Who would've guessed: file-sharing continues unabated by the RIAA lawsuits and threats. What will they try next?

The blog entries have been dull lately, I know. I feel like I'm rushing through them sometimes. I haven't been reading the news much; I feel out of touch and it's hard to write when you're taking less in. But, today -- I'm sure you saw it -- the BBC is going to license some of their audio and video media using a Creative Commons like license. Lawrence Lessig is, of course, thrilled, and rightfully so. The BBC is awesome -- for doing this and taking a progressive step in copyright, for promoting and encouraging creativity by allowing us to use their media, and also for providing excellent news coverage.

In science news, I've been reading a fair bit on the nanobacteria controversy -- are they a new life form or just interesting crystals? It's odd to see that a group of scientists are already marketing and selling products based on the belief that there are such things as nanobacteria before the proof has been conclusively decided. I find that extremely unscientific, but they seem to be getting away with it.

On the privacy front, some Republicans want to make the provisions that were supposed to sunset at the end of 2005, a permanent fixture of the USA PATRIOT Act -- basically they expanded government rights to access and tap into personal and private information in the name of national security. Donna Wentworth has written an awesome primer on these provisions at the EFF.

On the filesharing front, there's the wonderful PIRATE Act that turns criminal copyright infringement lawsuits into civil lawsuits so that the taxpayers foot the bill for the legal costs that the recording industry currently pays, and allows the government to wiretap to verify copyright infringement claims. Copyfight article here.

And for fun, here are some of my favorite search queries to hit this site:

• fertility tips on how to get pregnant with an introverted uterus (google)
• Hells Angels Cisco (msn)
• plastic surgery giveaway (msn)
• vignette (google)
• download video plastic surgery reality shows (msn)
• blog heartbroken over love hurts quote (yahoo)
• two girls touching each other (msn)
• download gladiator pepsi commercial (yahoo)
• pics of normal size penises (msn)
• different of bird-eating spiders and beautiful girls pics (msn)

MSN users are really special.