a convenient truth

Quoted entirely from the Guardian diary: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/may/31/hugh-muir-diary-leveson-jeremy-heywood

Big brother is bad, but big sister is worse. Is there anything Theresa May would see as beyond her purview? Certainly, she would be mistress of all she surveys if allowed to monitor everyone's emails, in accordance with the madcap plan concocted by officials. Intolerable that anyone should be able to snoop in that way. Concerned citizen Matthew Dodd thought just that, so he got in touch with the Home Office, seeking reassurance of the home secretary's commitment to the new transparency. Can you tell me, asked Dodd, utilising freedom of information legislation, the date and time of every email sent or received by the home secretary over the last 12 months, of every Skype call, every Facebook visit, and the address of every website visited. The first thing that happened was that officials said they hadn't received the request. Yes you have, said Dodd. I've checked. You logged it. Then he was told that he couldn't have the information because compiling it would be too expensive. You can apply again if you pare it down, he was informed, but we still won't co-operate because much of what you want is "personal information". Yes, it is, said Dodd. Doesn't that rather prove my point?

Embedded Link

Diary
Another day of Leveson. Another fine mess. But who’s to blame?

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Have a look at the names of the authors. This is the latest ACM Transactions on Internet Technology.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

This really tickled me.

Embedded Link

More Afraid Cartoon | Savage Chickens – Cartoons on Sticky Notes by Doug Savage

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Embedded Link

What the Goldman guy should have written — Marginal Revolution
Philosophically speaking that is: I signed on to this doctrine of fiduciary responsibility but initially I thought it would mean cooperating with other high status people rather than ripping them off….

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Reshared post from +Tim O’Reilly

"Don’t get SOPA’d": Congress learns to fear the Internet public

I found echoes of Thomas Jefferson's notion that when people fear the government, there is oppression, and when government fears the people, there is liberty, in the opening of Kim Hart's recent piece in Politico about the ongoing reaction in Washington to the SOPA/PiPA protests:

"In the wake of the Internet blackout that led to the dramatic death of two controversial online piracy bills, a new warning has entered the Hill vernacular: 'Don’t get SOPA’d.'

Unfortunately, after that provocative opening, the story devolves into the familiar narrative about the competition between "Hollywood" and "Silicon Valley", reinforcing the prevailing notion that the job of Congress is to balance the interests of two competing lobbies rather than looking after what is best for the citizens of our republic. The SOPA protests weren't the work of some Silicon Valley lobby; as +Andrew Rasiej said to me recently, they were the work of "the Internet public."

(Andrew noted that that lovely term, "the Internet Public," was coined by Dave Parry in his essay "It’s not the Public Internet, It is the Internet Public." http://profoundheterogeneity.com/2011/02/its-not-the-public-internet-it-is-the-internet-public/)

Embedded Link

Pols fear ‘SOPA backlash’ – Kim Hart
In the wake of the Internet blackout that led to the dramatic death of two controversial online piracy bills, a new warning has entered the Hill vernacular: “Don’t get SOPA’d.” Lawmakers are tiptoeing…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

So far markets seem to have believed it…http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2012/02/austerity-as-a-substitute-for-trust.html

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

RMS was right…

Reshared post from +Perry Metzger

I've been a loyal Apple user for some years now, but I find this very disturbing — disturbing enough that I wonder if I shouldn't be moving off of Apple products even if I otherwise love them.

Of course, right now this is something you can turn off, but most people won't if only because they don't understand how or why they would want to, which will mean most ISVs will be slowly forced to the Apple app store, which will in turn reduce the incentive to turn off "Gatekeeper".

Then, at some point, Apple will say "95% of our users don't run any unsigned apps anyway, so for security we're turning off the option".

And then, one morning, the government will say "we don't like this bittorrent app" and it will suddenly vanish from every machine that had it a few minutes before.

Cory Doctorow has been warning against the "war on general purpose computing" for a while — this feels like a very serious piece of evidence in his favor.

Embedded Link

OS X Mountain Lion Limits Apps to Mac App Store, Signed Apps by Default
One of the significant new features in OS X Mountain Lion is Gatekeeper, a new security system to help keep users from installing nefarious…

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

Steak.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

"I don't think one need subscribe to any quasi-mystical theories about how the conceptual world of ideas can affect the substantial world of everyday existence in order to agree that, in retrospect, this could be seen as practically begging for it."

Embedded Link

Alan Moore on Anonymous' rise
Alan Moore, the writer behind comic book classic V for Vendetta, gives his thoughts on how his creation has become an inspiration to the Anonymous hacking network.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.

"I don't think one need subscribe to any quasi-mystical theories about how the conceptual world of ideas can affect the substantial world of everyday existence in order to agree that, in retrospect, this could be seen as practically begging for it."

Embedded Link

Alan Moore on Anonymous' rise
Alan Moore, the writer behind comic book classic V for Vendetta, gives his thoughts on how his creation has become an inspiration to the Anonymous hacking network.

Google+: View post on Google+

Post imported by Google+Blog. Created By Daniel Treadwell.