The Washington Post says that the feds are asking for – and getting – real-time location tracking data about ordinary (non-terrorist) criminal suspects. No problem, right? Surely the Justice Department is providing evidence of probable cause to courts before obtaining this information. Um, not necessarily. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring…
Category: Technology
Keep the Internet Free…
…of U.N. and other international political pressures. That should be an belief that everyone reading this article should hold, implicitly or otherwise. Most of us do believe that, although few of us regard our use of the Net as a type of freedom that has to be guarded. That’s a mistake, as Elliot Noss pointed out back…
The Last Supper On-line
The Houston Chronicle says: As of today, all you need is an Internet connection. Officials put online an image of the “Last Supper” at 16 billion pixels — 1,600 times stronger than the images taken with the typical 10 million pixel digital camera. The high resolution will allow experts to examine details of the 15th…
SFWA, Scribd.com and ePiracy and why its important
Over the Labor Day weekend there blew up a weird story that involved the Science Fiction Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) and the website scribd.com. For those not in the know (like me), scribd.com allows users to upload text files and share them with users in a collaborative format (not unlike Flikr). Now the problem arose…
Way Cooler Than War
Whenever I read about something as cool as the Zephyr I just have to wonder why people waste so much time fighting. A lightweight solar-powered plane has smashed the official world record for the longest-duration unmanned flight. UK defence firm Qinetiq, which built the Zephyr unmanned aerial vehicle, said it flew for 54 hours during…
Space Non-Race
I received an email from a friend today that made the following claim: Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting in August. It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye. This will culminate on Aug. 27 when Mars comes within 34.65M miles of earth. Be sure…
Censoring the Web
Remember 10 years ago, way back in 1997, when you got your first email account and swore off snail mail forever? Email was the bomb and surfing the web was the coolest thing ever. Then the first thought hit you – I could put my own content up, rave against the machine, all that jazz. …
Science == Prosperity
The National Academies of Science recently produced a report titled “Condensed-Matter and Materials Physics: The Science of the World Around Us” and in it says that the U.S. has failed to increase funding for CMMP research at the same rate as our competitors and that we have all but lost our position of leadership in…
Ups and Downs
A few loyal readers may have noticed the lack of posts in recent days…Seems the Black Shards-meister’s broadband connection was down for most of 5 consecutive days. Nice! 🙁 That’s what happens when monopoly powers are at work. Considering where I live some would say we’re lucky to have broadband at all, let alone a…
Robert Paterson on Web Communities
I’m not particularly a big fan of web-based relationships or communities. But Paterson’s new essay on the topic is a good one. Read it. I think there are definite possibilities in the spaces he describes. The question for me is whether our “forced” participation in the current system will allow enough of us sufficient time…