US Judge rules on Difference Between Blogger and Journalist

A ruling by a federal judge in Oregon could shape future definitions of those considered journalists and those who aren't in the United States. 

The US district judge found a Montana blogger was not protected by shield laws for journalists, because she was not employed by a mainstream publication, nor did she make an effort to be unbiased or have any credentials.

She was ordered to pay $2.5 million in damages to a lawyer for calling him a thief and a thug.

Makes $30,000 for some journalism school bona fides look better.

Read the AP's full story.

Wikileaks and the Spy Files

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange prepares to present Spy Files, an examination of the global surveillance industry

Wikileaks says Big Brother is watching and has been for quite some time. Today Julian Assange announced the organization's release of more than 280 files detailing the activities of an international surveillance industry.

"Who here has an iphone? Who here has a Blackberry? Who here uses Gmail? Well you're all screwed," he told journalists and students at a press conference. "The reality is intelligence contractors are selling, right now, mass surveillance systems for all those products."

Heard around Tottenham

A local councillor predicts a thriving cultural scene, especially in hip hop music, will revive the borough regardless of how much assistance the government provides the area.

For their part, however, Tottenham traders fret that if money from the Riot (Damages) Act doesn't arrive soon, they'll go out of business.

A young musician says the success of rappers from around London, like Chipmunk in the north and Tinie Tempah in the south, has forced all aspiring artists to raise their game.

Occupy London Updates

Plenty of movement on London's Occupy front today.

The Evening Standard says drug use overfloweth at the St. Paul's Camp

@OCCUPYLSX tweets that students have occupied 53 Gordon Square in Bloomsbury

Ian Johnston at msnbc.com runs a great story about two financial experts sharing gifts and ideas with protesters at St. Paul's.

And a London judge sets Dec. 19 as the date for the cathedral campers' eviction hearings

A peek at Occupy LSX 'Bank of Ideas'

Occupy London's new location, just east of Finsbury Square, has a different feel than the park and St Paul's Cathedral.

Protesters from London's Occupy movement claimed a third site on Friday when they settled into a disused UBS building near Finsbury Square.

The occupiers declared squatter's rights, saying they plan to remain at the'Bank of Ideas' legally, but reports have the Swiss banking giant moving to evict.

The end of Occupy?

After a crackdown in the US, is the Occupy Movement (as we know it) on its last legs? photo by Benjamin Gunn

City of London officials restarted legal action against Occupy London after a two week break. They say an eviction will likely take several weeks and police will not forcibly remove protesters.

'I Love Tottenham' Tales: VIP Sports

VIP Sports' Bulent Huseyin stands outside his recently reopened storefront in Tottenham.

 

The final installment in our series of Tottenham businesses striving to recover from London's August riots. 

VIP Sports

 

The owner of a Tottenham sporting goods shop looks at CCTV footage of the empty street outside. “If I never saw the seconds ticking I would think the camera is frozen,” says Bulent Huseyin, who runs VIP Sports.

The shop raised its damaged shutters and reopened for business this week, three months after a neighborhood protest erupted into rioting. Huseyin expects it will take six months for his customers, mostly young men from the impoverished area, to return in force. But just opening the doors is a start.