Protecting the Internet Without Wrecking It
How to meet the security threat
Jonathan Zittrain

With responses by Bruce M. Owen, Richard Stallman, Susan Crawford , David D. Clark, Roger A. Grimes, and Hal Varian;

There is a hell of a lot of writing here but the basic idea seems to be that the way to develop secure computers without resorting to the creation of trusted computing type closed systems like the xbox is to create a trusted computer with a more democratic control system instead of putting all of the power in the hands of a signal software vendor.... a reputation system for code.

Boston Review — Jonathan Zittrain on Protecting the Internet Without Wrecking It

Since people seemed to like the Akira motorcycle, NW thought he'd mention the Mach 5 on display at the New York Auto Show.

Also appearing on the show floor are some unique vehicles that first came to life on-screen, including the Mach 5, a prop car from the upcoming "Speed Racer" film.

Check out the whole photo series.

Flash in the Pan

I believe it to be true, that Candler Park Golf Course was the private golf course of Coca-Cola founder, Asa Candler. He lived nearby, & this intown-neighborhood of Atlanta currently bears his name. He entertained clients there in the early days of our world-renowned beverage. Years passed, & somewhere down the line, it was donated to the City of Atlanta, who capably owns, manages & maintains it now.

Last weekend I drove past what is certainly Atlanta's coolest golf course. I need to get back down there a play a round sometime soon.

You have to walk, no carts, which means that playing there actually counts as exercise. Furthermore, you are just as likely to see tattooed punks from little five points as frat boys in dockers on the course, and beginners are more common than stressed out executives. This means you are unlikely to get hassled by a crusty old course manager over "pace of play." In fact, the course managers might not even be there at all, as you are allowed to play on the honor system - shove a 10 spot in an envelope and tee off. All of this contributes to a laid back feeling that makes golf the relaxing experience it was meant to be.

Do bring your divot repair tool as the low budget course understandably depends on players who are good to the facilities. Its also likely that you'll be approached by a homeless person selling balls. Buy some. Its a legitimate service. Who else is going to clean those balls out of the woods?

Candler Park Golf Course - Atlanta, Georgia

Akira/motorcycle fans --> This link is from February; but take a look at this bike! From what I read, Leo DiCaprio is going to star in the live action movie of Akira - which sounds cool; but look at this bike....
See also...

Winding Road » Archive » Japanese Fans Recreate Motorcycle from Anime Classic Akira

This is basically just a coverage of the facts as they exist so far, but I found this observation objectionable:

Another consideration to take into account is the likelihood of illegal materials
being smuggled into the United States through laptops and electronic storage devices.
As stated in Ramsey, “[t]he border search exception is grounded in the recognized
right of the sovereign to control...who and what may enter the country.”56 Laptops
can present a problem to the national interest in controlling what enters the country
because the vast and compact storage capacity of laptops can be used to smuggle
illegal materials. In light of this, routine searches of laptops at the border may be
justified because of the strong government interest in preventing the dissemination
of child pornography and other forms of “obscene” material that are oftentimes
contained in laptops.57

This is a phoney rationalization. I think it is astronomically unlikely that people are intentionally sneaker netting illegal materials into the country on laptop hard drives. People looking to transfer data typically do it over the internet, and if its illegal data they'd likely encrypt it. An important bit of self examination that the legal system needs to perform here is to ask itself why its perfectly fine for the police to rifle through data if it enters the country on a hard drive, certainly without a warrant and possibly without any "reasonable suspicion" at all, but a warrant is required to look at the same data if it is transfered across the same border over the internet. One of these two conclusions must be wrong. Furthermore, at a border the police might ensist on being able to seize computers or detain people if passwords aren't offered, but certainly the police cannot demand encryption keys for overseas telecommunications!

These inconsistencies lend to the conclusion that these searches are an abuse of a specific loophole in the law that only occurs in a particular context rather than a reasonable strategy that fits well into an overall approach to law enforcement and civil liberties. Certainly most if not all smuggling is occurring online, and most if not all illegal material discovered in border searches is discovered because people happen to carry a lot of personal data around with them on laptops when they travel and not because there was a primary intent to travel for and use the laptop as a vehicle to transport the data to another country for distribution to people in that country.

Another justification may be to facilitate searches of laptops
owned by suspected terrorists which may contain information related to a planned
terrorist attack.

While technically correct, its possible that terrorists might do anything. If the possibility that terrorists might do something means that the 4th amendment must be completely disposed of in that context, the 4th amendment must be completely disposed of in all contexts. The fact is that it is astronomically unlikely that law enforcement will happen upon a terrorist plot at random through random searches of laptop hard drives, and searches of laptop hard drives also do not fit into a specific strategic plan to eliminate terrorism. This is another a posteriori attempt at rationalizing the abuse of a loophole.

RE: Border Searches of Laptops and Other Electronic Storage Devices

While home prices in Atlanta haven't gone up as much as prices in other markets, this article seems to suggest that prices, particularly for condos, may be in for a crash anyway. This map, also from WSJ, singles out Atlanta as an area with a particularly high vacancy rate.

The condominium market is about to get worse as many cities brace for a flood of new supply this year -- the result of construction started at the height of the housing boom.

More than 4,000 new units will be completed in both Atlanta and Phoenix by the end of the year. Developers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are readying nearly 10,000 total new units in a market already struggling with canyons of unsold condos. San Diego, another hard-hit region, will add 2,500 units, according to estimates provided by Reis Inc., a New York-based real-estate-research firm.

The deluge means bad news for developers and potentially lower prices, including in cities such as Atlanta and Dallas that have avoided the worst of the housing bust. If defaults and foreclosures rise, lenders will feel the pain too.

Woes in Atlanta Condo Market Build As New Supply Floods Cities

Web site name registrar Network Solutions is blocking access to a site
owned by a controversial Dutch politician known for his confrontational views about Islam and Muslim immigrants. The move by one of the largest companies in the domain registration business is notable, experts say, because it may be the first documented case of Internet pre-censorship by a major U.S.-based Web registrar.

Network Solutions Pre-Censors Anti-Islam Site - Security Fix

Stefanie wrote:
On behalf of the OZ4 staff, thank you to everyone who attended the con! This year, we had enough speakers to extend Outerz0ne to a two-day event, and we had enough attendees to keep the conference room full throughout the schedule. We appreciate all of the time and effort that went into the presentations.

We also thank those of you who offered donations and bought T-shirts, because you prevented SkyDog from taking a bath on the con! This means we'll probably do it again next year. :)

Stef

p.s. Rattle beat out dc0de to win the auction this year. Thanks to everyone who placed a bid!

Here, Here

Thanks, as well, to the organizers, who put on a comfortable, laid back con with lots of cool swag, games, and good speakers in a decent hotel.

RE: Outerz0ne 4 - Thanks To Everyone!

Somebody is trying to use pro-Tibet themed emails to infect computers of the members of pro-Tibet groups to spy on their actions.

More info here.

Targeted malware attacks against pro-Tibet groups - F-Secure Weblog : News from the Lab

It came to me in a sign....build a statue of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and put it on the courthouse lawn in Crossville Tennessee so that others can share in its beautiful image and learn about Its story........Read about my journey below.

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Crossville