One small step for human decency and the fourth amendment. Love the second comment: “Here’s something to think about; a bill needed to be passed to prohibit a gov’t employee from touching your or your families (sic) ‘anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast.’ Really? REALLY?” But don’t worry. The TSA has no intention of letting decency, sense, or the Constitution get out of hand. Neither does Erik Prince. Does that man just seem scarier every time his name turns up in the news, or what? (H/T PT) And how come, if “justices” are so worried about the possibility of violence…
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
Yegads. It’s enough to drive even a dedicated “creators’ rights” person into the anti-IP camp. From W.K. (who also wonders if one can make a living coming up with euphonious acronyms for bad laws) — meet the proposed “PROTECT-IP” Act. You can just call it (as they do on Ars Technica’s Law & Disorder Blog) the Revised Net Censorship Act: The PROTECT IP Act makes a few major changes to last year’s COICA legislation. … But what the PROTECT IP Act gives with one hand, it takes away with the other. While the definition of targeted sites is tighter, the…
I’m headed to another town to pick up a foster dog. I’m not ready for this. I told the local group I’d start fostering this summer, but things have been so unsettled I was considering ways to weasel out of my commitment. This is such a sad case, though. I couldn’t say no. The incoming dog is a nine-year-old who’s bouncing back to the group because a placement made six years ago has gone sour. The dog, a female black Lab mix, was very much loved. Then the adopter had babies, and “Betsy” never took to them. Eighteen months ago,…
In the Mothers Day spirit: 11 Awwww-Inspiring Surrogate Moms. Mozilla says “NO” to the DHS. Wonder how that’ll work out. Good for Billings Gazette readers. Boohiss to Best Buy for firing an employee who did the right thing. The 10 secret warning signs of inflation. 🙂 So what do you think happened to silver last week? And where’s silver going from here? Torture: “Still Stupid, Still Wrong, Still Immoral.” The only thing wrong with Dahlia Lithwick’s opinion is that she doesn’t state it emphatically enough. “The Emperors’ Clothes.” A heartrending cry as Pakistanis wake up to their governmental catastrophe, post…
A couple of good (if belated) think-pieces following the iSpy (and everybody else’s phone spies, too) flap: “We are all being tracked now. What should we do about that?” And “Who owns your location?” Bradley Manning is no longer in solitary. Sheesh. If this is what passes for “intelligent” economic commentary in the WashPost, no wonder the MSM is going down the tubes. This dude can’t even effectively knock down his own straw man. If you don’t frown, you don’t feel sad. Dunno if I believe that, but Botox studies point that way. From the same compilation of psychological insights…
Meet the next generation of police-state scanners. Guess we can’t call ’em porno-scanners any more, because they don’t show our private parts as much as the present ones do. Nope. They just probe our bones and internal organs and our prosthetics if we have ’em. With x-rays. But totally “safe” x-rays, of course. How could you imagine otherwise, you unpatriotic little weasel? That you could even think such a thing obviously proves you have something to hide. Guess all those expensive machines the TSA just bought will soon have to be replaced with new expensive machines. From the friendly company…
So. Obama, under pressure, finally releases The Birth Certificate. Such a relief. Now we can be sure the president isn’t violating the Constitution. Yesterday Radley Balko linked to this article about Patrick the miracle dog. You really have to see the photos here to get just how huge a miracle Patrick’s survival is. Warning: If you have a tender heart or an easily upset stomach, you might not want to view them. Here’s a perfect example of the entitlement mentality. Fortunately, this idiot, who actually tried to get a refund from the post office, did not get either her postage…
A few choice items mined from comments and emails from blog readers: Have you thanked the above Wholesome Homeland Security Hero for keeping us safe by groping your children? Turns out TSA agent Thomas Gordon is so dedicated to our welfare that he even studied young girls in his spare time. (From winston; who noted oh-so-correctly that this news was inevitalble. Bet it won’t be the last.) From Pat: Turns out you can get paid for trying to inflict a conscience on Obama. Unfortunately, the few bucks these folks might receive doesn’t even begin to offset the thousands they had…
Are you one of the 100 million iPhone users? One of the 15 million iPad owners? Might want to reconsider. And if you read through to the second half of this FoxNews article — to the part about the handy-dandy police tool, Cellebrite UFED, which is designed to let cops suck up all your cellphone data in minutes, with or without warrant — you might just want to toss your iThing into a swamp and hope a gator swallows it. Is there a technology company left on the planet that has one iota, one smidgen, one molecule of regard for…
Seriously. How many more times? Me: (To some near stranger.) Please don’t put me on a mailing list without asking first. And if you must send mailings to multiple recipients, please, for the sake of everybody’s privacy, use bcc or create an alias for the group that hides the addresses. Other person: (If the mailings are political.) I can’t believe you don’t want to receive My Glorious Truths!!!! You’re a big phony! You don’t care anything about freedom!!!!!! Okay then. I’ll take you off my mailing list! You don’t deserve to be on it anyhow!!!!!!!!!! Other person: (If the mailings…