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03/23/2004 Archived Entry: "Letterman's Top Ten"

Michael Ramirez' "Why socail Security Won't Die"; Steve Sack's "Iraq: One Year Anniversary"; Ann Telnaes' "War is Swell"; and, from David Letterman's Top Ten Files...Ten Signs Your Supreme Court Justice Is On The Take, Ten Signs Hillary Clinton Wants To Be Vice President, Ten Things Governor Schwarzenegger Hears In A Typical Day. Compliments of Gordon Pusch...here's an oldie but goodie from The Onion bashing Microsoft. Hmm, wonder why I like it so much? Enjoy!

Recent news and commentary on privacy...

--From MSNBC -- The Supreme Court is currently hearing a pivotal privacy case, "Do you have to tell the police your name? Depending on how the Supreme Court rules, the answer could be the difference between arrest and freedom. The justices heard arguments Monday in a first-of-its-kind case that asks whether people can be punished for refusing to identify themselves." Read Russell Madden's commentary.
---The privacy villain for last week was TAT TAT DAH! The FBI's online wiretap push. The FBI has delivered to the FCC "an 83-page demand that the federal government unilaterally mandate how the infrastructure of the Internet will be built. The FBI is claiming that the emerging technology of Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) is too dangerous for broad implementation."
---from the UK Register, "Leaked cabinet letters reveal that British Home Secretary David Blunkett is readying the terror card to accelerate the introduction of a compulsory ID system."
---news items on RFID.
1) from the RFID Journal, "The U.S. Department of Defense has awarded a three-year contract to IBM Business Consulting Services to help manage and support the DOD's planned deployment of RFID technology in 2005."
2) The New Scientist reports, "Tiny computer chips that emit unique radio-frequency IDs could be slapped on to toothbrushes, chairs and even toilet seats to monitor elderly people in their own homes." Wired also reports on the "Senior's chip." These stories serve as a reminder of how beneficial RFID technology could be in private hands.
3) Also from the RFID Journal, "Nokia unveils phone RFID reader: The world's largest provider of cell phones is offering a kit that will enable workers to scan tags remotely and transmit data via their cell phones."
4) The RFID Journal again, "State legislators in Utah and Missouri have sponsored bills that would require retailers to alert customers when goods contain RFID tags."
---two items on airlines: from Wired, the airline association has okayed CAPPS II; and, from the Dodge City Daily Globe,"Three U.S. airlines confirmed Monday that they have received government subpoenas that reportedly are part of a U.S. Treasury Department investigation?but they declined to elaborate."
---two related commentaries. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution warns, "All our online lives for sale. Every time you visit an Internet site, apply for credit or send in a product registration card, you leave behind bread crumbs of information that are swept up, compiled and stored by people you don't know.
And it's all for sale to someone." In light of this, the following FOX News item is reassuring, "Terror Database Hits Snags. An ambitious effort to create a central terror suspect database for use by all U.S. federal and local officials has been struggling for months because of challenges as mundane as merging Microsoft spreadsheets and as sensitive as protecting people's privacy."

Robert Campbell has continued posting his excellent six-part series on Naomi Wolf's sexual abuse accusations at the Liberty and Power blog. Links to parts I and II were posted on McBlog yesterday; here are Wolf III: To Grieve or Not to Grieve?, Wolf IV: No Other Recourse?, andWolf V: Anita Hill and the Inner Bad Girl.

Best to all,
mac