Thoughts

Wow, I actually learned something reading the (usually moronic) comments after an article online. Incidentally I think I have a sick fascination reading these comments to see what the idiots of the world 'think'--in fact as I have pointed out before, they may actually be robots or people paid to confuse and obfuscate. But the most important thing is that someone actually had something clever to share. Bless him or her.

So the FBI has released a tender for companies to bid on (here's the actual tender). The goal is to develop a program that can scan all social marketing sites like Facebook and snitch out terrorists and other baddies. If only it was that simple. Since there aren't too many terrorists out there (unless you count some government employees--zing!) how long before they start using this tool to thwart the efforts of climate change activists or occupy people? Maybe they'll use it to keep an eye on those uppity Muslims?

But thanks to dave777 I know that the FBI once had a program pleasantly called Carnivore that already kept tabs on us (well only if you're bad). There was also a secret program at AT&T which also kept tabs on internet users. It's called Room 641A naturally after the room in which it was housed. AT&T was sued over it thanks to a whistleblower. And dave777 found a blog post about how SSL connections (like when you buy something) can actually be cracked. I won't claim to be an expert and I'll just keep my online business minimal. Nothing beats good old fashioned cash!

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And this from a Greek protester demonstrating that Europe has some pretty big problems. People have long memories:

"I can still remember as a boy how it was during the great famine and great freeze of the winter of 1941," said Panaghiotis Yerogaloyiannis, a former mariner now surviving on a pension of €500 a month.

"We have a different sort of war now, one that's economic, that's not fought on the field. But it's still the same enemy, the Germans. And today you are not even allowed to protest. I carry this around," he said producing a wooden baton from a plastic bag, "to protect myself from the police and thugs who hijack our demonstrations."