Two guns once in the hands of lovebird desperados Bonnie and Clyde have sold for over half a million dollars. The relics were featured at an auction among 134 sought-after items from luminaries like Al Capone, Pretty Boy Floyd and John Dillinger.

The selection of artifacts sold for a total of $1.1 million at the auction in New Hampshire.

Bonnie Parker’s .38-caliber Detective Special that she had taped to her thigh when she was killed in a hail of gunfire in 1934 drew the highest bid and sold for $264,000.

Clyde Barrow’s 1911 Colt .45-caliber automatic sold for $240,000 to the same bidder who didn’t want to be named, vice president of RR Auction in Amherst, N.H. which held the auction, said.

“When rare items like that come up for sale you expect this kind of enthusiasm,” Bobby Livingston noted. “There was some serious bidding going on.” Read the whole story…

The ability to make and share content without having intellectual property rights may become reality if the EU parliamentary Committee on International Trade (INTA) continues following the lead of a pirate in its ranks.

The document entitled On a Digital Freedom Strategy in EU Foreign Policy was released in September and is the brainchild of MEP Amelia Andersdotter, the sole member of the Swedish Pirate party on the INTA.

In outlining the INTA’s recommendations to the EU committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the paper strikes a populist tone by expressing its awareness “that some people increasingly hear the word copyright and hate what lies behind it.”

It recognizes that intellectual property rights (IPR) are a driver for innovation, growth and job creation, and calls on more global cooperation in order to “uphold and modernize intellectual property rights in the future.”

As the dossier expresses “regrets” over “the losses incurred by European entrepreneurs” in the absence of a clearly defined IPR regime, the committee’s next recommendation seemingly comes out of left field:

“[The INTA] Calls on the Member States and the Commission to develop IPR policy in order to continue to allow those who wish to create their own content and share it without acquiring IPR to do so.”

Tech Dirt immediately hailed the language, saying “an official document from the important trade committee of the European Parliament is calling for the option to create without copyright being attached.”

As the only directly elected European institution, a recommendation stemming from an EU parliamentary committee could in fact have very real consequences for the future of Europe’s attitude towards a more liberal IPR regime.

Andersdotter herself is no stranger to navigating the often treacherous waters of the EU, as the 25-year-old already convinced the parliamentary committee on Industry, Research, and Energy to reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) this past summer. Her push to reject ACTA was later followed by the INTA and ultimately the entire EU parliament.

Read the whole story…

The makers of the less-lethal Taser stun guns are being brought to court in California for allegedly allowing their products to be purchased by consumers who don’t possess the necessary concealed know-how or permits.

Chiko Katiki, a 23-year-old college student, is the lead plaintiff in a class claim introduced this week in Sonoma County Superior Court. Katiki’s attorneys are going after weapon makers Taser International for selling its product online to individuals who have failed to obtain a concealed weapons permit and complete a hand-gun safety class — both mandatory in California for any civilians that want to carry a firearm, a category in which the state groups the Taser.

Although Taser International has adamantly maintained that their products are safe when used correctly, independent studies have linked the devices to playing a role in the deaths of hundreds of Americans. Amnesty International has tied the Taser to contributing to the deaths of 500 Americans between 2001 and 2012.

“Of the hundreds who have died following police use of Tasers in the USA, dozens and possibly scores of deaths can be traced to unnecessary force being used,” Susan Lee of Amnesty International explained in the report.

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Previously, the catalogue of the world’s largest furniture retailer IKEA was identical all over the world. There was a noticeable difference in a recent Saudi Arabian version, however, which airbrushed all the women and most girls from its pages.

The pictures in the Saudi catalogue display the same interiors and products, but no women.

While international versions of the same catalogue featured four designers on the cover, there are only three in the Saudi edition – the female designer was airbrushed out of the picture.

One of the pictures showed a mother in front of a bathroom mirror alongside her family, but the Saudi edition removed the mother. In another picture, a barefoot woman with earrings was replaced by a man in black socks.

Sweden’s Minister of Trade Ewa Björling argued that the retouched images are a “sad example that shows that there is a long way to go in terms of equality between men and women in Saudi Arabia.”

“Women cannot be retouched away in reality. If Saudi Arabia does not allow women to appear [in public] or work, they lose about half their intellectual capital,” she told Swedish newspaper Metro.

IKEA spokesperson Ylva Magnusson told German press agency dpa that the catalogue was designed by an external franchise owner that operates IKEA stores in Saudi Arabia.

Women’s in Saudi Arabia live under strict Islamic law, and are forbidden from behavior that is common in Western cultures. The Gulf kingdom is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. Women there are also not allowed to vote, and must also have permission from a man to work, travel or open a bank account.

This year, Saudi Arabia bowed to pressure from the International Olympic Committee and human rights organizations and allowed two female athletes to participate in London 2012 Olympic Games.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called on the United States to move from words to actions, and put an end to its persecution of WikiLeaks, its people and its sources. He made the statement during an address to a panel of UN delegates.

Addressing the representatives of the United Nations’ member countries, the WikiLeaks founder spoke of the difference between words and actions, praising US President Barack Obama for his words.

“We commend and agree with the words that peace can be achieved… But the time for words has run out. It is time for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks, our people and our sources.”

Assange was highly critical of US involvement in the Arab Spring, denouncing Obama as audacious for exploiting it. He added that it is “disrespectful of the dead” to claim that the US has supported forces of change.

“Was it not audacious for the US President to say that his country supported the forces of change in the Arab Spring? Tunisian history did not begin in December 2010, andMohamed Bouazizi did not set himself on fire so that Barack Obama could be re-elected,”Assange told the panel.

“The world knew after reading WikiLeaks that Ben Ali and his government had for long years enjoyed the indifference, if not the support, of the US, in full knowledge of its excesses and its crimes. So it must come as a surprise to the Tunisians that the US supported the forces of change in their country, and it must come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American tear gas out of their eyes, that the US administration supported change in Egypt”

Read the whole story…