Jan 24

TERRIBLE COURT RULING OF THE DAY: No Encryption Protection

In a ruling that seems to fly in the face of Fifth Amendment protections a federal judge ordered a defendant in a mortgage scam case to decrypt the hard drive in a device that was seized by law enforcement.

District Court Judge Robert Blackburn said that the right to remain silent doesn’t apply to encryption passwords, and ordered the defendant, a Colorado woman named Ramona Fricosu, to decrypt the drive by February 21st.

The ruling will hardly be the last on the issue and the case will most likly wind up before the Supreme Court (which yesterday ruled that a warrant is required for GPS tracking by law enforcement).

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Jan 23

Stunning Earth Footage from Space

Time lapse sequences of photographs taken by the crew of expeditions 28 & 29 on-board the International Space Station from August to October, 2011.

Well don’t I now feel insignificant

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Jan 23

VICTORY OF THE DAY: SCOTUS Rejects Warrantless GPS Tracking

Today in a landmark 9-0 decision the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled that law-enforcement must seek a probable cause warrant to track a suspects movements via GPS.

The convoluted decision (.pdf) in what is arguably the biggest Fourth Amendment case in the computer age, rejected the Obama administration’s position that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle was not a search. The government had told the high court that it could even affix GPS devices on the vehicles of all members of the Supreme Court, without a warrant.

(source)

The ruling while a step in the right direction still left room open for interpretation and I have no doubt that future cases will be needed to solidify American’s Constitutional right to Privacy in the digital age. The case has toss out the life sentence of a District of Columbia drug dealer who was the subject of a warrantless, 28-day surveillance via GPS.

In the Supreme Court case decided Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit had ruled that the Fourth Amendment rights of suspected District of Columbia drug dealer Antoine Jones had been violated by the month-long warrantless attachment of a GPS underneath his car. The lower court had reversed Jones’ conviction, saying the FBI needed a warrant to track Jones.

Scalia’s majority opinion, which was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor, said placing the device on the suspect’s car amounted to a search.

(source)

 

 

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Jan 21

PICTURE OF THE DAY: Winter Is Here

After an unseasonably warm and dry winter the snow has finally arrived with another three to six inches on the way.

(c)patrick dyl (click for full size)

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Jan 20

SOPA/PIPA Look Dead…. For Now

It looks like SOPA/PIPA may dead (or just in a coma) for the time being.

From the Associated Press:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was postponing a test vote set for Tuesday “in light of recent events.”

By “recent events” we can assume Reid meant protests by hundreds of websites including such big wigs as Google, Wikipedia and Reddit. Here are some numbers gathered by the ever awesome Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Nobody should be too complaisant; the MPAA/RIAA have deep pockets and another version of these terrible laws will be back.

 

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Jan 19

SOPA and PIPA: The Fight Most Go On

While most sites have ended their “blackout” in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) the fight is hardly over. Support is eroding from the bills as they’re currently written; but that will only embolden supporters.

  • The MPAA is pretending that no big sites participated in yesterday’s blackout and otherwise attacking critics of the law as uneducated, or in the pocket of Pirates.
  • Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has been ranting on his newly created twitter account for days.

If you have not called your Congressman or Senator – do so today. Even if your elected officials have spoken out or renounced their support for SOPA or PIPA make sure to call and thank them. If they’re still in support of the bill let them know why they’re wrong!

Use the following sits to find more information on who to contact, how to do it, and what to tell them!

  • https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
  • https://blacklist.eff.org/
  • http://americancensorship.org/
  • http://downagainstsopa.com/takeaction.php

 

 

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Jan 17

The TSA Finally Has a Use: Being a Joke!

While the TSA continues to not catch terrorists, it is taking heat for confiscating a cupcake last month. What is even more hilarious is the decision to defend taking the offending baked-good.

I wanted to make it clear that this wasn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill cupcake. If you’re not familiar with it, we have a policy directly related to the UK liquid bomb plot of 2006 called 3-1-1 that limits the amount of liquids, gels and aerosols you can bring in your carry-on luggage. Icing falls under the “gel” category. As you can see from the picture, unlike a thin layer of icing that resides on the top of most cupcakes, this cupcake had a thick layer of icing inside a jar.

In general, cakes and pies are allowed in carry-on luggage, however, the officer in this case used their discretion on whether or not to allow the newfangled modern take on a cupcake per 3-1-1 guidelines. They chose not to let it go.

TIME is now reporting about a Rhode Island bakery that is now (Tongue-in-cheekly) offering a “TSA APPROVED” cupcake:

The incident inspired Kelly Colgan, owner of Silver Spoon Bakeryin Providence, R.I., to create a travel-friendly treat: the TSA Compliant Cupcake. The $4 confection is topped with exactly 3 ounces of frosting and sold in a TSA-mandated clear, quart-size plastic blag. The decorative photo of Richard Nixon with the parodied words “I am not a gel” comes optional.

I think we’ve found something the TSA is good for!

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Jan 16

Password Security 101

In light of yet another massive hack against an online retailer; a basic primer in Password Security is in order.

  • Don’t use the same password - Using the same password across multiple sites (and systems) is a first good step. Say you use the same password for your bank account, amazon account and e-mail account; should one of your accounts become compromised you stand to lose a list more.
  • Common Sense – Avoid using easy to guess passwords; your name, hometown, boyfriends name, pets name, date of birth, the word password and simple dictionary words are all things to avoid.
  • Mix it up - Use UPPERCASE and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols (example: #Th1sI5H0w1R0l1% is much more secure than thisishowiroll.

There are a number of tools and web-sites out there to help you out. I’ve seen LastPass.com along with  1Password referenced a number of times today (though I’ve never used either of them)

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Jan 16

Harry Reid – Stupid, Incompetent, or Corrupt?

Technology experts, “the people”, The White House, and now even it’s co-sponsors are against it; but Sen. Harry Reid plans to move forward with PIPA (PROTECT IP Act).

In a short appearance on Meet the Press on Sunday, Senate leader Harry Reid continued to insist that the Senate intended to move forward with PIPA, despite the widespread concerns, despite the White House’s statement against the bill, and despite multiple Senators — including bill co-sponsors — asking him to hold off putting the bill to a vote.

This makes me wounder is Reid: stupid, incompetent, or corrupt? Despite his claims (which sound alarmingly like those coming from the MPAA/RIAA) no hard evidence has been presented to show that PIPA will create or save a single job.  What’s more is his lack of understanding the infrastructure of “the internet” and what PIPA (and SOPA) will do to break it.

 

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Jan 13

Are You Kidding Me…

Are You Kidding Me meme A poll shows that 43% of people thing god is directly responsible for helping Tim Tebow win football games — apparently entertainment is more important to a being that has complete control over space, time, and matter than say people starving to death or suffering from cancer, HIV, and other illnesses.

(source)

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