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Category: Privacy and self ownership

Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost

Balance

It’s another heap o’ rocks in progress. It reflects today’s theme, which is balance. It’s not farther along because … balance. Or the tipping, shifting nature thereof. —– You know how hard it was, not to jump in yesterday (or today for that matter) and blog about WikiLeaks latest? Ohhhh, the temptation! Despite cynical freedomista proclamations that Assange and his glorious company have merely told us what we already knew, there is soooooo much here that’s truly new. From CIA hacking tools sloppily revealed to insider details on the power shift from NSA to CIA to the degree of Congress’…

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Monday links

  • Even in our age of omni-surveillance and omni-suspicion this is weird and creepy. (H/T CB)
  • Is there room at the inn (in law schools, that is) for conservative and libertarian academics?
  • In the Internet age, even in that part of the Internet age when “self-identification” is the new holy grail, representing yourself to be something you are not can not only bite you, but go on biting and biting and biting you.
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  • Weekend links #1

  • A short-term “fasting diet” may regenerate a diabetic pancreas. Again, it’s mostly mice so far. But interesting.
  • “Drugs, disposal of.” Dealing with the recent untimely loss of his wife, Kim du Toit goes on a quest to discover how to rid himself of a pharmacopia of her prescription medicines.
  • Borepatch warns: Buyer beware! when it comes to “connected” cars. Like all other supposedly smart devices, they’re just bright enough to violate your privacy.
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  • Thursday links

  • The FBI under Trump continues its proud history of fighting terrorism by busting hapless losers who couldn’t have done a thing without the encouragement, funds, and in this case bullying brutality by the fed agents themselves.
  • And let’s not forget our beloved ATF. Turns out it’s as corrupt on the “T” part of its name as is is on the “F”ing part.
  • “Live free or live in Massachusetts,” as some wag must have said. Boston considers banning glassware in bars because it can be used as a weapon. (Can we move Boston over to England? I think it would feel more at home there.)
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  • Wednesday links

  • “It’s complicated.” HL Harris explains her love-hate relationship with firearms. Rape is a mind-changer.
  • Surprise, Surprise. Drugs are vanishing at V.A. hospitals. (And no doubt many other medical facilities, though you can bet fedgov hospitals will be the champs in this variety of corruption and sloppy record-keeping.)
  • How Peter Thiel’s Palantir helps the world’s worst spies keep tabs on us all.
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  • Monday links

    A Scottish brewery — opening in the U.S. today — not only allows employees to bring dogs to work. It gives them a week off when they get a new puppy or adopt a rescue dog. (H/T Joel) The final (?) chapter has been written in the life and death of Kennewick Man. Google and Bing sign a pact to be even more secretively manipulative than they already are with search results. Kickstarter: Wearable luggage for the frequent traveler. (Tip o’ hat to MJR who ponders whether this clothing might also substitute for a bug-out bag) Gunblogger Kim du Toit…

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    Monday links

  • You heard about all those people in California who were evacuated because, you know, water was actually going over the spillway of a big dam? And maybe you thought, “Um, but isn’t that what spillways are supposed to do?” Even if it’s the emergency spillway? Well, here are pix of the degree of stupid involved.
  • So what happens in the longish run if the Hearing Protection Act passes?
  • Just how long can federal agents “detain” you at border checkpoints while demanding that you give them the keys to your smartphone?
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