FEMA willing to help, so long as you use Windows
MSNBC “reports”:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9231271/ on this troubling scenario over at “FEMA’s website”:http://www.fema.gov/register.shtm — namely, that you must be using Internet Explorer 6 (available on the PC only) in order to file a claim.
The “shockingly”:http://www.slate.com/id/2125494/?nav=navoa, “jaw-droppingly”:http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-tribtv,1,3096468.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed, “appallingly”:http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_09_04.php#006430 incompetent actions of FEMA and others last week were bad enough. This is just plain stupid:
bq. _When reached Tuesday afternoon, a [...]
Identity theft
Is it just me, or does “this article”:http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/050131roco01?print=true in the most recent Vanity Fair provide the common thread that connects the recent “identity”:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/10/tech/main679237.shtml “theft”:http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/17/technology/personaltech/choicepoint/ hacks? (Vanity Fair link via “Ernie”:http://www.ernietheattorney.net/ernie_the_attorney/2005/02/hank_asher_the_.html.)
Consider:
* Hank Asher founded DBT, which was later absorbed by Choicepoint.
* Hank Asher then founded Seisint, which was later bought by LexisNexis.
Odd coincidence, that.
And John Robb [...]
NFL doesn’t want me to use TiVo
Today’s Washington Post carries a jaw-dropping article about TiVo’s latest fight [via waxy]. Tivo ToGo was announced at CES in January of this year, with a planned Fall release, but if the Movie Industry and the NFL get their way, it will never see the light of day.
[PVRblog]
This really pisses me off. I thought [...]
Off-shoring software development
Salon.com Technology | No safety net for programmers
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration determined that programmers like Fusco do not qualify, because of the nature of what they’d produced on their old jobs: software. The government cited commerce and trade rules that classify software as a “service” and “not a tangible commodity,” [...]
Data protection laws
Wondering if anyone has any ideas on this: the UK has had its “Data Protection Act”:http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/eventual.aspx?id=786 for quite some time, and “Canada’s Act”:http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/ps/atip/ is due to take effect on January 1, 2004. Both acts require a business that maintains contact information about an individual to have that individual’s consent.
So, hypothetically let’s say that ACME has [...]
FBI Systems still years behind corporate America
“Baseline Magazine”:http://www.baselinemag.com/ was one of the publications we met with on our recent press tour. They’re an interesting, and as near as I can tell, unique publication in that they focus exclusively on case studies for content, and try extraordinarily hard to document large implementations, warts and all. It’s a refreshing change from the press [...]
New from the DoD and Accenture: “eDemocracy”
New from the DoD and Accenture: “eDemocracy” Think web elections are a long way off? Think again. A lucky few American citizens will be able to vote online in the upcoming 2004 presidential elections, thanks to a Department of Defense project called SERVE.
[via kuro5hin.org]
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FCC gets one right for a change
Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things
Federal court approves cellular number portability
Hallelujah. Today, a federal court rejected an appeal from wireless companies and ruled that consumers should have the right to retain their old phone numbers when switching carriers.
Consumer advocates say the inability to retain numbers is one of the biggest barriers preventing more cell [...]
EFF analysis of Patriot II misses the mark?
Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr debunks the EFF analysis of the now dead Patiot II proposal from the DOJ.
ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION ON THE CRYPTO-AS-A-CRIME PROPOSAL: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released an analysis of the now-dead-in-the-water leaked DOJ proposal that many have dubbed Patriot II. I haven’t read the whole EFF analysis, but [...]
Makes that CBS logo look more creepy….
Is Your Television Watching You?. Here’s a nice article for all of you interested in privacy issues. It turns out that under the beloved Partiot Act, the government can now demand from non-cable companies such as TiVo or DirecTV a list of everything you’ve watched on your TV - and those companies will be forbidden [...]
