Michele Bachmann’s easily one of the GOP’s most prominent candidates. She also has scientific views from the 15th century, claiming both earthquake ’11 and Irene were divine warnings. That’s insane. She’s not alone. And that’s absolutely terrifying. More »
Seems like everyone is up President Obama’s ass for something these days. Too much war. Not enough war. Too much spending. Not enough spending. This guy can’t win. His rapidly graying hair is proof of that. More »
Human rights activists and free speech advocates have every reason to worry about the future of an open and uncensored internet, but researchers from the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo have come up with a new tool that may help put their fears to rest. Their system, called Telex, proposes to circumvent government censors by using some clever cryptographic techniques. Unlike similar schemes, which typically require users to deploy secret IP addresses and encryption keys, Telex would only ask that they download a piece of software. With the program onboard, users in firewalled countries would then be able to visit blacklisted sites by establishing a decoy connection to any unblocked address. The software would automatically recognize this connection as a Telex request and tag it with a secret code visible only to participating ISPs, which could then divert these requests to banned sites. By essentially creating a proxy server without an IP address, the concept could make verboten connections more difficult to trace, but it would still rely upon the cooperation of many ISPs stationed outside the country in question — which could pose a significant obstacle to its realization. At this point, Telex is still in a proof-of-concept phase, but you can find out more in the full press release, after the break.Continue reading Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned
Telex anti-censorship system promises to leap over firewalls without getting burned originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Lending further gravity to the proposed crackdown being bandied about in British parliament, an Essex teen has been arrested for sending a BBM that ran afoul of the Serious Crime Act of 2007. The 18-year old, now free on bail, allegedly used the service to encourage copycat attacks of the violent rioting that’s swept London, and is set to appear in court on September 1st. It’s the second known case to put RIM’s private messaging service — “popular among urban teenagers” as a cheap texting alternative — in the UK’s legal hotseat. For its part, the Canadian electronics maker has since reached out to police, promising to aid the investigation “in any way [it] can.” Although no decision has yet been made to extend law enforcement’s powers over social media services, such as Twitter and Facebook, arrests like these seem to indicate a murky free speech future.
UK teen arrested for illegal BBM, social media crackdown gains steam originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 13 Aug 2011 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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“Free flow of information can be used for good. But it can also be used for ill. And when people are using social media for violence we need to stop them. So we are working with the Police, the intelligence services and industry to look at whether it would be right to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder and criminality.”
Continue reading UK Prime Minister exploring social media crackdown in wake of London riots (video)
UK Prime Minister exploring social media crackdown in wake of London riots (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink All Things Digital | The Daily Telegraph | Email this | Comments
A committee of 25 Icelanders submitted the first draft of a rewritten constitution to the country’s parliamentary speaker Friday, and despite our recommendations, Rebecca Black was conspicuously absent from the proceedings. The democratic experiment bravely asked citizens to log on to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter to engage with the committee in a discussion about the nation’s future. While the project’s Facebook page played host to pleads for free ice cream and more volcanoes, the constitution’s creators managed to stay on task, focusing on issues of decentralization and transparency in government. The draft is slated for review beginning October 1st.
Iceland’s crowdsourced constitution submitted for approval, Nyan Cat takes flight over Reykjavik originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 Jul 2011 07:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink AFP | Stjornlagarao 2011 (Translated) | Email this | Comments
Sure, it’s been just a few months since the National Security Agency asked for a $900 million supercomputing complex – you know, to help out with all that internet wiretapping. But concern about deficit spending will mean shuttering 800 other federal data centers in the US, or 40 percent of total government capacity. The closures are part of a larger push toward greater efficiency and consolidation, with an estimated savings of $3 billion a year; moving services to the cloud will mean more savings in licensing fees and infrastructure. Single-digit savings might sound like chump change when you realize the federal information technology budget runs around $80 billion a year, but hey, it’s a start, right?
[Photo thanks to Adrian Levesque and Adam Koniak.]
US federal government to close 800 data centers, walk into the cloud originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Maximum PC | New York Times | Email this | Comments
Continue reading Bomb-sniffing crystals may save us from nuclear Armageddon, tea leaves agree
Bomb-sniffing crystals may save us from nuclear Armageddon, tea leaves agree originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jul 2011 08:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Today’s superfluous political grappling comes via Texas, where Republican rep Joe Barton’s incensed by legislation mandating efficient incandescent lightbulbs. Rather, he and his backers claim, Americans should be able to screw-in whatever they damn please. Is old tech really a liberty? More »
Whoa, Nelly — this one’s not going to sit well with a certain sect. While the Chinese city of Chongqing has been planning this initiative for some time, we’re just now starting to understand the sheer magnitude of what’ll be built over the next two to three years. Cisco and HP — two names that are no doubt familiar to those reading this page — are apparently in cahoots with the nation in a way that overshoots prior expectations by some amount. According to figures gathered by The Wall Street Journal, a whopping half-million surveillance cameras are being shipped over to keep watch across the city, with the awkwardly-named Peaceful Chongqing project giving the government unprecedented views of its citizens.
Critics are wondering why Cisco and HP aren’t being held responsible for whatever China ends up doing with this equipment, but the loophole here is a fairly obvious one; while it’s definitely not kosher for US firms to ship fingerprinting equipment to China, shipping everyday technology like cameras isn’t taboo. Yet, anyway. As you’d expect, both Cisco and HP seem confident that it’s not their responsibility to pay attention to what happens to the devices they ship, and if it’s something you’d like to immerse yourself in, those links below are there to help.
500,000 surveillance cameras to oversee Chongqing, China originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink Huffington Post | The Wall Street Journal | Email this | Comments
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