Apple is angry at Real over their upcoming Harmony service. Real “hacked” the iPod, according to Apple. So, is Real breaking Apple’s protection on music sold via Apple’s iTunes? Are they allowing you to share your Apple tunes farther than Apple’s license permits? Are they allowing you to file-share your Apple tunes, Kazaa-style? No, No, […]
Dan O’Dowd, the CEO of Green Hills Software believes that Linux is insecure. I won’t try to respond to all of his claims, but there is, at least one point that demands a correction: Many of the objections to my assertion that Linux is not suitable for defense systems are based on the truly bizarre […]
There is an ongoing genocide in Sudan. Passion of the Present is your source for all information and all actions you can take. It’s non-partisan. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum, this is worth a few minutes of your time.
When Bush and co. were pushing for war in Iraq, France led the opposition at the UN. I was and remain unhappy with France’s opposition because I believe it was just as poorly motivated as Bush’s war stance: it stemmed from France’s lucrative oil contracts with Saddam Hussein’s government and significant Iraqi debt towards France […]
Dave Barry on passwords (registration required): We employees are required to keep changing our passwords until, in a triumph of corporate security, we cannot remember them even with the aid of Sodium Pentothal. Password management is becoming insane. My bank just recently forced me to change my password after just a few months. Their system […]
Verizon just announced its Fiber service. For $35/month, Verizon will lay a fiber line to your home and give you 30Mbps internet connectivity. Then they’ll sell you cable TV, too. And maybe switch your phone service to VoIP? Sounds great, except for the somewhat-hidden gotcha: the FCC is not requiring that this new infrastructure be […]
Bruce Schneier sums it up very nicely: due process is a fantastic security measure. Threats come from all sides, including a potentially tyrannical government. An unchecked Department of Homeland Security is just as bad a threat to our way of life as terrorism itself. Once Again, a civil liberties approach turns out to be the […]
I do not agree with many of John McCain’s positions. For example, he’s against gay marriage, and I’m in favor of it. So while it is easy for me to oppose the recently failed Federal Marriage Amendment, it takes a bit more courage for John McCain to do it. McCain is against gay marriage, yet […]
The woman who claimed she was the victim of an anti-semitic assault on a Paris train just admitted it was all a lie. I wrote about this just two days ago. It’s only fair that I mention the correction. There was no such assault. There were no such passive passengers. At this point, I won’t […]
For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been wondering about what our administration would do if someone got the idea that terrorists might attack on election day. Turns out, they now have a solution: rescheduling the election. I was looking for the right words to describe my feelings on the matter, but then I read […]