The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.

By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.

The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.

The government WAS planning on using long range scanning to read RFID passports, and apparently is STILL doing that with state ID cards!

New machines scan IDs at border crossings - USATODAY.com

It was found that the jihadis had used the anonymous "remailer" service - which is the most secure and least traceable way to send an email - instead of the normal Internet service availed on earlier occasions.

Jihadis used 'anonymous' service to send email-India-The Times of India

the one surviving member of the group belongs to the outlawed Kashmiri guerrilla organization Lashkar-i-Taiba, according to Indian security officials.

Lashkar-i-Taiba

Jeffrey Rosen:

The question of free speech online isn’t just about what a company like Google lets us read or see; it’s also about what it does with what we write, search and view.

Google’s claim on our trust is a fragile thing. After all, it’s hard to be a company whose mission is to give people all the information they want and to insist at the same time on deciding what information they get.

“We’re at the dawn of a new technology. And when people try to come up with the best metaphors to describe it, all the metaphors run out. We’ve built this spaceship, but we really don’t know where it will take us.”

This a long article that touches on a number of things including Joe Lieberman's request that YouTube remove jihadist videos even if they were protected by U.S. law as well as the Global Network Initiative about which I need to do more reading.

Google’s Gatekeepers

Anand Giridharadas:

Many told themselves and each other that this time would change things, just as Americans had told themselves after 9/11. But they knew their own history, and America’s, and they seemed, even as they spoke the words, to disbelieve them already.

I've wondered why people keep referring to this as "India's 9/11." Mumbia has been the victim of terrible terrorist attacks in the past. If anything, this attack was directed externally as much as it was directed at India. This article provides some explanation.

What has changed is that domestic terrorism in India now has International implications. As it has become a security concern for other nations, there will be increased international demands on India's security forces.

The Special Sting of Personal Terrorism

noteworthy wrote:
Tom Malone:

"Privacy may turn out to have become an anomaly."

I prefer Alex Pentland:

You have a right to possess your own data, that you control the data that is collected about you, and that you can destroy, remove or redeploy your data as you wish.

RE: You’re Leaving a Digital Trail. What About Privacy?

Obama and Clinton are buying into a bottomed-out market vis-à-vis America’s position in the world. It is as if they will be buying stock after the market has crashed, and just at the point when a number of factors are already set in motion for a recovery. For President George W. Bush did not just damage America’s position in the world, he has also, over the past two years, quietly repositioned himself as a realist in foreign policy, and that, coupled with a bold new strategy in Iraq, known as the “surge,” has poised America for a diplomatic rebound, which the next administration will get the credit for carrying out.

I have to say I find that reasoning persuasive, although it is absolute heresy to the left. I wish Obama could have kept Condoleezza Rice on as Secretary of State. In retrospect, I think I think I have more respect for her than anyone else in the Bush Administration. As for having Hillary in that role. Well, hrm, ok, maybe, we'll see...

Obama's Foreign Policy: Buying in at the Bottom - The Atlantic (November 25, 2008)

Federal officials said the practice is so limited that 40 laptops were searched during the first two weeks of August, when 17 million travelers entered the country.

One of the things people have been asking for are statistics. This is the first time I've ever seen the federal government offer one, and it was to the press!

Airport laptop seizures anger Muslims | The Detroit News | detnews.com

Awesome - a great gift idea for those techies in your life who lack a green thumb! Now with this handy tool, your houseplant will twitter you when it needs more water! Brilliant!!

Botanicalls Kit

Westerners were rounded up in at least two five-star hotels, including the exclusive Taj Palace, which were among seven targets stormed by men armed with AK-47 machine guns and grenades.

Witnesses said the terrorists, thought to be linked to Al-Qaeda, were specifically targeting British and American visitors.

It certainly sounds like an Al Qaeda op. Agree? Disagree? Confirmations anywhere?

So, is Osama back?