The Daily Populous

Wednesday November 29th, 2017 morning edition

image for Why do Texas prisons ban 'Freakonomics' but not Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf'?

AUSTIN — More than 10,000 books are banned from Texas prisons, but they might not be the ones you think.

Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for fiction, is not allowed.

Neither is Freakonomics, the 2005 bestseller that explained concepts such as cheating at school and parenting techniques using economic theory.

But Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, as well as his On National Socialism and World Relations, are both on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's list of approved books.

So is Homer Simpson's Little Book of Laziness and Monty Python's Big Red Book.

The Dallas Morning News requested a full list of the books Texas' nearly 150,000 inmates can and cannot read in the state's dozens of prisons.

A total of 248,281 titles are on the approved list; another 10,073 are banned. »

Comcast Wants You to Think It Supports Net Neutrality While It Pushes for Net Neutrality to Be Destroyed

Authored by slate.com
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Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon stand to make billions next year whether the U.S. ditches the rules mandating network neutrality or not.

Which is one reason why Comcast has been so supportive of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to undo net neutrality, which could be enacted as early as January.

That Comcast’s language is changing is one reason to distrust its promises regarding net neutrality, but its track record is an even bigger one. »

EA's day of reckoning is here after 'Star Wars' game uproar, $3 billion in stock value wiped out

Authored by cnbc.com
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The company's profitable business model is now at risk after angry gamers revolted over its aggressive in-game moneymaking strategy in "Star Wars Battlefront II.".

EA's stock is down 8.5 percent month to date through Tuesday compared with the S&P 500's 2 percent gain, wiping out $3.1 billion of shareholder value.

Its competitors Take-Two and Activision Blizzard shares are up 5 percent and 0.7 percent respectively during the same time period. »

Internet should be open and free, and not cannibalised, says TRAI chairman R.S. Sharma

Authored by thehindu.com

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman R.S. Sharma called for Internet, an important platform for India, being kept open and free, and not cannibalised.

“No one owns Internet... so, it should be open and accessible to everyone,” Mr. Sharma said, suggesting that service providers should not indulge in gate-keeping of this important platform.

The TRAI issued the much-awaited recommendations on net neutrality and has sought to bar telecom service providers from any discriminatory practice on Internet access. »