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A Portland City attorney argued in court that a Portland police officer was justified in brutally tasing a non-violent man with no criminal record because it was later discovered that the man owned a classic kung fu film collection. The jury didn’t agree, and the taxpayers now get to pay a $250,000 settlement. Naturally, Officer Benjamin J. Davidson remains on the force.

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Microsoft is no longer as enthusiastic about a controversial cybersecurity bill that would allow Internet and telecommunications companies to divulge confidential customer information to the National Security Agency.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved CISPA by a 248 to 168 margin yesterday in spite of a presidential veto threat and warnings from some House members that the measure represented “Big Brother writ large.” (See CNET’s CISPA FAQ.)

In response to queries from CNET, Microsoft, which has long been viewed as a supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, said this evening that any law must allow “us to honor the privacy and security promises we make to our customers.”

Microsoft added that it wants to “ensure the final legislation helps to tackle the real threat of cybercrime while protecting consumer privacy.”

That’s a noticeable change — albeit not a complete reversal — from Microsoft’s position when CISPA was introduced in November 2011.

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Tens of thousands of students in the Canadian province of Quebec have been protesting against a government move to raise higher education costs by 50 per cent over five years.

The demonstrations involving 181 student groups representing more than 170,000 students have sustained class boycotts, demonstrations and occasional angry confrontations with police for three months.

Jean Charest, Quebec’s premier, offered on Friday to stretch out the planned tuition hike over seven years instead of five in a bid to appease the students.

When you`ve been on strike for 3 months and then the government wants to talk, it seems like you`re winning.

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Yesterday, according to Slashgear, Samsung publicly denied they were not responsible for the stunt. So who is behind it?

James Croft, from our own Mactalk Podcast, looked through the source code of the Wake Up page and spotted something interesting:

http://fls.doubleclick.net/activityi;src=2215527;type=black822;

This bit is relevant:

src=2215527;type=black822

That SRC value is a Doubleclick account identifier. Throw that back into Google:

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=%…ick%22+2215527

In those search results there’s also a single forum post on AppleInsider from a guy who also spotted this source code.

So it appears* it’s Poor Old RIM who put together this embarrassing campaign. It’s heartbreaking that even when RIM try something cool, they end up screwing it up so badly that no-one even imagines it could be them.

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“I stopped to take a photo and the cop came up to me and arrested me. I asked, ‘why am I being arrested?’

“’Because you’re a dick,’” the officer responded.

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Instead of simply repeating his previous response — in which he noted that his government has every intention of continuing its policy of bringing “military missions” to the House of Commons — Harper accused one of Mulcair’s predecessors of insufficient opposition to Hitler.

(Yes, really.):

Mr. Speaker, I have made myself very clear. Unlike the NDP, we are not going to ideologically have a position regardless of circumstances. The leader of the NDP, in 1939, did not even want to support war against Hitler.

Not surprisingly, the NDP benches erupted in outrage over the drive-by retro-slur, although Hansard records the words of just one unnamed MP who tried to draw the PM’s attention to a potential flaw in his analogy:

There was no NDP.

[..]

And thus, a satirical hashtag was born.

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Christians attend a prayer meeting being held as they pray to stop the concert of Lady Gaga, at a church in Seoul April 22, 2012. The Christians blame Lady Gaga for promoting indecency and “homosexual love.” Gaga performed live in Seoul today, despite the incantations. Below, her performance during the MTV Video Music Aid Japan event in Chiba, near Tokyo, last year.

Yeah, because this Jesus guy was really into hating it when you promote love.

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A Dutch judge has upheld a government plan to introduce a “weed pass” to prevent foreigners from buying marijuana in coffee shops in the Netherlands.

A lawyer for coffee shop owners said on Friday he would file an urgent appeal against the ruling by the judge at The Hague District court that clears the way for the introduction of the pass in southern provinces on May 1.

Sounds to me if damaging the tourist industry during a recession is the wrong cure for “public order” problems.  In Ontario for example, you can lose your license to serve alcohol if drunken people are a problem outside your premises. Taking booze out of the place it is served (except internally) is forbidden.