In the UK, which is fast becoming a police state, they already have a large network of closed-circuit TVs (CCTV). Privacy groups are arguing that the CCTV must be converted to public webcams so people can see what the government is watching.

(H/T to Privacy.org)

Looks like someone is paying attention.

"The United States' Department of Energy is stating that corn based fuel is not the future

In related news, Fidel Castro is blasting the production of corn fuel as a blatant waste of food that would otherwise feed 3 billion people who will die of hunger.

I've heard that it's an inefficient fuel and the same hunger-related argument against it before.

This is new.

Boyd writes: "By breaking up through MySpace comments, the heartbreaker is attempting to assert their view for everyone else to see so that they cannot be accused of saying something else in private."

Makes sense to me. Less emotionally involved, less likely to say or do something you'll regret. Still pretty cold though.

Did you know that the government is discontinuing broadcast television? At least the way we know it. That means that for any TV you own that you want to be able to recieve television over the air (with your rabbit ears or whatever), you will need a digital converter.

"If we don't get this transition right, then (we will be) dealing with constituents," said Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. "The government has broken their TV sets."

The government is offering incentive discounts for people to get the converters:

To help consumers absorb the cost, Congress set aside $1.5 billion to subsidize converter box purchases. Every household, regardless of whether it needs a box, will be eligible to receive two coupons, each worth $40, that can be used to buy two converter boxes. The coupons, to be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis, must be requested between Jan. 1, 2008 and March 31, 2009.

Lest we forget that computers sometimes make errors too, here's an article about Google maps including a direction for swimming the Atlantic Ocean to get to your destination. The guys at Google have a great sense of humor

It now seems that the ones with the most tech smarts are the most effective bullies in schools these days.

The DHS apparently has backed off of the requirement to use RFID in the National ID card. It's a start.

I've heard of this before: taking the remains of your loved ones and having them made into synthetic diamonds. I didn't know you could pick colors though.

Public Citizen reports that the Consumer Product Safety Commission has begun a service that will notify consumers by e-mail of any product safety recalls. While some manufacturers will do this voluntarily, some won't and even if they do, they usually ask for you to register all your products (including loads of personal information you don't want to give).

For example, Selina Patten, of Manassas, Va., had a close call when the recalled plastic nail from a Playskool toy tool bench became lodged in the throat of her 3-year-old daughter. She was able to remove the nail before serious injury occurred. She later discovered the product had been recalled after the death of two toddlers, though she did not hear about it.

Here are some of the common recalled product lines:

* Outdoor products: such as grills and outdoor furniture for porch or patio
* Outdoor power equipment: air compressors and gas pool heaters
* Children’s products: outerwear with drawstrings, necklaces that contain lead, battery packs for toy vehicles, and flashing pacifiers
* Power tools: cut-out tools, nailers, circular saws and pressure washers
* Household products: fans, candles
* Electronics: computer batteries, remote controls

Note: This requires no registration of any kind! You do not have to tell them what products you have and the only personal information (if you can call it that) that they ask for is an e-mail address. There's also very little chance of them spamming you since they are a government agency.

This is a good thing from our government for a change. Look into it.

Holly Clap! What a great use for a thumbdrive!

I am going to put together a tutorial for parents on how to create one of these as soon as I can!

(H/T to the Consumerist for the story).

The Consumerist is running an article explaining how both Quicken and MS Money improperly and possibly illegally force users to upgrade to newer software by purposely cutting off necessary features to older versions.

Great. Now the terrorist watch list is making it to our everyday lives.

Private businesses such as rental and mortgage companies and car dealers are checking the names of customers against a list of suspected terrorists and drug traffickers made publicly available by the Treasury Department, sometimes denying services to ordinary people whose names are similar to those on the list.

…

Yet anyone who does business with a person or group on the list risks penalties of up to $10 million and 10 to 30 years in prison, a powerful incentive for businesses to comply.

…

"It prohibits anyone from doing business with anyone who's on the list. It does not have a minimum dollar amount. . . . The local deli, if it sells a sandwich to someone whose name appears on the list, has violated the law."

This might be a good thing if it actually worked. Judging on how the no-fly list works, I'm guessing it doesn't.

So what happens when the terrorists start using names like:

• John Smith
• Mike Brown
• Chris Anderson
• Mary Jones
• Beth Miller

If one or two terrorists use something like that as an alias, our whole country will shut down.

(H/T to privacy.org for the link to the original article)

Here's a fairly good checklist for what to do if you're a victim of identity theft.

The only problem is that he didn't mention the most effective tool for preventing ID theft that there is: Credit Security Freezes.

If you live in a state that has a freeze law, don't wait until you're a victim, do it now!

(H/T to Schneier's blog for the link)

This story is hilarious! In short:

1. John McCain, Senator and Presidential hopeful, set up a Myspace page to "connect with younger audiences"
2. He used a default theme created by the author of this prank
3. He not only didn't credit the author of the theme, but one of the images in the theme was being pulled from the author's webservers costing him money every time someoen loaded McCain's page.
4. The Author, to teach him a lesson, changed the picture to a joke political message

Anyway, read the details for a much better description by the author himself and to see what the message was

In a disturbing, yet reassuring article, we find out that some sheep have been created that grow some human organs. The idea is to use them for organ harvesting which is sad and terrible, but better than the alternatives.

The first thing I thought of after reading this line was the movie "The Island" (which I just watched this week).

The process would involve extracting stem cells from the donor's bone marrow and injecting them into the peritoneum of a sheep's foetus. When the lamb is born, two months later, it would have a liver, heart, lungs and brain that are partly human and available for transplant.

Perhaps the stories of exuberant human harvesting will end. And hopefully, we won't have a future where our custom clones are raised and then killed secretly in an old underground military bunker.

Not too long ago, a good friend of mine did a lot of work in understanding how copyright holders (such as those represented by the RIAA and MPAA for example) act and react to Peer 2 Peer filesharing networks.

I managed to dig up his 20 page essay on the topic which provides an in-depth summary of the P2P issue including suggestions on how to avoid being identified on a P2P network.

This is a great resource for someone who needs historical information on the issue or who is interested in building a secure P2P app. Also see my article on avoiding P2P nightmares for parents for additional tips and tricks.

In an act of supreme stupidity and ignorance, Washington state has passed a law allowing residents to purchase an "alternative" drivers license that could be used in lieu of a passport at the Canadian border.

Citing the 9/11 Commission's support for more secure documentation for U.S. entry, Chertoff pointed out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents currently must look at more than 8,000 different forms of identification, whether birth certificates, driver's licenses or other documents.

So their answer to the problem?

The alternative license will contain a Radio Frequency Identification chip, commonly known as RFID, which the guard booths will use to scan the license as a traveler or trucker pulls up to the booth. U.S. passports issued since late 2006 already contain RFID chips.

They're going to offer a license that has no shielded covers like passports do that border guards will now just non-chalantly swipe across a reader rather than take the time to inspect. Brilliant. Maybe next, they can just put the readers out for the people in the vehicle to use making it even more convenient. That way, the criminals wouldn't have to bother changing the photo on the ID since no one would be looking anyway.

You'd think no one in Washington has been keeping up with the news about RFID passports.

In the continuing saga, the U of N is now planning to charge the RIAA $11 for each threatening e-mail sent.

"We're spending taxpayer dollars tracking down RIAA problems," Weir said. "Are we an agent of the RIAA? Why aren't they paying us for this?"

And their response:

In response to NU's request, the RIAA's Engebretsen said, "It is neither practical nor appropriate for us to entertain a reimbursement request."

Naturally.

What good would RFID passports be anyway if they don't work on security of issuance first? This article says that a suspected 10,000 passports were issued based on fake applications. That means that they have fully functional, non-cloned, non-hacked passports.

H/T to Schneier for the link.

From that "Ha ha! That's so awesome" department, Senator Barak Obama, not to be outdone by Hillary, has posted some questions to Yahoo Answers.

Technically, Hillary has been on Yahoo Answers since last fall, but she's only asked three questions

Hillary's Questions

For the two older questions, it's interesting to see what answers she chose as the best. (note to track her questions, click here for her profile).

1. How can we help to prevent and someday eradicate breast cancer, which has touched the lives of so many people?
2. Based on your own family's experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?
3. How can we as a country promote alternative energy, use less foreign oil and reduce global warming?

Barak's Question

His specific question, which I find far more useful than Hillary's so far, was "How can we engage more people in the democratic process?" I hope he reads my answer.
(Barak's profile here).