Open Eyes 099 04-27-15 Talking Heads, Baltimore BS and Google Craziness

 Automakers are supporting provisions in copyright law that could prohibit home mechanics and car enthusiasts from repairing and modifying their own vehicles.In comments filed with a federal agency that will determine whether tinkering with a car constitutes a copyright violation, OEMs and their main lobbying organization say cars have become too complex and dangerous for consumers and third parties to handle.

Allowing them to continue to fix their cars has become “legally problematic,” according to a written statement from the Auto Alliance, the main lobbying arm of automakers.

The dispute arises from a section of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that no one thought could apply to vehicles when it was signed into law in 1998. But now, in an era where cars are rolling computing platforms, the U.S. Copyright Office is examining whether provisions of the law that protect intellectual property should prohibit people from modifying and tuning their cars.

Have you ever wondered what Google Search really knows about you? Well, now you can check, as Google has added a new feature that lets you view and download your entire search history.

Yep. Everything.

The feature, which was spotted by the unofficial Google Operating System Blog — though VentureBeat points out that the function was made available in January — gives you access to everything from what you searched for to the links you clicked on from those searches. It also shows you the addresses you’ve searched for.

Contrary to what many folks might expect, bitter enemies CAN become best friends. Steve Hartman shows us how:

They were the bitterest of enemies. For more than a decade, here on the streets of Milwaukee, two men shared a mutual disgust.

One was a hardnosed cop named Ray Robokowski.

“I wasn’t a social worker; I was a police officer,” he told Hartman. “My job was to take care of what needed to be taken care of.”

Which was why Jacob Maclin didn’t like him. “Oh, I definitely didn’t.”

Maclin, a drug dealer and gang-banger, got arrested so many times you can watch him grow old in his mug shots. And it was that career thug — and this officer — who sat down one day over a cup of coffee. The district attorney’s office arranged it.

The meeting was to see if cop and criminal could work together, and come up with a way to get out of this vicious cycle. But neither guy was buying it.

Ray was only there because his boss made him come. And Jacob was tricked into coming — told he had a job interview. So they basically just glared at each other the entire time.

So what was Robokowski thinking? “‘You’re going to screw up and I’m going to find you and put you back,'” he recalled to Hartman.

SHOW NOTES:Baltimore issues

Freddy Grey

(gentry clip)

Parrot Society…

Talking heads media

(conan quote)