Terror Act Has Lasting Effects
Surveillance and Privacy from Government
'But the Dec. 2005 expiration date embedded in the USA Act -- which the Senate approved 98 to 1 on Thursday -- applies only to a tiny part of the mammoth bill.'

'After the president signs the measure on Friday, police will have the permanent ability to conduct Internet surveillance without a court order in some circumstances, secretly search homes and offices without notifying the owner, and share confidential grand jury information with the CIA.'

A User's Review of Windows XP
Personal Commentary
My initial impressions of Windows XP. Summary: Quite positive.

 

Disnification
Political Speech, Free Speech
'In this situation Disney Corp. is a political actor, speaking under the special rights enjoyed by commercial actors. For commercial actors, having more money is a perfectly fine amplifier of viewpoints. For example, there's nothing wrong with Proctor and Gamble having more advertising than Joe's Bar. But with political actors, allowing concentrations of money to amplify viewpoints is not a good thing, because the political design of the U.S. is intended to flatten hierarchy in order to allow the many to rule. When political actors like Disney pretend to be commercial actors, republican government is being gamed.'

PC industry girds for copy-protection fight
Misc.
'The PC industry is circling its wagons in preparation to fight proposed copy-protection legislation, arguing at a Monday (Oct. 22) briefing that the protection plan backed by Hollywood [SSSCA] would freeze technology while failing to solve piracy concerns.'

Thank goodness somebody in the PC industry finally woke up the games Hollywood is trying to play. Frankly, I have little confidence in the resolve of the PC industry to stand up to Hollywood, but just another year or two of delaying action can have a wonderful effect on the populace.

FindLaw's Writ - Levinson: What Is The Constitution's Role In Wartime?
Free Speech
'The United States Constitution contains no "emergency power" or general "suspension" clause of the kind found in the Weimar Constitution or the current Indian Constitution. It is difficult to read our constitutional history, however, without believing that the Constitution is often reduced at best to a whisper during times of war.'

 

Novel Security Measures
Personal Commentary
'When Godfrey stepped up to the ticket counter, the United clerk informed him he had been selected for a random baggage search. "No problem," he replied... Now toting nothing but a novel and the most recent copy of The Nation magazine, Godfrey hiked through the concourse toward his boarding gate.... On the cover of the book, Hayduke Lives! by Edward Abbey, is an illustration of a man's hand holding several sticks of dynamite. The 1991 novel is about a radical environmentalist, George Washington Hayduke III, who blows up bridges, burns tractors and sabotages other projects he believes are destroying the beautiful Southwest landscape.'

Taliban Stupidity
Personal Commentary
This won't be on Wired's "Ephemera" section for long:

It isn't the invasion of Normandy, exactly, but American special forces have arrived in southern Afghanistan and are reportedly operating in areas controlled by the Taliban. Initially, they'll be working with intelligence forces to try and undermine the Taliban regime although for their part, the Taliban seem unimpressed. "Fifteen or 20 troops will be able to do nothing," said Sohail Shaheen, a spokesman at the Taliban embassy in Pakistan. "If they want to send in soldiers, they should send in 100,000. Then it can be a fight between our soldiers and theirs."

Senator Backs Off Backdoors
Misc.
'Sen. Judd Gregg has abruptly changed his mind and will no longer seek to insert backdoors into encryption products.'

 

RIAA Wants to Hack Your PC
Hacking & Cracking
'Look out, music pirates: The recording industry wants the right to hack into your computer and delete your stolen MP3s.'

I'm not sure where Wired is getting this. If you read the actual amendment, namely this part:

'No action may be brought under this subsection arising out of any impairment of the availability of data, a program, a system or information, resulting from measures taken by an owner of copyright in a work of authorship, or any person authorized by such owner to act on its behalf, that are intended to impede or prevent the infringement of copyright in such work by wire or electronic communication; provided that the use of the work that the owner is intending to impede or prevent is an infringing use.

Not a good time to have a cold
Personal Commentary
Over the past couple of days, I've had a bad cold, so bad that I couldn't hardly sit up straight long enough to check my email. This basically the one time in my life where I actually expect the TV to entertain me to some extent. Fortunately, my effective IQ drops the requisite 30 or 40 points necessary for being able to watch TV that much. (Thank goodness I feel well enough to use the laptop to post this today. Still can't sit up straight for very long, but at least I can read & write today.)