Author Archive

More on less; privacy that is.

I’m not sure if I am overacting about this but this just makes me indescribably mad. Today on /. was an article about a speech given by the founder of Facebook in which he [Jowitt] states:

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and chief executive of Facebook has said that people no longer have an expectation of privacy thanks to increasing uptake of social networking.

Given the recent actions of Facebook summarily altering all users privacy settings away from their defaults to a completely open setting, I must agree that Zuckerberg thinks we don’t expect privacy. What is so frightening is that there are plenty of people that will tow this line and resign their rights to their own privacy. These individuals, I trust, know not what they do. But in the end what they do is to pave the way for for our lawmakers to legislate away our rights because heck, we don’t want them anyway. Zuckerberg is myopic. Not all people use Facebook. Not all people that use Facebook discard the expectation of privacy and many people will never use Facebook because they cherish their privacy.

Is Zuckerberg educated beyond his intelligence or was early American history missing from his curriculum at Exeter and Harvard?

More funny.

Clever boy.
ooNiZ

Summer 2009

I’m finally getting around to posting some pictures to share with everyone. It has been too long. These are from our annual week at Ortley Beach down at the Jersey shore.

Speak less, search more.

This sums it up.
google

Funny too

I’ve always liked cookies.
ComputerCookies

From “Doctor Fun”

This one cracked me up today.
df20041011

Phewww

WordPress upgrade tonight. It went smooth. Crossing fingers worked.

Im reading…

Codes Ciphers and Secret Writings by Marlin Gardner. So, I have a riddle for you.

The numbers are two by two but not two or four. Side by side they are many more but back to back they hide. The answer does not lie with me but with my progeny.

KFACYBJVLAZMYAJZWEYIQLL

New wishlist book

I saw this today and put it on my wishlist.

P.S. My birthday is coming up.

Rights

The following quote from this article applies to so many things, but particularly I think every day about how it applies to our privacy. Every time we send an email or visit a web site we do so in plain sight. We are sitting in our homes or offices inside the comforts which that provides but such a sense of security is misapplied if you expect the things you do online enjoy the same. I wonder how many people are aware of the absolute insecurity and lack of privacy inherent in their online activities. Many will say “I have nothing to hide”. Perhaps, but this is an abdication of your right to an expectation of privacy. If you dont use it, it will be taken away from you. So, as a technology user and admirer and being concerned about the exersise of our rights, please look into what is available to you to practice onlne privacy. You can start by reading up on the topic (I’ll post some links below) and then doing something about it. My primary recommendation would be some sort of email encryption, and making sure you have secure (SSLor TLS) type connections to your email service provider.

Relevant links:
Schneier article.
Privacy Tools.
CDT Guide.
Wikipedia article.
EFF (see #12).

“It astonishes me to find… [that so many] of our countrymen… should be contented to live under a system which leaves to their governors the power of taking from them the trial by jury in civil cases, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of commerce, the habeas corpus laws, and of yoking them with a standing army. This is a degeneracy in the principles of liberty… which I [would not have expected for at least] four centuries.”–Thomas Jefferson, 1788

And if you are so inclined, my GnuPG key data.
A7BC8236
4A47 A3D5 C4D9 7262 3515 2722 04C4 5A7D A7BC 8236