Balance Sheet

Jeff Taylor from the May 2005 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

A spate of lawsuits from the Motion Picture Association of America seeks $150,000 for each film or show downloaded by file swappers. If you take your cues from the possible civil and criminal penalties, it is better to shoplift a DVD than download one.

Bureau Backlog

The FBI's $170 million Virtual Case File is trashed in the bureau's latest technological misstep. A modern data handling system should have been the first priority post 9/11, but instead the PATRIOT Act helps shovel yet more information into a broken system.

Secrecy First

The Department of Homeland Security offers local authorities a secret guide to spotting terrorist threats. The guide features cryptic references to "unusual burns or illness in animals" and encourages officials to report vaguely defined "unusual" or "suspicious" activity.

Fee Money

Kansas lawmakers want to slap state fees on Internet-based phone services. Voice Over Internet Protocol users would pay 50 cents a month into the universal service fund for phone service, even though they do not use that network for their calls.

Gang Green

Police and military recruiters claim that street gangs are sending members to sign up for a tour in the military in order to gain valuable mayhem-causing skills.

Polio Club

Fourteen countries report new cases of polio--stark proof that scientific advances can be rolled back, given enough bad policy.