1)
URGE you to read the Mother Jones article on China!

Knowing you have been to, or are going to, or have an interest in, 
mainland China - or perhaps simply interest in the impacts of the 
PRC's monumental production machine on the US and world economy, jobs 
and overall future - I URGE you to read the extensive feature article 
in the current (Jan-Feb'08) issue of MOTHER JONES - "The Last Empire".

I'm only part-way through it, and had almost NO idea about much of 
it.  Fascinating, enlightening ... and appalling.  WELL worth the time 
to read it!

You can get it on newsstands now, or read it online (note that online 
is five parts): http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/01/the-last-empire.html

2)
Video: How People Are Tracked Using BitTorrent
Written by enigmax on January 14, 2008



Being tracked by anti-piracy organizations and receiving infringement 
notices on file-sharing networks is becoming more common. A security 
project manager has just released a short video showing how it’s done.
A common question from BitTorrent users is how anti-p2p outfits trace 
and trace file-sharers in order to send infringement notices. We’ve 
reported on one techniquein the past and now, thanks to Dan Morrill, a 
Security Project Manager with VMC Consulting in Redmond Washington, we 
have a short video illustrating another basic technique which is easy 
to understand.
Dan’s example involves him downloading a large file with the popular 
Azureus client, while giving a commentary on the various types of 
information offered by the client, a brief overview of how BitTorrent 
works, how it’s possible to be tracked and how the gathered 
information could be processed. He also touches on anonymity and the 
use of blocklists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U-f47S5Cb8

[snip]