Krista names Jon of Boston's Indymedia as "person of the month." Why? Read "New privacy tool tolls the birth of cypherspace" and you'll find out why. From Jon's article:
Some recent cases:
* Sherman Austin[1], young west coast anarcho-activist given 1 year in federal prison and 3 years of extremely restrictive probation for third party content on his web server[2] over which he exercised no editorial control.
* FBI seizes IndyMedia servers in the UK[3] it's still not clear (to me at least) what they were looking for or how the FBI has any jurisdiction in the UK. [Editors note- it was never confirmed that this was carried out by the FBI, only that it was a US agency]
* FBI digs for IP addresses[4] at flag.blackened.net
[5]What's it to you?
First, what is an IP address[6] and why should you care about yours? IP addresses identify where computers can be found on line, and can easily be used to find the computer's physical location. In the internet as commonly understood both parties in a conversation need to know the other's IP address so they know where to send requests or responses.
Servers typically log the IP addresses of people who connect and what information they have requested. Someone with access to a servers log files can see who has read what pages or uploaded submisions, when they did it, and where they came from.
What does this mean to you? Thats difficult to say at this point, and largely dependent on who you are and what you do. Clearly running servers that disseminate dissident opinion is a bit risky. I haven't seen much information on what's been done with the information taken from these servers, except in the Sherman Austin case, in which the person who was responsible for the allegedly illegal content was known and nothing was done. Perhaps the government's strategy is to strangle the information outlets rather than the authors. That way there are fewer necks to squeeze.
IndyMedia has a policy against recording IP addresses in log files, so your identity is safe right? Not quite, lack of logging doesn't really matter as much a one might hope. Agencies with coercive force, legal or otherwise, can see where you're browsing from by looking at your internet service provider (ISP)[7], the website's ISP or possibly from breaking into the webserver and covertly monitoring traffic. This means that sites that don't log IP's do prevent retroactive searches, but do nothing to avoid covert realtime monitoring.
What about websites who track your web browsing patterns through the ads on pages all over the web? Each of those adds calls home every time it's loaded telling what page the ad was on and the IP address of the computer requesting that page -- your computer. Those with the slightest inclination toward conspiracy can imagine many more sinister possibilities than targeted marketing.
Krista: Jon has suggestions that I found interesting and I'm so glad that someone is seriously addressing the issue of privacy. Most importantly, I'm glad to know that Indymedia doesn't record ISP addresses.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
And we'll return to Jon's article either tomorrow night or Saturday.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Noam Chomsky speaking at Washington State U Friday April, 22nd at 3:30 p.m.
From Seattle Indymedia, superperson's "Noam Chomsky speaking at WSU:"
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of linguistics and philosophy gives the 2005 Potter Memorial Lecture at Washington State University at 3:30 p.m. April 22 in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of linguistics and philosophy gives the 2005 Potter Memorial Lecture at Washington State University at 3:30 p.m. April 22 in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
His speech, "Imminent Crises: Responsibilities and Opportunities" is free and open to the public. David Shier, chair of the philosophy department, says "Noam Chomsky is one of the most respected scholars of our age." "For almost 50 years Noam Chomsky has been the most influential and best-known American linguist," added Lynn Gordon, associate professor in the Department of English, and coordinator of WSU’s linguistics program. "His work has revolutionized linguistic theory."
E-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of linguistics and philosophy gives the 2005 Potter Memorial Lecture at Washington State University at 3:30 p.m. April 22 in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of linguistics and philosophy gives the 2005 Potter Memorial Lecture at Washington State University at 3:30 p.m. April 22 in the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum.
His speech, "Imminent Crises: Responsibilities and Opportunities" is free and open to the public. David Shier, chair of the philosophy department, says "Noam Chomsky is one of the most respected scholars of our age." "For almost 50 years Noam Chomsky has been the most influential and best-known American linguist," added Lynn Gordon, associate professor in the Department of English, and coordinator of WSU’s linguistics program. "His work has revolutionized linguistic theory."
E-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
Democracy Now: Remembering Marla Ruzicka, Rep. Maxine Waters, Kate Orlovsky, Arun Gupta; wotisitgood4; Liberal Oasis; Jude (Iddybud) on John Edwards
Democracy Now! (Marcia: "Always worth watching") has many things to note including a segment on Marla Ruzicka:
Headlines for April 21, 2005
- Over 70 Corpses Found in Iraq
- Iyad Allawi Survives Assassination Attempt
- Five Iraqi Journalists Die In Week-Long Span
- GOP Senators Reconsidering John Bolton Nomination
- Bush Administration Sued Over No Child Left Behind Act
- Ecuadorian President Ousted After Protests
- Bush Signs Bankruptcy Overhaul Law
- Court Seeks to Conduct Sibel Edmonds Trial in Secret
- AIPAC Fires Two Employees Suspected of Espionage
- Columbia & Yale Grad Students Enter 4th Day of Strike
Remembering Humanitarian Aid Worker & Activist Marla Ruzicka
On Saturday 28-year-old Marla Ruzicka was killed in a car bombing. She was the founder of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict. Since the launch of the so-called war on terror, Marla spent most of her time in Iraq and Afghanistan documenting and recording the casualties of war.
Haiti's Aristide Calls For His Restoration to Power
We hear excerpts from a rare public appearance by ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We also talk to Rep. Maxine Waters and Kate Orlovsky, student director at the Hastings Human Rights Project for Haiti. The group has just filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Haiti's former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
U.S. Funding Iraqi Militias Led by Baathists As Part of Counter-Insurgency Operation
We talk to Arun Gupta of The Indypendent on the proliferation of illegal militias in Iraq. The U.S. government is not only aware of these militias but is arming, training and funding them for use in their counter-insurgency operations.
Natalie notes our friend Luke of wotisitgood4 (and says "thank you back" to Luke):
ill try to get to it by the weekend - but briefly, it seems we are close to crunch time - we've got this crazy 'justice sunday' thing coming - which seems like it mite be a watershed of sorts, and it seems we are only a week or two away from the nucular option, and DeLay is getting crazier - and there are a whole bunch of other things i wanna try to pull together - but its kinda hard to know where to stop - id never have really thought the social security was so intertwined with the morning-after pill - welcome to bizarro-bush-world.seriously tho - the justice-sunday (lafkoff wants to do a counter-event called 'social-justice-sunday) event is a spooky moment - and if we add some DeLay and some constitution burning and stuff, it looks like we might be in for a helluva time.
Lynda notes this strong entry from Bill Scher over at Liberal Oasis:
So how should Dems go forward?
So far, Dems did not approach this the way LiberalOasis suggested last month.
Instead of holding up Bolton as the embodiment of GOP foreign policy, Dems took a more non-ideological approach, zeroing in on Bolton’s abusive management practices and manipulation of intelligence.
(In fact, Sen. Dodd went out of his way yesterday to say, “this has nothing to do with substantive disagreement.”)
The ideological approach that LO preferred would have made it harder to snag a GOP vote and actually kill the nomination, although, it would have the long-term benefit of crystalizing Dem foreign policy principles, regardless of the fate of the nomination.
Of course, Dems need to stick with their present strategy (it is working after all).
But if there is pushback, a large component of it will be ideological (while the other large component will be smears).
While Dems understandably don’t want to get distracted from the points that are working for them right now, they shouldn’t feel any need to duck ideological attacks. They should address them head-on.
Dodd has made that harder by insisting this isn’t at all about Bolton’s views.
But you can still make the ideological point in a more subtle way, in a way that’s rooted in what the Dems have already been saying.
Simply put, that such a dishonest and abusive person is not the person who should be the face of America at the UN.
Such a person cannot advance democracy, promote global stability or help improve the UN bureaucracy.
Eddie e-mails to note Jude of Iddybud: "She's got the rundown on the John Edwards podcast and I draw everyone's attention to the section on the Bankruptcy bill:"
Kelly Gossnan and Ben Goodman asked how John would have voted on the recent Bankruptcy bill, to which John replied that his vote would have been: "No, No, No." He said it would only serve to put people who are deep in debt in a much worse place. He used the example of a single mother with a lot of medical bills who has no honest means to pay them, regardless of how hard she'd tried. Under the current bill, which Edwards claims is "badly written law", she would be stuck with those medical bills, and that this is inconsistent with what we believe in America. Elizabeth was a bankruptcy attorney, so she can speak from experience on the issue. She said, while the Homestead Exemption was a good idea, inconsistent state-to-statelimits on the amount of exemption serve to make it "bad part of the law". For example, in Florida and Texas, there is no limit, meaning that you can go and buy a million-dollar home and then file bankruptcy. Credit card companies, banks, and loan companies were the ones "all for" this law. Credit card companies have tried to get it passed for a decade. a point they wanted to stress was that many people misunderstand (or misjudge) when they think that, if you're poor and seeking ways out of debt, that you are taking no personal responsibility. That's not necessarily so, said Elizabeth Edwards. In cases of bankruptcy, judges have been able to discern honest efforts on the part of citizens to be responsible in the past, but will now have far less opportunity to decide on idividual cases with the passing of the current "bad" bill. More people will be stuck with debt. The practice known as predatory lending will be able to thrive. People who are already having a difficult economic time will be preyed upon. The saddest and most ironic thing I heard was that they still get credit offers in the mail, on a regular basis, addressed to their son Wade, who passed away nine years ago.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
So where's the "Note" that's always at the end of these? -- you ask. Blogger (program used for the other site) is down for "maintenance" so you get this first.
Guess what else you get? A working site today. According to Shirley, the other site was down for six hours today. Including three hours after Blogger's announcement page stated that they had fixed the problem.
[Note: This post originally appeared at the mirror site for The Common Ills.]
Headlines for April 21, 2005
- Over 70 Corpses Found in Iraq
- Iyad Allawi Survives Assassination Attempt
- Five Iraqi Journalists Die In Week-Long Span
- GOP Senators Reconsidering John Bolton Nomination
- Bush Administration Sued Over No Child Left Behind Act
- Ecuadorian President Ousted After Protests
- Bush Signs Bankruptcy Overhaul Law
- Court Seeks to Conduct Sibel Edmonds Trial in Secret
- AIPAC Fires Two Employees Suspected of Espionage
- Columbia & Yale Grad Students Enter 4th Day of Strike
Remembering Humanitarian Aid Worker & Activist Marla Ruzicka
On Saturday 28-year-old Marla Ruzicka was killed in a car bombing. She was the founder of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict. Since the launch of the so-called war on terror, Marla spent most of her time in Iraq and Afghanistan documenting and recording the casualties of war.
Haiti's Aristide Calls For His Restoration to Power
We hear excerpts from a rare public appearance by ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. We also talk to Rep. Maxine Waters and Kate Orlovsky, student director at the Hastings Human Rights Project for Haiti. The group has just filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Haiti's former Prime Minister Yvon Neptune.
U.S. Funding Iraqi Militias Led by Baathists As Part of Counter-Insurgency Operation
We talk to Arun Gupta of The Indypendent on the proliferation of illegal militias in Iraq. The U.S. government is not only aware of these militias but is arming, training and funding them for use in their counter-insurgency operations.
Natalie notes our friend Luke of wotisitgood4 (and says "thank you back" to Luke):
ill try to get to it by the weekend - but briefly, it seems we are close to crunch time - we've got this crazy 'justice sunday' thing coming - which seems like it mite be a watershed of sorts, and it seems we are only a week or two away from the nucular option, and DeLay is getting crazier - and there are a whole bunch of other things i wanna try to pull together - but its kinda hard to know where to stop - id never have really thought the social security was so intertwined with the morning-after pill - welcome to bizarro-bush-world.seriously tho - the justice-sunday (lafkoff wants to do a counter-event called 'social-justice-sunday) event is a spooky moment - and if we add some DeLay and some constitution burning and stuff, it looks like we might be in for a helluva time.
Lynda notes this strong entry from Bill Scher over at Liberal Oasis:
So how should Dems go forward?
So far, Dems did not approach this the way LiberalOasis suggested last month.
Instead of holding up Bolton as the embodiment of GOP foreign policy, Dems took a more non-ideological approach, zeroing in on Bolton’s abusive management practices and manipulation of intelligence.
(In fact, Sen. Dodd went out of his way yesterday to say, “this has nothing to do with substantive disagreement.”)
The ideological approach that LO preferred would have made it harder to snag a GOP vote and actually kill the nomination, although, it would have the long-term benefit of crystalizing Dem foreign policy principles, regardless of the fate of the nomination.
Of course, Dems need to stick with their present strategy (it is working after all).
But if there is pushback, a large component of it will be ideological (while the other large component will be smears).
While Dems understandably don’t want to get distracted from the points that are working for them right now, they shouldn’t feel any need to duck ideological attacks. They should address them head-on.
Dodd has made that harder by insisting this isn’t at all about Bolton’s views.
But you can still make the ideological point in a more subtle way, in a way that’s rooted in what the Dems have already been saying.
Simply put, that such a dishonest and abusive person is not the person who should be the face of America at the UN.
Such a person cannot advance democracy, promote global stability or help improve the UN bureaucracy.
Eddie e-mails to note Jude of Iddybud: "She's got the rundown on the John Edwards podcast and I draw everyone's attention to the section on the Bankruptcy bill:"
Kelly Gossnan and Ben Goodman asked how John would have voted on the recent Bankruptcy bill, to which John replied that his vote would have been: "No, No, No." He said it would only serve to put people who are deep in debt in a much worse place. He used the example of a single mother with a lot of medical bills who has no honest means to pay them, regardless of how hard she'd tried. Under the current bill, which Edwards claims is "badly written law", she would be stuck with those medical bills, and that this is inconsistent with what we believe in America. Elizabeth was a bankruptcy attorney, so she can speak from experience on the issue. She said, while the Homestead Exemption was a good idea, inconsistent state-to-statelimits on the amount of exemption serve to make it "bad part of the law". For example, in Florida and Texas, there is no limit, meaning that you can go and buy a million-dollar home and then file bankruptcy. Credit card companies, banks, and loan companies were the ones "all for" this law. Credit card companies have tried to get it passed for a decade. a point they wanted to stress was that many people misunderstand (or misjudge) when they think that, if you're poor and seeking ways out of debt, that you are taking no personal responsibility. That's not necessarily so, said Elizabeth Edwards. In cases of bankruptcy, judges have been able to discern honest efforts on the part of citizens to be responsible in the past, but will now have far less opportunity to decide on idividual cases with the passing of the current "bad" bill. More people will be stuck with debt. The practice known as predatory lending will be able to thrive. People who are already having a difficult economic time will be preyed upon. The saddest and most ironic thing I heard was that they still get credit offers in the mail, on a regular basis, addressed to their son Wade, who passed away nine years ago.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
So where's the "Note" that's always at the end of these? -- you ask. Blogger (program used for the other site) is down for "maintenance" so you get this first.
Guess what else you get? A working site today. According to Shirley, the other site was down for six hours today. Including three hours after Blogger's announcement page stated that they had fixed the problem.
[Note: This post originally appeared at the mirror site for The Common Ills.]
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