The internet is full of assholes, there’s no denying that. It’s not as much a statistical anomaly - the whole world is full of assholes - but a combination of having said bastards on a medium that allows them easy reach to the whole wide world, with enough range that they don’t get punched [...]
Last month a US court ruled that border agents can search your laptop, or any other electronic device, when you’re entering the country. They can take your computer and download its entire contents, or keep it for several days.
That’s from a Bruce Schneier article on The Guardian advising people on the invasions of privacy they [...]
I read this page a few weeks ago and I don’t agree with a lot of the things the author seems to pine for, like paddling kids, but the examples he uses of the “current alternative” would be amusing if they weren’t so appallingly likely to happen. For instance:
Scenario: Johnny [...]
Ars Technica reports that a new law going into effect today make it a criminal offense to refuse an order to decrypt your own data.
Individuals who are believed to have the cryptographic keys necessary for such decryption will face up to 5 years in prison for failing to comply with police or military orders to [...]
Technocrat carries two informative articles on the current savage military lockdown in Burma.
The Risk of Journalism discusses Courage against the Junta, an article I found painful to read.
We disguised his identity before putting the interview to air. Later, I learned he had been arrested by secret police. For telling the [...]
“The words of my grandfather always go through my head [...]. He would always tell me, the only people who survived the Great Depression were those who had money to spend when everyone else was broke. Those who saved while everyone else spent like crazy”.
“I think the best case scenario is that the dollar [...]
People who start who start yelling “Rodney King!” make it look like the police get abusive only once every fifteen years.
Update: A much better angle which shows that the guy was restrained and already in handcuffs when he was tasered.
There’s an article on the L.A. Times detailing how putting all your communication eggs in the basket of a single unscrupulous provider can have serious privacy implications. For example:
There are red flags to be found in each telecom provider’s privacy policy. A close reading of Time Warner’s policy reveals:
[...]
From the United Press:
Faced with U.S. economic sanctions and a weak dollar, Tehran is demanding foreign energy companies do business in yen and euros, despite increasingly desperate need for investment.
In a deal announced last week, Japan’s Nippon Oil agreed to buy oil from Iran using yen instead [...]
A British judge is suggesting an all-inclusive DNA database. The twisted thing is the rationale:
The present database in England and Wales holds details of 4m people who are guilty or cleared of a crime.
Lord Justice Sedley said this was indefensible and biased against ethnic minorities, and [...]