We Will Remember (Your Every Move)

by gtdonovan on September 11, 2011 at 2:03 pm · Filed under 9/11, cybercity, fear, image, link, NYC, privacy, security, surveillance

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN > The Apple of Its Eye: Security and Surveillance Pervades Post-9/11 NYC LA TIMES > A Key Sept. 11 Legacy: More Domestic Surveillance WIRED > How 9/11 Completely Changed Surveillance in U.S. MARKETPLACE > 9/11′s Effect on Tech AP > Documents Show NY Police Watched Devout Muslims

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Luddite Revival

by gtdonovan on September 10, 2011 at 6:51 pm · Filed under cybercity, grafffiti, greenpoint, identity, image, luddite, robots

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Newspaper CEO Finally Agrees Copyright Trolling Was a Dumb Idea

by gtdonovan on September 9, 2011 at 5:25 pm · Filed under copyright, law, MediaNews Group, ownership, Paton, privatization, property, Righthaven

About a year ago MediaNews Group, publisher of 40 newspapers, signed a deal with Righthaven, a law firm. The deal allowed Righthaven to file copyright infringement lawsuits on MediaNews Group’s behalf in exchange for 50% of any settlement/verdict. Now, MediaNews Group has decided to part ways with Righthaven and John Paton, the chief executive of MediaNews Group, is quoted in Wired as saying:

“The issues about copyright are real … But the idea that you would hire someone on an — essentially — success fee to run around and sue people at will who may or may not have infringed as a way of protecting yourself … does not reflect how news is created and disseminated in the modern world … I come from the idea that it was a dumb idea from the start.” (emphasis added)

The idea that one could monetize news content (or any other content) by restricting its circulation and suing individual bloggers was always a dubious one. The RIAA and many other organizations that took this approach previously now appear to be abandoning it. And, as the Wired article also notes, Righthaven has lost a string of its lawsuits over the question of whether it even has the right to sue over copyright infringement when they are not the actual copyright holder.

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LA Times: More Domestic Surveillance Is A Key 9/11 Legacy

by gtdonovan on September 8, 2011 at 12:48 pm · Filed under 9/11, data mining, Database Industry, digitalfootprint, governance, link, privacy, security, surveillance, terrorism, wiretapping

From the article: “U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies now collect, store and analyze vast quantities of digital data produced by law-abiding Americans. The data mining receives limited congressional oversight, rare judicial review and almost no public scrutiny. Thanks to new laws and technologies, authorities track and eavesdrop on Americans as they never could before, hauling in billions of bank records, travel receipts and other information. In several cases, they have wiretapped conversations between lawyers and defendants, challenging the legal principle that attorney-client communication is inviolate.”

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AP: Documents Show NY Police Watched Devout Muslims

by gtdonovan on September 7, 2011 at 9:05 am · Filed under CIA, governance, link, NYC, nypd, police, religion, security, surveillance

From the article: “The New York Police Department compiled lists of mosques and Muslim businesses it saw as potential security risks for reasons that included endorsing conservative religious views or having devout customers … That effort has benefited from federal money and an unusually close relationship with the CIA, one that at times blurred the lines between domestic and foreign intelligence-gathering.”

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