The Gun on the Mantelpiece
A couple of stories coming out of the UK in the last few days make one thing very clear: when we give authorities the technical capacity to violate rights, rights will be violated despite the solemn promises of politicians to the contrary. First, it seems that British police might be misusing the National DNA Database, which was set up in 1995 to “quickly identify offenders, make earlier arrests, secure more convictions, and provide critical investigative leads for police investigations.” The police are allowed to take DNA from those taken into custody, regardless of whether they are convi

EFF: Smashing the State
The other day, Nick highlighted the valuable resources the Electronic Frontier Foundation provides to bloggers. Today, I came across another very useful service they offer: TOSBack. This is software which scans the Terms of Service of a number websites and notes any changes. It tells us, for example, that the domain and web-hosting company Go Daddy, inserted the following passage into its TOS on November 17: In order to provide certain services to you, we may on occasion suppleme

Children Of Men — Movie Review
“In 20 years, women are infertile. No children. No future. No hope. But all that can change in a heartbeat.” Although this film surely belongs in the dystopian category, in addition to the suggestion that the near future may contain social horrors it carries other more optimistic messages as well. The movie’s performances far exceeded my expectations, as did the story itself. The work ranks as an artistic achievement which reveals both some of the best and worst aspects of the human species. The movie opens with English news announcers reading the usual politically charged headlines. However, another story stands apart from the rest. According to the BCC broadcast the

Am I Free to Disagree?
Newly-minted Free Agent Brika Lyga has an excellent post on her personal blog about her journey from the statist Left to libertarianism (do read the whole thing!). The post is now ancient by internet standards, but she makes an important point which needs emphasizing: Legislating your Opinion. Realize when you are pushing your opinion to become policy, there will always be someone who disagrees with you and wishes to implement their own conflicting opinions into policy as well. You will be pissed and disgusted that they have the audacity

EFF a Great Resource for Libertarian Bloggers
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they attack you, then you win.” — Mahatma Gandhi If you’re a libertarian blogger then one resource that should not be missed is the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Bloggers’ Rights page. From the Internet to the iPod, technologies are transforming our society and empowering us as speakers, citizens, creators, and consumers. When our freedoms in the networked world come under attack, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is the first line of defense. EFF broke new ground when it was founded in 1990 — we