American Civil Liberties Union : Surveillance Society Clock
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/areyoulivinginaconstitutionfreezone.html

Constitution-free zone

Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders. The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone.

I live within 100 miles of the coastal border and "the government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone." I don't have constitutional rights. ...Wait, what?

America's

I want to read this article...it looks fascinating.

Ted Kaczynski, the convicted bomber who blew up dozens of technophilic professionals, was right about one thing: technology has its own agenda. The technium is not, as most people think, a series of individual artifacts and gadgets for sale. Rather, Kaczynski, speaking as the Unabomber, argued that technology is a dynamic holistic system. It is not mere hardware; rather it is more akin to an organism; it seeks and grabs resources for its own expansion; it transcends human actions and desires. I think Kaczynski was right about these claims. In his own words the Unabomber says: "The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the fault of technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but by technical necessity.”

The ultimate problem is that the paradise the Kaczynski is offering, the solution to civilization so to speak, is the tiny, smoky, dingy, smelly wooden prison cell that absolutely nobody else wants to dwell in. It is a paradise billions are fleeing from. Civilization has its problems but in almost every way it is better than the Unabomber’s shack.

You may be running non-free programs on your computer every day without realizing it—through your web browser. In the free software community, the idea that non-free programs mistreat their users is familiar. Some of us refuse entirely to install proprietary software, and many others consider non-freedom a strike against the program. Many users are aware that this issue applies to the plug-ins that browsers offer to install, since they can be free or non-free. But browsers run other non-free programs which they don't ask you about or even tell you about—programs that web pages contain or link to. These programs are most often written in Javascript, though other languages are also used. Javascript (officially called ECMAscript, but few use that name) was once used for minor frills in web pages, such as cute but inessential navigation and display features. It was acceptable to consider these as mere extensions of HTML markup, rather than as true software; they did not constitute a sig

The Javascript Trap

Richard Stallman, with his unsurprising take on JavaScript.

"Cardinal Richelieu famously said: 'If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged.' When all your words and actions can be saved for later examination, different rules have to apply."

Schneier says privacy is quickly disappearing and we're ignoring it. It's like pollution at the beginning of the century: we're ignoring it now because it's small but soon we'll realize it was a big problem that should have been nipped in the bud. Also, if every conversation is recorded we have to change our standards accordingly; eg: how information is considered in a court.

"Society works precisely because conversation is ephemeral; because people forget, and because people don't have to justify every word they utter. ... Privacy isn't just about having something to hide; it's a basic right that has enormous value to democracy, liberty, and our humanity. ... Just as we look back at the beginning of the previous century and shake our heads at how people could ignore the pollution they caused, future generations will look back at us – living in the early decades of the information age – and judge our solutions to the proliferation of data. We must, all of us together, start discussing this major societal change and what it means. And we must work out a way to create a future that our grandchildren will be proud of."

Beautiful essay by Bruce Schneier on the challenges of our time due to data collection, the "pollution" of the information age. Tweeted by Thomas Kriese.

"Cardinal Richelieu famously said: "If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged." When all your words and actions can be saved for later examination, different rules have to apply." This is especially important for those who say that they have nothing to hide. That misses the point.

Welcome to the future, where everything about you is saved. A future where your actions are recorded, your movements are tracked, and your conversations are no longer ephemeral. A future brought to you not by some 1984-like dystopia, but by the natural tendencies of computers to produce data. Data is the pollution of the information age. It's a natural byproduct of every computer-mediated interaction. It stays around forever, unless it's disposed of. It is valuable when reused, but it must be done carefully. Otherwise, its after effects are toxic. And just as 100 years ago people ignored pollution in our rush to build the Industrial Age, today we're ignoring data in our rush to build the Information Age. Increasingly, you leave a trail of digital footprints throughout your day.

Turns off your mac networking

Man if my job weren't ON the Internet, I would be *all over* this

Freedom is an application that disables networking on an Apple computer for up to eight hours at a time. Freedom will free you from the distractions of the internet, allowing you time to code, write, or create. At the end of your selected offline period, Freedom re-enables your network, restoring everything as normal.

Networking Freedom Software

"Suelo's been here for three years, and it smells like it. " http://tr.im/vasK [from http://twitter.com/techpr/statuses/3088661236]

"When I lived with money, I was always lacking. Money represents lack. Money represents things in the past (debt) and things in the future (credit), but money never represents what is present."

HE WASN'T ALWAYS THIS WAY. SUELO graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in anthropology, he thought about becoming a doctor, he held jobs, he had cash and a bank account. In 1987, after several years as an assistant lab technician in Colorado hospitals, he joined the Peace Corps and was posted to an Ecuadoran village high in the Andes.

A symbiotic relationship with industrialised society. He's almost as heavily dependent on everybody else as everybody else is. I'm not impressed at all. Nor is he all that bright: "Gold is pretty but virtually useless" - wrong. Gold is dense, soft, and therefore malleable, like lead, and both are very useful. Chimps would find such a metal (if they were bright enough to mine it, smelt it, etc.) rather handy. Then other chimps would get jealous... eventually they'd start trading it. A few thousand years later, some chimp would decide that gold is silly and go back to living in a tree (or a cage in a research facility).

"In leaner times, Suelo's gatherings include ants, grubs, termites, lizards, and roadkill. He recently found a deer, freshly run over, and carved it up and boiled it. "The best venison of my life," he says." ... ""I'll do what creatures have been doing for millions of years for retirement," he says. "Why is it sad that I die in the canyon and not in the geriatric ward well-insured?"

Free Software Foundation

FSF launches campaign against Windows 7 and proprietary software Windows 7 Sins: The case against Microsoft and proprietary software The new version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, Windows 7, has the same problem that Vista, XP, and all previous versions have had -- it's proprietary software. Users are not permitted to share or modify the Windows software, or examine how it works inside. The fact that Windows 7 is proprietary means that Microsoft asserts legal control over its users through a combination of copyrights, contracts, and patents. Microsoft uses this power to abuse computer users. At windows7sins.org, the Free Software Foundation lists seven examples of abuse committed by Microsoft.

Important notice regarding impending lack of privacy, freedom and security from Microsoft Corporation.

El cuarto pecado es el que más me repele de Windows!

A new campaign for photographers rights. Mapping, reporting and fighting back against restrictions on photography in the UK

I was about to write “gives third parties the right,” until I realized that there are no third parties because there are no second parties.

"We all know that the internet has won as the transport medium for all data — but the universal interface for interacting with the web? — well, that battle is just now getting underway."

When DVD Jon was arrested after breaking the CSS encryption algorithm, he was charged with “unauthorized computer trespassing.” That led his lawyers to ask the obvious question, “On whose computer did he trespass?” The prosecutor’s answer: “his own.”

Ongoing analysis of the iPad and how it relates to programming and hacking.

Once upon a time, Apple made the machines that made me who I am. I became who I am by tinkering. Now it seems they’re doing everything in their power to stop my kids from finding that sense of wonder. Apple has declared war on the tinkerers of the world. With every software update, the previous generation of “jailbreaks” stop working, and people have to find new ways to break into their own computers. There won’t ever be a MacsBug for the iPad. There won’t be a ResEdit, or a Copy ][+ sector editor, or an iPad Peeks & Pokes Chart. And that’s a real loss. Maybe not to you, but to somebody who doesn’t even know it yet.

Another treatise on the effect that corporate content owners are having on our society. Does freedom have a chance, or will we live in a 100% copy-protected world?

"I still remember what it felt like when I realized that you — that I — could get this computer to do anything by typing the right words in the right order and telling it to RUN and it would motherfucking run. That computer was an Apple ][e." Mark Pilgrim's take on the iPad as a locus of Apple's control.

RT @taxonomylady: Unchain the Office Computers! Post from Slate on how workplace web "restrictions infantilize workers" http://bit.ly/LIbSa [from http://twitter.com/sspohnjr/statuses/3561440824]

"So why not lock down workplace computers? Here's why: The restrictions infantilize workers—they foster resentment, reduce morale, lock people into inefficient routines, and, worst of all, they kill our incentives to work productively."

Interesting article about the freedom to use and explore apps that is available on the web. However, as seen from the comments to the post, there are some serious concerns about any IT depart being about to operationally support it. I figure there is a nice to balance it but at this moment I do not know how. Maybe an environment for staff to experiment ?

"There is a jargony HR phrase that describes these forward-looking firms: They're called "results-only workplace environments," where people are judged on what they produce, not how. "

A list of Google services availability in Mainland China.

Regularly updated page showing which Google services are still available in mainland China.

list of google services available in mainland china

Availability of Google Services in mainland China

Why Stallman started, and then stopped, using the OLPC

Teaching children to use Windows is like teaching them to smoke tobacco—in a world where only one company sells tobacco. Like any addictive drug, it inculcates a harmful dependency. (Bill Gates made this comparison in a 1998 issue of Fortune Magazine.) No wonder Microsoft offers the first dose to children at a low price. Microsoft aims to teach poor children this dependency so they can smoke Windows for their whole lives. I don’t think governments or schools should support that aim.

Lemote

noviembre/diciembre 2008 puteada de stallman sobre la OLPC que soportará windows

Teaching children to use Windows is like teaching them to smoke tobacco—in a world where only one company sells tobacco.

When I heard that my novel The Golden Compass (the name in the USA of Northern Lights) appeared in the top five of the American Library Association's list of 2007's most challenged books, my immediate and ignoble response was glee.

Censorship is a terrible thing. So thank goodness it never works, says Philip Pullman.

In fact, when it comes to banning books, religion is the worst reason of the lot. Religion, uncontaminated by power, can be the source of a great deal of private solace, artistic inspiration, and moral wisdom. But when it gets its hands on the levers of political or social authority, it goes rotten very quickly indeed. The rank stench of oppression wafts from every authoritarian church, chapel, temple, mosque, or synagogue – from every place of worship where the priests have the power to meddle in the social and intellectual lives of their flocks, from every presidential palace or prime ministerial office where civil leaders have to pander to religious ones. My basic objection to religion is not that it isn't true; I like plenty of things that aren't true. It's that religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good.

Censorship is a terrible thing. So thank goodness it never works, says Philip Pullman

Religion, uncontaminated by power, can be the source of a great deal of private solace, artistic inspiration, and moral wisdom. But when it gets its hands on the levers of political or social authority, it goes rotten very quickly indeed. The rank stench of oppression wafts from every authoritarian church, chapel, temple, mosque, or synagogue – from every place of worship where the priests have the power to meddle in the social and intellectual lives of their flocks, from every presidential palace or prime ministerial office where civil leaders have to pander to religious ones. My basic objection to religion is not that it isn't true; I like plenty of things that aren't true. It's that religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good.

"My basic objection to religion is not that it isn't true; I like plenty of things that aren't true. It's that religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good."

Censorship is a terrible thing. So thank goodness it never works, says Philip Pullman

A year ago, journalist Lenore Skenazy caused a media sensation when she let her 9-year-old rideNew York City’s subway by himself. In a new book, she explains why she has no

This lady is NOT the worst mom in america: http://bit.ly/v6g1i [from http://twitter.com/medwardsmusic/statuses/1808843388]

A year ago, journalist Lenore Skenazy caused a media sensation when she let her 9-year-old rideNew York City’s subway by himself. In a new book, she explains why she has no regrets.

Skenazy NY New York subway

Advice from the world's worst mom who let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone.

Opera Software: Freedom

The Web is your browser. Discover how fast and fun the Web can be.

On June 16th at 9:00 a.m (CEDT), Opera will {supposedly] reinvent the Web. http://www.opera.com/freedom/ [from http://twitter.com/teedubya/statuses/2162180386]

On June 16th at 9:00 a.m (CEDT), we will reinvent the Web.

Reinventing the web

http://tinyurl.com/kl69uc Opera se met au buzz, rdv demain pour voir... [from http://twitter.com/Tamantafamiglia/statuses/2179777334]

Search technologies are too important for a single company to dominate

"Search is volatile and we'd be nuts to think that Google owned the last word in organising all human knowledge."

Enter search. Who needs categories, if you can just pile up all the world's knowledge every which way and use software to find the right document at just the right time?

good quotes about dewey and the internet

It may seem as unlikely as a publicly edited encyclopedia, but the internet needs publicly controlled search

read it

It's not just a matter of just "picking Theora" to export a video to Youtube and be clear of any litigation. MPEG-LA's trick runs way deeper! The [street-smart] people at MPEG-LA have made sure that from the moment we use a camera or camcorder to shoot an mpeg2 (e.g. HDV cams) or h.264 video (e.g. digicams, HD dSLRs, AVCHD cams), we owe them royalties, even if the final video distributed was not encoded using their codecs! Let me show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

We've all heard how the h.264 is rolled over on patents and royalties. Even with these facts, I kept supporting the best-performing "delivery" codec in the market, which is h.264. "Let the best win", I kept thinking. But it wasn't until very recently when I was made aware that the problem is way deeper. No, my friends. It's not just a matter of just "picking Theora" to export a video to Youtube and be clear of any litigation. MPEG-LA's trick runs way deeper! The [street-smart] people at MPEG-LA have made sure that from the moment we use a camera or camcorder to shoot an mpeg2 (e.g. HDV cams) or h.264 video (e.g. digicams, HD dSLRs, AVCHD cams), we owe them royalties, even if the final video distributed was not encoded using their codecs! Let me show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

This is an alarming notice about the licensing fine print of "open" video codec for h.264. It's open, but only under certain circumstances. Use it commercially? Pay money.

This is F*CKING UN-BE-LIEV-ABLE!! How the MPEG-LA has a foot in the door to ALL our self-filmed documents...

"We've all heard how the h.264 is rolled over on patents and royalties. Even with these facts, I kept supporting the best-performing "delivery" codec in the market, which is h.264. "Let the best win", I kept thinking. But it wasn't until very recently when I was made aware that the problem is way deeper. No, my friends. It's not just a matter of just "picking Theora" to export a video to Youtube and be clear of any litigation. MPEG-LA's trick runs way deeper!..."

"I didn't plan to pick a fight with Steve Jobs last night. It just sort of happened: An iPad advertisement ticked me off; I sent the Apple CEO an angry email; he told me about "freedom from porn." [...] The electronic debate proceeded from there." Gawker journalist Ryan Tate accidentally gets into an e-mail debate with Steve Jobs. Fascinating stuff.

Petits échanges de mails entre Steve Jobs et un journaliste de Gizmodo au sujet des choix de Apple http://bit.ly/b0pfTH (en)

Rare is the CEO who will spar one-on-one with customers and bloggers like this. Jobs deserves big credit for breaking the mold of the typical American executive, and not just because his company makes such hugely superior products: Jobs not only built and then rebuilt his company around some very strong opinions about digital life, but he's willing to defend them in public. Vigorously. Bluntly. At two in the morning on a weekend. As much as Jobs and his actions anger me, and as harsh as I was to him, I came away from the exchange impressed with his willingness to engage. Apple has never tried to argue that cross-compiled Flash wears batteries down any more quickly than other Objective C code, and in fact approved more than two dozen such apps before changing its policies.

"What have you done that's so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations?"

"Rare is the CEO who will spar one-on-one with customers and bloggers like this. Jobs deserves big credit for breaking the mold of the typical American executive, and not just because his company makes such hugely superior products: Jobs not only built and then rebuilt his company around some very strong opinions about digital life, but he's willing to defend them in public. Vigorously. Bluntly. At two in the morning on a weekend."

Before signing on, please ensure you have received your RealIdentity card from local authorities. Signing on to the internet without identifying yourself has been ruled illegal in the Stop Anonymity Act of 2012, and you need to be sure to associate your comments, emails, posts and more with your real name. Setting up your RealIdentity is easy, as your computer (MacOS 15 or ChromeOS7 and higher) will automatically connect to your near-by card, verifying it with your biometric data. Do not put on shades, veils, contact lenses, and please shave before the biometric scan starts; it is advised to not perform biometric authentication after a long night of drinking.

Computing: Software that disables bits of your computer to make you more productive sounds daft, but may help keep distractions at bay

Stay on target: Software that disables bits of your computer to make you more productive. http://bit.ly/bK4SIq

Column - block web access to increase productivity

LeechBlock

Interesting governmental site dealing with freedom (of the use of music potentially)

Web para eliminar leyes innecesarias

^CK HMG using an off the shelf crowd-sourcing package.

This site gives you the chance to tell us which laws and regulations you think we should get rid of.

@nick_clegg et al really cracking down on new/duplicate websites http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/ http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

Interesting governmental site dealing with freedom (of the use of music potentially)

Web para eliminar leyes innecesarias

^CK HMG using an off the shelf crowd-sourcing package.

This site gives you the chance to tell us which laws and regulations you think we should get rid of.

@nick_clegg et al really cracking down on new/duplicate websites http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/ http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk/

why we need a place for whistle blowers

Disagree with the comments that this is manipulative and only out to make money. If being for profit was an issue we wouldn't be able to trust anything in most books, journals or papers.