Partially off-topic and political

[gare]

While the current administration is under scrutiny for spying on private citizens and accepting bribes, they've now turned their sights on Google. I'm not a big Google fan because their software such as Desktop is invasive (similarly, your iTunes are monitored, shades of Sony), but without question Google's where you turn for research. Seems the feds want a random search of a million Web addresses to scout down pornography; I dunno, this sounds like violating civil rights under the name of Weapons of Mass Destruction with a different topic chosen, no?

Google has rejected the subpoena, and although they have the billions in cash reserves to fight in court, this has got me a tad worried about our civil and human rights. I plan to encourage my congessman to get the Freedom Act tossed out because the CIA has historically been blocked from spying domestically, I'm going to donate my spare sheckels to Freedom Frontier and the ACLU, and I encourage similarly-minded folks to do the same as spurring this administration's forcible posing as everyone's moral benchmark and surrogate parents. I just don't see how men should have the right to protect a fetus in a woman's body and then later send them off to get killed in one huge tragic oil dispute.

Protect your last freedom, folks: your mind. As Woody Allen said, "It's my second favorite organ."

Apologizing in advance for getting OT,

Gary

 

[winterhawke]

What with i-tunes reporting every mp-3 played on our machines, Sony placing tiny little report codes in their cd's which allows us to make 3 copies and then reports any violations back to some server somewhere, Mc Afee poping in and out of our files at will and the Adobe 'call home' invasion. George Orwell comes to mind. Now the US government is attacking us in cyber space (and what other governments and/or private businesses?) Anyone who actually uses the "home computer" to conduct any sort of personel business [as intended RE: bill paying, taxes, private records], must either be crazy or in denial. The only way to combat this assault, that I can come up with, would be to get ourselves to Walmart and purchase one of those $299 computers to use for all internet business (and do not network). Then let them HACK away. AN OFFLINE MACHINE IS THE ONLY SAFE MACHINE. If "Religion is the opiate of the masses" [ Karl Marx ] then the Internet is pure crack cocaine, and eventually it will take it's toll on every one of us. On another note, every one of us ( not me ) who has Limewire or some such file share, and has downloaded as little as 1 piece of music, is a felon. Think about that. It means that practically every one of us ( not me ) is subject to arrest, a $250,000 fine and up to 5 years in FEDERAL PRISON. That's 1-mp-3. Why didn't anyone care (SONY) when they were manufacturing the tape copying equipment back in the cassette days? Why could we copy tapes to our hearts content but not mp-3's? And how about these i-pods. What private info are they transmitting back to the Apple servers every time we reload them. What are these mysterious constant updates? And what right does Adobe have to be able to spread registries and cookies all throughout our machines via demo software, that stay there after the demo is over and has been removed. Nasty little Adobe 'spy' cookies. Tiny DOS leaches.
So just remember, when you're sitting in the dark and you think you're alone. think again. There are virtually thousands of entities crawling through your beloved computer, opening your private files, stealing information and infesting you machine. Unless you destroy your modem.

 

[Wayne]

It's a good topic, Gare.

It's a vicious circle. Terrorists among us? Ok, let's tap the phones and email/internet transmissions, etc... in the name of security. What are the real parameters of this monitoring? How closely are they listening in? Are they profiling only/certain ethnic groups like middle easterners? Who's running the show in these secret basement listening posts. These sort of gov-sponsored activities tend to go "carte blanche" by nature.

Welcome to the " 80's east block" hit parade, American Style... with such classic hits as, "Pennsylvania Avenue 65000", "UnCheneyed Melody" and "Taking care of (your) Business". Who could forget the classic "Down on the corner (in a trenchcoat)" or the uplifting hum-along diddy,.. "Don't worry,.. be worried".

The very idea that companies write software that includes something you'd never want (spyware), but happens to be attached to the item you need, is a downright sinister practice. Using software like this irks because in most cases, it's really a double dip for profit. They get the cash and look through your filing cabinets without you knowing it. Base principles of infringement on our privacy and private property through these means is totally unacceptable. Which brings me back to square one and the notion that if the government is doing it, some companies may be less compelled (these days) to control their reigns on this practice of poking and prodding for your personal info. It's quickly going beyond the "fox guarding the henhouse" routine now.

Wayne 8}

 

[ronmatt]

in the post by winterhawke, the suggestion was made that we actually put a computer on line that is dedicated to our internet activities. Paranoid as this may sound, I had already done this. I had purchased a DELL 4100 about 3 years ago and I use it exclusively for the net. My working Mac and PC's are offline and virtually worry free. In a way, it's like having a Beamer in the garage but keeping an old ford truck parked outside to make the dump runs etc. Living on the "information super highway" intails watching out for our own security. Should we expect less? only in a perfect world. My advise is to grin and bare it and pop the $299 for the worthless DELL and if they find a way to access your personel info through the power lines, buy a generator. We can't beat 'em but we can thwart there efforts. RM

 

[Joy Foraker]

I agree with everyone's comments.

I just doesn't seem too difficult for the gov to get permission from a judge before they spy on a citizen. It leads me to believe they are spying on innocent Americans. That does not make me feel "safer". I'll write my Senator about that toooo Gare

I've experienced all the invasions from corporate greed you folks have. I was as Circuit City making a $600 purchase (chicken feed to them due to their high traffic in wall mounted TVs) and they asked me for my birth date in front of a long line of customers. I told them "you can't get that off the drivers license I just handed you?" The clerk said "I'm required to ask, I don't care how old you are" and I responded "I don't care how old you are either and that is why I'm not asking you!!!" -- Jay Leno was soooo right!

Ronmatt - I use two computers hooked up to one screen, tablet, sound, etc. I was going to keep one off the internet but I broke down and put the other on because of the automatic updates however I do limit the online contact = no surfing, no e-Mail, no iM, etc. And I've locked down the security so the "working" computer is getting very little exposure.

I use SpyBot Firewall. Once I stopped a request to "report home to Microsoft" and my Email quit working!!! I lost all my addresses when I replaced Outlook! Every since then I'm been more generous about those intrusions but I know they are slowing down my computer gaining marketing info. Our lives have been changed forever by the internet.

Joy

 

[ronmatt]

if you keep your working computers off of the internet. you don't need any 'automatic updates'. you don't need any service packs. you don't need microsoft. If you have an ipod you'll need itunes on your internet computer because it requires service pack 2. 90% of the updates are for security issues that MICROSOFT didn't have the wherewithall to install in XP to begin with. As for e-mail, I can't believe you're using outlook. Mozilla's Thunderbird is soooo much better. Most of the 'crap' SPAM and spies are coming directly from MICROSOFT by way of Messenger and IE. I have safely removed them both from my PC and without them, the PC runs faster and more trouble free than it has a right to. I seldom even crank up the Mac anymore. I work with duel monitors and network off of a server, I can't even imagine having to contend with all the junk that's out there in cyberspace anymore. The dedicated internet computer has been one of the best things I've done. The scum out there can phisch and backdoor all they want, my files, my software and my personel info are quite safe.

 

[gare]

I think that the dichotomies going on are fascinating. The Constitution ensures no freedom to privacy but instead it's implied through interpretation by our court system. So the private Joe can't step outside their house without being legally surveyed, stores can put spycams in restrooms without being required to display a conspicuous sign to that effect, no one reads the EULA that pops up when you install a new app but it probably doesn't alert the user that a rootkit is being installed, but meanwhile Bush nods approval at some patriotic twit to burn his service records so no one can see he went AWOL for most of his tour in the Air Force, and takes the "the best defense is a good offense" tact to criticize the CIA for leaking news of his illegal wiretaps. The congressmen who took bribes use religion as both a tool and a cloak; before they're caught, they tell the people that to diss the administration is anti-Christian, then after they're caught, they really believe that asking God to forgive them is right, just, and Christian in deed and spirit. Avarice is interesting; I don't see poor people adding millions to their accounts as much as I see those who already are millionaires doing this.

Then Dick Cheney, out hunting quail with buckshot (for sport, I assume? Ever try to cook and eat a 3 pound quail riddled with 1 pound of buckshot?) looses a round in a buddy's face, the 77 year old is permanently disfigured and has a heart attack, recovers and publicly apologizes to Cheney for the inconvenience. Hey, this is making sense (!); I should apologize for having left my toe under somebody else's steel-capped boot, right?

Okay, back to spying/wrongdoing (a polite euphemism for illegal data-sucking): Although I see a firewalled, additional PC as a workaround, I refuse to live in fear as the gov. would like us to do--the administration, not the sharpest tool in the shed, presumes stupidity on the part of those who elected them, and proceed to arrogantly try to instill fear (dosed with a trace of Bible-thumping Christianity), presumably to keep the public in step. The price of the Internet is your monthly hook-up fee, and (I'm saying in a purist, naive way) not an additional PC. Google search is a terrific, fast, necessary resource for my business; Google Desktop is invasive and I can't believe that Dell ships with it. My workaround is Computer Associates' anti-virus, spam, and firewall software, I know where my modem off switch is, and I try to remove updater utils whenever possible. I just don't like being strong-armed into buying a Net PC for the sake of security the administration should be providing and enforcing in the first place, for what security I have or need. I have $47.48 in my checking account, I'm a registered Independent, and I know how to Google up a porn site just by typing in a naughty word, if this gives a jump-start to data-suckers As far as IPods go, I don't own one because I can't see the sense in buying a $300 device that can be lost or stolen very easily, and I see that the iTunes downloader is just spyware. I bought a Panasonic CD mp3 player for $89, I rip mixes from my existing CD collections, and the Record ing Industry should have twisted the government's arm back when we used to dub cassettes if they want a leg to stand on with their Digital Rights claims.

If you're getting the idea that the US is in trouble, you're right. It's becoming a very confused, confusing, and contradictary place in which to live, and we need reforms that I can only see with a new administration. We've largely forgotten that freedom is a constant fight; we don't just fend off the Brits 200 years ago and consider it a done deal. We need to get to the root of spying to effectively defeat it. Is it greed? Power? Money? Why are we putting up with the butchery of our boys in Iraq, in the name of security, when the El-Qaida are elsewhere? Why have we allowed fanaticism in the name of religious freedom to flourish?

I'm proud to be an American, although I might wave and salute our flag for very different reasons than others. I think Commerce has its hooks far too deeply into the administration to be regulated; big business, in turn, is slapping consumers' faces daily, and has lost track of their real position in the food chain. Hint: boycotts still work .

I think that if we address, actively, the real root issues, it'll trickle down and the smaller crap will sort itself out. But deficit spending and other problems have been so gleefully ignored, and logic becomes so cross-wired, that what we must inevitably confront seems overwhelmingly immense.

Gosh, I can't decide on whether to donate my $47.48 to the proposed trillion dollar defense plan, or for student loans George wants to cut. He said in the State of the Union that he wants 47,000 scientists and teachers added to schools--um, don't these scientists start out as students?

Paradoxically keeping the faith,

Gare

 

[ronmatt]

All I'm saying Gare, is that these inequities and invasions of privacy aren't going to go away. Where is it written that the world is just and fair? All governments will exercise what it can to control and manipulate it's citizens. Fortunately, we can still exercise a few options. We can either stand on the track, in the path of an oncoming train and refuse to move because the train is 5 minutes ahead of schedule, or we can step off the track. How many people have died defending the 'pedestrian has the right of way' law?
I shouldn't have to buy a computer for the internet, in order to protect myself from spyware and hackers and all the myriad of intrusions into my privacy that is secreted into my machine daily. But they ARE there. I prefer not to wait for justice and fair play to come about. I'm too old and I have no more faith. After 65 years of witnessing justice and fair play (what little there ever was) diminish into myth, I gave up. Washington DC is not Camelot. Our 'leaders' aren't the likes of King Arthur and the shining knights. They're theives and philanderers. They don't have our best interest at heart. So if I can't keep them out of my affairs via truth, justice and the American way. I'll pop for an online computer. The mud is running down the hill. Me and my spade can't stop it. We can't save the village, butI'll try to save my hut. If everyone took up their spade and saved their hut, the village might be spared. But the muds still comin'.

 

[gare]

Hi, ronmatt--

I'm in complete agreement with you in attitude. I've been of voting age for 35+ years, I try to work within the system, but I prefer to rely on anti-spyware over caving for a firewall machine, because I feel it's obscene to use a creative/analytical/business tool for a defense I shouldn't even have to exercise in a theortically free country. Purist and naive, probably, but not necessarily becoming a statistic in the speeding train scenario.

Again, we need reform; we need to elect a leader who has few or no big business ties, who has respect for the office and can accept responsibilities (9/11, Katrina, and 2005 Florida response-ability of POTIS were pathetic for this fair and just super-power), and we need leadership that keeps big business out of both our virtual and biological systems, because big business has demonstrated little other than contempt for their audience and historically are not "learning entities"; consider cholesterol, thalidamine, saccarine, psychotripics, anti-depressants, alcohol, tobbaco, and other poisons we ingest out of corporate indifference/ignorance, in addition to malware, rootkits, SPAM, and other sociopathic goodies that we enjoy because our government isn't up to legislative speed and miscreants have this twisted idea of fame and business permissions. I've really had it with hit & run SPAM (you can't even give these jerks a piece of your mind because they spoof return addresses); it chews up bandwidth, there's only 1:1 million chance a SPAMming business is going to attract me but that's "okay" because SPAM doesn't cost anything on the sender's part.

A caveat: there needs to be a fine, mature, intelligent line to be drawn between being protected by our laws, and the "government is my parent" scenario. Everyone has a role in a civilized community: schools are the province of education, upbringing is the province of parents, religion the province of the church, and law interpretation and enforcement the province of the government, and it's rare that oil and water should mix.

We just need an Honest Abe in office (realistically, we've elected one to office, it's not without precidence), who understands exactly who put them in charge and why. We don't need to chase a dream like Camelot; we just need some justice to flourish and pursue happiness.

Hopefully,

Gare

 

[ronmatt]

I know that we're thinking alike here Gare. The difference is that apparently you still have hope. You have faith in the American dream. You're waiting for the guys in the white hats to show up and save the day. This isn't a bad thing, those guys may well be there. But where do we find not just one, but an entire gaggle of white knights to step forward, be recognized and take the bull by the horns? Our "leaders" all seem to come from the same swine pit. They're either lawyers, sit on corporate boards or come from money. They're
not the neighborhood barbers or bakers or whomever our founding fathers intended ( if you even believe that myth ). Our country is run by lobbies, special interests and folks with the political wherewithall to pursue whatever agenda drives them. What was our option in the last election? Kerry or Bush. My God. We allow them to legislate away our freedoms one by one and as they do so, we re-elect them.
You say we need reform. We do, desparately. But who do we replace our current batch of misfits with? Who are these reformers? Our barbers and bakers? If asked, could you do it, and if yes, how? Where would you begin to right the wrongs? It takes uncommen men to lead a nation. Cut from an uncommon cloth. A cloth woven of greed, ambition, power mongering and little, if any, compassion for fellow men. Righteous men don't lead and if they try to, they're hung from a cross. As you said, you work within the system, as do most of us. Unfortunately, that makes us a part of that very system we oppose. To me the greatest freedom this nation has to offer, is the right not to participate. I really don't care who gets inside my little Dell to poke around. If you want to put an end to SPAM and HACKERS etc. and the government poking their noses into our business, let them play to blank hard drives. The chance of them giving up eventually when there's no response and no information to garner will be much better than if we continue allowing them to harvest us at will. But as long as they can, they will. Thing is, I really have nothing to hide from anyone. I can't imagine that anyone who does, wouldn't also have a cheap little Dell to buffer their internet activity. As opposed as you may be to the concept of an online only computer and you prefer to fight the dragons by way of justice and the system. My way does work. Except for the little time I'm spending here and now, addressing this issue, I very seldom even think about it. I can't change it. There's no one out there to change it for me. So I simply don't participate.

 

[gare]

Hi, ronmatt--

Yep. I think of a bad administration as a four-year prison sentence for the people; but there will be future administrations and the kernel of my hope might grow in future, better soil, you know?

In any event, I've recently come across a neat, legal woraround to stick it back to Verizon: it's called Skype. $30 a year, $40 once for a router (I've got several phones--single phone users don't need the router) and long-distance is suddenly 3 cents a minute versus Verizon's 35 cents or more. Best of all, it's 128 bit encrypted--take that, Curious George

My Best,

Gare

 

[gare]

Same tune, but not Sony this time

Thu Mar 2, 8:47 PM ET

ST. PAUL, Minn. - A computer disk that the Minnesota Republican Party prepared to support a ban on gay marriage has another purpose: gathering data on the politics of the people who view it.
And that's stirred up a technological tempest on the Internet and among Democrats who say the disk will improperly gather data from people who run it on their computers. Privacy experts say they're concerned that the GOP won't adequately warn users that it's collecting the data, and they worry where the information will end up.

But GOP officials said the final version of the CD that's due to be mailed soon to hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans will contain a notice that the information gathered may be used by the party.
The disks contain video clips from Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, State Auditor Pat Anderson and House Speaker Steve Sviggum. They talk about what they consider the dangers of gay marriage and why they believe a constitutional amendment is needed to ban it.
To watch the video, a person has to go to an Internet site and punch in an ID code that tells the party who is viewing it. Once the video is going, viewers are asked questions on subjects like abortion, gun control and party preference.

Party officials distributed what they called test copies of the CDs to the media on Monday. Those disks contained no disclaimers saying that data was being collected and transmitted.
Political parties used to collect voter information by canvassing citizens one by one or paying for subscriber lists. Minnesota GOP spokesman Mark Drake said the CD is just the latest way to collect information.
"It's an ageless part of American politics and I don't think it's anything that is particularly a big deal beyond that it's high tech," he said. "It's not different than 30 years ago filling out a voter survey in your kitchen and then mailing it in."

Drake pointed to recent Internet surveys by Democrats and the teachers union Education Minnesota as similar examples.

But some privacy advocates disagree. They said someone who fills out a survey on those sites is knowingly providing the groups with information, while it's not clear from the Republican CD that the data is being transmitted back to the GOP, or even what other data about the user is being collected.
Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said the GOP CD should clearly indicate that the packet is not only a video on gay marriage but a tool to collect voter data.
"Anytime the consumer is providing information to an entity and they're not aware of how that information is being used or what purpose the information may be put to, they're at a disadvantage," she said.
Coney also had concerns that the data could be accessed by a third party.

Christa Heibel, CEO of CH Consulting, a Minnesota company that produced the disks, said firewalls have been developed to ensure that the voter information is protected.

But she spoke after Minnesota Public Radio was able to access some of the data that was collected during testing. MPR discovered that data collected by the CDs were being sent to a computer server that was not secured, potentially making personal information in the database vulnerable to snoops.
The GOP said the server will be fully secured when the CDs are mailed. And Heibel said it should be apparent from the final packaging and other means that voters will be sharing information with the party.

I dunno, folks. Seems as though if I wanted to marry another guy with Neal Diamond playing in the background, I'd get rootkitted twice. Perhaps one would cancel the other out.

My Best,

Gare