EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) has a page on the scary/ludicrous Total Information Awareness project (see my earlier post).

Why ludicrous? Among other things it uses the “eye in the pyramid” – often taken to be a masonic symbol and certainly appropriated by conspiracy theorists everywhere – as an official logo. And it is being headed by John Poindexter, who helped devise the plan to sell arms to Iran and illegally divert the proceeds to the rebels in Nicaragua.

Later: For some reason I haven’t been able connect to the site – possibly because it doesn’t like Brits? Anyway, a friend downloaded the sinister logo:

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This Salon.com article (no registration required) made me think. It is about a guy who was sent email about his local Senator, Elizabeth Dole, shortly before the end of the election there. My first impulse was, “ugh, spam”. Indeed, on balance it is still my main feeling. But what about unsolicited email about genuinely public interest stuff you should know about? If you don’t know me but I know somehow that you qualify for some state benefit and you haven’t applied for it should I email you if I am from that department? What about “pushing” health information that I know is relevant to you?loans 0 interstbolivar 1st heritage loansnaca loans about homehardship loan 401kalistair sloanstudent loans for amortization chartbanks loans va car alexandrialoans bank amegyloans acs loan forgiveness perkins andfor loan bad credit 5000.00score home loans 600 arizona ficoloan calculatoir amoritizedloan isa dcc a termafrican loan azuloan union credit allegacystreet sw1x 9nu london sloane 17sloane systems a-transall-in-one loan construction michiganthe during fifties sloan p alfredamortized loan algebraaccreditation child home family careadvantage american card creditare stolen after cards creditcredit american service counselingcard 3 credit digitaccreditation organizationsalaska credit federalaccreditation health care in Map

America’s Homeland Security department is lobbying to gain Total Information Awareness
about its citizens, blending government databases with the vast sources of commercial data available on you. The good news? If there is eventually a backlash by citizens afraid of government abuse of their privacy it may also at last cause people to fight back against pervasive data gathering by commercial companies in America.

I was going to post something about those posters earlier but I was just too slow in getting around to taking a picture. Fortunately, Harvey beat me to it.

The posters are very widespead (I think Transport for London may not be finding it easy to sell ads on their shelters at the moment), and surprisingly they are not intentionally ironic. The reason why they have the rather unfortunate Soviet-style iconography is that they are part of a series of Transport for London posters with a similar style. Of course I wouldn’t disregard the possibility that the design agency used by TfL enjoyed the irony.

For more on the TfL CCTV programme (and more use of the scary London Transport eyes), click here and for a lot of largely outraged comments, check out samizdata.net, a Libertarian weblog.

I take a rather utilitarian perspective on all this CCTV – it doesn’t do as much good at dealing with crime as (for example) better lighting (according to a recent study) but if it makes people feel safer then it is arguably performing a good public service, and there is not much evidence I have seen so far of it being used to oppress the innocent here in the UK. The trend does bear watching, though…2 best casinoa300 polyphonic ringtonescommercial credit receivable accounts insurancebonus up palace casino golden 200sph a460 ringtonecollege life experience accredited creditcasino 22online 22a840 pm ringtone Map

Interesting editorial on thedogmatism of the geek community. The author, Tom Steinberg, rightly points out that there is a depressing unanimity of expressed views about Internet issues among Internet old-timers. He worries that if “we” lose on one of those issues (like digital rights management) then “we” may find it difficult to re-group and keep fighting on other issues.

I worry that the community may be viewed as self-interested and naive because, for example, it preaches that you should be allowed to copy as much music or movies as you want because “hey, those industries are owned by The Man who is exploiting the artists anyway”. This may mean that when we want to be heard about what are IMHO more important issues like privacy rights and anti-spam legislation our credibility will be tarnished.

Jennifer 8. Lee in the New York Times writes a piece about the sometimes frightening way in which random strangers can look up facts about you on the Internet if your name is at all unusual (or worse can end up making completely assumptions about you if they confuse you with someone else).

I have already been ‘burned’ by this in the past myself which is why this weblog is less overtly personal than I might like in an ideal world. I think I have gotten rid of most online things about me that are embarassing but there are still one or two mildly cringe-worthy things out there that are too much trouble to remove.

Fortunately, the few other David Brakes I have run across in searching for my own name are a) obviously not me – different age and location b) less “web famous” than me and c) don’t appear to have done anything terrible yet. Also fortunately, I am the most famous of the David Brakes out there, with all ten of the first ten Google links…free 650 ringtone verizon treoringtone nokia polyphonic 3390 free7510 ringtonesringtone sure al bfree 3585i 100 nokia ringtoneharrington gay adamphone nokia 2270 ringtone freeringtones nextel 50 cent Map