Jeremey's Weblog

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Report

(via Bruce Schneier) Schneier on Security: Annual Report from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Equally (if not more) applicable in the US.

Lauren Weinstein's "Internet and Empires" Talk

This is a really good talk that Lauren Weinstein gave at Google about technology and privacy and so on. It's long, but very good IMO.

Schneier on Privacy

If we're doing nothing wrong, why should we care about privacy? That's the subject of Bruce Schneier's latest Wired column.

Gizmo + Zfone

In light of all the "security" being implemented by the current administration, we ought to all grab Gizmo and Zfone and use them whenever possible. Gizmo is an IM-like VoIP (i.e. real VoIP using SIP, RTP, etc.) client and Zfone is Phil Zimmerman's (think PGP) contribution to VoIP security. It embeds strong crypto in the RTP stream directly, bypassing any filters or blocking at higher layers.

Gizmo: http://www.gizmoproject.com/

Zfone: http://www.philzimmermann.com/EN/zfone/index.html

More NSA Domestic Spying

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/05/nsa_creating_ma.html

Sigh. Yay Qwest.

A Government Of, By, and For... Whom?

Another wonderful Republican legislator from Texas: http://techdirt.com/articles/20060425/0819237.shtml

Government Worldview 101: "If we don't make more laws that restrict more freedoms, uhh... uhhh... what would we do, again?"

No 'stros, Por Favor

Please, noone mention the Astros. Please? :) I don't want to think about it, let alone talk about it or read about it.

Spotting Bad Security

The US and UK have absolutely lost all sense in their foaming-at-the-mouth "anti-terror" policies and systems. This general rule of thumb should be applied: if some "security" policy or system prevents or impedes some useful activity, then it's bad security. In other words, it isn't worth the tradeoff. That's probably not always true, but nearly, and it's a very good gauge to start with. Is it useful to drive cars? Is it useful to fly on airplanes? Is it useful to ride subways? If it is, then those activities should be unimpeded. If it isn't, they should be done away with entirely. Somehow I think all of those are useful.

Why is it that government is in the business of looking like it's doing something, and why does the electorate value that? Or is the electorate so incredibly disconnected and unaware that they don't care and they're just gonna vote for the guy who has the best opinion on abortion or gay rights or some other inflammatory but completely useless topic? I could turn this into a rant about politics in general, but I'll try not to. We elected these people. We should start holding them accountable. We should stop trading in freedom and everything this country is supposed to be for a few wisps of "security" that makes everyday life a pain but will never protect us from anything.

I don't want to live in a country or a world where I am protected from terrorists by government. That country, that world, will be the height of totalitarian oppression and would have our founding fathers rolling over in their graves.

Some recent instances of security stupidity:

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,68973,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1575532,00.html

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/09/hurricane_secur.html

http://www.virginiadot.org/infoservice/news/newsrelease.asp?ID=HRO-04-24

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/07/shoot-to-kill.html

Very important post from Bruce Schneier about the TSA's "Secure Flight" system:

http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/09/secure_flight_n_1.html

Rita vs. Our Palm Tree

Our palm, waving in the wind at various stages of Rita. Note that you may need to fetch the very latest Quicktime to view this, maybe even a beta if you're on Windows. This is MPEG-4 encoded using H.264.

Sunset With Rita