Salon.com News | Democracy held hostage
Free Speech
'What we need more than anything right now is careful deliberation and spirited debate. We need, in short, for our democracy to come fully alive. Unfortunately, the calls for herd-like conformity are on the rise. In the last week, self-appointed sheep dogs from across the political spectrum have begun yapping at our heels, pushing us to all think alike and move in the same direction.'

Biometrics in Airports
Human Justice
'I think it would be a great addition to airport security: identifying airline and airport personnel such as pilots, maintenance workers, etc. That's a problem biometrics can help solve. Using biometrics to pick terrorists out of crowds is a different kettle of fish.'

A text-book concrete example of what I'm getting at in my Human Justice essay.

 

Google Search: alt.humor.best-of-usenet Humor-Amusing

Best kind of humor... there's a point beneath the sarcasm. Replicated here, since Google may not store it forever (minus a few unimportent headers):

Newsgroups: alt.humor.best-of-usenet Followup-To: alt.humor.best-of-usenet.d X-FAQ-Is-At: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/faqs/best-of-usenet-humor X-FAQ-Via-WWW: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/best-of-usenet-humor/ X-For-FAQ-Mailto: ahboufaq@eey.org From: roger@nospam.firedrake.org Subject: [uk.media.radio.archers] ID cards - Yes or No? A Questionnaire (Or 2) Message-ID: Originator: amu@multics.mit.edu Date: 27 Sep 2001 17:29:53 GMT

Subject: ID cards - Yes or No? A Questionnaire (Or 2) From: Min Lacey Newsgroups: uk.media.radio.archers

Salon.com Technology | Peer-to-peer terrorism

'Their hatred is implacable, their forces are decentralized. They seek the protection of remote hosts for their secret bases. Their networks are weblike and personal, difficult for outside observers to penetrate. They use e-mail, encryption and other new technologies to hide their dark doings.'

'Pay close enough attention to the descriptions of America's newest enemies coming from Washington's talking heads, and something starts to seem oddly familiar. Haven't we heard about these people before? Wasn't it just a few months ago that we were being warned about their dire plans and the civil liberties compromises required to fight them? But no. That wasn't about Osama bin Laden at all. That was about ... about ... Napster?'

Real-Life Cyborg Challenges Reality With Technology
Protecting Yourself
'The inspiration for SeatSale and for many of Dr. Mann's other recent inventions is his growing alarm at what he calls the totalitarian uses of technology: the omnipresent surveillance cameras hidden behind "ceiling domes of wine-dark opacity" or the daunting licensing agreements anyone has to accede to before running new software or trying out new online services.'

 

Hackers face life imprisonment under 'Anti-Terrorism' Act
Misc.
'Hackers, virus-writers and web site defacers would face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole under legislation proposed by the Bush Administration that would classify most computer crimes as acts of terrorism....'

'Most of the terrorism offenses are violent crimes, or crimes involving chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. But the list also includes the provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that make it illegal to crack a computer for the purpose of obtaining anything of value, or to deliberately cause damage. Likewise, launching a malicious program that harms a system, like a virus, or making an extortionate threat to damage a computer are included in the definition of terrorism.'

Oracle boss urges national ID cards, offers free software (9/22/2001)
Misc.
'Broaching a controversial subject that has gained visibility since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Oracle Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison is calling for the United States to create a national identification card system -- and offering to donate the software to make it possible.'

I'd like to ditto this.

 

Today, there's safety in spreading out (9/22/2001)
Misc.
'Then came the atrocities of Sept. 11. In the horror of that day, and in the way the Internet responded, the logic of decentralization has never been more clear.'

The first hint of dispersal talk that I wondered about on the original WTCAttack list.

 

Don’t Press the Panic Button
Misc.
'Congress is being asked to rush to pass emergency antiterrorist legislation written by the Department of Justice. House Committee hearings are scheduled for Friday, Senate hearings for Tuesday, and the DOJ is demanding the bill be enacted by the end of the week. It would be a serious mistake for Congress leaders to force this legislation into law without careful scrutiny, because much of the legislation turns out to have nothing to do with fighting terrorism. Instead, the legislation contains a host of items which have been on bureaucratic wish lists for many years....'

MS FrontPage Restricts Free Speech II (It's True!)
Free Speech
From Slashdot:

Several readers have told me their EULA for FrontPage 2002 does not contain the no-disparaging-MS term, or that the term only applies to the FrontPage logo or to the Web components like the MSNBC news headline component. Just to be sure, this afternoon I went down to the store and bought a copy of FrontPage 2002 myself. In the box was the "Microsoft Frontpage 2002" license on a four-page folded sheet, titled "End- User License Agreement For Microsoft Software." Under Section #1, Grant of License, the second paragraph headed "Restrictions" states in part: "You may not use the Software in connection with any site that disparages Microsoft, MSN, MSNBC, Expedia, or their products or services, infringe any intellectual property or other rights of these parties, violate any state, federal or international law, or promote racism, hatred or pornography." (Not only a stunning example of legal overreaching, in my opinion, but very poor grammar as well.) It appears to me to clearly apply to use of the program as a whole and not just the logo or Web components. I suspect that there are different versions of the EULA of FrontPage 2002. Perhaps the license was updated for the most recent SKU, or versions obtained through different channels don't yet have it. I'm going to try to get Microsoft to clarify where this EULA does and doesn't appear, but I'm not sure they will be very anxious to provide me with that information.