Year: 2003

Interesting stuff:

A week and a half ago, police in Johannesburg South Africa arrested fourteen people accused of operating a bootleg human-organ operation.

Apparently they would fly poor Brazilian citizens to South Africa, where they underwent surgery and had a kidney removed. They were paid between ten and thirteen thousand dollars for the procedure, and then flown back home (all expenses paid).

The kidneys were then implanted in wealthy South Africans who paid over $100,000 for the operation. After leaving the hospital, they didn’t have to worry about dialysis any more and could return to a normal life.

The Brazilian donors were all volunteers, and the money they received was often enough to buy a house, open a business, or realize other financial dreams (I imagine $13k goes farther in Brazil than in the U.S.). The South African recipients were all in dire need of a transplant and had the money to do it. And the doctors involved made a handsome profit along the way.

Everyone wins, right?

Well, it turns out there are international laws forbidding the sale of human organs. There are doubtless some moral and ethical issues. There’s the omnipresent discussion of rich versus poor, and who’s taking advantage of who.

So, the question of the day: should this sort of thing be legitimized? If everyone goes home healthy (and often wealthy) is there really a reason why it shouldn’t be allowed? Personally, I don’t have a problem with this sort of thing and in fact, it seems to me that making it illegal will accomplish two things: (1) make it more expensive and thus harder to do for those who have some money and dire medical need, and (2) make it more prone to mistakes and bungled operations, as the doctors are forced to operate underground.

There are some 83,000 people on the kidney donation list in the U.S. alone; this shortage only encourages the sort of behavior described above. If I had serious kidney problems, and knew I’d be on a list for ten years, but had the option of scraping together some cash (maybe taking out a second mortgage or whatever) and receiving the kidney of some Third World farmer who would then be the richest guy in town, I’d do it.

Francis Bacon once quipped, “Knowledge is power”.

But in today’s world of technology, I wonder if that’s still true. I would say that a more accurate statement might be “data is power”.

Consider: in Bacon’s day (late 1500’s) the printing press was still relatively new, and printed material (“data”) wasn’t yet in widespread use, nor was it easily accessible to the common person. Thus, those who possessed knowledge were powerful– they were highly paid, highly regarded, and sought by those in power. I’ve heard it said that Benjamin Franklin was one of the last people who “knew” something about almost every area of human knowledge. In those times, people with knowledge were indeed powerful.

Today, it is impossible to know something about everything. Cultural and scientific advances have brought us so much information that no single person can possibly have that degree of “knowledge”. So now, rather than a handful of polyglots we have huge numbers of specialists who are extremely well-versed in their narrow field but do not possess the general knowledge that Franklin did.

Thus, it seems that knowledge is not as powerful as it once was. Said another way, one man’s knowledge is another man’s trivia.

We see that data is everywhere. Those narrow-minded scientists who study a particular variety of bacteria publish their research and make it available in journals and the internet. The garage musicians who specialize in grunge-ska music upload their songs to their web site or burn CD’s and hand them to friends. The journalist who once wrote for a hometown paper has the ability to spread his words throughout the world via the hometown paper’s web site. All of those people take their knowledge, transform it to data, and share that data with the world.

So in my mind, it is the data– or more accurately, the control of that data– that defines power today. The network administrator who keeps the web site running, the panel that approves or denies journal articles, the editor who tosses out the news story… these are the people who have power. They can allow or prevent one man’s knowledge from reaching his audience.

Granted, such control also existed in Bacon’s day, and Franklin’s, but with the vast abundance of data available today– many orders of magnitude greater than either of those men could conceive– the role of the “gatekeeper” of the data is rising in importance.

Knowledge cannot be saved; data can. (To “save” knowledge you have to write it down or put it in some format other than electrochemical impulses in your brain, at which point it becomes data.) Data can be copied, and transferred, and changed. It can also be destroyed, lending a particular power to those in control as they can cause information to be lost forever– at least until the next person comes along and re-discovers it.

I think it’s a sign of the times, and an interesting commentary on our technological society, that data has become more powerful (more important?) than knowledge.

So what is “power” in today’s world?

I built a new computer for the kids yesterday.

Their old one, from perhaps a year ago, was a pretty pathetic old Pentium 150 or something. It ran Windows 98, because nothing more recent (from Microsoft) would run on it, and in the end it had so many issues that it simply wasn’t worth using. I figured the kids would be better off without a computer than struggling through various Windows crashes and failed software installations.

But they’ve been getting training in school, and playing on Laralee’s laptop a bit, so I figured I should set up something a little nicer for them. I cobbled together some nicer components I had laying around, and came up with a pretty nice P3-600 system that was actually faster than our laptops anyway.

After a brief debate with myself, I decided to completely forego Windows and head straight for Linux. The stuff they’re doing is pretty much web surfing and playing MP3 tunes, so there’s no reason I should worry about all the goofball kids’ software that only runs on Windows 98 or ME or whatever. I broke out my Jinux installation CD’s and set up KDE for them.

However, my usual mode of logging in– typing a username and password at the command prompt, and then running X manually– was obviously a bit more convoluted than a five-year-old might be expected to handle. So I messed around with the KDE login screen and managed to come up with a beautiful, easy to use, highly customizable login page. They can click the “kids” icon, then click “Go!” and they’re in. But even better, I made the system auto-login for them so it just pops right up into KDE and they can click the little desktop icons (one is the Lego logo, and the other is the Barbie logo) to launch the Konqueror web browser and play their little Flash games.

Adding a couple more desktop icons for MP3 playlists gives them the ability to click on, say, Mickey Mouse and get a bunch of Disney music playing in XMMS (the open-source alternative to Winamp). A big red “power” button lets them shut everything down with a click. Pepper it with some fun cartoonish icons, and they have a fun system that’s easy to use.

Ahh, ain’t Linux grand?

For the fourth year, the House Committee on Government Reform evaluated the computer security practices of federal agencies. And for the fourth year, it looks like our federal computer security sucks.

The overall grade was “D”, with several agencies earning the coveted “F” mark. The Department for Homeland Security– evaluated for the first time– got a big fat “F”. That’s particularly interesting, as one of their missions is to secure the national computer networks. Apparently they can’t even secure their own.

So, this begs the question: we appear to be dumping vast sums of money into the Homeland Security initiatives, yet we’re constantly reading about how airport security is just as lax as ever (although far more irritating), and now it seems the computer networks are in terrible shape. What, exactly, are the money and all the new agencies doing for us?

Maybe it’s because of my vocation, but I’d argue that in the 21st century it’s computer networks that are the “targets” for the Bad Guys. Physical security is important, but no one’s going to crash a jet any more– they’re going to try to take down the power grid, or disrupt the water supply, or just throw the federal government into chaos by scrambling computer links. Cyber-terrorism and bio-terrorism are the ones to watch out for.

Sigh. If only I was in charge…

When I was a kid, a felony was a really bad crime. It was something like murder, or rape, or a hit-and-run. Those who committed felonies served time in the Big House, as well they should– they had done something terrible. Looking in Webster’s Dictionary, you can find that a felony is “a grave crime”… something dreadful, something far worse than a misdemeanor, and something worth a stiff punishment.

But these days, it seems like a lot of (relatively) harmless crimes are being reclassified as felonies. Take the Senate bill just introduced by Feinstein (D-CA) and Cornyn (R-TX). It makes it a felony– excuse me, a FEDERAL felony– to sneak a camcorder into a theater and tape the movie. The sentence? Up to five years in the slammer, along with some harsh financial penalties.

Several years ago it became a felony to gain unauthorized access to a computer system– “hacking”, as they call it– and several people (even those who were well-intentioned and trying to find and report security flaws) have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

There are undoubtably more examples. I’m sure the Patriot Act is littered with them, and I suspect if I managed to get through airport security with my pocketknife I would be committing a felony– even if it stayed in my pocket the entire time.

Now, I’m not saying that filming a movie in the theater is okay (although it’s currently completely legal in 46 states), nor am I saying breaking into computer systems should be condoned (although there are legitimate activities involving such). But in my mind these are in no way felonies– they are misdemeanors, and they should be enforced accordingly.

It’s staggering to consider that a rapist might receive less jail time than someone who copied “Matrix Revolutions” to show their friends before the DVD came out.

As an aside, it’s becoming more obvious that corporate interests are defining our legal landscape. The two senators who introduced this latest felony bill are associated with– you guessed it– the MPAA and the RIAA. Those trade groups are very interested in protecting their profi– er, copyrights– and in order to do it they’re lobbying for the felony-fication of laws regarding copyright infringement.

One wonders how much further this process will be allowed to go. How many more petty crimes will become felonies? Will there be a time when any violation of the law, if it impedes on some corporation’s interests, will carry with it a prison term and enough fines to effectively bankrupt you for life? And more importantly, are these new stiff penalties effective? Will they make a difference in society, or will they simply placate the corporations and place undue fear on otherwise law-abiding citizens who now have to worry whether they’re inadvertently doing something that’ll land them in the Big House?

I’m about to be rich!

Today I got a message, in spameriffic glory, from my old pal Dunkat: some dude in Africa (where else?) who has $92 million he’s trying to shuffle abroad. In exchange for a simple phone number and bank account number, he’s willing to pay me a handsome commission for my part in the deal. Whee!

Here’s a portion of his message:

“…personally supervised by Nigerian’s Vice President Alhaji Atiku Abubarkar, who happens to be my brother-in-law of a sort, being married to my cousin Hajiya Titi Atiku Abubarkar.”

Ahh yes, good old Cousin Hajiya. She’d be proud of what her cousin is doing.

“I am working on commission based on a percentage of the total fund. If you are interested you will have to discuss your commission in percentage of the total sum with me.”

And discuss I will! Maybe I can get 50%!

“Understand that for you to qualify for this operation your bank account MUST be capable of accommodating the money in question without raising an eye brow.”

Not a problem, Dunkat! Of course my bank wouldn’t have any questions if my balance went from $1,100 to $92 million. Eyebrows, indeed.

“If YOU ARE INTERESTED, then let me have your phone number(s) immediately…”
 
Sorry, pal, no phone number yet. Let’s become pen pals first, shall we? So I’ve decided to give spam-baiting a go. I set up a new Yahoo mail account (just like him! how cool!) and sent him a message:

HELLO DUNKAT!

I AM VERY EXCITED ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS OFFER. I AM
SURE I CAN HELP YOU TAKE CARE OF THE MONEY. PLEASE
TELL ME WHAT COMMISSION I WILL RECEIVE FOR HELPING
WITH THIS DEAL. ALSO TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO TO GET
STARTED.

THANK YOU.

Notice my use of all capital letters. All the best spaminators use that technique, so I’ll look like a real pro here.

Let’s see what happens…

Two things happened today to make it slightly more interesting.

First, there was a mouse. He (she?) had fallen into the window well by my office, and was spotted by Laralee. She called the kids down, and we all watched him running around the rocks trying to figure out how the heck to get back up. Trying to get a closer look, we opened the window and pulled out the screen.

You guessed it, the mouse jumped into the basement and disappeared into the closet. The kids shrieked and started coming up with plans to trap the little guy. At first it was funny, but as time wore on it became clear that getting our new friend out of the house wasn’t going to be easy. He was pretty small, and quick as a dart. He’d run all over the room hiding behind computers, under the desk, behind boxes, and so on.

Laralee eventually trapped him under a plastic CD stack case (a clear cylinder about five inches across and eight inches high). With great ceremony she took him upstairs and released him into the wild again.

The second thing that happened– well, actually it was first chronologically– was the eruption of a big wildfire west of Longmont. Laralee and I were driving up I-25 and saw a vast plume of smoke ahead. It stretched from the foothills (several miles west) across the interstate and well to the east. By the time we got to Longmont, we were in the thick of the haze and the entire sky was a brownish tinge.

The sun was a dim crimson red, and when I looked at it I could see the two enormous sunspots up there. Apparently we’re in the midst of one of the biggest solar storms in a decade, and these gigantic sunspots are at the heart of it all. It was pretty amazing to see them with the naked eye from a hundred million miles away. I can’t begin to imagine how huge they are– likely large enough to comfortably house thousands of Earths.

Anyway, I tried to get a couple pictures of them but our two cameras couldn’t get a high enough zoom to see any detail. Still, it’s possible to see the reddish color of the sun and the slight brown of the sky…

SunnComm is a company that makes copy-protection software for specially encoded CD’s. They’ve based their entire business on this software, which basically allows a user to listen to a CD on their computer. That CD has certain copy-protection algorithms on it that prevent it from being copied (digitally) and converted into, say, MP3 files which can then be uploaded to, say, an iPod and heard while you’re walking or in the car or whatever.

Of course converting a CD that you’ve purchased into a set of MP3 files is considered “fair use” under copyright law and is completely legal. Similarly, taking individual tracks from that CD and creating a “mix CD” of your own is also fair use.

… So this student at Princeton figured out that if you listen to the CD using SunnComm’s software and hold down the Shift key on the computer, the copy-protection is disabled. He wrote a paper about it– although I haven’t read the paper, it’s apparently critical of SunnComm’s methodology and copy-protected CD’s in general.

And what happened? That’s right, SunnComm invoked the DMCA and sued the kid for publishing this paper (which apparently dropped their stock price 10% when it got out). They claim he did the unthinkable when he figured out what file in the software did the protection and hit “delete”. And of course there’s the whole shift-key problem, which was apparently an undocumented “feature” of the software that is now causing considerable embarrassment for the company since the record companies suddenly realize that all the money they paid to protect their CD’s was wasted.

This is yet another example of a company overstepping the bounds and using the Big Bad DMCA to quash legitimate publication of facts. A telling quote from the SunnComm filing says:

“Once the file is found and deleted according to the instructions given in the Princeton grad student’s report, the MediaMax copy management system can be bypassed resulting in the copyright protected music being converted or misappropriated for potentially unauthorized and/or illegal use. SunnComm intends to refer this possible felony to authorities…”

This is absurd. The student isn’t doing anything illegal by deleting a file, or holding down the shift key, or even telling others about it. Moreover, to say he should be charged with a *felony* because his instructions might lead someone to *potentially* use the software illegally is akin to saying “Sorry, I can’t sell you this gun because you could *potentially* use it illegally.” or even “Sorry, you can’t drive your car because you could *potentially* go over the speed limit.” Since when can people be sued for “potential” crimes– and more to the point, the potential crimes of people they don’t even know?

The rights of the consumer– and, indeed, the public at large– continue to be threatened by things like this. Companies seeking to protect their corporate interests (excuse me, I mean profits) seem to think it’s okay to sue anyone who finds something amiss with their products.

Unbelievable.

I’m rich!

… Well, I’m richer than I used to be.

Back in 1995, when I started working at Hughes, I needed to buy a new car. As part of the GM family, Hughes employees received a discount on the purchase of GM vehicles… which was great, except the only way to receive the discount was to also be a part of the Hughes Federal Employees Credit Union.

The minimum balance to open an account was five bucks, so I dropped a check in the mail and became a proud member of a credit union. I bought the car, got my discount, and drove home happy.

Over the years, I’ve never really done anything with that account. There didn’t seem to be any reason to close it, because sometime I might want to add some money to it (I think it earns more interest than a standard bank checking account) and because there are no maintenance fees. So every quarter I get a statement from them– they’re now called Kinecta for reasons only marketing people would understand– and dutifully file it in a folder somewhere.

The funny thing is that over the years, I’ve accrued interest on that account. Never adding or removing anything, I’ve managed to collect almost two dollars in interest. A typical quarter will bring me a few additional cents, and now my balance stands at $6.92. Wow, the power of compound interest!

Of course, out of a sense of duty I’ve included this account information on every loan application I’ve made for the four houses we’ve purchased. They ask you to bare your financial soul, so I give them my bank account balance, my savings account balance, the estimated value of my cars, and– lest we forget– the seven bucks sitting in my credit union account. I hope those mortgage people look it up, just to make sure I’m giving factual data.

Maybe by the time I retire, I’ll have enough money to go out and buy some ice cream or something. Thank goodness for credit unions!

In their continuing quest to preserve order and justice in the bedroom, Alex and Kyra devised a set of rules. Alex wrote them down and posted it in the room for all to see… presumably so we would all know how to behave.

Taking into account some humorous spelling mistakes (hey, he’s six and did this all himself), the rules read as follows:

No (something).
No playing with the code.
No CDs.
No hits.
No bending the Pokemon cards.
No food.
Keep arrowheads in your pocket.
Keep your hands to yourself.
Keep your feet off the chair.
Keep your body off the desk.
Keep your shoes downstairs.

I think the best rule– purely from a personal safety standpoint– is that you should keep your arrowheads in your pocket.

That’s good advice!