The German cabinet backed a draft law requiring Google and other news aggregators to pay for summarized information they display before linking to a source – a move that has outraged the Internet giant, politicians and bloggers alike.

The move, backed by publishing giants like the Axel Springer group, was originally proposed by the Federation of German News Publishers – who were very upset with lost advertising revenue.

The law is about piracy and stealing content on the Internet, said federation spokeswoman Anja Pasquay. Search engines are pirating content by publishing the snippets, “and they don’t even ask, they simply take it,” she said.

The federation pushed for even more draconian measures to be signed into law – like making bloggers pay publishers every time they commented on an article and used a quote from it – but German lawmakers thought this to be overly strict, and revised the draft.

However, both German netizens and politicians are in an uproar over the proposed legislation. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s opposition called the bill a clear move to limit online freedom, and questioned the very need for such a law. The country’s Pirate Party – which, despite not being represented in Federal Parliament, is very popular, was also vocal in its criticism.

“There are no technical, legal or economic reasons for this law, which puts the brakes on innovation,”Bruno Kramm, an expert on copyright law with the Pirates, told Der Spiegel.

Google has also spoken out against the proposal. The company’s director for public affairs and communications for Northern Europe said an extension of copyright lacks all factual, economic and legal foundations – and would mean massive damage to the German economy.

“This interference with the Internet is unparalleled worldwide. It’s a dark day for the Internet in Germany”, explained Google’s Kay Overbeck in a statement.

For the first time ever, scientists have given a previously blind woman sight by way of a bionic eye. The Australian-designed implant, which resembles the model worn by Arnie in The Terminator, is likely to transform the lives of millions worldwide.

Dianne Ashworth, who is suffering from the incurable condition retinitis pigmentosa, had lost almost all vision when surgeons at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne performed the groundbreaking surgery in May.

A month later the device was switched on.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but all of a sudden, I could see a little flash…it was amazing. Every time there was stimulation there was a different shape that appeared in front of my eye,” said Ashworth in a statement.

The device consists of 24 electrodes attached to the retina. Each time they receive a signal from the outside world, they stimulate the retina, which then sends an impulse back to the brain.

So far, scientists have used the bionic eye to create simple patterns from the twenty four signals – like the shapes of a tree or a house – and see whether Ashworth is able to identify them.

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Nearly two weeks after he was hauled off by authorities and admitted to a psych ward over his own Facebook postings, retired Marine Brandon Raub is speaking out about his detainment and what Americans should know about their right to free speech.

Raub, a 26-year-old decorated military vet that served two tours overseas, was visited by agents with the US Secret Service, the FBI and local law enforcement on August 16 after statements he made on his personal Facebook page raised the eyebrows of authorities. Posts calling for a political revolution and even lyrical excerpts from rap songs placed his social networking profile on the government’s radar, and after briefly questioning him at his house two weeks ago, Raub was handcuffed and hauled off.

One week later he was released from custody, but Raub and his attorney say that not only was no crime committed, but that the Marine still has yet to be charged with a crime.

“The idea that a man can be snatched out of his property without being read his rights, I think should be very alarming to all Americans,” Raub says in an interview this week conducted by his attorney, the Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead (YouTube link).

Raub claims that he handled the entire incident pretty well, even though authorities never read him his rights or charged him with a crime; instead he was detained under a civil commitment statute that his attorney says whisks away hundreds of thousands of Americans every year in episodes just like this one that rarely go recognized in the media.

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A firsthand account of the assassination raid against the former Al-Qaeda head challenges the official US narrative, claiming bin Laden was shot as he peeked out of his bedroom, unarmed. He did not have a weapon or resist, as was announced.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book, titled ‘No Easy Day.’ In it, former Navy SEAL Mark Bissonnette, using the pseudonym Mark Owen and assumed names for the SEALs who participated in the mission, described the 2011 raid in Pakistan in detail

His position – right after the “point man” – gave him a chance to clearly hear the “suppressed gunfire” immediately after the lead SEAL had seen a “man peeking out of the door” on the right side of the hallway.

The author then described how bin Laden – the SEALs later made sure it was him – ducked back into his bedroom. The SEALs followed, only to find bin Laden crumpled on the floor in a pool of blood, with a hole visible on the right side of his head and two women wailing over his body.

“[We] trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless,” the book reads according to a report by the Huffington Post, which also purchased a copy of the book.

The SEALs later found two weapons stored by the doorway, untouched, the author said. Neither weapon was loaded.

“He hadn’t even prepared a defense. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn’t even pick up his weapon,” Owen wrote.

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