This Waste of Time Brought to You by Connecticut

by | posted in: External Screenshot, Smog, Video | 0

The good news is Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) is not running for re-election this year.

The bad news is he is still a senator until then.

The worst news is that he is about to waste a couple minutes of your time and effort so that we avoid him hurting the country before he leaves.  After not getting support for his CSA2012 bill in February, Joe is back with the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and everyone concerned about your rights and privacy is concerned about this new bill.

That’s why Fight for the Future is back with a new site at DoYouHaveASecret.org to walk you through why you should and how you can take action…

(click image to launch the presentation)

Or perhaps EFF‘s video on the subject is more your speed…

They’ve made it so easy for you to get involved you can do so right here, right now…

And last but far from least, the ACLU has more info to share, including what you need to know about the Franken-Paul pro-privacy amendment.

Okay, get to it.  The more time we spend putting out fires, the less time we spend building.  And Connecticut, you owe us (more than) one.

FYI: InfraGard is a Partnership between the FBI and the Private Sector

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Features | 0

Straight from the horse’s mouth:

InfraGard is an information sharing and analysis effort serving the interests and combining the knowledge base of a wide range of members. At its most basic level, InfraGard is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the private sector. InfraGard is an association of businesses, academic institutions, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other participants dedicated to sharing information and intelligence to prevent hostile acts against the United States. InfraGard Chapters are geographically linked with FBI Field Office territories.

For a little more perspective, a Google image search for InfraGard lays it out quite well.

The short of it is, there are chapters in every state…

… and their memberships are growing…

August 2004 – 10,000
Feb 2008 – 23,000
Sept 2010 – 40,000
May 2011 – 50,056 (including FBI)

At issue here is the ability of the government and corporations to piece together the information they collect in the process of doing business with us into detailed personal profiles on us.  One piece of information here or there doesn’t seem like much until you see it all together…

Of course some people like to share and some people don’t.  You could likely find all of this information and more in many people’s Facebook Timeline, but it’s their business to share.  Flip to any page in a history book, if not today’s newspaper, to find examples of why others don’t leave one-pagers about themselves taped to their front door.

This is new territory for everyone.  Humanity has never been able to collect, share and analyze so much data and, in many ways, we are just getting started.  Where will the line need to be redrawn next?  It’s a continual process that requires both sides to know what’s happening.

And now you know.  …  At least about InfraGard, which turns out to be only one part of what the ACLU dubbed The Surveillance-Industrial Complex back in 2004.  So, once we read the other 32 pages of their report, we’ll only be 8 years behind in the conversation.

FaceBook, Inc. Offering Best Free Scrapbooking Class Ever

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Commentary, Features | 2

Facebook Timeline Tobias Scrapbooking

“We supply the glitter, glue, the crepe paper and the ready-made template pages for you to decorate and fill out…”

Munch Facebook Timeline

“So, dig ug whatever you can and remember, photocopies are not admissible as memories” – Prof. Zuck

How much will you put in your F.B.I. profile scrapbook timeline?

Regarding Your Lack of Privacy Online

by | posted in: Commentary, Features, Input, Smog | 0

What is a bigger waste of time: Surfing the internet or keeping track of what each individual surfs on the internet?

Tucked quietly away in Section 4 of H.R. 1981, a provision lurks that turns what should have been a no-brainer bill both parties could agree on into a way to track every U.S. internet users’ activity for the last 18 months. And despite the recent spree of data breaches in the both the public and private sectors, subsection (b) amusingly calls for this data to be stored securely.


No worries if you don’t have anything to hide?  You are five steps from having something to hide:
1. Pick any of your social/political/religious beliefs.
2. Note that there are people out there who think you are wrong.
3. Consider the odds those people could attain a position of power in your life (family, boss, police, government).
4. Image those people getting really pushy about things they don’t like.
5. Go visit a website about your belief.

We all have a reason to hide if the wrong people are looking.  And why stop with internet activity?  Storage is cheap, let’s make the phone company record every conversation.  While we’re at it, you’re probably sitting in front of a video camera reading these very words.  Mind if we record your expression for posterity?

Say cheese.  Then go tell your representative this bill takes one giant leap too far.

The Phone Company Knows What You Did Last Summer

by | posted in: Ape Con Myth, Maps | 0

Did you hear the one about the German politician who sued the phone company to see how much they knew about him?  Turns out his cell phone recorded his location 35,000 times over 6 months.  That’s once every 7.5 minutes.  In response, he released the data, and Zeit Online has mapped it out:

CellPhoneTracking_Zeit(click and then press play to live the life of Malte Spitz)

Technically, this information is part of the service.  Most days you get pissed if your phone doesn’t know where you are.  The funny part is that they aren’t willing to admit they have this level of information and are storing it.  It makes for a pretty sketchy lead-in to considering what else they might be doing with it.

[Zeit Online via Gawker]