NSA Snooping on Cell Phone Calls

From CNet: A recent article in the London Review of Books revealed that a number of private companies now sell off-the-shelf data-mining solutions to government spies interested in analyzing mobile-phone calling records and real-time location information. These companies include ThorpeGlen, VASTech, Kommlabs, and Aqsacom--all of which sell "passive probing" data-mining services to governments around the world.

More proof that privacy is dead.  We now need laws that require that any organization using this software be disclosed to the public including their purpose for using the software and whom they intend to "probe".

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U.S. Government Policy for Seizing Laptops at Borders

Amazing. The U.S. government has published its policy: they can take your laptop anywhere they want, for as long as they want, and share the information with anyone they want.

This needs to be squashed and fast.  The U.S. does have a Constitution, though it seems to be ignored more and more.  And part of the Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.  By ANY reading of that provision, the seizure of a person's laptop is prohibited.

A laptop becomes an extension of the person and the person's mind.  This is the equivalent of taking a portion of a person's brain for government inspection.

Here's the actual policy:

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Legislators aim to snuff out penalties for pot use

The U.S. should stop arresting responsible marijuana users, Rep. Barney Frank said Wednesday, announcing a proposal to end federal penalties for Americans carrying fewer than 100 grams, almost a quarter-pound, of the substance. "The vast amount of human activity ought to be none of the government's business," Frank said.  This proposal probably won't get any traction, but one can always hope.  Rep. Frank should at least be applauded for his effort.

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Library confrontation points up privacy dilemma

AP - Children's librarian Judith Flint was getting ready for the monthly book discussion group for 8- and 9-year-olds on "Love That Dog" when police showed up.  Her courageous stand needs to be cheered by all who cherish our basic rights.  The police, however, were eventually able to gain access to the library's computers.  Which still leaves the questions about what information did they gather and what did they do with it.  We must demand transparency of our government officials.  There must be procedures in place which allow overseers to monitor what our police do with the information they are gathering on us.

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Harassment and Lawyers

Harvey Silvergate makes a reasonable exposition in his article, If I Ran the Zoo XI concerning the proper definition of harassment, and the role lawyers are playing these days in "advising" colleges and universities on the policies and procedures they should adapt to deal with harassment.

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Secrecy, the Movie

The comment on Bruce Schneier's blog by Unix Ronan dated June 12, 2008, is one of the best and most succinct discussions of secrecy I've ever read.

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Behind Bars in America

In February 2008, the Pew Center on the States, a part of the Pew Charitable Trusts, published a study titled, “One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008”. The report pulls together data from all of the States regarding the prison populations so that they will have accurate data from which they can make sound policy.

To highlight the fact that there is a problem which is largely being unaddressed, at the end of the study they compare the numbers of people incarcerated in the United States with 36 other countries in the world. The 36 countries chosen are all European countries with the largest inmate populations (years vary).

For a country which purports to uphold the ideals of freedom and democracy, the United States should be embarrassed by what these figures show. The next thing is to figure out why we are imprisoning more than one in every 100 adults so that the appropriate changes can be made to laws, policies, and practices to turn this around.

To visualize the stark reality of the situation, we can first look at the pure numbers of people in jail.

In fact, if you total up the prison populations of all 36 countries and compare that total number to the number of people held in U.S. prisons, the United States has more people in prison than all of the other countries combined.

Compare this with the total populations of these countries:

Finally, if you take a look at the percentage of the populations of these countries that are in prison, the United States still comes out way ahead. The following graph shows, in other words, how many people out of 100,000 residents (including children) are locked up in jail.

This study is not comparing the United States to countries with repressive regimes, but with Western Countries with which we should compare favorably, in that we supposedly share the same values.

What these pretty graphs do not show is the human toll suffered by families whose lives are being affected by a system which creates these huge numbers of criminals. Nor do they show the deteriorating effect on American culture.

We see here the effect. Our society must do a better job of understanding the causes, and take immediate steps to start correcting this situation.