KiasWorld Blog

Freedom and Privacy Blog Carnival - February 27, 2009

kiakanpa — 2009-02-28T09:03:09-08:00

Welcome to the February 27, 2009 edition of freedom and privacy carnival.The best, most interesting freedom and privacy articles from around the blogoshere, enjoy.

Heather Johnson presents Who Knows What About You? 25 Free Tools to Find Out posted at e-Justice Blog.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Facebook Face Off? posted at Mad Kane's Humor Blog.

Jim DeSantis presents Join The Illuminati and Help Control the Economy posted at On Line Tribune | Front Page Blog, saying, "The idea of a secret cabal of mysterious forces that make up the Illuminati has (for some) a "romantic" appeal. Granted that appeal may be filled with fear but it's a concept they hold onto in spite of reason."

Freedom

Scott Hughes presents What Freedom Means to Me posted at Philosophy Forums, saying, "The word freedom has little meaning if we do not have a common definition. In this article, I explain my definition of freedom."

Finance Tips 101 presents Scholarship And Grant Information For Interested High School Graduates posted at Finance Tips 101.

DWSUWF presents Obama Embraces the Bush/Cheney Unitary Executive. Again and again and again. posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, "During the FISA debate last summer, Markos Moulitsas asked "Where are the Libertarians?". He obviously was not looking very hard. No matter. As we now watch Barack Obama embrace and defend the Constitution trampling, power grabbing excesses and abuses of the Bush/Cheney imperial presidency, it is time to ask "Where are the Liberals?" Certainly there are a few liberals who have not hesitated to pick up the gauntlet, most notably Glen Greenwald, as he takes to task those whose loyalty is not to principle but to a man:"

Privacy

Idiot/Savant presents DNA bill breaches BORA posted at No Right Turn, saying, "Spleen-vent about the NZ government's plans to go on a DNA fishing expedition"

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of freedom and privacy carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

Copyright, New Zealand, and the Pirate's Bay

kiakanpa — 2009-02-16T04:15:27-08:00

As is so frequent on the web, the whole internet is a-buzz with copyright stories. The two which seem to be creating the most buzz at the moment are the story that New Zealand has buckled to pressure from American copyright holders to implement a law which punishes people for being ACUSED of copyright infringement - without the need to prove the claims, and the story that the people behind the Pirate's Bay website are in court to defend themselves for claims of copyright infringement.

So, how did we get here? And why does it matter?

It all started a long, long time ago - originally, people wrote things, sang songs etc. and all was well - people got paid for their work, or performing their songs, and it was all great (honest) - but then, evil people came along (all with capes and thin curly moustaches) with that vile creation of the devil - the printing press.

Things kinda went down hill for a while - and these evil people made vast amounts of money by printing other people’s ideas & stories and selling them for a hansom profit - the creators of these works usually got nothing. And so, from this came the idea of copyright - the creators of works were granted legal ownership of them, and people could not reproduce them without the creators permission - thus 'intellectual property' was born.

For a while - things got better. But then, just when we thought we were safe, the evil people came back (this time they ditched their capes and moustaches and replaced them with suits). Now when they came back, they had a better plan - instead of ripping off the artists, they would work FOR them - and to make their money they would rip off the customers instead. They did this by exploiting both the copyright and the artists - copyright is now insanely extended (to the point that the rights to works extend beyond the life of the author) this combined with the fantastic new tool of 'format switching' has allowed the evil people to sell the same work to customers again and again in various different 'formats'.

On top of this - thanks to the lobbying of the evil ones - it is now impossible for artists to make any money from their work without the help of the evil media companies.

So, while this is obviously an exaggeration - it is pretty much the situation we find ourselves in. The best outcome for the general populous is to REDUCE copyright - maybe to 3 years (to pick a figure out the air) - this will give creators the time to exploit their work, but still allows people to have some 'ownership' of culture - without having to pay the media companies tax.

How does this gel with the two above stories - well, it doesn't. There will inevitably be a culture clash - between what is best for big business and what is best for the 'guy on the street' - and as always a balance must be struck. In the short term you can bet that the governments and legal systems will follow the money - but this cannot last for ever - the methods of content distribution will continue to increase, and when they provide a valid method of rewarding the original content creator - you can be sure that the 'evil people' will be out of a job - until they can find the next way to exploit the artists.

Freedom and Privacy Carnival - February 13, 2009

kiakanpa — 2009-02-14T01:43:31-08:00

Welcome to the February 13, 2009 edition of freedom and privacy carnival.Not had time to SPAM check it this time - so if there are any SPAM links, please let me know in the forum - also, all comments must now be made in the forum as the SPAM in comments was getting out of hand - so I disabled them. 'til next time.

Sarah Scrafford presents 25 Most Shocking Crimes in Social Media History posted at Masters in Criminal Justice.

Freedom

Michael Haltman presents Gitmo, The Taliban, Nukes and You [del.icio.us] posted at The Political and Financial Markets Commentator, saying, "In what can only be termed as an extremely disturbing situation in Pakistan, the Taliban is becoming a stronger and stronger influence, not only in the tribal areas but now deeper into the heart of the country."

Burak Bilgin presents On Individualism and Conformism posted at Distiller's Corner, saying, "In this article, I discuss individualism and conformism, and how we design our lives around these two notions."

Privacy

Jeonard Cook presents Looking for Information? Reverse Cellular Phone Lookups Do Work posted at How to Find Phone Number.

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

Freedom and Privacy Carnival - January 30, 2009

kiakanpa — 2009-02-01T00:26:56-08:00

Welcome to the January 30, 2009 edition of freedom and privacy carnival. Sorry its a couple of days late - but here it is.

Banquet Manager presents Why Did the Chicken Cross The Road? - 2009 Version posted at So You Want To Be a Banquet Manager....

Freedom

babs mountjoy presents Research?a novel idea; or, Why is Homeland Security here? posted at Awalkabout's Weblog, saying, "You never know who's watching."

Broderick Allen presents Life is Short? posted at Broderick Allen - Personal Growth and Enjoying Life's Journey.

Political

Christine presents Limited to 20 Euro ATM Withdraws in France from US Bank, Why? posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France.

Privacy

Obadiah Shoher presents Freedom of expression undermines free speech posted at Samson BLinded.

Alli presents Open Letter to the NSA posted at The Smoking Argus.

Tamir Birk presents Canadian Do Not Call List Targeted by Fraudsters posted at Informed Vote | Keeping Canadian Voters Informed.

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

Freedom and Privacy Carnival - January 16, 2009

kiakanpa — 2009-01-16T13:11:42-08:00

Back to normal again now, so lots of links for you from around the blogosphere. There is a good mix this time, I do not agree with all of the posts, but as I said when I set up this carnival, I would post links representing views other than my own.

Enjoy - we'll be back in a fortnight.

Welcome to the January 16, 2009 edition of freedom and privacy carnival.

Heather Johnson presents 50 Ways to Protect Your Anonymity Online and Off posted at e-Justice Blog.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents An Alpha-Political Farewell to Bush and Cheney posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.

Sarah Scrafford presents World Watchdogs: Top 50 Human Rights Blogs posted at e-Justice Blog.

Freedom

Broderick Allen presents The Power of Now posted at Broderick Allen - Personal Growth and Enjoying Life's Journey.

babs mountjoy presents All ****** are created equal « Awalkabout’s Weblog posted at Awalkabout's Weblog, saying, "Shouldn't we all be free to choose who we love? How is it possible in the Land of the Free that voters can tell us who's permissible to marry?"

Alli presents 1st Amendment Needs to be Strengthened to Preserve Original Intent | The Smoking Argus/ posted at The Smoking Argus, saying, "The impetus behind our founders warning government to keep its hands off the press comes not from a love of newspapers per se, but rather the necessity of free and uncensored mass communication. Newspapers just happened to be the only form of mass communication at the time."

Praveen presents My Simple Trading System: Security Comes Second To Freedom - Follow up posted at My Simple Trading System.

Political

David Lamb presents In Defense of Capitalism: The macroeconomic cost of a Detroit Bailout posted at Killer Buffalo.

Privacy

Wenchypoo presents This Just In: Careful What You Search For posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket, saying, "(Editor--use the trackback URL for this one, because my own blog article will disappear in three days) Not only is Google keeping track of us, so is Big Brother via the computer program Eschelon and the Patriot Act."

vjack presents Patron Who Complained About Indiana Library Nativity Faces Retaliation posted at Atheist Revolution.

A Tory presents Facebook claims another political victim - Matt Lewis of ‘Conservative Future’ posted at Letters From A Tory, saying, "Here in the UK, an aspiring young member of the Conservative Party has been caught publishing information on Facebook that really should be kept to himself He went to a fancy dress party dressed as a dead version of Madeleine McCann, who hit the world headlines last year after being kidnapped from her bedroom on holiday, never to be seen again. The story raises some really difficult questions about online privacy."

The Whited Sepulchre presents The Whited Sepulchre: Card Check vs. Secret Ballots posted at The Whited Sepulchre, saying, "here's something on the freedom (and privacy) of The Secret Ballot."

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

UK police hacking & the KiasWorld Linux distro

kiakanpa — 2009-01-06T02:57:34-08:00

As I have previously covered in the EU makes police hacking legal post Europe is making moves to give police forces new powers to spy on anyone’s home or business computers. This is now being implemented in the UK, and is being picked up by more mainstream sources such as BBC and The Times.

To counter this, I hope to make available soon (read, when I get chance) a Linux distribution, based off GOS, that will run from a CD (though it will be installable as running from the CD is slow), it will include encryption be default as well as TOR and other online anonymity tools - if anyone is willing to help me test this, or have ideas of things to include, please let me know - you will need to have a PC or Intel based Mac though.

I'll let you know when I have something usable.

Freedom and Privacy carnival - January 2, 2009

kiakanpa — 2009-01-03T07:02:17-08:00

Welcome to the January 2, 2009 edition of freedom and privacy carnival. Its a bit late - and very short, guess that is chrismas for you.

Back to normal in a couple of weeks.

Political

larryniven presents It's the most wonderful tiiiiime of the year (for porn) posted at Rust Belt Philosophy, saying, "My analysis of some op/eds about the online availability of sexually suggestive and explicit material."

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

Freedom and Privacy carnival - December 19, 2008

kiakanpa — 2008-12-19T01:39:32-08:00

Welcome to the December 19, 2008 edition of freedom and privacy carnival.

I said when I started this carnival that I would post on all sides - and it seems people have taken me at my word and so we have a real mixed bag - Enjoy!

Alexander De Foe presents Is Technological Evolution Going to End The Planet? posted at SpiritualBlog.com.

Freedom

Wenchypoo presents The Self-Help Guide to Living in a Free Society (Super L-O-N-G) posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Wenchypoo presents Liberty in all its Glory posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Raymond presents The Future Demise and End Of Newspapers and Print Media posted at Money Blue Book.

News

DWSUWF presents If they take the bailout - boycott GM and Chrysler. Buy a Ford. posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall, saying, "There is no political freedom without financial freedom. In my dreams, Americans take matters into their own hands. In my dreams, Americans begin to apply the discipline that our representatives in Washington and our President did not. In my dreams, Americans vote with their wallets and stop buying products from any company that solicit government bailouts. This might be tough to do with the banking industry which has effectively been nationalized, leaving few choices. But it is certainly something that Americans can do when choosing to buy a car between Ford, Chrysler, and GM. Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose taxpayer dollars being used to support the Detroit 3 bailout. Perhaps a better idea than boycotting Alabama, is to boycott any company that takes taxpayer funds against the wishes of the majority of American taxpayers. If Ford declines the taxpayer money, Ford deserves the support of American car buyers. If GM and Chrysler take taxpayer money, they do not deserve the support of American car buyers."

Other

William James presents Denver Climbers Coalition posted at Wilderness Exchange Unlimited.

Raymond presents Nigerian 419 Scams and Spam Emails Are Funny But They Make Me Paranoid posted at Money Blue Book.

Joe Manausa presents What is a RSS Subscription? posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, saying, "Have you ever noticed that anytime you read a blog, there is a Subscription Button that encourages you to subscribe to it? Well, I have been questioned about this often enough to recognize that most readers do not understand how RSS works and why bloggers should continue to explain it in order to expand their subscribers list."

Political

ANTHONY PHIRI presents Leaders And Commentators:Views Of A Maverick Intellectual posted at AS Online Journal & Top 10 Website Rankings Index, saying, "Lets do intelligent politics"

Shaun Kavanagh presents Divided We Stand: The Sad State of US Politics posted at Kavmerica.com.

Privacy

Wenchypoo presents Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket: Choice versus Privacy Invasion posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Wenchypoo presents Broken Borders, Violated Privacy, Personal Security, and the Questionable Need for Citizenship (Dreadfully Long and Involved) posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Wenchypoo presents No Rest from Identity Thieves--Even After Death posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Wenchypoo presents Barking at a Hole in the Fence posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket.

Aahz presents Pretty Good Privacy Is An Understatement With PGP posted at Philaahzophy, saying, "If you're not using PGP encryption, what are you waiting for?"

Suppression

jpt presents BNP Persecution posted at The Right Rant, saying, "A touchy subject and a touchy political party but I think a very important issue."

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

Freedom and Privacy Blog Carnival, December 5 2008

kiakanpa — 2008-12-06T01:02:06-08:00

Welcome to the December 5, 2008 edition of freedom and privacy carnival.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Why I Don?t Hate My Hate Mail posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.

David Gross presents The Picket Line — 23 November 2008 posted at The Picket Line, saying, "Maybe the best thing the government could do to protect the environment would be to stop doing anything. Here are some recent examples where the government worked to impede people who were trying to do the green thing."

Alexander De Foe presents Is Technological Evolution Going to End The Planet? posted at Spiritual Blog.

Freedom

Alli presents How to Save the Republic - Part 3 - Repeal the Direct Election of Senators posted at The Smoking Argus, saying, "We must understand that the Central Bankers who sought to regain control over our money supply and monetary policy at the beginning of the 20th century did indeed learn a precious lesson from the demise of the 2nd Central Bank of the United States…"

Privacy

Raymond presents Stop Writing Checks and Start Banking Online To Avoid Identity Theft posted at Money Blue Book.

Raymond presents Save Money With Someone Else's Wireless Internet posted at Money Blue Book.

Technorati tags: freedom and privacy carnival, blog carnival.

EU makes hacking legal for the police.

kiakanpa — 2008-12-01T04:21:50-08:00

As part of a 5 year action plan to 'combat the growth in cyber theft and spam' the EU have granted Europol £250,000 to create a system to allow european police forces to share data with each other which they have gained be illegal means. Obviously they worded it slightly better than I have, but essentially that is what they have allowed.

The meeting, backed by 'the anti-cyber crime strategy' is to sanction virtual patrols of 'some areas of the net' - what ever that might mean. They are also encouraging 'better sharing of information between police forces in member nations and private companies on investigative methods and trends' - or, to you and me, encourage the police to out source their hacking.

Do I really mean hacking? after all Jacques Barrot (EC vice-president) said in a statement that the strategy was to encourage 'the much needed operational cooperation and information exchange between the Member States' and hey - sharing information will be great for catching criminals right? But what data will they be sharing? - this is where it gets interesting, forces will 'patrol online' to track down criminals - but they will also take part in 'remote searches' - yes, you heard right - the EU is not only allowing, but encouraging the police to remotely scan people hard drives - and to share that information with other police forces around the EU.

Last I heard, remote access to a computer network or system without the system owners permission was illegal - but not, it would seem, if you are a european police force. Also note that with remote searching encryption probably won’t help you - as most people will unencrypt the drive while they are using the internet.