US to implement insecure RFID in passports beginning in August (2006)
Jul 13 at 9:09am by Jagwire X
An mainstream press article about RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) in passports and how insecure they are.
“Imagine being overseas and your identity being available for the taking - your nationality, your name, your passport number. Everything. That’s the fear of privacy and security specialists now that the State Department plans to issue “e-Passports” to American travelers beginning in late August.”
US to implement insecure RFID in passports beginning in August
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Bruce Sterling’s SXSW keynote
Mar 17 at 3:03pm by Jagwire X
You can listen to Bruce Sterling’s SXSW Keynote here. As usual Bruce gives the audience a number of interesting bits about emerging technologies but mostly he speaks about the future we are creating and what we ought to do about it. He goes on to say that the real challenge to the future is that the worst people in the world are running things and that the United States government is for all intents and purposes a new Soviet Union (inflexible and corrupt, generally looked at as illegitimate by the rest of the world, not mention a lot of many Americans as well.) And in much of the world things are very bad indeed.
“When you actually ignore reality for years on end, the payback is a bitch brother! … We’re seeing just frantic collisions of fundamentalist delusion with objective reality… We’re on a kind of slider bar between the unthinkable and the unimaginable now, between the grim meathook future and the bright green future. There are ways out of this situation; there are actual ways to move the slider bar from one side to the other, except that we haven’t invented the words for them yet.”
He goes on to say that if you look honestly at the world, you will see a new story emerging. One with smart and dedicated people locked in a great struggle to guide us towards a better future using every tool in their power. “That’s a big story!” And then he reminds those who are part of that story of the motto of the old Soviet-era Eastern European dissidents: “Make no decision out of fear.”
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Email Privacy Warning
Feb 13 at 11:11am by Jagwire X
Here’s a nice warning message to attach to your emails:
Warning: All contents of this email and all other communications by citizens of the United States to other citizens and non-citizens subject to unconsititutional, extralegal searches by the National Security Agency under the executive order of George W. Bush. This action is in violation of Foreign Intelligence Services Act of 1978 (Title 50 U.S.C. §§1801-1811, 1821-29, 1841-46, and 1861-62). Impeachment of George Bush by Congress, as stipulated for such executive offenses by the Framers of the Constitution, is possible and pending.
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The Return of Total Information Awareness
Feb 9 at 3:03am by Jagwire X
The government project known as TIA (Total Information Awareness) has returned. It’s now known as ADVISE (Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement) and run out of Homeland Security instead of Defense. You trust Homeland Security more than Defense right? We weren’t really using the fourth amendment anyway, were we?
To quote a friend:
“I knew they’d have to drive a stake through Poindexter’s heart to put this to rest.”
Here is a lengthy Christian Science Monitor article about it: Link
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HR 1528 - The Finest Quality of Stupidity
Jun 14 at 3:03pm by Jagwire X
James Sensenbrenner (R-WI)wants to put you in jail if you watch someone use drugs, and you don’t report this activity to the authorities within 24 hours. It as absurd as it is disturbing.
I guess our prison aren’t crowded enough. Well there is nothing like some absurd intrusive 1984-esque law to add to the population of The ClinkTM.
Take a look at Spy vs. Spy and Sensenbrenner’s Police State.
It’s really depressing how this country is turning into the opposite of everything it stands for. And our lovely “Republican” and “conservative” administration whose actions espouse so many beliefs contrary to what the Republican Party is supposed to stand for. Like smaller and less intrusive government.
There are much bigger problems in the world than this: the environment, poverty, jobs, renewable energy to name but a few.
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