Archive for the ‘ Rights ’ Category

Very Cool

GNU

I use GNU software and other GPL licensed software every day. My business depends on it. They are celebrating a birthday this weekend.

No Agenda Show

If you have never listened to this before I recommend that you do. If you have and you like it, you can help “propagate the formula” with the CD campaign by going here.

I’ve not made any CD’s but I have added all the CD contents to my FTP server which you can get to directly at the following links:

January Compilations  ♦  NA Pipelines  ♦  Red Pill Media Assassination  ♦  Syria or Bust  ♦  You Had Me at Conspiracy

BitMessage

You can learn about it here and here.

My address is: BM-2D7xmy5iPQdPb8fEqcksE8LkRLQDyFnwVZ

Who has your back? Digitally speaking…

If you care about this sort of thing then you know the answer. This is an interesting report nonetheless.

Original EFF article.

Conclusion

There are many ways to safeguard the privacy of individuals from government overreach. EFF has long engaged in impact litigation, educational initiatives, innovative technology projects, and policy advocacy both domestically and internationally to ensure that governments are held to high standards when it comes to accessing sensitive information about us. The foundation of these standards — which ensure our communications and private affairs are not subject to arbitrary government access — are the Fourth Amendment, decades of privacy law, and many years of case law. But in today’s increasingly digital world, online service providers serve as the guardians of our most intimate data — from email content to location information to our social and family connections. The policies adopted by these corporations will have deep and lasting ramifications on whether individual Internet users can communicate free from the shadow of government surveillance.

Readers of this year’s annual privacy and transparency report should be heartened, as we are, by the improvements major online service providers made over the last year. While there remains room for improvement in areas such as the policies of location service providers and cellphone providers like AT&T and Verizon, certain practices — like publishing law enforcement guidelines and regular transparency reports — are becoming standard industry practice for Internet companies. And we are seeing a growing, powerful movement that comprises civil liberties groups as well as major online service providers to clarify outdated privacy laws so that there is no question government agents need a court-ordered warrant before accessing sensitive location data, email content, and documents stored in the cloud.

Recommended Listening

Form you own opinion; it’s worth hearing.

A win for encryption and privacy.

Thank you EFF. From the article:

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that the act of decrypting data is testimonial and therefore protected by the Fifth Amendment

From the moment we won our independence we have been resisting our governments attempt to take it away. It is a fight that will never be won but it must not be lost. It is a struggle organic to our system and evidence that our system is functioning. Fight to keep what belongs to you.

Common sense…

Who’s your backdoor man?

It’s ugly and getting more so. Proof that you can only rely on yourself when it comes to your digital privacy and security. You must be the one in control if you will have a chance to protect yourself. Details here. And a /. post here. After you read that you may need some comic relief:

Freedom and Control

Cory Doctorow is an entertaining speaker and is one of the few orators that can express coherently the issues of privacy and personal freedom in our increasingly digital times. Below is a recent talk he gave in which he says:

As a member of the Walkman generation, I have made peace with the fact that I will require a hearing aid long before I die, and of course, it won’t be a hearing aid, it will be a computer I put in my body,” Doctorow explains, “So when I get into a car – a computer I put my body into – with my hearing aid – a computer I put inside my body – I want to know that these technologies are not designed to keep secrets from me, and to prevent me from terminating processes on them that work against my interests.