Blackhacker

Few things in this world get me to cussing. When a grown man gets into my personal business is one of them.

AT&T rewrites rules: Your data isn’t yours
AT&T has issued an updated privacy policy that takes effect Friday. The changes are significant because they appear to give the telecom giant more latitude when it comes to sharing customers’ personal data with government officials.

Let’s understand. Who I call is only the business of me the person I call and those entities THAT I HIRE make the call possible. Being that I am the customer I feel those ENTITIES in my employ are are obliged to keep that information to themselves. THEY ONLY exception to this rule is when ordered by a court to do otherwise. I expect that their policies and practice to reflect these ideal. Anything less is a betrayal.

I suppose it is a good thing I am not a customer if AT&T. Verizon, this is for you TOO.

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest
Jurist Concerned Bush Order Tainted Work of Secret Panel

By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; Page A01

A federal judge has resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of President Bush’s secret authorization of a domestic spying program, according to two sources.

If they don’t need you … might as well go home.

The 4th Amendment states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

yet …

Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts - New York Times
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.

Authorizing the the NSA to violate the rights and civil liberties of Americans in my book is impeachable. The only thing is if that happens and he is removed, Cheny becomes President. 6 of one 1/2 a dozen of the other.

this is a cool idea to combat the Patriot Act, and the growing erosion of personal privacy.

You’ve seen anonymous cash cards already; you may even have received them before. They’re better known as gift cards. Using the same principle, libraries can issue a borrower card that uses cash, rather than personal ID information, as collateral. Here’s an example: If a privacy-minded user deposits $20 to get an anonymous library card, she can check out The Terror State without identifying herself. Her account balance is temporarily reduced by $15, and when the library checks the CD back in (in good condition), her balance is restored to its original value.

dap:/.

Real ID pretty much sailed through the House. Will most likely do the same in the Senate and signed in to Law. C|Net has got FAQ detailing everything you need to know about this bill. Including a link to how each Congressman voted.

What’s going to be stored on this ID card?
At a minimum: name, birth date, sex, ID number, a digital photograph, address, and a “common machine-readable technology” that Homeland Security will decide on. The card must also sport “physical security features designed to prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes.”

Homeland Security is permitted to add additional requirements–such as a fingerprint or retinal scan–on top of those. We won’t know for a while what these additional requirements will be.

One might note that easiest way to “prevent tampering, counterfeiting, or duplication of the document for fraudulent purposes” is to NOT PUT IT ON THE CARD.

Another Little gem

You said the ID card will be electronically readable. What does that mean?
The Real ID Act says federally accepted ID cards must be “machine readable,” and lets Homeland Security determine the details. That could end up being a magnetic strip, enhanced bar code, or radio frequency identification (RFID) chips.

In the past, Homeland Security has indicated it likes the concept of RFID chips. The State Department is already going to be embedding RFID devices in passports, and Homeland Security wants to issue RFID-outfitted IDs to foreign visitors who enter the country at the Mexican and Canadian borders. The agency plans to start a yearlong test of the technology in July at checkpoints in Arizona, New York and Washington state.

RFID. What the heck does that mean? That mean that ANY PERSON with an RFID reader can send a signal to my drivers license and get the info on it. If a person wanted to tamper with, counterfeit, or duplicate the document for fraudulent purposes he wouldn’t have to rummage though my garbage, a get me to download spy ware on to my computer, I would just have to WALK down the freaking street.

Note to self: I see a future for wallets lined with aluminium foil.

Let us all remember when

• our air is less breathable because of weakened environmental standards
• our civil liberties are less existent because of a renewed USAPATRIOT Act or CAPPS or some other jack-booted monstrosity
• you feel less certain about a favorable outcome in Iraq because you can’t pick a fight with a country for bogus reasons, depose its leader, and PO a its citizens and expect gratitude just because you call it liberation
• you feel less secure at home because AQ will still be around blowing stuff up, and N. Korea now has the bomb and will to use it, and the freaking terror alert color is changing every other week
• everyone has less healthcare because privatized healthcare has an incentive to keep as many people sick as possible, and you can’t get cheap drugs from that third world country called Canada
• everyone has less employment because of more off shoring and tax incentives that encourage it
• there is less social security because you can’t allow people to invest in personal retirement account and pay benefits to people (like my mom and dad) who are on SS because the people who work now pay the benefits to people on SS now
• there is less funding for public education because of vouchers & NCLB
• there are less options for parents to educate their children because any voucher program will most likely not cover tuition to the best schools, at the same time bankrupting struggling school systems

There are no excuses.

This is the government we chose. The people have spoken. Democracy has triumphed. And all that Jazz.

This goes to the Republican Party and all conservatives put this administration back in power in particular.

You have had control of all branches of Federal Government for 4 years already and succeeded in tightening that grip. You have the run of the beltway. You can just about get any bill passed, and any appointment confirmed. I think you can finally stop blaming Clinton for everything bad we are experiencing now. Its your baby now.