Been saving these to write some larger think-piece about e-privacy. But not happening, so here you go — the good and bad news about what “they” are doing to you online and on cell. And how some smart people are resisting. Internet biggies adding privacy protections. (Thank you, Edward Snowden.) And speaking of Snowden, he’s joined up with the Reset the Net effort. In case you missed it, NPR’s Steve Henn did an interesting series this week (more here and here) with some jaw-dropping creepiness (with special relevance to smartphone users). Hm. Seems those added privacy protections aren’t doing much…
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
The middle class is even more screwed than the numbers show. Could the mythical cancer wonder drug be on the horizon, or is this just another typical bit of overhype? Concept seems good: turn your own immune system against the cancerous invader. Forensic “science” isn’t science. The NSA now claims it’s too big to comply with a court order. Aw, the poor Clintons. Don’t you just weep for their desperate financial struggles? This is nice. Twins joined at birth became co-validictorians of their high school graduating class. Whew! One more apocalypse averted! The backlash against police militarization heats up. Okay,…
What’s lost as cursive handwriting goes away? Intelligence … memory … turns out handwriting isn’t just some bugaboo in stuffy, old-fashioned teachers’ minds. In Thailand, protestors salute with the touching gesture borrowed from The Hunger Games. The junta doesn’t like it. Hm. I dunno. I guess if you’re too busy, have the bux, and don’t mind your dog pigging out on treats, this could assuage your guilt. Frankly, though, if I had the money and no time, I’d go with an automated fetch machine, instead. Keep ’em lean and well-exercised. (H/T ML) Whotta place to be caught: between secrecy and…
… courtesy of the U.S. military and the war in Afghanistan. The stated goal of the Afghan effort is no less than the collection of biometric data for every living person in Afghanistan. At a conference with Afghan officials in 2010, the commander of the U.S. Army’s Task Force Biometrics Col. Craig Osborne told the attendees that the collection of biometric data is not simply about “identifying terrorists and criminals,” but that “it can be used to enable progress in society and has countless applications for the provision of services to the citizens of Afghanistan.” According to Osborne, biometrics provide…
Last week during the install-a-door-and-discover-that-your-whole-house-is-rotten project, the kid doing gofer work took advantage of his boss’s momentary absence to wander into the kitchen, where I was on the computer, and talk to me.
Now I’ve exchanged maybe five sentences with this kid in the past, all completely casual. But with virtually no preamble, he informs me that he’s had a bad month because on his birthday he came home to discover his girlfriend and his roommate doing guess what on the living room sofa. He commences to go into detail.
I make a few politely sympathetic noises while trying to indicate that I’m doing something really, really — I mean really, vitally! — important on my computer. I eventually have to say outright that I’m deadlining.
I’m embarrassed that any young man would think that a stranger either would want to hear the intimate details of his relationships or should hear them.
Where are the boundaries? Are there boundaries any more?
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Nobody seems sure what’s going on, not even the spectacularly well-informed Bruce Schneier. But TrueCrypt, the whole-disc encryption program many have relied on for a decade, has either been mysteriously compromised or somebody’s pulled off a hoax. Brian Krebs thinks it’s the real deal and that the secretive TrueCrypt team is sending us all a warning. As some have pointed out, the cryptic “official” announcement that “TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues …” could be read as “Not Secure As …” Let’s hope for a hoax. TrueCrypt being subverted would be a major heartbreaker. And…
Is is ominous that these two stories came out within days of each other? Pills containing tracking chips are now being tested on real people. (H/T Wendy) The fedgov is creating a “biosurveillance” system to gain near real-time access to our medical records. In the name of “national security,” of course. And is it even more ominous that these plans are moving ahead just as the fedgov consolidates its control over the U.S. entire U.S. medical system?
For the first time, the heroic Ladar Levison tells the details of why he had to shut down Lavabit rather than betray his customers. The “saddest tourist destination” in America just got worse because of the evil it’s trying to perpetrate against an innocent man. Shades of Kelo. And speaking of governments perpetrating evils against the innocent … (H/T and thanks to JTLaB) Kurt Hofmann gives it good and hard to the tyranno-cop who claimed police militarization was needed because of those non-existent rising rates of violent crime. And to fight American military veterans. Those Texas open-carry activists whose tactics…
Aw, da poo widdle coppie. Him aw hurt because him being shunned after him was a bad coppie and … somebody decided to howl loud, long, and amazingly effectively for justice. Um, yeah. I don’t think I’ll be buying any new cars, thank you. (H/T J) Harry Reid’s Rule #1: Billionaires buying government are only bad when you disagree with them. (Jon Stewart whacks Reid with a cluebat.) With Google, I often think lately that its high-minded motto, “Don’t be evil,” was never anything but a cover for the slimy things it intended to get away with Apple, too. I…
It’s funny how so many “bad guys” think they’re the “good guys.” Woman has neighbors’ home bulldozed because she doesn’t approve of them. National mortgage database: good for regulators, bad for the rest of us. Financial secrets of the Amish. (Never mind the wide-eyed yuppie tone; the info is good.) While I’m dubious about Bitcoin, the underlying problem is real. And speaking of people who helpfully fill in potholes, no good deed goes unpunished. (H/T MJR for 2) Why Christians may regret getting government endorsement for prayers at public meetings. Now there’s a question nobody should have to think about.…