Matt Haughey has the straight story on Janet Jackson’s Superbowl show-and-tell. Yes, clearly a staged controversy to hype Janet’s new album, to make Justin into a bad boy, to make CBS a bit “hipper” with the young crowd. It’s cheap, but it gets people talking. And, after all, Janet’s not to blame, since it was […]
In December 1994, Islamic extremists hijacked Air France flight 8969 in Algiers, killed 3 hostages and threatened to kill more if their demands were not met. The French government pressured the Algerian government to let the plane leave Algiers and land in Marseille. Once there, the hijackers requested a heavy refuel and permission to leave […]
In May 2003, Bill Clinton delivered a fantastic commencement speech at Syracuse University, where he urged students to consider the difference between the headlines – what’s in the news – and the trend lines – what’s really happening in the world: The trend line is, we are growing more interdependent. We cannot escape each other. […]
I’m visiting family in France, which some people like to call the “land of cheese-eating surrender monkeys.” In only a few days, I’ll be returning to the US, which other people like to call “the real rogue state.” I’m tired of these charades, prejudices, and awful exaggerations. Saddam has been captured. From this, writers like […]
I just returned from 2 days at the National Institute of Standards and Technology where we discussed eVoting. I wasn’t expecting much from this conference, but to my surprise I learned a tremendous amount. Most importantly, I got a nice wake-up call: we technologists don’t necessarily have the answers just because we can think logically. […]
It’s easy to forget that, in a democratic process, most decisions are not made by the majority. The people choose representatives, and the representatives make decisions. Furthermore, the courts can overrule the simple majority of representatives if a decision conflicts with prior principle (say, the Constitution). The majority simply can’t be trusted to make the […]
The New York Times has picked up the story about the risks of electronic voting. It’s a good summary, and it’s great to see the mainstream press picking this up.
Electronic Voting is starting to show up on the radar. This is excellent news. The EFF is suing Diebold to make sure that there can be a public debate about the quality of our voting equipment. Australians do electronic voting right. And, on a much more personal note, I’m going to be working with the […]
It’s official: 62% of polled believe that Rumsfeld has lost his mojo. Next thing you know, he’ll be going back in time to recover it. I could rehash the oft-stated comment that the line between real news and The Onion is getting fuzzy. In fact, there’s something even more interesting going on here. Real news […]
My friend Dan says to me today “I can’t help but feel that the cell phone industry has failed humanity. They don’t even have the right intentions.” I can’t help but agree with Dan. At a mall this weekend, a customer argues with a sales person: “they give you a discount on the phone if […]