Category: Politics

Everybody Has A Button

If you have any interest whatsoever in government spying / intelligence agencies / counter-intelligence, you should read Schneier’s post and its linked story. Everybody has a button. When Equifax was breached, I assumed it was by a group that just wanted to steal identities for profit. Now that it seems it may have been a

The FCC is clueless

This. Here’s the kicker: …but perhaps the most fundamental is a simple misconception, one that persists in the work of the FCC but also of proponents and opponents of network neutrality. It is the false distinction between what they call “edge providers” (YouTube) and “end users” (people who watch videos on YouTube). I really wish

Overturn ECPA Now

UPDATE: We made it! As of right now, there are 105,628 signatures on the petition. Thank you! Can’t wait to hear what the white house says on this. Please sign this petition! I’m having trouble believing that it’s taken this long for people to take a minute to sign it. Is the level of apathy

Lexical Warfare and Crime

I’ve written about how language can be used to control the debate in politics before. I’ve also posted before about a complete and total prosecutorial overreaction to Aaron Swartz publishing of the JSTOR documents. It seems they’re not totally disconnected ideas.

Term Limits

I am aware that at least some term limits on political offices are mandated by the Constitution, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like spouting off about some injustices that I feel are detrimental to our political processes. First, I think that any elected official should only be given a single term. Crazy, right?

We Won!

Finally, the politicking is over. Yes, I know this post is absurdly late, but in a few tight races, they’ve only just recently finished recounts and whatnot, without any surprises. In my post on the Capillary Man, I echoed the assertion that Obama winning a second term was actually a far more significant measure of

Crime and Punishment

I just read the latest update on the Aaron Swartz case, and it turns my stomach. Here’s the summary from boingboing:

Controlling the Debate

I was watching Real Time with Bill Maher yesterday, and I empathized with Maher’s frustration at not being able to communicate with people because we can’t agree on facts (Maher refers to this as being “inside the conservative bubble”). In the context of the show, one of the panelists denied climate change, and said that

The False Promise of Having Multiple Candidates

People say that we need to have more folks appear on ballots to make elections fairer and get the right person elected. That’s all fine and good, and I’m 100% behind this effort to break out of a two-party system that is so inured in our culture. There’s only one problem: You can only pick

Schneier on Security: Court Orders TSA to Answer EPIC

Schneier on Security: Court Orders TSA to Answer EPIC. Please help the courts force the TSA to consider public comments on full body scanners. Year ago, EPIC sued the TSA over full body scanners (I was one of the plantiffs), demanding that they follow their own rules and ask for public comment. The court agreed,