most...
[52:44.970 --> 52:48.750]  Like, I'm able to get Channel 2, the CBS channel, which I can care less about.
[52:49.250 --> 52:52.890]  But Channel 13, which is the one I really won and I got before, I'm not getting now.
[52:53.050 --> 52:54.330]  I would also contact them.
[52:54.430 --> 52:55.210]  Maybe they're off the...
[52:55.210 --> 52:56.390]  I mean, how long has this been going on for?
[52:56.750 --> 52:58.070]  I just...
[52:58.070 --> 53:01.310]  Like I said, I just plugged in the converter box about 20 minutes ago.
[53:01.430 --> 53:03.350]  So maybe there's some kind of technical issue on their end.
[53:03.850 --> 53:04.930]  It can't hurt to ask.
[53:05.150 --> 53:05.730]  Yeah, absolutely.
[53:05.950 --> 53:06.270]  Absolutely.
[53:06.870 --> 53:07.250]  All right.
[53:07.470 --> 53:08.230]  Well, good luck with that.
[53:08.590 --> 53:08.990]  Oh, thank you.
[53:09.050 --> 53:10.110]  And just a quick comment.
[53:10.110 --> 53:14.290]  I could actually hear Bernie clearer on the phone here than if I were listening over the air.
[53:14.430 --> 53:15.970]  Just something I'd throw out at you.
[53:16.730 --> 53:16.950]  Okay.
[53:16.950 --> 53:19.090]  Well, then that's another reason for people to call in.
[53:19.170 --> 53:22.130]  They can hear Bernie better if they call into the radio show rather than just listen on the air.
[53:22.190 --> 53:22.750]  Thanks for that call.
[53:23.450 --> 53:24.710]  Let's see if we can grab another one.
[53:24.990 --> 53:25.630]  And good evening.
[53:25.770 --> 53:26.290]  You're on Off the Hook.
[53:27.410 --> 53:27.770]  Yes.
[53:27.770 --> 53:28.530]  I had a question.
[53:28.790 --> 53:34.950]  It's computer-related, but it's not for the personal computer show because it's more computer-hacker-related.
[53:35.150 --> 53:35.310]  All right.
[53:35.410 --> 53:36.410]  I was wondering...
[53:36.410 --> 53:40.790]  I saw there's a version of XP called XP Black Edition.
[53:41.730 --> 53:42.470]  All right.
[53:42.750 --> 53:46.730]  I don't know about Black Edition myself, but what about it?
[53:47.470 --> 53:49.510]  No, I just wanted to know if that...
[53:49.510 --> 53:52.170]  Well, if you don't know about it, I don't think...
[53:52.170 --> 53:53.630]  Does anybody here know about this?
[53:53.790 --> 53:54.570]  Never heard of it.
[53:54.590 --> 53:54.830]  All right.
[53:54.950 --> 53:55.870]  Why is it of interest?
[53:57.070 --> 53:59.890]  Well, it's, I guess, a hacked version.
[54:00.070 --> 54:02.430]  It has some additional pieces in it that were added.
[54:03.550 --> 54:07.390]  There's a XP Dark and XP Black, I think, version 8.
[54:07.630 --> 54:08.470]  Well, I'm intrigued.
[54:08.950 --> 54:10.190]  I mean, I'm fascinated by this.
[54:10.310 --> 54:12.870]  I'm sure if any of our listeners know about it, we're going to get all kinds of letters.
[54:13.130 --> 54:16.670]  Yeah, these are just hacked versions of XP that are being mostly torrented.
[54:16.810 --> 54:18.170]  Do they keep the 2600 in it?
[54:18.770 --> 54:20.070]  XP Build 2600?
[54:20.170 --> 54:22.170]  We get at least one letter a week about that.
[54:22.190 --> 54:24.590]  Hey, did you know it's Build 2600 in XP?
[54:25.110 --> 54:27.710]  And I don't know why, I don't know how, but yes, that's true.
[54:28.250 --> 54:28.630]  Please stop writing us.
[54:28.630 --> 54:34.730]  Yeah, there's a lot of open software in it, and like OpenOffice, and a lot of neat apps that are attached.
[54:34.890 --> 54:44.270]  But before I went and installed it on my main box, I wanted to make sure, or check to see if there was any danger of like a virus infiltration or the like, or if anyone knew any.
[54:44.470 --> 54:48.430]  Well, we'll certainly get feedback on this, and we'll probably read it in the weeks ahead.
[54:48.630 --> 54:49.650]  Thanks for that info.
[54:54.870 --> 54:56.310]  All right, let's see if we can fit in one more.
[54:56.410 --> 54:56.790]  Good evening.
[54:57.050 --> 54:58.030]  You're on Off the Hook.
[54:59.450 --> 55:00.050]  Speak up.
[55:00.730 --> 55:01.130]  Yes.
[55:02.470 --> 55:03.170]  Yeah, you're there.
[55:03.270 --> 55:04.150]  What's on your mind?
[55:04.670 --> 55:05.350]  Hi, Emmanuel.
[55:05.530 --> 55:07.330]  No, I just wanted to respond.
[55:07.450 --> 55:14.930]  At first, I got a little bit fancy because that guy was talking about, he had no problems with locking up so many Americans.
[55:15.490 --> 55:24.250]  And then I realized afterward, he took some of my steam off when he said, I saw he was being facetious when he talked about anybody who drives the smart car.
[55:25.250 --> 55:30.170]  But wait, then I said, wait a minute, I'm still pissed off at this guy because I'm a typical BAI listener.
[55:30.450 --> 55:31.170]  I'm a progressive.
[55:31.530 --> 55:33.850]  There's no such thing as a typical BAI listener, but yes.
[55:34.130 --> 55:34.710]  Well, all right, fair.
[55:34.890 --> 55:35.590]  I beg to differ.
[55:36.050 --> 55:37.350]  Fair, fair, fair, fair.
[55:37.350 --> 55:43.710]  But I would like to guess that the majority of BAI listeners tend to be progressive liberals.
[55:44.450 --> 55:45.350]  I think I'm...
[55:46.170 --> 55:46.730]  I drive the...
[55:46.730 --> 55:49.870]  When he said the smart car, I'm driving a Honda Fit.
[55:50.030 --> 55:52.010]  I was thinking about buying the smart car and looking for...
[55:52.010 --> 55:53.810]  By the way, you can now buy the smart car.
[55:53.850 --> 55:59.590]  I'm not going to tell you how, but if you go to smart.com and click on United States, you'll see where the nearest dealer to you is.
[55:59.770 --> 56:00.170]  I'm sorry.
[56:00.230 --> 56:01.010]  Well, I understand that.
[56:01.070 --> 56:03.770]  But then recently, Consumer Report really poo-pooed it.
[56:04.150 --> 56:09.690]  Well, we're going to have to get into that in the future show because we're pretty much out of time now and the personal computer people are literally breathing down my neck.
[56:09.830 --> 56:12.910]  So, we're done for tonight.
[56:13.290 --> 56:16.830]  This reminder, 2600 meetings taking place all around the world this Friday.
[56:17.070 --> 56:20.730]  Go to 2600.com slash meetings for a list of the ones in your area.
[56:21.150 --> 56:24.170]  For off the hook, Emmanuel Goldstein, have yourselves a good night.
[56:25.330 --> 56:55.990]  It has come to my attention about these new right laws And it's my recommendation that we should stay indoors We all need policing if we call a cop around We're all going to jail or the men all home We have to be careful about who we are let Because what they seem to not know amounts to declare We all need the system to sometimes work for us Coming in by ambulance and commandeered bus There's
[56:55.990 --> 57:02.790]  bills to be paid and criminal bills They're only interested in filling their tills.
[57:03.850 --> 57:06.650]  Modularised and sent to the back.
[57:07.150 --> 57:10.170]  Do what you're told or get the sack.
[57:10.690 --> 57:14.430]  The system doesn't work for us.
[57:14.630 --> 57:17.190]  And that is a fact.
[57:17.730 --> 57:21.910]  The system doesn't work for us.
[57:22.050 --> 57:24.390]  And we should take it back.
[57:24.390 --> 57:59.270]  As for good causes and charity Let's start with the state And if it's not a priority It's probably too late And all the human reservoirs Trying to get a life Just a little rain would do Instead of so much strife Bills to be paid are criminal bills.
[57:59.430 --> 58:02.430]  They're only interested in infinitives.
[58:03.830 --> 58:06.690]  Marginalized and sent to the bank.
[58:06.950 --> 58:10.290]  Do what you're told or get the sack.
[58:10.810 --> 58:16.790]  The system doesn't work for us, yet we pay our tax.
[58:17.610 --> 58:24.210]  If the system doesn't work for us, then we should take it back.
[58:25.390 --> 58:32.290]  Do you think there's ample time to do your terms so cutely?
[58:33.030 --> 58:39.430]  Remember that absolute power collapse absolutely.
[58:55.070 --> 58:59.070]  So ban all the bones and represent what I say.
[58:59.330 --> 59:02.750]  Cause it's not your life and you are giving away.
[59:02.750 --> 59:06.590]  The system is broken and we're not insured.
[59:06.970 --> 59:10.490]  We got no receipt and it was made of war.
[59:10.830 --> 59:14.250]  There's bills to be paid and criminal bills.
[59:14.430 --> 59:17.850]  They're only interested in filling their tills.
[59:18.990 --> 59:21.590]  Marginalized and sent to the bank.
[59:22.170 --> 59:25.330]  Do what you're told or get the sack.
[59:25.330 --> 59:32.290]  The system doesn't work for us, and that is a fact.
[59:32.570 --> 59:39.390]  If the system doesn't work for us, then we should take it back.
[59:40.170 --> 59:47.290]  The system doesn't work for us, and that is a fact.
[59:47.290 --> 59:53.490]  The system doesn't work for us, then we should take it back.
[59:54.030 --> 59:56.610]  Alrighty, alrighty, alrighty.