Unbelievable. AOL released a file containing the search engine queries of over 500,000 users during a three month period. It's being mirrored all over.

Here is a screenshot of the download page before it was taken down, complete with a spelling error.. "ananomized"

This will probably be a watershed moment for Internet privacy.

Link to AOL data release

Decius wrote:

This is a very interesting window into imperfect human lives.

This is sure to be some fascinating data.

I revised Decius's title because I thought it might be deceptive to people who haven't been following this story. (Google has not released this kind of data and is not involved in this latest data leak.)

The secrets people whisper to AOL

The Washington Post did not review the full 439-megabyte data set but contacted bloggers who had looked at it.

"On the advice of our legal counsel, we are steering clear of this particular minefield. We leave it as an exercise to the reader to determine whether their personal data may have been leaked in this incident."

AOL Takes Down Site With Users' Search Data

Presumably you've already seen this ...

The war between Israel and Hizbullah has revealed profound disagreement in the Arab world concerning the legitimacy of Hizbullah's activities against Israel. Two major camps have emerged. The first camp, led by Saudi Arabia, opposed Hizbullah's activities and called them "uncalculated adventures," not "resistance," and said that in order for a group to be considered a resistance organization it must meet certain criteria that Hizbullah does not meet. The second camp, headed by Syria, has supported Hizbullah and has considered it a true resistance organization that is conducting "glorious national resistance" that brings honor to the Arabs. They contend that resistance is always legitimate, and that its legitimacy is not dependent on any particular conditions.(1)

In a speech at the emergency summit of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, on July 15, 2006, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh observed that there was a shift in Arab perceptions: "There has been a development in the concepts and criteria employed in the international arena. [These concepts] are crystallizing in a manner that is contrary to the Arab interest. [According to these criteria,] resistance is terrorism, but [Israel is seen as employing] self-defense, which gives it a free hand to destroy and kill without any limitation."(2)

The following are excerpts from statements by Saudi and Syrian officials and media, as well as the Egyptian press.

Debate in the Arab Countries – Is Hizbullah a 'Resistance' Organization or Not?

Nothing new here, but nicely collected, and always inspiring.

cosmic wallpaper
[nicked from digg]

HST Wallpaper

Had The Blair Witch Project been a book instead of a film, and had it been written by, say, Nabokov at his most playful, revised by Stephen King at his most cerebral, and typeset by the futurist editors of Blast at their most avant-garde, the result might have been something like House of Leaves.

I recently discovered this book (intentionally) misplaced in the history section of my local Borders. So far I'm enjoying it.

House of Leaves: The Remastered Full-Color Edition

Linton Wells, former acting CIO of the US Department of Defense, and currently Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration, will be speaking this weekend at DEFCON 14. You should find him and tell him about MemeStreams.

Experience from domestic and foreign humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations shows that shared situational awareness and the information systems that support it are the critical enablers of all other functions in such situations. They are not merely technical adjuncts to the delivery of food, water and shelter. Federal Agencies can respond better to disasters (both domestic and international) by sharing unclassified information effectively with state, local and tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, and relief entities. DoD often refers to these as "non-traditional partners." Besides sharing situational awareness, decision-makers also must exchange ideas for solving emergent problems and convert decisions into action. These capabilities need to be in place within hours after the beginning of a crisis. Success will require new cultures of unclassified information sharing; not just within DoD, but also with the non-traditional partners that form the backbone of domestic and international disaster response.

Earlier this year he participated in a panel session at the Federal CTO Summit:

WHAT WILL STREAMLINE INFORMATION SHARING AND ENSURE INFORMATION ASSURANCE?

As part of the President's Executive Order to establish an information sharing council there is an imperative to create an environment where information on terrorism is automatically shared among appropriate agencies. What are the current information sharing capabilities? What systemic changes need to be made to streamline this collaborative initiative?

Tom Noonan was a member of the panel that immediately preceded the one described above, in which Wells participated.

Former US DoD CIO to Speak at DEFCON 14

My neighbours are stealing my wireless internet access. I could encrypt it or alternately I could have fun.

Upside-Down-Ternet

The lead researcher of the study said that people with higher incomes and more demanding jobs may spend fewer hours in bed but they make more efficient use of that time sleeping.

Interesting. College apparently trains you for something, after all ...

Sleep Pattern Differences Strongly Associated with Demographic Factors

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. struck another blow at Intel Corp., its bigger rival in the market for personal-computer microprocessors, as it disclosed plans Monday to buy one of the dominant makers of graphics chips in a $5.4 billion deal that analysts said could fundamentally alter competition in the semiconductor industry.

The acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc. will allow AMD to shed its role as a boutique player that sells only microprocessors, which act as the core calculating engines in PCs. Almost immediately, AMD will become a seller of chips in four new categories, eroding a key advantage of Intel, which has long benefited from its broader product portfolio.

AMD buys ATI