Wired has the background on just what the fedspies did that prompted Ladar Levison to shut down the privacymail service, Lavabit. It was a heck of a principled thing Levison did, and a gutsy one, shutting down a service with 400,000 paying (including about 10k paying; correction from Steve in comments) customers rather than betray those who trusted him. We already knew that. What we didn’t know (among other things) was how he handled the fed demand when he was finally forced into a corner after a hard fight: The judge also rejected Lavabit’s motion to unseal the record. “This…
6 CommentsLiving Freedom Posts
You may have heard that John McAfee (of both anti-virus fame and possibly-shooting-his-neighbor-in-Belize infamy) claims to have plans for an inexpensive, portable device to foil NSA snooping. Says he just needs to get backers & such — that the device itself is already feasible. It’s called “Decentral” or “Dcentral,” depending on which article you read. When I expressed doubt that the half-mad McAfee could pull this off, an acquaintance we shall call “Boris Badenov” for his background, replied: Well, I guarantee it will be a flawed individual who comes up with a “peaceful” solution to the Stasi… and shooting a…
6 CommentsIn addition to all the other “joys” you’ve been reading about Obamacare and its Three Stooges rollout, here’s this from a local guy. His family business has always provided great benefits despite employing just six people (and some of them part time). He writes: 1. I have always provided employee healthcare. Always. 2. Currently, we have a high deductible, health savings plan that in addition to paying 75% of the premiums, we fund a good chunk of money into their savings account each month. It works. Our employees like it. They have saved up money over the years. They don’t…
10 CommentsWell, that was a pleasant little sanity break. Followed by the mini-Apocalypse. Followed by a deadlining break. Followed by a car-problems break. Which is why I should need no excuse for not popping back in earlier. I have been thinkin’ aboutcha, though, and have pages of incoherent notes to run past you. Starting with this one: —– The difference between us … I mean some of us … well, I really mean me … and the devil-may-care types is that for us, life is always “just one more thing.” For example, I find myself the possessor of a woodstove for…
16 CommentsMovie: The Movie Okay, this has been around for a year already. But it’s still funny as all get out. And how, oh how, did Kimmel’s crew manage to get all those megastars to cooperate — then coordinate them? (Via Never Yet Melted)
2 CommentsOkay, I promised cute dog stuff. So here you go. Matrix Puppies: Amazing! And now from summer sunshine to fall And finally! Somebody has answered the vital question that constantly concerns people who are both movie fans and animal lovers: Does the Dog Die? (I still can’t watch Old Yeller …) Bonus: Critters with a sense of style (Hey, doesn’t that wolf look just like George Clooney?)
7 CommentsEver since Pamela Jones shut down Groklaw and announced she was not only abandoning the site but quitting the Internet entirely in light of the Edward Snowden revelations, I’ve been thinking about this. At the time, though I found her reasons poignant and pertinent, I thought she was overreacting. Now, I don’t know. Personally, I’m not on the verge of quitting. A big part of my life is here. And all of my career (such as it is) is here. That’s been true since 1986 when a client bought me my first 300-baud modem and set it up so I…
33 Comments… also general tab clearing The specific, state-by-state insurance cost increases coming to you courtesy of Obamacare. (Not all states are listed; some, like mine, that have already made insurance unaffordable will see less impact.) “That’s not autism!” A touch of sanity. (Personal note: I have one severely autistic relative who cannot function in the world. I have another who is your basic typical introverted, socially non-adept geek who would today be diagnosed with Aspergers, though he is a fully — if quirkily — functioning person. “Autism spectrum” doesn’t begin to put these two meaningfully into the same category.) Ten…
16 CommentsTo … erm, brighten your day. (Source — and H/T REW)
Leave a CommentEdited The non-surprising, horrendously shocking, news about the National “Security” Agency’s perfidy gets worse. Again, we’re dealing with something that’s been speculated about for years but whose real bogeyman shape has only now materialized thanks to Edward Snowden. Wired has one take on it — and some doubts. A friend whose profession is data center security has a more apocalyptic take (the second half of what he says is what we all need to be aware and beware of): RSA has now admitted that they pushed a known flawed random number generator in most if not of all of their…
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