Dark Rantings

In a world where Osama Bin Laden is not flagged by CAPPS, do we really want John Poindexter combing through private records to decide who is friend and who is foe? Obviously not, said Congress. However, it seems that the wishes of the American people to keep their privacy are irrelevant. One has to wonder how long it will be before the NEA is listed and your local second grade teacher arrested and interrogated.

When Congress deep-sixed the Total Information Awareness program for fear it would compromise individual privacy, the government simply moved its research to various intelligence offices. [Wired News]

Posted by mikki at 12:07 PM | Permalink

I personally HATE html'ized email. It causes havoc to many email programs, sends tons of unnecessary programming stuff, and can be dangerous. While many feel that sending email with lame little pictures, stupid music, etc. adds something to an email, it drives many people to delete first and ask questions later. Attempting to explain this, and to explain how to turn html off in certain email programs has been problematic. However, a wonderful new website does it VERY well.

If you'd like to get rid of that horrid html'ized email from your in box, or to refrain from sending it, use this wonderful handy link.

Posted by mikki at 02:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You GO EFF. If there was a real correlation between terrorism and surrender of private information, perhaps the government would have a point. However, the cold hard fact is that the majority of the 9/11 hijackers had NO criminal record and NO private information available to the government that would have flagged them. Furthermore, what information would they be looking for from American citizens that would make them ineligible to board an aircraft? Gun permits? Bad credit? Drug charges? Unpaid child support? It makes no sense.

"The amount of data -- potentially incorrect data -- that the government is asking to access before permitting you to fly is simply astounding," said Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney at EFF. "Doing background checks on every American who chooses air travel doesn't seem like a logical way to keep bombs and weapons off of planes." [EFF: Press]

Posted by mikki at 01:31 PM | Permalink

How would you feel if the person entrusted with the safety of all "souls" on board an airline flight, announced that you were crazy if you weren't a Christian?

CNN reported today that an American Airlines pilot asked all Christians to identify themselves, and if you aren't Christian, you're crazy.

The story reports that nobody raised their hands.

Passengers were told to use their 4 1/2 hour flight "wisely" or just "sit back and watch the movie."

Apparently, passengers were so nervous after this, that they grabbed their cell phones, and the in flight phones to call loved ones, because they didn't know if this meant that their pilot was going to plow the airplane into a building or something.

What a way to raise the comfort level of passengers who are likely already a bit more nervous now than pre 9/11 about taking an airline flight. No captive audience should be put through that type of non-consensual nonsense. I wonder how the non-Christians felt on that flight.

Keep this in mind when you choose your airline carrier.

Posted by mikki at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well isn't THIS special? You're forced to go to the DMV and put up with a ton of bulloney at the hands of people with the customer service skills of Microsoft, and then you find your identity has been taken by a family of space aliens. Whooppee

CDT has issued a report entitled "Unlicensed Fraud" documenting rampant internal fraud and lax security at state motor vehicle administration offices across the country placing the reliability of all driver's license at risk. While heavy public attention has been placed on new national standards and new technologies for driver's licenses, studying local news reports from throughout 2003 CDT finds that basic management processes to stop bribery and theft are lacking. In the report, CDT offers policy recommendations to address this dire issue. February 2, 2004 [Center for Democracy and Technology]

Posted by mikki at 09:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)