] "I had sent my first inquiry to TSA public affairs, my
] second to (the agency's risk assessment office), but
] information has not been forthcoming," Kelly said in
] e-mail to Carol DiBattiste, the transportation security
] agency's deputy administrator, in November 2003. "This is
] particularly disturbing...We're getting better
] information from outside then we have from our own folks
] at this time."
]
] DiBattiste sounded like she was replying to a pesky
] reporter when she wrote back: "TSA Public Affairs has no
] information in response to your request."
]
] How fitting, then, that DiBattiste landed a plum
] $500,000-a-year job last month with privacy-impaired
] company ChoicePoint. (Remember this figure the next time
] you hear about purportedly underpaid government
] bureaucrats.)

More solid reporting from Declan McCullagh on the DHS "privacy" office. So the deputy administrator of the TSA goes to work for ChoicePoint with a big ass salary? I'd say identity theft is the least of our worries. There seems to be an unhealth professional network going on here between cops, spyware companies, and profiling companies. This is the clique that will create the thought crime/pre crime machines.

Sidelining Homeland Security's privacy chief | CNET News.com

] Update. Indeed, he is gone from the search results now.
] Back tomorrow?

Yup, here it is:

Ken Lay Info

Rattle wrote:
] ] Not content with creating a continent-spanning
] ] lawsuit-sharing network using special P2P (person to
] ] perpetrator) technology, the record companies'
] ] consortium, the International Federation of Phonographic
] ] Industries (IFPI) now wants your ISP to sign up to a new
] ] "code of conduct" that it has helpfully drafted with the
] ] help of the Motion Picture Association (MPA).

This reminds me of a scam the BSA was running a few years ago where they would threaten to charge small ISPs with contributory infringement unless they agreed to a similar list of terms. The ISPs would sign the contract because they didn't have the resources to defend themselves. Then the BSA would hold up those ISPs as examples of people who'd agreed to their terms when they went after additional ISPs. The BSA was thwarted. In today's environment the risk of contributory infringement charges is even lower. The media industry doesn't really have a negotiating position here. I imagine that this is theater mostly. Stupid UNoids don't understand what "severs" are or whether people should run them. Sending up this code of content sends a message that they are trying to operate without help from the government and they can't, so please UN, please do something...

You recall when you were a kid and you would ask your mom for something and she would say no, so you'd go ask your dad and he would say yes. Thats what the UN, WIPO in particular, is becoming. These guys ask the national government. The national government says no. So they ask the UN. The UN says yes. Then the national government is bound to accept the UN policy as a UN participant. This is how the DMCA happened. (ICANN presents a similar concern.)

Who is right? Lefties tend to think the UN is always right because they think individual governments are run by corrupt tyrants. Righties tend to think the UN is always wrong because they think national governments have more legitimacy. I think having absolute ideas about this is dumb.

The UN is not always wrong. Unicef is not evil. Executing minors probably is. The UN is also not always right. SOME national governments have deliberative processes that are far more legitimate and mature then the UN's. Many important stakeholders are excluded from the UN process, often because there is little connection between the democratic government in a country and it's UN representation, and the UN tries to keep its doors closed.

Having said all of this, WIPO delegates, and in particular the official US delegation, have shown little understanding of or respect for the realities of intellectual property in this day and age. From throwing literature into the trash at meetings to arguing against having forums on open source software, there are a number of people engaged with WIPO who simply are neither mature enough nor informed enough to be involved.

Continued observation from the public might make a difference. The last thing we want is this stuff going on behind closed doors.

RE: IFPI drafts 'code of conduct' for ISPs | The Register

Maps google news top stories geographically.

buzztracker

] Whenever I read an article about a cure for peanut
] allergies (my daughter has a life threatening nut
] allergy), the articles always quote some researcher as
] saying it'll happen "in five years."
]
] Curious about the popularity of "in five years," I
] googled the following terms...

Boing Boing: Popularity of using 'in 5 years...'

] This review is based on a substantially complete version
] of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy shown to a small
] group of journalists in London on 31st March 2005, to
] which I was invited by Buena Vista International and
] Digital Outlook.

The short version is this guy HATES this film. Lots of comments and some counter-reviews on Slashdot. It appears, however, that some of my favorite moments from the original, such as the commentaries on God and infinity, are missing or highly redacted. Comments that "some things just don't work on film" are really stupid here given that this book was already made into a movie. I'm sure its funny. I'm sure its been playtested, and if it wasn't funny they'd have re-edited. I'm not sure its going to be smart.

Long film review of _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_

] Google Sightseeing takes you to the best tourist spots in
] the world via Google's satellite imagery.

Google Sightseeing

Rattle wrote:
] Unbelievable! In very unmistakable terms, this guy advocated
] the assassination of federal judges. There is a certain
] disconnection from ethics and reality here that is truly
] terrifying.

While calls to impeach judges by radical nutjobs is newsworthy, these nutjobs seem to have missed the fact that they are unlikely to get support from 2/3rds of the Senate, and even if they could, they'd need a constitutional amendment to include "having opinions we disagree with" as an impeachable offense.

Did Edwin Vieira advocate killing judges, or is he just spinning a phrase? Who cares!? Who the fuck is Edwin Vieira? Apparently he is also opposed to the federal reserve bank. He is too nuts to be important.

Whats newsworthy in all of this is John Cornyn. Recent murders in Atlanta and Chicago have about as much to do with right wing politics as mustard has to do with bicycles. Was his comment a warning or a threat? I do care about the answer to that question, as he is a United States Senator and he was speaking in an official capacity at the time. I imagine it was an attempt to reach for a boogyman. And he is foolish for being confused about why he got nailed on it. It was a stupid comment. He should acknowledge it as such and move on.

I said this before the election. I'll say it again. The focal point of the American people before the election was Al'Q, but I do not seriously beleive that a choice between Republicans and Democrats was a winning or loosing choice vs. Al'Q. There were strategic differences on the plate, but not of that scope. What was also on the plate was the independence of the federal judiciary. Something is going to happen, and this is a long term survival problem for the republic.

All of this positioning is prologue. It will continue for some time. The right will wait until the 3rd year of the presidential cycle to proceed, as that is when actions have their greatest political value. They think they can continue to control these radicals. I think they're jugggling fire, and they've already dropped the baton several times.

RE: One man, one problem.

] Motorists on southbound I-75 this morning were greeted
] with a freeway construction message board proclaiming
] "speed limit 100 mph go go go."

heh heh. Given the way most Michiganders drive though, they probably had to slow down to comply.

MDOT pulls plug on fake speed zone sign

] The Institute for the Future (IFTF) is a 35 year-old
] non-profit research organization that studies technology
] and its impacts on society. We're embarking on a new
] project to look at the history of electronic games so we
] can better understand where they're headed in the
] future.
]
] To help us develop this history, we'd like to invite
] you to share your personal experiences with electronic
] games. Videogames are definitely included, but even
] earlier is fine. As long as some bits and bytes are
] involved.

Share your Gaming History