“So I recently discovered a great new running trail one evening- beautiful rolling dirt with old, moss-covered trees. Deer and owls, and not another human being to be found. Only problem is that the trail lay beyond a barb-wire fence, and a “No Trespassing” sign.
Went back a week or two later, found the end, and [...]

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The nation’s biggest electronics retailer has told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency lacks the authority to punish Best Buy for screwing up its digital transition TV selling rules. “The Commission never before has claimed, asserted, or exercised direct or ancillary jurisdiction over retailers, or retail practices, of the nature that is asserted” by [...]

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This is why I’m a libertarian. If you give the government a power, they will find a way to abuse it. It doesn’t matter how benign or legitimate that power may seem on it’s surface. Some public official will find a way to torture the definition of a term to serve either his/her own agenda, [...]

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The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation’s most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff (pictured) said his department will activate his department’s new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible [...]

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You know what sucks? A lot of people in the US won’t protest something much more important, but these guys in Norway, who obviously don’t have a war or loss of freedoms to protest, are still taking to the streets to voice their dissent.
In this clip she says the protesters in San Francisco will not [...]

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Yes this is a long article, but it is well worth the read. Interesting to see an organization not designed to make money, make a lot of money… wait, that’s not even the scary thing, how about the security of the new e-passport? Ugh.
The United States has outsourced the manufacturing of its electronic passports to [...]

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In 1993, the dawn of the Internet age, the liberating anonymity of the online world was captured in a well-known New Yorker cartoon. One dog, sitting at a computer, tells another: “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Fifteen years later, that anonymity is gone.
It’s not paranoia: they really are spying on you.
Technology companies [...]

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WASHINGTON–In the long-running Real ID staring match, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security ended up being the first to blink.
Homeland Security announced Wednesday that all 50 states and the District of Columbia will be technically Real ID-compliant by the May 11, 2008 deadline–even though many states actually have rejected the concept and have zero plans [...]

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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Attorney General Michael Mukasey warned Friday that the huge profits generated from piracy and counterfeiting are increasingly flowing into the coffers of terrorist groups.
In remarks to Silicon Valley executives at the Tech Museum of Innovation, Mukasey said the economy and national security of the United States are increasingly threatened by violations [...]

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Check out some of the background stories that have been leading up to this:

Goldman Sachs Creates Private Stock Exchange for Unregistered Securities, Clients with $100 Million Minimum
NASDAQ to Open Unregulated Private Stock Exchange for Investors with a Minimum of $100 Million in Assets
Big Traders Dive Into Dark Pools

In other words, if you thought equities were [...]

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Nipple ring search procedures faulty, TSA admits
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — The Transportation Security Administration said Friday its officers at a Texas airport appear to have properly followed procedures when they allegedly forced a woman to remove her nipple rings — one with pliers — but acknowledged the procedures should be changed.Mandi Hamlin, at center [...]

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If you use someone else’s WiFi signal without permission, you’re a thief. That’s the conclusion of a bill introduced into the Maryland General Assembly last week. Sponsored by Delegate LeRoy E. Myers, Jr., the legislation would criminalize the unauthorized use of a wireless access point in the state; it has since received an “unfavorable report” [...]

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Barred by law from lobbying, the Postal Service is nonetheless trying to make its case before a growing number of state legislatures that are weighing bills to create Do Not Mail registries, which are similar to the popular National Do Not Call Registry. Ugh.
Postal Service Argues Against Registries to State Lawmakers
Chris Pearson, a state legislator [...]

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Informative post over at Ars Technica about the “carnivore” program…
In Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal, Siobhan Gorman pulled together the disparate threads of reporting on what’s known of the NSA’s secret domestic spy program, and combined them with some of her own reporting to confirm, once again, that the NSA’s program is another incarnation of the [...]

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Read this on a Ron Paul Freedom Forum… Interesting information none-the-less.
PennDOT has been going forward with Real ID. $20 million has already been spent implementing 11 of 17 benchmarks. Pennsylvanians who have recently gone to get their licenses renewed have been issued temporary cards while extensive background checks are conducted.Two bills are currently pending in [...]

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