2-11-2010

2-11-2010—The British government lost a protracted court battle on Wednesday to protect secret US intelligence information about the treatment of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, and immediately published details of what it called the “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” administered to the prisoner by US officials. NYT A12 [stupid courts, stupid freedom of the press, stupid human rights...]
--In the battle over the pricing of electronic books, publishers appear to have won the first round. The price of many new releases and best sellers is about to go up, to as much as $14.99 from $9.99. But there may be an insurgency waiting to pounce: e-book buyers. Over the last year, the most voracious readers of e-books have shown a reflexive hostility to prices higher than the $9.99 set by Amazon.com and other online retailers for popular titles. When digital editions have cost more, or have been delayed until after the release of hardcover versions, these raucous readers have organized impromptu boycotts and gone to the Web sites of Amazon and Barnes & Noble to leave one-star ratings and negative comments for those books and their authors. “This book has been on the shelves for three weeks and is already in the remainder bins,” wrote Wayne Fogel of The Villages, Fla., when he left a one-star review of Catherine Coulter’s book “KnockOut” on Amazon. “$14.82 for the Kindle version is unbelievable. Some listings Amazon should refuse when the authors are trying to rip off Amazon’s customers.” [stupid market] NYT B1
--Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security company of defrauding the government NYTA 20 [stupid government]
-- Since the euro was launched—as an accounting currency in 1999 and as cash in 2002—c9untries in Southern Europe and Ireland have ... allowed the low interest rates and stable currency that came from euro membership to fuel housing and consumption binges. WSJ A14—[stupid brunettes—or stupid blondes?]