Laptops Open for Inspection

I'm wondering how the ruling that laptops, even those owned by American citizens returning from foreign travel, can be seized, kept indefinitely, and inspected or even copied, squares with the fourth amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

A laptop computer is essentially a large filing cabinet and many people keep their financial records, personal communications, business data, entertainment, etc.. on thier computers. The "papers" referenced in the fourth amendment are now digital files, and of course the government does not recognize this. This ruling also applies to iPods, phones, and basically anything with digital memory.

The Last Mile

There's little doubt (in my mind anyway) that the best model for connectivity to the home is for the homeowner to own either directly or though his local municipal government, the "last mile" - the connection from the house to a neighborhood aggregation point. The current scheme which has the link to the home being owned by the phone company or cable company cuts the competition significantly for your communications dollar and locks you into limited options. Imagine having a fiber or high speed copper connection connected into a central point that allows connection to a smorgasboard of telephone, cable, and internet options, all competing for your business.

ars technica has an interesting article up on this about just such a project in Ottawa. It will be met with resistance from the established corporations and it'll be interesting to see if that resistance can be overcome.

They Called It "Enhanced Interrogation"

At the risk of having Godwin invoked, Andew Sullivan has written an ugly but relevant article on Nazi torture. Initially, waterboarding and hypothermia were prohibited as torture, but later added to their repertoire. Is it purely coincidental that the US also uses the euphemism Enhanced Interrogation?

Jim

Big Brother IS Watching

Where you go. Your cell phone has a GPS device that tells the world where you are.

Jim

Orwell's Vision Come True

It's estimated that in Britain, the average citizen is caught on surveillance camera 300 times per day. I can't find the reference, but have seen estimates of 100/day for the US, and 200/day for NYC.

Big Brother IS watching.

One more link to the folks at EPIC about the state of things in the US.

Jim

Stupidity in Slate

Caught this amazing article on incandescents vs. CFLs: In Defense of Incandescence.

"Yes, fluorescents. Buzzing, flickering, able to cause epileptic seizures in the susceptible, in addition to headaches and other neurological symptoms."

There's so much wrong in the article that it's not worth dissecting. CFLs do NOT perceptibly flicker, so they don't cause epileptic seizures. There's nothing particularly right about the color of incandescents - they give a reddish/yellow glow - and good CFLs are color-adjusted to match the lousy color temperature of incandescents. CFL disposal is an issue. They need to be taken back to the local hardware store.

But they save energy. A lot of energy. Decisions should be made on facts, not irrelevant comparisons to the "flare of a match lighting a cigarette in a film noir" Ugh.

Jim

Another absurd bomb "hoax" in Boston

MIT Engineering student Star Simpson walked into Boston Logan Airport wearing a protoboard with an improvised circuit.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/21/mit_student_arrested_for_tech_tshirt/

She was arrested and charged with wearing a hoax bomb device. WTF???

This was no "hoax bomb". As was the case with the previous bomb scare in Boston the problem is with the technical illiteracy of the authorities. In this post-911 era, and after the major investements we as a country have made in the name of anti-terrorism, you'd think that a city the size of Boston would have someone available with the equivalent technical expertise of a basic high school electronics course. In both cases, simply forwarding a picture of the device to someone with a clue would indicate that there simply was no threat. That's something any fifteen year old could do with a cell phone. All it would take would be to have this minimal expertise available. With the current state of technology, he could be located anywhere, accessible via a Treo, iPhone, whatever, and at any time of day.

The intent of these prosecutions seems to be to be to protect the ignorant from fear.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul, the conservative/libertarian candidate for president, while being nearly invisible in the mainstream media and the mainstream polls, has become an internet phenomenon with some interesting effects. Clearly, the internet buzz around Dr. Paul is legitimate, and not something manufactured by Paul partisans, as claimed by corporate media, the republican party, and other candidates. It's notable that on YouTube, the "Ron Paul" channel boasts more subscribers than any other candiate, beating not only the Republicans, but also Obama and the rest of the Democrats. But what's really interesting is the effect of his candidacy on some of the conservative forums like freerepublic.com. While these forums haven't been the model of Republican solidarity they used to be, there has actually been debate about the wisdom of US intervention in Iraq and the whole concept of blowback, heresy in previous times. While Paul is soundly dissed by the MSM, it seems that Paul might actually gain some traction based on internet exposure among the growing numbers that actively dislike and distrust the MSM.

Not that Paul could ever be elected. He speaks in compound sentences that are too complex to put on a bumper sticker and he will be taken apart by establishment Repbulicans and the MSM. But for now it's fun to watch Paul state some obvious truths and to see the mainstream candidates deal with the radioactive heretic.

James Pinkerton summarizes the situation well in the Concord Monitor.

Jim

This will go down on your permanent record!!

A great irony of blogging in this day and age where "everyone" has a blog, is that while it's entirely possible that no-one will ever read this blog, it will create a permanent and public record, easily found via a simple search. Google knows all.