ibenez wrote:
You guys must all be criminals - because I see no problem with this.

Why should criminals be the only people concerned about Constituional rights? Why have a Constitution at all if it only applies to criminals? What is the point of having a "free country" if freedom is only something that one enjoys when one breaks the law and isn't caught? I see multiple concerns here:

1. The FBI and DHS are doing just fine on this front. Any technology projects these people wish to pursue can be pursued in that context. There is no evidence of need.

2. Domestic spying requires 4th Amendment proceedures, which the Pentagon is not designed to handle and will not handle well.

3. The purpose of the Military is to protect the citizens from external threats, not to protect the government from it's citizens or to protect the citizens from eachother. We handle those different situations in different ways because we have a system of limited government which respects the rights of citizens. When you blur the lines between these different situations by taking organizations which are not designed to respect people's rights and having them deal directly with citizens on the government's behalf, you are essentially concluding that you will not respect citizen's rights anymore. If you don't respect citizen's rights, you're not a "free country."

4. The arguement that only criminals need bother with rights is a invitation to a police state, in which everyone is always suspect and everyone is always looking over his shoulder. This was the lesson of East Germany... that an omnipresent surveillance creates a culture of fear and suspicion.

RE: Pentagon Expands Domestic Surveillance

Pentagon expands domestic surveillance.

And Bruce Schneier weighs in as well...

Not only does involving the military in domestic surveillance mean bluring the line between citizens and enemies, it also means applying the 4th amendmend to military operations. What is the FBI not doing that you need them to be doing?

Pentagon Expands Domestic Surveillance

Yesterday I expressed that "Open Source Media," the radio show, had trademarked their name for a radio show. I was slightly, but very significantly, wrong. I think this is actually a big problem. I don't think anyone is going to listen to me about it though.

We do have a pending registration for a trademark on “Open Source,” submitted in May of this year, as the title of a radio show and a website.

Well, thats interesting. Not "Open Source Media." Just "Open Source." These guys want to own the words "Open Source" as the title of "a radio show and a website." Its interesting that they didn't tell the USPTO about the website, just the radioshow. But apparently...

“Open source,” if used to describe software, cannot be trademarked. But “Open Source,” if applied to a current affairs blog and radio show can be trademarked; in our case, it is distinctive, not descriptive.

I don't think thats true. In fact, in the next paragraph they say...

We chose the name “Open Source” because it signals the way we produce radio and web content.

Then its descriptive, not distinctive.

I think people should be able to use the word "open source" in reference to blogs and other kinds of participatory media.

Open Source - The Name Problem, Part II

People don’t engage with each other in order to exchange viruses; people exchange viruses as an excuse to engage with each other.

Douglas Rushkoff on Memes

The unemployment insurance system is expensive and fails to create the right incentives. It's easy for people who don't need it to collect and lie on "looking for work" statements without seriously pursuing a job. It only exists for a short time period that is not taylored to individual circumstances.

Solution: Replace unemployment insurance with unemployment loans that must be repaid.

My second idea.

Unemployment Loans | SinceSlicedBread.com

The addition of 75 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine.

Wow, the CIA world fact book has an entry on the earth. Clearly this would only be necessary if they planned to add other planets as well. :-p

The World Economy

That's what we've done with this email time capsule. Simply fill out the fields below, decide how long you want the capsule to be sealed for, and hit send. We'll do our best to make sure the message gets delivered.

The E-Mail Time Capsule - Forbes.com

If, based on their zip code, voters could access wiki based information about upcoming local and federal races and referenda items relevant to their districts, working families would have a powerful and democratic information resource at their disposal in the ballot box.

My submission.

A wiki voter information guide | SinceSlicedBread.com

We're looking for fresh, new ideas for a better America. Do you have a common-sense idea that will improve the day-to-day lives of everyday Americans? Or an opinion on how working families can succeed in the new global economy?

You have until December 5, 2005, to submit your idea and to weigh in. A panel of judges will select the top 21 ideas. All of America will be able to vote on the finalists, and on February 1, one person will win $100,000—runners up receive $50,000 each.

Got Clue?

SinceSlicedBread.com

Some New Orleans residents are calling it the "Katrina Cough" — a general upper respiratory irritation afflicting people returning to their hurricane-ravaged city.

ABC News: Some Hurricane Survivors Develop 'Katrina Cough'