GDrive: Three Ways it Could be a Game Changer: The difference between local and online storage in this case will not just be the absence of space limitations, the data will also be accessible to the nearly infinite computing power of Google. Though it’s a nontraditional use of the world, I think Henry Blodget is on to something important when he writes this morning about GDrive that “‘cloud computing’ represents a paradigm shift similar in magnitude to the one that ushered in the PC age.” Both for individual users and in anonymous aggregate, there’s magic that’s possible when our data is so accessible to unlimited processing power.[Everyone ready to Google with all of this? That's what I thought...]
Source: Read/WriteWeb
Archive for the ‘privacy’ Category
Strongbox and Aaron Swartz : The New Yorker
Strongbox and Aaron Swartz : The New Yorker:
Aaron Swartz was not yet a legend when, almost two years ago, I asked him to build an open-source, anonymous in-box. His achievements were real and varied, but the events that would come to define him to the public were still in his future: his federal criminal indictment; his leadership organizing against the censorious Stop Online Piracy Act; his suicide in a Brooklyn apartment. I knew him as a programmer and an activist, a member of a fairly small tribe with the skills to turn ideas into code—another word for action—and the sensibility to understand instantly what I was looking for: a slightly safer way for journalists and their anonymous sources to communicate.
[An amazing story. What other bits and pieces are hanging around from AS?]
The illusion of privacy (and what we actually care about)
The illusion of privacy (and what we actually care about):
You probably have very little privacy at all, giving it up a long time ago.If you’ve got a charge card, the card company already knows what you do, where you go, how you spend your money, what your debt is like. If you use a cell phone or a computer, someone upstream already has access to where you go, what you buy, what you type, and on and on.
No, you don’t really have a privacy.
[This bugged me a lot for years, but the system is rigged against you, and I decided that it wasn't worth fighting. I've nothing to hide. But that doesn't mean I like it… or wouldn't change it if I could.]
Source: Seth’s Blog
Fake startups
All these fake startups need us to let them have our personal data, the same way the mortgage arbitrageurs needed all those junk mortgages to bundle up into AAA securities. The companies the VCs are starting now are garbage too. The kids who are jumping out of college to get rich are screwing themselves. And the universities that are shoveling their kids out of the door, some even saying openly they want to make money off the next Zuck or Gates, a lot of them are going to go the way of Lehman Brothers. And I don’t think there’s going to be much in the way of bailouts coming for them.All you need for a bubble is a steady stream of suckers.
It’s all connected. The fact that they’re pushing our data up into the cloud is just one more facet of it. You can be sure they’re not being squeaky clean about what they do with this data. If you think ethics are big in boardrooms in Silicon Valley, you have yourself to blame because the facts that say otherwise are staring you in the face.
[Yup.]
Source: Scripting News
You Have Every Right to Photograph That Cop
You Have Every Right to Photograph That Cop: “Taking photographs and video of things that are plainly visible in public spaces is a constitutional right — and that includes the outside of federal buildings, as well as transportation facilities, and police and other government officials carrying out their duties.
However, there is a widespread, continuing pattern of law enforcement officers ordering people to stop taking photographs or video in public places, and harassing, detaining and arresting those who fail to comply. The ACLU, photographer’s groups, and others have been complaining about such incidents for years — and consistently winning in court. Yet, a continuing stream of incidents of illegal harassment of photographers and videographers makes it clear that the problem is not going away.”
[It's a huge mess. From my perspective this problem has grown greatly over the years...]
Strobist: How to Avoid Dealing With the Police When Shooting in Public
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Strobist: How to Avoid Dealing With the Police When Shooting in Public:
[What a mess. But not a bad plan.]
Written by Daniel
February 27, 2012 at 9:56 am
Posted in commentary, news, privacy, security