Another slice of
“Everything”
CIA
collecting bulk data on money transfers, reports say
Another secret
surveillance effort that sweeps up and stores bulk data on Americans
has apparently come to light -- this time involving financial
records, and not the NSA but the Central Intelligence Agency.
The CIA program
reportedly nabs data from cross-border money transfers handled by US
companies such as Western Union in an effort to discover and track
the funding of terrorist efforts.
… Western Union
also provided the same statement to both papers: "We collect
consumer information to comply with the
Bank Secrecy Act and other laws. In doing so, we also protect
our consumers' privacy."
The Times notes that
the CIA program "offers evidence that the extent of
government data collection programs is not fully known and that
the national debate over privacy and security may be incomplete."
[Nonsense. Bob]..
I thought they were
following the Israeli model. Apparently they developed their own.
Typical government.
TSA’s
got 94 signs to ID terrorists, but they’re unproven by science
… In a new
report (PDF) released today, the Government Accountability Office
(GAO) concluded that "the human ability to accurately identify
deceptive behavior based on behavioral indicators is the same as or
slightly better than chance." And it dryly noted that programs
like SPOT should be "demonstrated to work reliably in their
intended environment prior to program deployment."
I can see a “kill
switch” being useful in very limited circumstances and for a very
short time. It will be interesting to see what DHS sees...
From EPIC:
In
a Freedom of Information Act case brought by EPIC against the
Department of Homeland Security, a federal court has ruled
that the DHS may not withhold the agency’s plan to deactivate
wireless communications networks in a crisis. EPIC had sought
“Standard Operating Procedure 303,” also known as the “internet
Kill Switch,” to determine whether the agency’s plan could
adversely impact free speech or public safety. EPIC filed the FOIA
lawsuit after the agency failed to produce SOP 303. The federal
court determined that the agency wrongly claimed that it could
withhold SOP 303 as a “technique for law enforcement investigations
or prosecutions.” The phrase, the court explained, “refers only
to acts by law enforcement after or during the prevention of a crime,
not crime prevention techniques.” The court repeatedly emphasized
that FOIA exemptions are to be read narrowly. For more information,
see EPIC:
EPIC v. DHS (SOP 303) and EPIC:
FOIA.
And Joe Cadillic sends
along this report from the Washington Free Beacon:
The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must disclose its plans for a
so-called Internet “kill switch,” a federal court ruled on
Tuesday.
The
United States District Court for the District of Columbia rejected
the agency’s arguments that its protocols surrounding an Internet
kill switch were exempt from public disclosure and ordered the agency
to release the records in 30 days. However, the court left the door
open for the agency to appeal the ruling.
Read more on Washington
Free Beacon.
I can see this as an
interesting research project for law school students. Could even
become a regular legal service (pre-pre-nup).
How
to check out a potential partner online – without being creepy
Could be an interesting
research area... Note that we are two decades after the creation of
the WWW. If Paul David is correct
(http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~bhhall/e124/David90_dynamo.pdf)
we should be seeing some fundamental changes in how we do things.
Would that include measurement?
Measuring
Internet Activity: A (Selective) Review of Methods and Metrics
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on November 14, 2013
“Internet
Monitor is delighted to announce
the publication of Measuring
Internet Activity: A (Selective) Review of Methods and Metrics,
the second in a series of special reports that focus on key events
and new developments in Internet freedom, incorporating technical,
legal, social, and political analyses.
Measuring
Internet Activity, authored by Robert Faris and Rebekah Heacock,
explores current efforts to measure digital activity within three
areas: infrastructure and access, control, and content and
communities. Two Decades after the birth of the World Wide Web,
more than two billion people around the world are Internet users.
The digital landscape is littered with hints that the affordances of
digital communications are being leveraged to transform life in
profound and important ways. The reach and influence of digitally
mediated activity grow by the day and touch upon all aspects of life,
from health, education, and commerce to religion and governance.
This trend demands that we seek answers to the biggest questions
about how digitally mediated communication changes society and the
role of different policies in helping or hindering the beneficial
aspects of these changes. Yet despite the profusion of data the
digital age has brought upon us—we now have access to a flood of
information about the movements, relationships, purchasing decisions,
interests, and intimate thoughts of people around the world—the
distance between the great questions of the digital age and our
understanding of the impact of digital communications on society
remains large. A number of ongoing policy questions have emerged that
beg for better empirical data and analyses upon which to base wider
and more insightful perspectives on the mechanics of social,
economic, and political life online. This paper seeks to describe
the conceptual and practical impediments to measuring and
understanding digital activity and highlights a sample of the many
efforts to fill the gap between our incomplete understanding of
digital life and the formidable policy questions related to
developing a vibrant and healthy Internet that serves the public
interest and contributes to human wellbeing. Our primary focus is on
efforts to measure Internet activity, as we believe obtaining robust,
accurate data is a necessary and valuable first step that will lead
us closer to answering the vitally important questions of the digital
realm. Even this step is challenging: the Internet is difficult to
measure and monitor, and there is no simple aggregate measure of
Internet activity—no GDP, no HDI. In the following section we
present a framework for assessing efforts to document digital
activity. The next three sections offer a summary and
description of many of the ongoing projects that document digital
activity, with two final sections devoted to discussion and
conclusions.”
Yes! (Now, will they
get out of the way?)
EFF
– Court Upholds Legality of Google Books
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on November 14, 2013
“It’s
a good day for fair use and sane copyright law. After years of
litigation, Judge Denny Chin has
ruled that the Google Books project does not infringe copyright.
Readers, authors, librarians and future fair users can rejoice. For
years, Google has been cooperating with libraries to digitize books
and create massive, publicly available and searchable books database.
Users can search the database, which includes millions of works for
keywords. Results include titles, page numbers, and small snippets
of text. It has become an extraordinarily valuable tool for
librarians, scholars, and amateur researchers of all kinds. As the
court noted (citing an
amicus brief EFF filed jointly with several library associations)
librarians use the service for a variety of research purposes. Many
librarians reported that they have purchased new books for their
collections after discovering them through Google Books.
Nonetheless, the Authors Guild argues that its members are owed
compensation in exchange for their books being digitized and included
in the database – even though blocking Google Book Search’s
digitization wouldn’t bring any author any additional revenue.”
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For my hard-core App
aficionados...
12
Twitter Accounts To Follow If You Like Free Apps
Now, there are ways to
find
virtually any mobile app for free legally. But the best way is
to always know when an app is going on sale, whether as a discount or
free for a limited period. And if you’re on Twitter, there are a
few accounts you should be following to always keep abreast of these
discounts.
Willie rocks!
The
Bard Isn’t Hard: 10 Resources For Teaching Shakespeare
[My
favorite: Shakespearean
insults are the best. This board discusses the history behind the
best insults, and includes a Shakespearean insult generator.
Have I mentioned that
the school has a 3D printer? Browse models, download, print.
(Related) Sounds like
a class project! (Until it actually works, we can call it Congress)
InMoov
Here is “InMoov”,
the first life size humanoid robot you can 3D print and animate. You
have a 3D printer, some building skills, This project is for you!!
… This is
all designed with Blender.
Parts for downloads are
licensed under the Attribution
– Non-Commercial – Creative Commons license.
(Related) Evidence
that a technology has arrived?
Rolls-Royce
to 3D print aircraft engine parts
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