Congressional Panel Approves Tracking Our Internet History

Hey, if we can't trust Chris Hansen, why
would we trust the government?
Image from source, Raw Story

Are you paranoid? Do you always feel like somebody's watching you? Well, the government is going to make you less paranoid by confirming it! A bipartisan panel has approved a bill that will force broadband providers to track your every move for a year! This tragically misguided bill is aimed at stopping online pedophiles. It might do that, but it does much more than that. This is Big Brother at his worst (best?).

After all of the anti-gay and anti-abortion activity by Republicans, I expect this sort of thing from them. But Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is a cosponsor of this monstrosity. And that is very disappointing.

[Excerpt]

House panel approves bill forcing ISPs to log users’ web history

The House Judiciary Committee approved legislation on Thursday that would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to collect and retain records about Internet users' activity. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Al Franken Seeks Answers from Apple on iPhone and iPad Tracking

Images from source, TPM

So, Big Brother is Steve Jobs? I suppose it could be worse. I mean, he's something of a cult leader, I guess. And many of his legion of fans are kind of snobby and elitist. But it's better than finding out that it's Glenn Beck. 

[Excerpt]

Al Franken To Steve Jobs On iPhone Tracking: I Want Answers



Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) wants answers. After reports Wednesday that Apple's iPhones and iPads secretly store information of the user's location, Franken wrote Apple CEO Steve Jobs a strongly worded letter. . .
 
Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Ex-NSA Russell Tice Spills More to Keith Olbermann

This is scary stuff. We suspected that there was more going on with the whole "warrantless wiretapping" and data mining activities of the Bush Administration than they were letting on. Hell, we knew it, we just couldn't prove it. At last, we have a whistle-blower in ex-NSA agent, Russell Tice. Even he won't tell us everything, but what he says is quite disquieting, and damning of Bush Administration policies.

Tice spoke to Keith Olbermann last night about this, and tonight we have part 2. Pleasent dreams. . .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So, Big Brother Has Been Watching!

This is a rather stunning exclusive report from Countdown with Keith Olbermann, regarding the Bush Administration's use of warrantless wiretaps, data mining, and various other surveillance techniques against ordinary Americans. Apparently all of us, all the time. It sounds fantastic, too epic in scope to be possible. But in his interview with Russell Tice, Olbermann has a real stunner of a story on his hands. Watch. . .

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Found on the Internets: Orwell for 2008

Image by Editor

Every once in a while, you find something on the internets that is too good not to share. While reading the comments section on Newshounds, regarding Alan Colmes discovery of his spine the other day, I found this incredibly simple but profound comment:

WAR IS PEACE.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY.

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

FOX IS NEWS.

Chuck Anziulewicz Homepage 08.13.08 - 10:54 am

And for those of you who have not read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, please do so immediately.

Source: Newshounds

Bloggers Beware: Big Media is Watching

I operate this blog like many other bloggers do. I find interesting stories, I write my thoughts on the issue, copy and paste the headline and a snippet of the article, and usually a picture--all attributed, and linked to the original source. I try to go a step further, and put quite a bit of thought into my own commentary. I make an honest attempt to make the posts largely my own, and then give the reader the opportunity to read what inspired me to post it.

It's all rather quid pro quo, as far as I'm concerned. I get something interesting to put on my blog, the original authors get more eyeballs on their work. I myself have been excerpted on other blogs and consider it to be quite a compliment.

But not everybody feels that way. The bigger content providers--AP for one, but not only them--are cracking down on the practice. And they're even making their own rules apart from existing "fair use" laws. This will severely inhibit a lot of bloggers, will reduce traffic on the very sites that are crying foul, and has the potential to turn many blogs into boring news aggregators like The Drudge Report. Ugh. Stay tuned.

[Excerpt]

Bloggers: Big Media Is Watching

The Associated Press unleashed a firestorm in the blogosphere earlier this month when it demanded that a political site take down AP content it said violated copyrights. Bloggers, including Michael Arrington of TechCrunch.com and Markos Moulitas of Daily Kos, cried foul, saying the AP's move threatened the free flow of information over the Web. The furor abated a few days later when the AP tempered its demands. . .

Read more at: Business Week

Documents Prove FBI is Big Brother

Image from source, Raw Story

Yeah, they keep proving that all the tin-foil hatters like me were right all along, and it just keeps seeming like nobody cares. No wonder they don't teach civics classes anymore. Our country is unrecognizable from the way it was founded.

[Excerpt]

Documents prove FBI has national eavesdropping program that tracks IMs, emails and cell phones

FBI also spies on home soil for military, documents show; Much information acquired without court order

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been routinely monitoring the e-mails, instant messages and cell phone calls of suspects across the United States -- and has done so, in many cases, without the approval of a court. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

Big Brother is Watching, Listening, Taking & Copying

The story below is but one example of our government's overzealous behavior as it pertains to "security." We have really given up just about every civil right we have as it pertains to privacy. There is nothing the government/George W. Bush will not claim is necessary, and apparently nothing that any other governmental agency will do to prevent it.

A question that gets somewhat glossed over in all of this is, what exactly are they looking for? Sure, they say they're trying to prevent terrorist attacks. They say that al-Qaeda is hiding behind every rock. And conservatives, by and large, nod their heads vigorously, and support whatever the government says.

Did you notice that seismic shift? The anti-government party; the same folks who's extremist wing holes up in Wyoming or Idaho with arsenals and survivalist gear are enthusiastically supporting this behavior.

Does anybody think that once the government has been given this much rope, that they won't try to use their newfound abilities for other things? Do we think they aren't using data mining for the war on drugs? The war against Democrats? Really?

[Excerpt]

Clarity Sought on Electronics Searches

Nabila Mango, a therapist and a U.S. citizen who has lived in the country since 1965, had just flown in from Jordan last December when, she said, she was detained at customs and her cellphone was taken from her purse. Her daughter, waiting outside San Francisco International Airport, tried repeatedly to call her during the hour and a half she was questioned. But after her phone was returned, Mango saw that records of her daughter's calls had been erased. . .

Read more at: Washington Post

Story tip from Stupid Monkey Planet

Restaurants Barred from Serving Obese People?

Photo from source, Raw Story

Around this editor's household, waistlines have expanded over the last couple of years. We may even be obese by technical standards--but not by most sane persons. We could just stand to lose a few. . .dozen. . .pounds. Anyway, if we don't get back on the treadmill, we may find ourselves outcasts, pariahs--like smokers--in restaurants in the near future.

Oh, and yeah, I'm primarily running this story for the funny picture at left. Wouldn't you?

[Excerpt]

State: Big Dietitian is watching you

A bill recently introduced in Mississippi's state legislature would bar restaurants from serving people determined to be obese. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

And thanks to Stupid Monkey Planet (he of long-awaited blog site) for the tip!

ATT and Others Set to Filter the Internet?

In a classic case of closing the barn doors after the horses get out, media companies are frantically trying to keep their products in the form that they want them at the price they want us to pay. I understand this, honestly.

I, like most people, am totally against piracy as it pertains to movies and music on a big scale. I'll go out on a limb, and say that people who illegally obtain media, and distribute it for sale are bad. OK? I don't even like it when people download movies on those sharing sites. There's something distasteful about that to me.

The line is fuzzier when it comes to ripping CDs, copying them to your iPod, or burning a CD for your mom. And if you're only using music or video that you've already paid for on a different device, well, I don't see anything wrong with that.

So while going after the big dudes makes total sense to me, it sounds in this story like they're trying to go after the little guy. And creating roadblocks and hassles to getting legitimate media. It sounds bad.

[Excerpt]

AT&T and Other I.S.P.’s May Be Getting Ready to Filter

For the last 15 years, Internet service providers have acted - to use an old cliche - as wide-open information super-highways, letting data flow uninterrupted and unimpeded between users and the Internet.

But I.S.P.’s may be about to embrace a new metaphor: traffic cop.

At a small panel discussion about digital piracy at NBC’s booth on the Consumer Electronics Show floor, representatives from NBC, Microsoft, several digital filtering companies and the telecom giant AT&T said the time was right to start filtering for copyrighted content at the network level. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Terror Watch List: Excessive and Ineffective?

Image from source, RawStory.com

Well this is no surprise. When you get unfettered access to voluminous information, reviewing it all proves to be too large a task. Reason, logic and truth may prove to be problematic when running a campaign, but maybe it ought to be used in policy?

[Excerpt]

Terrorist watch list ineffective, prone to misuse, say privacy advocates

Questions have arisen over the United States government's use of its terrorist screening database, reports the Washington Post today.

While the database "flagged" people as suspected terrorists about 20,000 times in 2006, few were arrested or barred from entering the country as a result of being on the list.

Gathering data from an increasing number of resources, including airline data, government agencies use the database in situations such as a traffic stop or a border crossing. While the government has proven secretive on the individuals in the database and the data it has amassed, there are plans to share the data with "private sector groups."

Read the rest at: RawStory.com

More Big Brother: TSA Monitoring Body Language

No, this isn't a follow-up to my post on the TV version of Big Brother, but the Orwellian variety. Earlier, I ran a piece on technology being developed at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security that could read body language and facial expressions. Well, I guess they couldn't wait, because TSA agents are now being trained to do just that.

[Excerpt]

TSA agents watch suspicious body language

New airport agents have been trained to check for bad intentions in travelers' facial expressions.

BY KAITLIN DIRRIG

WASHINGTON -- Next time you go to the airport, there may be more eyes on you than you notice.

Specially trained security personnel are watching body language and facial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions. The watcher could be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or the one standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbside baggage attendant.

They're called behavior detection officers, and they're part of several recent security upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawley told an aviation industry group in Washington last month. He described them as ``a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk management prior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowded checkpoint.''

Read more at: MiamiHerald.com

TV Review: Big Brother

Original summer TV programming is something of a wasteland (except for cable, see Eureka), so I don't expect much. But I expect something. I've only ever caught a few moments of Big Brother (now in its 8th season) before this year, and nothing really impressed me.

I decided to watch a bit of it this year. I've found, however, that I can't just watch the show. I have to also be doing something else. Working on the computer, reading, doing dishes, anything. Otherwise, I'd feel guilty.

Big Brother is an incredibly empty show. Outside of the obvious eye-candy (see photo), this show has nothing going for it. At least on Survivor, you can watch the fat people get skinny, and the fit people become emaciated. I have yet to figure out the point of this show.

One added bonus this year is on Showtime Too, which is airing Big Brother: After Dark. This is the uncensored live feed of the show, every night for three hours. Out of curiosity (and the chance of a free show), I DVRed a few episodes. Each three hour episode takes (seriously) about 35 minutes to watch. You fast-forward that much. I've found nothing in this show to recommend it.