A Peculiar Blog

Politics is a messy business and it’s even messier when it comes to figuring out who to vote for. Up until recently I’ve been leaning in the direction of McCain, in spite of the fact that he’s… well, not exactly in the running to be poster boy for natural acne treatment commercials.
Then I read [...]

I just got the June 6 issue of EFFector and thought I’d share this item from it for those who didn’t see it. It seems that the issue of immunity for telecoms that participated in the NSA’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.
Now they’re trying to get the FISA court (remember, that’s the “Secret court” that [...]

I just read something that needs some attention. It’s a Wired.com piece called “Air Force Aims for ‘Full Control’ of ‘Any and All’ Computers“.
Essentially, they’re working on developing a suite of software tools that will give them access to and full control over any type of computer they encounter.
The whole point is to be [...]

Recently I wrote about a project Modifying Thingamablog For Freenet 0.5 and while I have not yet been able to solve the puzzle of how to make the needed mods for the current version of Thingamablog, I have run into a problem with the templates.
Thingamablog uses tags within the templates that need to be converted [...]

Theres a story on SeatlePI.com about an issue with cell phones that’s going to get bigger before it gets solved.
Basically it’s about cell phone networks releasing information to police without a warrant. Specifically location information. All that the police need do is say that it’s a life or death situation and they’re handing [...]

There’s a saying to the effect that those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. I saw something today that I have to say is very disturbing. It was a tagline somebody used on a post:
The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the [...]

There’s a piece in the NYTimes about lawyers having to fly all over the place and take all sorts of measures because they’re afraid of their contact with clients being monitored by the US government.
While I’m never going to be sympathetic to terrorists & their supporters, it’s part of how things are *supposed* to be [...]

I think it’s pretty safe to say that the fact that there are government agencies doing a lot of snooping on all manner of Internet traffic. It’s also safe to say that since 9-11 this snooping has escalated massively. Now, the FBI is trying to get access to data that the NSA has [...]

Remember the FISA bill that the Senate tried to get passed that would have given immunity to telecoms for their participation in the illegal NSA domestic spying scandal? Well, it’s not quite dead yet. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer has been talking deals with the “genius” behind that bill, Senator Rockefeller and is [...]

We’re moving farther and farther into the last days. One evidence of this is the growing trend of governments and law enforcement agencies to find more excuses to snoop on people. The latest in this trend is proposals by the German government that would allow video surveillance of private homes.
Oh, there’s all the [...]