Author Archives: RexLatchford

Six Strikes – The Details

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This blog entry is being actively updated. Check back if this is of interest to you!

This week and last week, “Six Strikes” (the “Copyright Alert System”) went into effect with the “big five ISP’s”: AT&T, Verizon, Time Warner, Cablevision and Comcast. It’s the latest plan-of-action for the folks in Hollywood and elsewhere who have been trying to curb piracy without much success. Until recently, the Big Club was used: Lawyers and lawsuits. Now, instead of the “big stick”, a “small twig” is being used. But it’s very insidious. The plan follows the playbook of the U.S. Government: Pay the telecom companies to turn over their customer usage information, and have them act as cops on your behalf (also for a fee).

Here is the promotional video describing the program. If you like having your intelligence insulted, you’ll LOVE this! The video glosses over many of the disturbing aspects of the program.

The Warning Letters

So far, few details have emerged about how Six Strikes will be implemented. However, ARS Technica has obtained copies of the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th letters Comcast says they will send out. Read more in their excellent article on the subject. The Comcast letter are extremely vague, and do not provide any identifying information about what the recipient is accused of sharing.

For users of peer-to-peer networks, the impact seems to be as follows. Seeders will be targeted and leechers, for now, apparently, will be left alone. This strategy seems to be oriented toward demoralizing (pun intended) the bit torrent folks without getting punitive toward leechers (which would cause an uproar).

In fact, the whole Six Strikes effort seems focused entirely at bit torrent users, and seeders as a subset. The detection mechanism appears to be infiltration of bit-torrents, enabling the “police” to join torrents and then extract IPs of seeders. The “police” would then notify the ISP, and leave it up to the ISP.

Rand Paul’s Filibuster Shows Weakness Against Drones

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The 13 hour Rand Paul filibuster was… well… tepid. Although he was standing up to the threat of the Federal Government’s refusal to rule out the use of drones against American citizens on American soil, he sounded more like a lawyer than the courageous politician he wanted to portray. The question isn’t “should they be used against citizens in extraordinary circumstances”… the question is “should they be used against citizens at all”.

The most depressing thing about the Obama administration is that it’s all about politics, even in the second term. Politics are clearly not working for the American people, and are all about dodging the hard questions. With the hard questions not being given the light of day, we can be sure that 99.9% of the time, the outcome will not serve the people.

How the Surveillance Society Happened

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Day Page for March 1st, 2013 – Lovin’ The Surveillance Society – Abstract:

Hey kids, it’s Day Page for Friday, March 1st – with the ides of March ahead of us, and the first week of Day Page behind us, I’d like to visit one of my favorite topics… NOT! I’ll get right to the point: The government is taking our money, in the form of taxes, and using that money to pay domestic telecommunications companies to spy on us! It’s game over, and we lost. Here’s how it happened. What are you going to do about it?

Information Source(s):

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2011/12/us-appeals-court-upholds-telecom-company-immunity-law.php

Day Page is getting its’ own website:  http://daypage.net

First Regular “Day Page” – Real ID in the Surveillance Society

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If you’ve noticed I’ve been “away”… you’re right. I’ve returned to a regular radio schedule on KXP1-FM and Radio InfoWeb. There are a number of interesting stories in the hopper that should appear soon, however, this new audio podcast/segment should help fill the gap, and you can listen in right here!

Referenced in this podcast:

511campaign.org

BTW – Day Page is CC Licensed – you’re free to broadcast or distribute this podcast as long as you let me know. Send an email telling me how you’re using it at “radio at infoweb daht net” where “daht” is a “dot” of course.

 

Cyberwar Irony as heard at On The Media

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In a story about congressional hand-wringing and fear over alleged threats of cyber attacks on “critical infrastructure”, On The Media points out that the only successful attack on infrastructure that has actually caused damage has been the StuxNet virus… a virus that was apparently created by the U.S. and Israeli governments and launched against Iran.

Once again, the fear and paranoia mongers in Washington need only look in the mirror to see the threat we face.

You can hear the On The Media story yourself at http://www.onthemedia.org/2013/feb/15/

Oh yes, the FBI is involved too. In suppressing those who “leaked” information about the existence of Stuxnet.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-01-26/world/36560799_1_stuxnet-computer-virus-cia-officer

 

New Facebook App Monitors Your Phone Calls

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The newest Facebook app (for Android), out today, will monitor phone call state and caller identity information. It will, of course, report the same back to Facebook. That’s if you accept installation of the app.

Presumably, the Apple iPhone and iPad counterparts will do the same; the difference being that users won’t be notified… the added surveillance privileges afforded to the app by the operating system will be granted silently.

Other privacy invading features the newest Facebook app has that you may not like? It can record audio and video, and take pictures, without your knowledge.

On Android devices, it’s easy to see what capabilities an app has. The problem is, you, as the user, don’t have granular control over these capabilities. It’s all or nothing. If you don’t like the privacy implications of the app, you must either accept them, or remove the app from your device. There’s no middle-ground.

Apple iOS devices also lack granularity, with the exception of location services. Worse, it’s difficult to impossible to determine what security permissions are granted to a particular app.

It’s important to note that, even if you trust the app AND the app provider, there is always the possibility that a third party will find a way to hi-jack the app for their own nefarious uses. This famously occurred last year with Skype where it was widely reported that governments, businesses, and criminals were using spy software developed by a firm in Italy that allowed surreptitious use of the microphone and camera on devices used by surveillance targets.

The Fourth Tower of Inverness on Radio InfoWeb

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Now for something completely different! As you may know, I am also a radio personality on Radio InfoWeb. That Internet Radio station will be airing The Fourth Tower of Inverness “adventure serial” as it was originally broadcast about 40 years ago. The broadcast will be in its original form: 14 weeks of 10 minute daily episodes, Monday through Friday. The Fourth Tower begins December 5th, 2012. Radio InfoWeb plans to run each episode every few hours throughout the day, so it will be easy to catch. Speaking of catching, catch-up blocks of episodes will run on weekends, and possibly at other times. I highly recommend it, so be sure to tune in!

I was working at a college FM radio station when I first heard of The Fourth Tower of Inverness. That was something like 1971 or 1972. I was wowed by the mix of Eastern Philosphy, Spirituality, Metaphysics, adventure, and fantasy that was all wrapped together in this series.

To find out more, visit the Radio InfoWeb website at http://radio.infoweb.net

You can listen in on any computer, Android or iOS smartphone (so that includes iPhones and iPads) that supports MP3 audio streaming. There are many links and different ways to listen in. The details are on the website.

There is also an iPhone/iPad app that will let you easily tune into Radio InfoWeb, and it’s free! Get it from iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/radio-infoweb/id576395006?ls=1&mt=8

Whew, it’s over.

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Hard to believe it’s been nearly a week. The O’Romnabomney has been re-elected, and we can settle back into the status-quo of a run-amok government that no longer represents the interests of the people, but rather preys on them for power, money, and information.

What a wonderful place to be! Not.

Don’t mind all those Government probes creeping up between your cheeks.

As soon as I’ve recovered from my intense disgust with the campaign season, I’ll be back at writing. One new blog post that’s just awaiting some additional research is a follow-up to my blog on Colorado police requesting citizens to turn over their shredded paper so “it can be disposed of securely”. It turns out there’s a German company that’s automated the process of reassembling your shreds. Could these two items be related? We think so and will provide some of the facts. Stay tuned!

Romney, Intentionally or Not, Personifies Racisim in America Today

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I’m thoroughly disgusted with the Presidential race. But what disgusts me more is the closet racism evident with so many Americans even today. John Sununu’s recent racial gaffe [he’s the manager of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign] is just the most recent tip of the iceberg to appear in the media in this regard. Romney’s campaign has, in the words of Sununu’s CNN interviewer Piers Morgan, been awash with “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” racist referents.

The race to “get that Black man out of the White house” seems to have been triggered, or more appropriately “excused” by the dynamics of the first debate.

What no doubt appalls Morgan and other Brits as much as it appalls me is how the racism issue has been, pun intended, the elephant-in-the-room during this equally appalling campaign season. The dance around this issue has, otherwise, been fully embraced by American news media. And that too is disgusting. Even CNN’s Don Lemon, who attempted to address the issue delicately yesterday, tread far too lightly on the despicable issue. Today’s edition of “Meet the Press” was eerily haunted by the shadows of the past, and it was not trick-or-treat.

All those in denial that race is an issue should watch the clip below from “Meet the Press” in which Dr. Martin Luther King appears before a panel of mostly unabashed racists from the 1950’s (the era from which Mr. Romney obviously harkens). In this clip, the white interrogators are largely unabashed in their concern about this uppity black man who would allow white and black children to attend school together. And what about that ghastly prospect of interracial marriage?

Note there was nary a black face to be seen at the Republican National Convention at which Romney was nominated this fall. An elegy to separatism?

Yes, I’m trying to shame closet racists here, and I’m also being blunt, and refusing to finesse the issue. Racism is racism, and should be completely unacceptable today, whether it’s at your local shop, and, especially, if it’s inside your presidential candidate and/or his minions. Most of all, the ghastly taint of racism should not be perpetuated by voting for such a person for President.

All those aiding and abetting the wink-winking and nod-nodding on this issue are equally culpable. Shame on you all.

 

The World Turns Despite the Oromnabomney

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The lack of posts here is an indication that I am seeing the presidential race as ho-hum, same old same old. It’s all rather pathetic at this point, really. Things are much more interesting in the UK as it turns out.

What’s more interesting in politics can’t be seen on American media. Ed Miliband has emerged as a veritable skyrocket, emerging as the Labour Party’s challenge to David Cameron’s conservative party.

As in American politics, Miliband meets the specifications for a successful politician: He has hair, teeth, and is youngish and, on the surface, likeable and engaging. He has a wife, and children. He is agile, and able to change direction as the winds dictate.

It’s interesting to ponder how the challenger Miliband compares to the American challenger Romney (one head of the two-headed Oromnabomney, which will be debating itself later today in Denver, Colorado). Romney’s speech is primarily condemnation of President Obama. Miliband rarely mentions the name of his rival Cameron. Romney has few, if any, details about his plans and proposals, while those details he does disclose rarely seem to check out. Miliband spouts details of his proposals and plans in a river that threatens to overwhelm at times. Miliband and Romney don’t have much in common in their world views either.

That’s what was going on during and after the Denver Debate last week, which coincided with the Labour Conference in Manchester.

Now let’s take a look at the Conservative Conference which is taking place in Birmingham today. I’m watching Ian Duncan lecturing his crowd. Mr. Duncan does not have hair, although he does have teeth. There is some question about Mr. Romney in this regard, though, as he was asked about his hair on “Morning Joe” and replied that he had “glued it down [very well] that morning, and there is no way it’s going to come off”.

What does the O’romney head of the Oromnabomney have in common with Ian Duncan? Well, it’s frightening, really. Mr. Romney, like Mr. Duncan, seems by his speech to be living in the 1950’s rather than the 2010’s. Things have changed a bit since them. The most popular television shows are no longer “Leave it To Beaver” and “Lassie Come Home”.

Yes, the race that’s starting to shape up in the UK is possibly more interesting than the race here in the US. Despite all the bluster and BS, very little can be expected to change regardless of which head of the Oromnabomney gets elected.

The Hair Factor

Now that we’ve disposed of that boring, serious stuff, what about Romney’s hair? Since hair, teeth, and enough maleness to make the occasional female think, however fleetingly, “I’d like to have his baby” seems to be a requirement to be a presidential candidate, let’s take a close look at Romney’s  qualification in this regard.

Following multiple glitter-bombings [removed from YouTube due to claims of “copyright infringement”] from gay rights activists in Minnesota back on February 1st, Mitt Romney was swiftly dusted off by his entourage onstage. His son Josh managed to brush away most of the sparkles on Mitt’s shoulders, but as you can see in this video, he balked when it came to touching Mitt’s head — and perhaps with good reason. “I’ve got glitter in my hair, but that’s not all that’s in my hair,” Mitt joked. “I glue it on every morning, whether it needs it or not.” See: Glitter Bomber: Romney Uses ‘Hate’ to Gain Support

Mitt made a similar remark on the “Morning Joe” program about a month ago. It’s interesting to note that the media have not jumped on this, when it’s of critical importance to a small minority of female voters. It raises an important question: do we want a President who gets up every morning, and glues on his hair?