"I don't think the report is true, but these crises work for those who want to make fights between people." Kulam Dastagir, 28, a bird seller in Afghanistan
The Volokh Conspiracy - District Court Holds that Running Hash Values on Computer Is A Search:
Topic: Miscellaneous
6:15 pm EDT, Oct 29, 2008
This is me writing:
I don't like Caballes. I think it leads to a dark future. Stevens wrote: “Critical to that [Kyllo] decision was the fact that the device was capable of detecting lawful activity."
So, based on your analysis that the search only occurs when it provides a result to a human, and the holding in Caballes that any result provided to a human that could only pertain to unlawful activity cannot be called a search, it seems this is not a search (for 4th amendment purposes).
Edge cases about hash collisions would likely be dismissed as easily as edge cases about the police misinterpreting the dog or the dog barking at the wrong time.
So, the bottom line becomes, any technology that we can develop to collect information about crimes is A-OK so long as it never provides any information to a human being unless an actual crime has been committed.
Let your fantasies about orwellian high-tech distopias fly! Hash checks of internet communications at ISP's? Check! Compulsary installation of face recognition cameras in all private buildings? No problem!
Artificial intelligences that read email correspondence or analyze search engine queries for patterns indicating criminal behavior? Well, they would have to be highly accurate, which is a bit far fetched by present technological standards, but if they were, then that might be alright as well...
Eventually in the distant future, you reach a point that has been mentioned by previous posters, where you've replaced your human police officers with robots... These robots are artificially intelligent and never report the results of their investigations to humans unless a crime has been committed.
Under this analysis I cannot see how the Constitution would prohibit these robots from doing all of the tyrannical things that the 4th amendment was intended to prevent the police from doing, and I don't see how this state of affairs would be materially different from not having any 4th amendment at all.
Therefore, if the 4th amendment is to have any meaning at all, there must be some reason that this kind of automated search is not reasonable.
Scalia offered the following in reference to Caballes: "This is not a new technology. This is a dog." I find that explanation extremely unsatisfying.
At the 2008 Pop!Tech conference, best-selling author and debt crisis expert Juan Enriquez catalyzed a vigorous debate on the impetuses of the current American economic meltdown – and the immediate actions the country and next U.S. President will have to take to address the situation. Combining information and ideas from many sources, Juan enumerated an urgent, non-partisan10 point plan, to be implemented during the next administration’s first 60 days. Enriquez posited that failure to act – or, in his view, further misguided efforts – run the risk of triggering an irreversible economic collapse that could plague the American economy for decades.
This is what the Republican Party has done to us this year: It has placed within reach of the Oval Office a woman who is a religious fanatic and a proud, boastful ignoramus. Those who despise science and learning are not anti-elitist. They are morally and intellectually slothful people who are secretly envious of the educated and the cultured. And those who prate of spiritual warfare and demons are not just "people of faith" but theocratic bullies. On Nov. 4, anyone who cares for the Constitution has a clear duty to repudiate this wickedness and stupidity.
Democrats fight Karen Handel to stay on ballot | Atlanta | News & Views | Feature
Topic: Politics and Law
2:09 am EDT, Oct 27, 2008
For the time being, put aside concerns about Georgia's voter ID law and electronic ballot machines — and start worrying about a whole new set of election shenanigans perpetrated by Republican Secretary of State Karen Handel.
One thing I learned at phreaknic is that a couple of seriously cool hacker spaces have popped up in the SouthEast, including this one in Nashville:
The Hacker Consortium is being formed to give like minded persons the ability to meet, discuss, and work on projects in a comfortable working environment. We've all tried to work on projects and expand our skills from our home, and sometimes from the office, but there always seems to be distractions from family members, or office mates. The "Hacker Space" exists to give an enviroment where you can work, or play with persons that understand what you are trying to accomplish, and may even lend positive advice and help out where they can. Would you rather read a 500 page book, or have someone help you get to the meat of the issue and lend some experienced information to you?
This group in Huntsville has also done a number of really cool projects. I kind of think of these things like country clubs for geeks. If someone was organizing such a thing in Atlanta I would gladly pay into it. I suspect with Georgia Tech in the vicinity a club like this could be very successful here. It looks like someone is looking into it.
This is the cat's ass. I absolutely love the fact that we are bailing out these companies and they are still doing the bonuses...
My fav -- "At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. In effect, staff, on receiving their remuneration, could club together and buy the bank."
RE: Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for October 2008
Topic: Computer Security
5:40 pm EDT, Oct 23, 2008
noteworthy wrote: Things that make you go "hmmm..."
This is an advance notification of an out-of-band security bulletin that Microsoft is intending to release on October 23, 2008.
If you haven't seen it, Microsoft has just recently started publishing an immense amount of technical detail about these vulnerabilities. Look here and here.
(The) Startup Depression « The Jason Calacanis Weblog
Topic: Technology
9:50 am EDT, Oct 23, 2008
It’s my believe that the economic downturn will be much worse than it is today, and that 50-80% of the venture-backed startups currently operating will shut down or go on life-support (i.e. 3-4 folks working on them) within the next 18 months.
Make a list of every Web 2.0 startup to raise an A or B round and cross 80% of them off the list, because they will not make it to their next round of funding or profitability.
