Category Archives: Blogger
New Media Merger
The ideologically supple Arianna Huffington sold her left leaning Huffington Post to AOL for $315 million. Not to begrudge a successful capitalist, but The Huffington Post is famous for stiffing original content providers.
Junk Science
I got the idea for this one from Charles Krauthammer’s Friday “Don’t Touch my Junk” column and the PETA “We’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign. Some things just go together.
Here’s a link to the John “If You Touch My Junk I’m Gonna Have You Arrested” Tyner cell phone video of his own last stand against TSA. And then there is this from The Daily Caller.
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Groping for Answers
Airport security procedures have been flying under the cover of election news recently. The attention they do get has mostly been focused on air freight – with good reason. Matt Drudge, however, is lifting the veil on the use of full body scanners in some locations. Travelers who exercise their option to “opt out” are subject to full body searches. Here’s an LA Times story on transparency.
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How NOW Brown Cow
The National Organization for Women endorsed Jerry Brown for governor of California last week. A week earlier Brown, or an advisor, was recorded calling his opponent, Meg Whitman, a whore. Here’s the story in the Daily Caller. After its endorsement, NOW called for the firing of whoever dropped the “W” word.
Don’t Let the Back Door Hit You
The FBI wants a “backdoor” to the web.
Since 9/11 the government has relied on phone wiretaps for national national security purposes. That practice, under the Bush administration, created an uproar (here’s a 2007 James Risen NYT story). With more sensitive information being encrypted on the web, the current administration wants to require that all internet communication be wire-tap friendly.
Apparently this would be a step backward, requiring an internet retrofit. Here’s Jack X. Dempsey, V.P. of an outfit called the Center for Democracy and Technology, in Monday’s New York Times:
“They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive, architecture of the Internet,” he said. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”
Valerie Caproni of the FBI claims the government is just trying to preserve authority it already has.
“We’re not talking expanding authority. We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”
Wouldn’t be the first enterprise seeking special favors to avoid being bypassed by technology.
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