Speeding Fine Provokes Man To Purchase Expired Police Domain [Police]
Getting a speeding fine is enough to drive anyone to road-rage, but Brian McCrary decided to do something entirely different with his rage. While browsing the local police department's website, he saw the domain was close to expiring... More
Teen Hauled to Jail For Overdue Library DVD [Crime]
What started as a routine traffic stop ended with a Colorado teen doing hard time. The offense? Not returning a "House of Flying Daggers" DVD to his local library. Come on, Colorado. You're better than that.
Apparently young Aaron Henson, an impressionable lad all of 19 years old, fell in with the wrong DVD-borrowing crowd sometime last year. Henson packed up the flick for a move, forgot that he had it, and ended up with a warrant for his arrest:
The city said it sent an overdue notice and bill, neither of which were returned.
The city then sent a summons, which was returned.
Then, the city sent a new court date order, it was not returned. And when Aaron failed to appear for the second court date, the city issued a warrant.
Why all the fuss? Because apparently the municipality of Littleton, CO values the DVD of a 2004 release at $31.45, and any "theft" over $30 gets prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Also of note: Littleton, CO has apparently never heard of Amazon.
Anyhow, the whole mess get straightened out after Henson's family forked over a $200 fine for the DVD, $200 to remove the car from the impound lot, and $60 in court fees. And while Littleton has acknowledged its mistake and the mayor swears it won't happen again, the arrest is still on Aaron's record.
Just so long as no one got hurt, I suppose, except for the integrity of our judicial system. [The Denver Channel via Consumerist]
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Teen Hauled to Jail For Overdue Library DVD [Crime]
Microsoft Improves Consumer Search Privacy; Google and Yahoo Stay Terrible [Privacy]
Microsoft has agreed only to hold your personal information (read: darkest secrets] for six months, while Google and Yahoo will continue to keep them much longer to "improve search quality." By which, of course, they mean "ad revenue."
Granted, the Bing move comes after pressure from the European Union, who's fined Microsoft so many billions of dollars in the past that the latter is understandably twitchy. It's still a policy that should be applauded, though, to the same extent that Yahoo and Google's lack of improvement should be roundly booed. Google stores cookies for a year and a half, far longer than they should need it for any purpose other than sending you the perfectly targeted Bowflex ad.
If Google and Yahoo continue not to comply with the EU's wishes, the outcome could be fun to watch: more comically large fines for them, a less invasive search experience for you. Here's hoping. [WSJ]
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Microsoft Improves Consumer Search Privacy; Google and Yahoo Stay Terrible [Privacy]