Pope enters airport body scanners row | World news | guardian.co.uk.
Go the Pope!
Pope denounces use of body scanners at airports
// February 21st, 2010I just got this email from my representative
// September 1st, 2009Dear Jonthon:
Letter begins here.
Sincerely,
(I deleted the name because I think the person is a good representative, and don’t want this clerical error which is the fault of a staffer to reflect poorly upon them. But seriously, this person needs to tear that staffer a new one.)
I.B.M. to Buy SPSS, a Maker of Business Software
// July 29th, 2009I.B.M. to Buy SPSS, a Maker of Business Software – NYTimes.com.
Thoughts:
-SPSS would have been a good stock to own
-So business is going to turn more directly toward data analytics, and a “predict-and-act” model, eh? I’ll believe it when I see it.
-Wish I would have learned more permanently how to use SPSS!
Copyright Infringements are dull
// July 21st, 2009This guy is on uppers, maybe, but he’s smart and fast in waves. In this video, he discusses cpyright infringement, and why a thorough understanding of the issue doesn’t necessarily shed any more light on it.
Your Constitutional Right To Spam
// July 19th, 2009You have a Constitutional Right To Spam!
My friend Sean forwarded me this link, which chronicles the case against a spammer that almost went to the Supreme Court. In that case, Jeremy Jaynes, a spammer, got away with spamming.
Jaynes would celebrate not having to go to prison, if he wasn’t already there serving time on an unrelated charge of securities fraud.
Social Networks Spread Iranian Defiance Online – NYTimes.com
// June 16th, 2009I want to learn and do what this guy is doing:
Austin Heap, a 25-year-old information technology consultant in San Francisco, is running his own private proxies to help Iranians, and is advertising them on Twitter. He said on Monday that his servers were providing the Internet connections for about 750 Iranians at any one moment.
“I think that cyber activism can be a way to empower people living under less than democratic governments around the world,” he said.
via Social Networks Spread Iranian Defiance Online – NYTimes.com.
John Malone: King of Satellite? – BusinessWeek
// February 18th, 2009John Malone: King of Satellite? – BusinessWeek.
This is the future of wireless broadband EVERYTHING. John Malone, the “King of Cable,” is either buying Sirius XM satellite radio, or making a loan that will reel into his hands a bunch of cash. But especially tantalizing/worrisome about this is the prospect that he may somehow fuse his businesses, and have a chokehold on the broadband provider industry.
Drowning in dynasty
// February 15th, 2009Digital Domain – Why Windows Software Could Use a Rush of Fresh Air – NYTimes.com.
Windows is dying because of its dynasty. Its backward-compatibility, a feature not used by the vast majority of its consumers, is forcing them to engage in extensive operating systems tests and, thus, delays. Alternatively, Mac just runs outdated programs through rosetta stone…it seems almost too easy…
The Anti-Hijacking Safety Bracelet
// April 19th, 2008Bad, Bad Idea: The Anti-Hijacking Safety Bracelet | Autopia | Wired.com.
A bracelet that airplane passengers could wear. Using radio frequency signals, particular bracelets could be activated, causing them to emit electro-muscular disruption and incapacitate terrorists.
I had an old electronics kit that could send radio frequencies. I wonder if terrorists might be able to incapacitate others on a plane. And how hard is this bracelet to remove? All kinds of problems with eve the safety features of this half-baked idea. And we haven’t even gotten to the part about making everyone who rides on an airplane wear an EMD bracelet, and the lawsuits that might follow ifwhen this thing misfires…
US intel chief wants carte blanche to peep all ‘Net traffic
// January 17th, 2008US intel chief wants carte blanche to peep all ‘Net traffic
A provocative article on internet safety. The Director of National Intelligence wants the right to patrol all of the internet to keep it safe, saying ‘Privacy and security are a zero-sum game.’”
Sayings like that, says security guru Bruce Schneier, “are why the police aren’t in charge; security and privacy are complimentary. Privacy is part of our security against government abuse. If they were really zero-sum, we would have seen mass immigration into East Germany.”
The intel chief claims that if we don’t protect out networks, the economic effects of such an attack could be magnitudes worse than 9/11. But…
The claim that “cyber-security” demands handing over such expansive authority looks like similar overreach. On the prevention side, it is not clear why the NSA is better equipped to handle attacks than the large financial institutions terrorists would target, which surely have ample incentive and adequate resources to secure their networks. And law enforcement has thus far been managing to conduct investigation into and prosecution of computer crime under existing rules.