Privacy

Tired of the Recall Election

This entry was posted in Culture Humor Libertarianism Politics Privacy Religion on by

Mark Morford has some recall suggestions. Things that you can do without a million bucks. For example, a mild one from the middle of the list:

Recall the idea that if your ass isn’t making a permanent indentation in your $149 Ikea couch every Sunday for six hours straight during NFL season, you are somehow betraying the very notion of manliness and testosterone. This is your choice. You are the only voter that matters. Do you sense your power now?

If this is you get started. If it isn’t you go read the rest. You’ll find at least one or two that apply to you. Take back your life now.
NB: Some of Morford’s suggestions will surely offend some of you. You know, all the taboos: language, sex, politics, religion,….

Should YouTrust Big Brother

This entry was posted in ashcroft bush Constitution Domestic Terrorism Libertarianism Privacy War on Terrorism on by

Jeralyn Merrit wonders:

We don’t know why people aren’t screaming bloody murder about this.

The this is CAPPS II, the new airline passenger screening system currently under development.
Yes, why aren’t we up in arms about this? Go read Jeralyn’s post and the related links. CAPPS II looks like Total Information Awareness is alive and well not something 5 years away as Fox News argues:

Any real development of TIA technology is more than five years away, so concerns that the technology will be abused are speculative, at best.

Well, since Fox’s 5 year forecast is clearly speculative why would we expect it not to be abused.
Gosh, just imagine, you are headed to New York next summer to provide peaceful input to the GOP convention but, oops, your color is red and you don’t get to go. What set of data in the fed files might cause this to happen?
Even though the absence of information may be as problematic as the information the feds have you just might want to start making yourself a little less visible by learning how to use cash again.

This is Too Much

This entry was posted in Privacy on by

Take a look at this photo:
capt.1056584283.see_through_security_bbp108.jpg
(courtesy of Yahoo) and read this article and tell me whether you think this just might be going a bit too far???!! I do.

Via Silflay Hraka who poses this astute question:

More importantly, given that the machines are used to detect plastic, how long before people start using plastic tape to leave messages to the screeners on their torso?

Thinking about this some more, the backscatter image is a pretty good depiction of Susan Hallowell, director of the Transportation Security Administration’s security laboratory (image from above linked CNN article):
Susan%20Hallowell.ap.jpg

Update (5/23/07): Fixed link to the images; made them embedded instead of popups and and modified the text slightly to reflect this. Also note that the CNN link is broken. Here is a link to an alternate story CBS from the same time.

From Total to Terrorism

This entry was posted in Privacy on by

In typical government form the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) wants us to think that because they changed the name of this program they have changed its purpose:

Formerly known as Total Information Awareness, the newly renamed Terrorism Information Awareness (TIA) program is the brainchild of Adm. John Poindexter, known for his 1991 conviction (later overturned) for lying to Congress about his involvement in the Iran-Contra affair.
The old name, DARPA notes on its Web site, “created in some minds the impression that TIA was a system to be used for developing dossiers on U.S. citizens.” Luckily for DARPA, with the new name, they get to keep their acronym. Unluckily for privacy advocates, they kept much more than the acronym.

You can read about the rest and maybe you should consider whether to use cash or credit on your next purchase.