A Peculiar Blog

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 [...]

Recently I wrote about the feds wanting to collect DNA from everybody arrested. Well, I saw an EFF story that says the public comment period for this proposed rule will end on May 19, 2008. It’s important to get as much input on this topic against allowing this wholesale collection of DNA from [...]

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 [...]

Identity theft is getting to be a really big issue these days. It’s in the news all the time, usually two or three times a week you’ll see the talking heads relating yet another story about identity theft or something that this or that congresscritter is proposing to do about it. Theres the [...]

Remember the big flap that’s been made about the National ID card that the government has been trying to foist off on us, requiring states to become “Real ID compliant”? This is the same “Real ID” that several states have refused to be part of. Well, if H.R. 5405 passes then it’s [...]

Anyone considering traveling outside of the US would do well to read this item on the Wired.com blog about a recent federal appeals court decision that border agents can search laptops, phones and other electronics without cause (and presumably without a warrant either).
What it means is that anyone crossing the border needs to be aware [...]

Given the track record of federal agencies going out of their way to gain power they shouldn’t have, this news isn’t exactly a surprise. The Feds have finally managed to pull off something that I know they’ve been wanting to do for a long time. They’re planning to collect DNA samples from everybody [...]

This news isn’t exactly a surprise given the FBI’s known history of misuse of power. Including the power to issue National Security Letters.
A NSL is different that a normal subpoena in two important ways. First, they do not require probable cause and they don’t have to get a judge to sign off on [...]