Victories! Life for the Constitution

This week the Democratic-led Congress work from its slumber and shook off its fear to provide two victories:
The House refused to pass a surveillance bill that gave telecom companies RETROACTIVE immunity. They let the new FISA bill expire rather than accept that provision. Hurray! Additionally, at least while there is more wrangling over the bill, [...]

Is this the best they can do?

On January 10, 2008, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a press release touting their Behavior Detection Officers and Travel Document Checkers program. At the bottom of the press release it says,
These are just a few examples of TSA’s partnership with agencies across the Department of Homeland Security and the law enforcement community to make [...]

President Bush Doesn’t Need Permission Slip for Gitmo

Recently, the mainstream media have uncritically quoted President Bush, Secretary of State Rice and other officials as saying they wish the United States could close down our prison at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, but we can’t until other nations agree to take the remaining prisoners. In addition to taking the remaining prisons, it’s been reported that [...]

Roosevelt Was Right: Fear vs. Terrorism

Security consultant and author Bruce Schneier recently highlighted a new study that shows an elevated heart attack risk for people fearful and stressed about terrorism.
He quotes from a New York Times article about a report published in the Archives of General Psychiatry:
After controlling for various factors (age, obesity, smoking, other ailments and stressful life events), [...]

Refuse the Terror

Refuse The Terror

Watch this video, then send this message to your Congressional Delegation:
I am not afraid of terrorism, and I want you to stop being afraid on my behalf. Please start scaling back the official government war on terror. Please replace it with a smaller, more focused anti-terrorist police effort in keeping with the rule [...]

Movie Review: V for Vendetta

You know that Hugo Weaving has to be a great actor when he can carry off wearing a mask for an entire movie in V for Vendetta. He expressed a wide range emotions through his voice and his non-verbal body cues. I found the movie to be very good and unpredictable. Naturally the movie was [...]

The War on the Unexpected

Bruce Schneier explains the latest front on the War on Terror, which has been visible to me since 2002:

The War on the Unexpected

via Schneier on Security on 11/1/07
“We’ve opened up a new front on the war on terror. It’s an attack on the unique, the unorthodox, the unexpected; it’s a war on [...]

Face Recognition gets 3 of 10

Bruce Schneier reports on a German study that evaluated face recognition software using 200 volunteers. Over the course of a few months, the system averaged 30% recognition. And these were of people not trying to hide their identity.
Meanwhile, the city of New York is going to spend $90M dollars on a system of surveillance cameras. [...]

A Dark Day

Democrats prove once again they have no courage:
Congress gives Bush administration more eavesdropping leeway - CNN.com
Given the Administration’s consistent track record of abusing power and ducking reporting and given that the man (AG Gonzales) the Democrats authorized to do more warrantless surveillance has be shown to be either dishonest or incompetent, this should have [...]

Secret Buildings You May Not Photograph, Part 643 - Raw Fisher

Secret Buildings You May Not Photograph, Part 643 - Raw Fisher:
“DARPA’s presence at 3701 N. Fairfax is hardly a government secret–Google finds nearly 10,000 pages listing the agency’s use of the building. But there’s no big fat sign on the building, so how was McCammon to know that this was a building he dared not [...]