Author: cosmo

It only took a few minutes at UnRealID.com to compose the brief message below, which was then faxed to my (Colorado) senators. The Real ID Act will be up for vote on Tuesday, and it’s yet another chapter in the long and sad history that began on September 11, 2001 and continues to erode our rights. I am both saddened and angered by the direction of our government, and the quiet construction of a police state. Though I often gripe and lament about these things here– in my own little private forum– I’ve decided to become more active.

So when I run for President in a few years, remember me on the ballot…

Sens. Allard and Salazar–

As an active member of the Longmont community, as well as a participant in many internet groups and communities, I have grown steadily more concerned with the direction being taken by Congress and the Bush Administration with regard to security and personal privacy. In a continuing effort to curtail “terrorist” activities, law-abiding Americans are being asked– nay, demanded– to give up freedom in exchange for security. As Benjamin Franklin stated in an oft-quoted adage, we must then deserve neither.

The impending vote on the Real ID Act is yet another example of government powers spiraling out of control and usurping rights and freedoms we have enjoyed in this country for centuries. I ask you to read carefully the provisions of the Act (I have) and consider whether they truly serve the greater good. Indeed, consider whether they will actually accomplish the Administration’s much-cited goal of “making America safer”.

I feel this legislation, like so many other bills in the past few years, does very little to either protect our safety or deter terrorist activity. Rather, it adds more layers of complication (and expense) to processes that have worked for decades… and compromises important and valuable personal information.

Please examine the bill and propose debate. Protect our rights.

Sincerely,
Jeff Schroeder

“We may not imagine how our lives could be more frustrating and complex… but Congress can.”

— Cullen Hightower

Wow, a major victory was won today for consumer rights. The FCC has, for quite some time, mandated that all consumer electronic devices capable of receiving HDTV (digital TV) signals include a “broadcast flag” which would make it impossible to copy the transmission. This rule was to go in effect July 1. Interestingly, the decision was in stark contrast to previous positions by the FCC, as well as a gross violation of copyright law and fair-use rights. And not surprisingly, it had the full backing (and doubtless financial support) of the entertainment industry.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. struck down the FCC’s mandate with some harsh language. To wit:

“The FCC argues that the Commission has discretion to exercise ‘broad authority’ over equipment used in connection with radio and wire transmissions, ‘when the need arises, even
if it has not previously regulated in a particular area.’ This is an extraordinary proposition. The
Commission’s position in this case amounts to the bare suggestion that it possesses plenary authority to act within a given area simply because Congress has endowed it with some
authority to act in that area. We categorically reject that suggestion.”

Nice. That not only slams the door on the broadcast flag, but it sends a clear message to both the FCC and the industry that backed this whole idiotic plan. Back off, guys, because you’re overstepping your bounds.

… So I’m using a new media player on my KDE system, and it’s completely awesome. It’s called AmaroK (open source, naturally) and it does absolutely everything you could imagine a media player doing. In addition to creating every different kind of catalog– by artist, by album, by genre, by associated kinds of music– it includes the ability to store album covers and lyrics.

It gets the album covers, as far as I can tell, by querying the Amazon engine and picking the most likely candidate from their huge collection of CD’s. It does surprisingly well, although now and again it picks a really interesting one (typically on “greatest hits” collections, of which I have a lot, because I assume it finds other greatest-hits CD’s that almost match).

But nothing prepared me for this album cover, which came completely out of the blue. In a sad, sick kind of way I’d like to hear something from this album. Who knows what the “Latin Playerz” have in store…

These guys are selling… uhh… domains? Yeah, domains.

Huh.

In his lated book, Beyond Fear, security guru Bruce Schneier goes beyond cryptography and network security to challenge our post-9/11 national security practices. Here are some quotes:

“We’re seeing so much nonsense after 9/11, and so many people are saying things about security, about terrorism, that just makes no sense.”

“Homeland security measures are an enormous waste of money.”

“If the goal of security is to protect against yesterday’s attacks, we’re really good at it.”

“More people are killed every year by pigs than by sharks, which shows you how good we are at evaluating risk.”

“Did you ever wonder why tweezers are confiscated at security checkpoints, but matches and cigarette lighters– actual combustible materials– are not? If the tweezers lobby had more power, I’m sure they would be allowed on board as well.”

“When the U.S. Government says that security against terrorism is worth curtailing individual civil liberties, it’s because the cost of that decision is not borne by those making it.”

“People make bad security trade-offs when they’re scared.”

Amen, brother!

The stupid lawsuits in this country never really seem to end. Today Apple Computer released its latest version of the OS X operating system, called “Tiger”. They were prompty sued by Tiger Direct, a company that sells computer hardward (including, ironically, Apple products). Apparently Tiger Direct thinks they should have exclusive rights to the word “tiger”, and they’re dismayed that if you go to any web search engine and type the word, they’re not in the top of the results any more– Apple’s operating system is.

What a crock. Apparently we’re not allowed to use regular English words any more, because in so doing we might mess up someone’s marketing plan. Luckily “cyberschroeder” hasn’t been infringed upon yet– a Google search on the word turns up four results for my web site, and one for my friend Myles’ site, which is simply referring to mine.

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”

— Rene Descartes

In a classic e-mail “oops”, someone at Hain Celestial accidentally sent a meeting reminder (notice?) to a local Linux user’s group– with membership in the thousands. Boy, there’s nothing like blundering in front of a huge audience like that.

The funny thing is that I know this guy, since I worked with him on a project a long time ago. He’s pretty savvy, so I can only imagine it was a complete accident and right now he’s wondering what to do about it…

But perhaps the best part of the message is the classic idiotic legal disclaimer:

“This e-mail is sent by The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. or one of its subsidiaries, and may contain information that is privileged and/ or confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not review, disclose, copy or distribute. Please delete the e-mail and any attachments and notify us immediately.”

So… I’m thinking I’m not the “intended recipient”. But of course by the time I’ve read the disclaimer I’ve already violated it, since I’ve “reviewed” the message. Dang. Now the Hain lawyers are going to be all over me. And, of course it makes me wonder whether I should follow the last instructions and notify the guy… imagine having a couple thousand Linux users on the newsgroup all writing to you to basically inform you that you’re a doofus.

“Maybe we hyped it up a little bit too much,” Microsoft group product manager Greg Sullivan told Information Week in an interview before the WinHEC conference being held this week. He added, “We’re set up to pleasantly surprise people who don’t have super-high expectations for
Longhorn.”