Jailbreak Your Smartphone, Go to Jail

Posted on Jan 30, 2013

As though we don’t have enough absurd laws in the U.S., a new one has passed criminalizing the unlocking of mobile devices; the U.S. is spending $400,000 a day to keep innocent people incarcerated in Guantanamo; and this Sunday is the Super Bowl, when we watch men cause one another brain trauma. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The Most Ridiculous Law of 2013 (So Far): It Is Now a Crime to Unlock Your Smartphone
That’s right, starting this weekend it is illegal to unlock new phones to make them available on other carriers.

Zero Dark Thirty: The Woman’s Guide to Success Thru Torture
More than half the 7 billion people on the Globe are women.

Is the Lecture Dead?
The nation’s 80,000 medical, 20,000 dental, and 180,000 nursing school students might think that lectures are dead, or at least dying.

Who Is Rescuing The Spanish People?
Whether its banks are rescued by the ECB or not, Spain will remain in crisis.

Why Is Guantanamo Still Open?
The Congress of the United States appropriates, and the president of the United States spends, more than $400,000 per day, seven days a week, to imprison people whom the government itself has deemed innocent.

For Black Boys, the NFL—and Traumatic Brain Injury—Can Be Lottery Tickets
This Sunday, citizens across these United States will indulge in the country’s most cherished pastime: watching large men give each other life-threatening concussions.

The Original Jewish Genius
Are certain ethnic groups predisposed to excel in the classroom?

Why Do Grandmothers Exist? Solving an Evolutionary Mystery
The question is not as unfeeling as it sounds.

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