Tag Archives: security
Hamsters and terrorists everywhere, rejoice!
Municipality police of Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories, Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith, has come forth with yet another breathtaking initiative to keep us all safe and free from the evil oppression.
This time, it’s a campaign educating the public on how to spot a terrorist, urging them to report people who would seek to destroy our liberties.
…find more of “Hamsters and terrorists everywhere, rejoice!” inside
Internet Without Borders + HowTo
In my not so humble opinion, the Internet is an open, international medium. It shouldn’t matter where you come from – once you’re online, you should be able to access all public information and services. Yet it tends to happen increasingly often that some resource just tells you something like [Access denied. You are not in an approved area. Now please go have an intercourse with yourself.] which is a thing that irritates me.
It’s a long day at work and I wanted to refresh myself with some music. Blast, I had no music on my new laptop (ThinkPad T500, wee!) yet, so I tried to use Pandora, which I remember as a very clever, customizable and enjoyable streaming music service. To much disappointment, I was greeted with the message “We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S.” I wonder who’s behind this – my guess is RIAA and their cronies… No matter; my patience was gone, and my cyber artillery armed and ready for a devastating barrage.
A simple message for everyone who would impose borders upon the Internet:
I fart in the general direction of your futile and annoying restriction attempts.
And I can teach everyone else and their granny how to do it, too.
…find more of “Internet Without Borders + HowTo” inside
(Don’t) take your kids’ games away
A US teenager murdered his mother and shot his father in the head, in revenge after they took away his copy of Halo 3 video game, a judge has ruled.
Unfortunately, it seems somebody can claim that the game was a contributing factor; the judge who presided over this case said he believes that the 17-year-old defendant “had no idea at the time he hatched this plot that if he killed his parents, they would be dead forever.” Of course, it’s all video games’ fault. 
Jolly. :-D I do hope parents have long respawn timers…
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However, on defense of video games, they are very educationary. A six year old kid stole a car, drove it around, and eventually crashed, claiming that he learned that stuff playing Grand Theft Auto.
Sweet. I can’t wait till I learn some cool swordsmanship and magic from Warhammer Online. :-D
Big Brother’s long fingers
It is perhaps due to my ignorance that I am noticing this now, or maybe I just dismissed it as impossible, but I was pretty shocked by a finding that struck me tonight
Especially after 9/11, it is a common occurrence that Europeans pity citizens of the United States, because their privacy is invaded at every corner, and all that newspeak and fear-mongering really remind us of Orwell’s 1984. My father is even so concerned about his privacy and personal information, that he turned down an opportunity to go to the post-2001 USA several times.
In fact, when I was about to leave for the Land of Freedom to spend a semester there last fall, I even had to pay for being watched and tracked. My visa request would not be granted unless I paid a $100 fee to SEVIS, an organization whose very purpose is to spy on foreign students and visitors.
I always thought that compassion is all that we had to offer in this context, but it turns out I was wrong: Obviously, an agreement between US and EU [NY Times] is about to happen, that will give the US government access to personal data of EU citizens. Am I the only one who feels this is an outrage? Any reason we should trust Team America with this?
Of course, they claim they will only “look for suspicious activity”, but just consider how the FBI abuses the Patriot Act. Do you remember that sweet pot of honey they were feeding everyone prior to the Patriot Act vote? This is a binding agreement, and indeed is a big deal. If the EU will have to turn over any such information US would ask for, I think I have yet another reason to move to Norway.
…find more of “Big Brother’s long fingers” inside
War on Photography
I’ve been planning to blog about this topic for ages, and now the mighty security guru Bruce Schneier did that for me in a Guardian newspaper essay:
What is it with photographers these days? Are they really all terrorists, or does everyone just think they are?
Since 9/11, there has been an increasing war on photography. Photographers have been harrassed, questioned, detained, arrested or worse, and declared to be unwelcome. We’ve been repeatedly told to watch out for photographers, especially suspicious ones. Clearly any terrorist is going to first photograph his target, so vigilance is required.
Just look at this bastard. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t hesitate to kill a kitten. :-P
Except that it’s nonsense. …find more of “War on Photography” inside