shouting loudly

As two recent stories point out, our actual telescreens cost hundreds of dollars and have designer labels.

Bad news, as the Senate overwhelmingly voted to legalize President Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program and also decided not to amend a bill that would prevent telecom companies from getting immunity for giving the government access to phone records of millions of people.A quote from an article from Wired that talks about this reads: “The bill, [...]

On Thursday, the US House passed a FISA reform bill without granting immunity to telecommunications companies accused of assisting illegal eavesdropping on US citizens. As we noted last month, the White House and telecoms pressed for retroactive immunity. This pressure has not worked–at least not yet–despite Bush’s threat of a veto.

In light of publicity surrounding a series of incidents in the Boulder Valley School District, high school administrators in Colorado have been publicly defending their right to read students’ text messages in search of incriminating evidence of breaches of school rules. According to the Colorado ACLU letter to the Boulder Valley School District Board of [...]

Here is a letter I just sent to Rep. Albio Sires (D-NJ), my elected representative, with added links: Dear Rep. Sires, I am a voter in your district, and I am writing in regards to H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act. I urge you not to support this legislation unless it meets two key conditions. First, [...]

While I was an undergraduate at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, security cameras were installed outside, pointed at certain locations. The most vehemently opposed by students was the camera at the Southwest dormitories, overlooking a favorite location for riots. People would get together to cause general mayhem following Patriots wins, Yankees losses, and power outages, [...]

The CIA’s National Clandestine Service has a new recruiting tool: a Facebook account (login required). Here’s how Wired News sums it up: Since December 2006, the Central Intelligence Agency has been using Facebook.com, the popular social networking site, to recruit potential employees into its National Clandestine Service. It marks the first time the CIA has [...]

Senator Patrick Leahy, the (presumptive) incoming chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is promising reforms that will increase privacy and reform patents. Among key privacy reforms, he is seeking tighter supervision of government databanks, action on data leaks and identity theft, and (the shock!) warrants as a prerequisite to surveillance of Americans. Patent reform is [...]

You think the credit scoring system isn’t Big Brother enough? Wait until Monday, when the Department of Homeland Security rolls out its “Risk Assessment” scores for travelers. See this EFF link for more on this nefarious plot. Like the “No Fly” list, you’ll be unable to see where you stand (does this post add to [...]

Netflix has a software program that helps you find movies you like, much like Amazon’s system helps you find stuff you like in general. CNet explains: Recommendation systems, also known as collaborative filtering systems, try to predict whether a customer will like a movie, book or piece of music by comparing his or her past [...]