Entries from August 2007 ↓

Just got wind of a great article, How Do Spammers and Online Stalkers Find Me?  From things as simple as online white and yellow pages to filling out forms with too much personal information to chain letters and hoaxes (you know, when the forwarded email has 100s of addresses from all the past forwards).  This is posted on their site as a way to keep kids safe online, but it’s information that everyone needs to know.  When you go online, you need to think about your privacy, as it can effect your security, and the security of others close to you. Also, note the unsettling fact that even though this article was written in August of 2001 it’s still current.

UPDATE: AT&T have responded “Officially, AT&T claims that the act of censorship was the result of a simple mistake made by the content monitor”

“The editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was not intended, but rather a mistake by a webcast vendor and contrary to our policy. We have policies in place with respect to editing excessive profanity, but AT&T does not edit or censor performances. We have that policy in place because the blue room is not age-restricted. We regret the mistake and are trying to work with the band to post the song in its entirety.”

A bit of heavy-handed censorship of a Pearl Jam concert by AT&T this weekend led the band to fire off an open letter to fans—a letter in which Pearl Jam railed against media and ISP consolidation and called for readers to support network neutrality. During a recent show by Pearl Jam, they played, “…the melody from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” and Eddie Vedder served up a pair of anti-Bush lyrics to the tune. “George Bush, leave this world alone,” he sang. “George Bush, find yourself another home.” which AT&T censored on the webcast of the concert. PJ were obviously unhappy, and made a bid to support net neutrality, something that seems below most people’s radar. From their site:

This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media. Aspects of censorship, consolidation, and preferential treatment of the internet are now being debated under the umbrella of “NetNeutrality.” Check out The Future of Music or Save the Internet for more information on this issue.

“What happened to us this weekend was a wake-up call, and it’s about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band.”

Remember, if only a few big companies own the Internet’s bandwidth, the same sort of censorship could take place on any Internet content. Net neutrality is the only fair option, demand it.

While much has been said of last week’s ruling, US News has a summary of many different outlets on the upcoming fallout for the Democrats. “With Congress out of town, media outlets continue to analyze the performance of the Democratic majority. Some media sources suggest last weekend’s passage of a wiretapping bill, opposed by the party’s liberal base, may prove politically troublesome for Democrats.” It’s true, they will be held accountable for this.

Two years ago, when a wiretapping proposal similar to the FISA expansion, California Senator Dianne Feinstein said that the proposal, “calls into question the integrity and credibility of our nation’s commitment to the rule of law.” Then last week, just days after stating, “There is a suspicion that the administration wants to move too boldly. And once you sacrifice rights, it’s hard to get those rights protected again“, she went and voted for the FISA expansion (S. 1927)! She’s not alone, 15 other Senate Democrats also voted to give the government even more power to wiretap. What am I missing here Dianne?

After the Democrats voted to expand the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) authority to spy on Americans without warrants, EFF has stepped up to show how to fight it. “Congress Caves on Warrantless Snooping — What Happened, and How To Fix It”

We also have to take the fight back to Congress, and for that we need your help. The most important check on the abuse of power ultimately isn’t Congress — it’s you. It’s up to you to hold your representatives accountable for allowing this egregious change or supporting it outright. Don’t let them think for a second that this went unnoticed: send them a letter here, call them to voice your opposition, and visit their home offices in your district during the August recess. Spread the word to your friends and family about what Congress has done and urge them to take action, too.

Fortunately, the law has a sunset date, and, more importantly, congressional leaders are already signaling that they want to revise the law before then. Restoring protections for your fundamental rights shouldn’t wait even a day. Neither should our efforts to make sure that happens — take action now.

It’s time to contact your representative and express your outrage, this must be rolled back.

After seeing an Electronic Frontier Foundation EFF.org Q&A session, and speaking with their staff lawyers last weekend at Defcon15, I become a member. Because of this I’m refocusing ltc to focus on digital privacy, rights and the law. Stand by for new articles later this week.