lwsimmons.org

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization which administers online collaborative websites including Wikipedia and Wikinews, announced yesterday that its general counsel Mike Godwin will leave his position this Friday. The author of Cyber Rights: Defending Free speech in the Digital Age, Godwin is a former fellow at the Yale Center for Internet Studies and staff counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has served as chief lawyer for the Wikimedia Foundation since July 2007.

Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation Sue Gardner announced the news in a public email. She wrote, “Hi folks, I want to let you know that as of this Friday, October 22, 2010, Mike Godwin will be leaving his role as General Counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation. Mike’s transition out of the role will be a fairly lengthy one: he will continue to be available to the Wikimedia Foundation to provide information and advice for several months to come.”

Gardner stated in a “Q and A” below the text of her email that Godwin was leaving the organization due to “a confidential personnel issue”, and explained that the foundation would not elaborate upon this due to privacy concerns. Gardner noted, “The Wikimedia Foundation believes Mike has always acted in what he believes to be the Wikimedia Foundation’s best interests.”

Godwin has focused his legal career in the areas of free speech and Internet law. In an article regarding his 1999 selection as a fellow at the Yale Center for Internet Studies, The Hartford Courant characterized Godwin as “a noted cyberspace lawyer and civil libertarian”.

He is noted for writing “Godwin’s Law”, an Internet maxim which states, “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”

Godwin became the first attorney to join the Electronic Frontier Foundation after its formation in 1990. In a 2007 interview with The New York Times, Godwin commented on the issue of defamation online, “The fear of defamation on the Internet is very strong. We’re going to be riding that social panic for a little bit.” He described his role at the Wikimedia Foundation, “Part of my job is to prevent restrictive rules from being put in place that prevent people from participating in massively democratic participatory media. And then let the new norms settle.” He acknowledged he empathized with others that had been criticized on the Internet, “Look, I have been smeared online. I know how bad it feels. It hurts. If democracy were comfortable, everybody would have it.”

Monday, February 20, 2012

Conduit, a subsidiary of the US directory assistance organisation kgb, is to create six hundred new jobs in the Welsh capital Cardiff by the end of 2012. Conduit is currently searching for 320 employees and intends to employ a further 280 this year.

In a statement, First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones described the news as “yet another indication that Welsh government policies are having a beneficial effect supporting the economy and creating jobs during these difficult times”, saying he was “delighted that Conduit is yet again expanding its operations in Wales.” Edwina Hart, Minister for Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science, said she was “pleased that using the economic levers we have at our disposal, such as creating sector-specific enterprise zones, we continue to attract and retain world class business in Wales.”

The new employees will work at Fusion Point, an office area in Cardiff city centre. Prior to this announcement, Conduit already had in excess of 1900 employees within three Welsh bases in Cardiff Gate, Swansea, and Cardiff city centre. This new contract has been created in association with a residential care service provided by British Gas.

Conduit Europe chief executive officer Denis Creighton said of the company’s decision: “Wales delivers our best performance figures period. And that’s why we’re planning to focus future growth here.”

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Automobile manufacturing company BMW has announced that its sales increased by 7.6 per cent during the month of July. BMW reported that 129,094 units were sold during the month, consisting of the motor vehicle brands of BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

In a statement, Ian Robertson, member of the Board of Management of BMW, told of the company reporting “the most successful July sales ever”, claiming that it is “well on [the] way to achieving our recently announced target of over 1.6 million vehicles in 2011, the best ever sales result for the BMW group”.

Demand increases were notable in the United States and China in particular. 21,409 vehicles were delivered by BMW in the United States in July, an increase of 11.7 per cent from July 2010. In China, 18,858 units were sold in the month, meaning a sales rise of 36.1 per cent on the same month last year, with the increased popularity being attributed to “substantial gains in many markets”, BMW said. Sales increases were also reported in South Korea, Russia, India and Brazil. BMW did admit to a decrease of sales by 0.8% in Germany, the country in which the company is based.

As a brand, BMW sales stood at 108,721 for July, 7.1% more than July 2010. In the year to date, BMW delivered 962,468 vehicles, a 17.9 per cent rise. According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), developing markets have become the cause of the substantial popularity of high quality automobile manufacturers. However, growth in this area may decline later on in the year, due to the difficulties facing the global economy, AFP claims.

Meanwhile, General Motors stated on Friday that its China sales decreased by 1.8 per cent in July this year compared to the same month in 2010. This was due to a lowered demand for commercial vehicles, AFP reported.

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Going against the Bush administration’s opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, more than 130 U.S. mayors have pledged to meet or beat certain Kyoto targets by 2012. Examples include anti-sprawl land-use policies or encouraging cruise lines to turn off their engines while docked.

Critics of the Kyoto Protocol claim it is unnecessary, due to an alleged or perceived lack of clear evidence that global warming is due to human activities.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

The US news agency CNN is reporting that the recent New York subway terrorist threat this past weekend was based on “false information.” The original tip lead to the arrest of three men in Iraq with suspected ties to the plot; however, under interrogation which included lie detector tests, investigators discovered they had no knowledge of any planned terror attacks on the New York subway system.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) was skeptical of the threat since it was first announced last week. More recently, Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the DHS, said “The intelligence community has been able to determine that there are very serious doubts about the credibility of this specific threat.”

Responding to the new comments from the DHS, New York City Mayor Bloomberg replied, “We’ve got to take every threat seriously and that is what we are going to do.” Even before the new questions about the tip’s accuracy, Mayor Bloomberg was already defending his decision to increase security and promised that the measures will remain in place for at least the near future. Mayor Bloomberg explained that, while he did not believe he made a mistake in calling for increased security, “If I’m going to make a mistake you can rest assured it is on the side of being cautious.” New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly agreed, adding, “We did exactly the right thing.” Critics of Bloomberg have charged that the threat was a bid to “look strong” in support for his upcoming re-election attempt.