You’d think, you’d really think, they’d learn to use PGP. Police pepper spray a second grader. “I think there is a problem, but it’s with school and Aidan,” Mandy Elliot [his mother] said. “It only happens at school. It doesn’t happen at soccer. It doesn’t happen at swimming. It doesn’t happen with babysitters, with family members.” “How slavery really ended in America.” (NY Times link) Deathbed confessions work better if you confess to somebody honest, rather than a fellow member of your gang of crooks. And if your country has an actual, you know, justice system. (Odd timing. I was…
5 CommentsCategory: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
Stuff I’ve been saving up … Thomas Jefferson’s bible. I used to have a copy of that. Might still be in the bookcase of my ex-Significant Sweetie. Mmmmm. Pickled carrots. Another of my favorite things, but usually too expensive to buy at a store. Must try that recipe. A so-far neglected discussion thread started by Rarick over at The Mental Militia forums has some definitely odd links “for the bored prepper.” Or non prepper. Definitely for gearheads. This one is supposed to repel dogs. But I think at least one of mine would think it was a dandy playtoy. And…
7 CommentsWow. Have you seen that video of the kid finally striking back against a tormentor? here and here are a couple of follow-ups. Apparently there was no injury, though you’d swear the little bully would have gotten a broken leg out of it. Sucks that the victim got the same punishment as his tormentor. Washington wrecks your washing machine. SecurID. You may have one. Careful. Turns out not to be so secure. Via The Agitator: Resilent Japan. But as the author, Jesse Walker, is quick to say, it’s not just the Japanese who respond well in the midst of catastrophe.…
13 CommentsThe Etsy privacy mess (which I ranted about a few weeks ago) is finally getting attention beyond the outrage that’s been boiling on Etsy’s own forums since January. The bottom line is that Etsy — in a stupid attempt to become more of a social networking site than a buying-and-selling forum — has chosen to expose every person who ever used Etsy (and potentially many who haven’t, via idiots being encouraged to link their address books to the site). Sellers are mostly aware of this and are opting out. (I opted out, let all my listings lapse, and am looking…
5 CommentsIn better earthquake news: a pair of dogs survive the tsunami. Not only survive, but show some smarts in doing so. Pretty good article on datamining. What it can and can’t do. The author mentions Ghostery, which I already have on Firefox. He calls it tracker-monitoring software, but it’s really much more than that. Depending on your settings, it also turns off most tracking. It slowed my browser down noticeably, but it’s worth it. Man with Fourth Amendment written on his chest sues the TSA. You go, Aaron Tobey. Is the NRA finally developing some spine? That’s an NY Times…
6 CommentsWell. That was depressing. So let’s look at the other side of life, okay? First (and apropos of what I was just ranting about), there’s new help for self-defense against surveillance. And (via LewRockwell.com), an advanced — if moderately pricey — option for snail-mail privacy. (And a review of the service.) “She Don’t Like Firefly.” LOL. Are Joel and I at risk of blog incest? Dunno. But he does find some damn funny things. Daniel Radcliffe. The more you learn, the more he seems like a cool, bright (check out him singing Tom Lehrer), together, young man — not to…
12 CommentsOne of the things I hate, hate, hate about being aware is that every time you think you’ve heard it all, that you’re as cynical as you can get, that no level of governmental depravity could possibly surprise you … you learn something new. Something worse. Sometimes it’s just a little thing you can laugh off. Like Newt Gingrich expecting Christian broadcasters to believe that he cheated on his wives out of patriotism. Or, for that matter hearing commentators claim with straight face that Newt Gingrich is the R-party’s great intellectual light. I mean, you hear these things and it…
7 CommentsArs Technica has a chilling take on how HBGary — the “security” company that sought to expose Anonymous and ended up getting exposed themselves — wrote backdoors for the fedgov. The article is long and technical, but it gives a shudder-inducing glimpse into one tiny corner of the vast paranoid-industrial complex that’s metastasizing around government.
4 Comments… That’s the title of a New York Times article about a proposal by Columbia law professor Eben Moglen to “rebuild the Internet” (without government this time) for greater privacy and individual control. Moglen has created the Freedom Box Foundation to help develop this ideas. I’d love to hear comment from you tech-oriented readers on how (or whether) you think this would work and how it might change the Netiverse. —– I’ve got three article deadlines this week, followed by a very special project. So blogging might be “lite” for the next few weeks. To keep the silence from getting…
1 CommentThis is great and gutsy. YOU GO, boss! And hats off to a few cops, too. (Tip o’ hat to S.) —– UPDATE 2/24: Some blogs are calling this story a hoax. The OP has followed up and finds at least circumstantial evidence that the cafe refusing service to TSA agents exists. No solid proof, though. One good thing, though. As Joel points out, the story has spawned one of the best comment threads ever. And yeah, Joel. I’ll bet that first commenter wishes he’d never opened his mouth.
4 Comments