On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released unscientific, politically motivated guidelines intended to justify school reopenings everywhere.
A very weak consumer data privacy bill is sailing through the Virginia legislature with backing from Microsoft and Amazon, which have both testified in support of the bill. The bill, SB 1392 and its companion HB 2307, are based on a Washington privacy law backed by tech giants that has threatened for two years to lower the bar for state privacy bills. If you’re a Virginia resident who cares about privacy, please submit a comment to the House Committee on Technology, Communications, and Innovation before it meets on Monday, Feb. 15.
EFF has long advocated for strong privacy legislation. Consumer privacy has been a growing priority for legislatures across the country since California in 2018 passed the…
Martin Gugino spent nearly a month in hospital after a Buffalo cop pushed him over, cracked his head on the pavement and left him to bleed there with a fractured skull. Though charged after the incident, officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski are off the hook: the charges have now been dropped. — Read the rest
A US appeals court has ruled that Customs and Border Protection agents can conduct in-depth searches of phones and laptops, overturning an earlier legal victory for civil liberties groups. First Circuit Judge Sandra Lynch declared that both basic and “advanced” searches, which include reviewing and copying data without a warrant, fall within “permissible constitutional grounds” at the American border.
Lynch ruled against a group of US citizens and residents objecting to invasive searches of their electronic devices. The group includes Sidd Bikkannavar, a NASA scientist who was detained and pressured to unlock a secure government-issued phone.
Enlarge / NASA originally studied nuclear thermal propulsion in the 1960s. Here is concept art for the Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Applications (NERVA) program. (credit: NASA)
Getting humans to Mars and back is rather hard. Insanely difficult, in fact. Many challenges confront NASA and other would-be Mars pioneers when planning missions to the red planet, but chief among them is the amount of propellant needed.
During the Apollo program 50 years ago, humans went to the Moon using chemical propulsion, which is to say rocket engines that burned liquid oxygen and hydrogen in a combustion chamber. This has its advantages, such as giving NASA the ability to start and stop an engine quickly, and the technology…
On February 12, the Federal Election Commission filed this brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Level the Playing Field v FEC, 20-649. This is the lawsuit over who can be included in general election presidential debates. … Continue reading →
As President Biden gears up to give electric car buyers a federally subsidized discount, advocates are urging Congress not to forget the other electric vehicle that can do far more to save the planet: the humble electric bicycle. Congressional Bike Caucus Chairman Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) and Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) are pushing the Electric Bicycle Incentive Kickstart for the Environment (E-BIKE) Act, which would offer Americans of all income levels a refundable 30-percent tax credit for purchasing a pedal-assist bicycle. Notably, the credit would be renewable every three years, and married people who wanted to each buy their own e-bike would both be able to take advantage of the program. The bill was applauded by advocates who think…
Academics, legal experts, and authors explained the thoughtful reasoning and compelling need for libraries to engage in Controlled Digital Lending (CDL) at a webinar hosted by the Internet Archive and Library Futures on February 11. A recording of the session is now available. The panel dispelled myths about CDL, the digital lending model in which a library lends a digital version of a print book it owns. Emphasizing the limited and controlled aspect of the practice, the speakers said CDL allows libraries to fulfill their mission of serving the public in the digital age. The global pandemic only underscores the importance of providing flexibility in how people can access information. Isn’t CDL digital piracy?…
2021-02-12Comments Off on Internet Archive Blogs – Mythbusting Controlled Digital Lending: Community Rallies to Fight Misinformation About the Library Practice
Greetings Programs,Some extensive XScreenSaver changes are coming, and I could use some volunteers willing to compile and test it on X11 systems. If you can help out, please email me.Beyond the usual, some things that are of particular interest, for test coverage: Unixen that are not Linux. Linuxen that are not Debian or Fedora. Multi-monitor setups, with vigorous hot-swapping. HiDPI monitors. PBP monitors (“two HDMI one cup”). Exotic PAM authentication methods, such as USB or Bluetooth fobs or fingerprint readers. Any PAM setup that prompts for more than one input. Exotic input devices: do you have a controller that does not present as key-press or mouse-motion? Interactions…
Just when we thought we’d seen it all in the infinity mirror department, [FieldCrafting] blazed a tiny, shiny new trail with their electroplated infinity mirror hair pin. We’d sure like to stick this in our French twist. Fortunately, [FieldCrafting] provided step-by-step instructions for everything from the 3D printing to the copper electroplating to the mirror film and circuitry application.
And what tiny circuitry it is! This pin is powered by a coin cell and even has a micro slider switch to conserve it. The stick parts are a pair of knitting needles, which is a great idea — they’re pointy enough to get through hair, but not so pointy that they hurt.
[FieldCrafting] was planning to solder 1206…
Larry Flynt, the pornographer who launched Hustler magazine in 1974 and became a fierce First Amendment activist, has died of heart failure. He was 78. Hustler was far more explicit than the likes of Playboy and one infamous issue featured an illustration of a woman going through a meat grinder. — Read the rest
On February 10, the Second Circuit refused to enjoin the new New York definition of a qualified political party. SAM Party of New York v Kosinski, 20-3047. Here is the twenty-page opinion, which was written by Judge Michael H. Park, a Trump appointee. It is also signed by Judge Robert D. Sack, a Clinton appointee, and Steven J. Menashi, a Trump appointee.
The new definition requires a party to poll 2% of the presidential vote to retain its qualified status. The decision says there are two state interests in the new, more difficult requirement: (1) to improve the chances that the winner will get a majority of the popular vote; (2) to save money, because the state…
Security researcher finds it’s easy to confuse build systems with malicious versions of private software libraries
Bug hunter Alex Birsan last year managed to compromise the software supply chain of 35 companies by exploiting packaging mechanisms used by JavaScript, Python, and Ruby developers.…
How do you rapidly record the output from your three million dollar analog computer in the 1940s when the results are only available on analog meters? The team responsible for the Westinghouse 1947 AC Network Calculator at Georgia Tech was faced with just this problem and came up with a nifty solution — hack the control panel and wire in a special-purpose drafting table.
What Is It?
What is this beast of a computer? Machines of this type were developed during and after World War 2, and strictly speaking, belong in the category of scale models rather than true computers. Although these machines were very flexible, they were primarily designed to simulate power distribution grids. There is a…
The recent announcement by Facebook that it would “reduce the amount of political content” on its platform is part of the drive by the US ruling establishment to block the spread of progressive, left-wing and socialist ideas on social media.
People should vote on paper, marking ballots with a pen. Then a
computerized machine can be used to count them. That machine should
not be able to alter them.
Never forget the IoT device you invite into your home may become the state’s witness. That’s one of the unfortunate conclusions that can be drawn from Amazon’s latest transparency report.
Amazon has its own digital assistant, Alexa. On top of that, it has its acquisitions. One of its more notable gets is Ring. Ring is most famous for its doorbells — something that seems innocuous until you examine the attached camera and the company’s 2,000 partnerships with law enforcement agencies.
Ring is in the business of selling cameras. That the doorbell may alert you to people on your doorstep is incidental. Cameras on the inside. Cameras on the outside. All in the name of “security.” And it’s only…
The prosecution of Julian Assange for charges related to his publications of government documents on the whistleblower website Wikileaks poses a grave threat to press freedom, EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation and other human rights organizations argue. In an open letter published today, we call on President Biden’s acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson to halt the prosecution and the threat of extradition.
The majority of the charges against Assange relate to the Espionage Act, a federal law passed in 1917 designed to punish espionage. The law’s broad language criminalized those who obtain and/or transmit materials related to the national defense (read the text of the law). While the authors of the law may have intended to…
2021-02-09Comments Off on Deeplinks – EFF, Freedom of the Press Foundation and 22 Other Press Freedom Organizations Call on Attorney General to Drop Assange Prosecution
NEW YORK—Noting that the structures along the city’s sidewalks had adopted technology that appeared to come from at least 200 years in the future, local restaurant patrons observed Monday that outdoor dining solutions were now the most technologically advanced aspect of human civilization. “Since autumn, patio service…
Larry Flynt, the pornographer who launched Hustler magazine in 1974 and became a fierce First Amendment activist, has died of heart failure. He was 78. Hustler was far more explicit than the likes of Playboy and one infamous issue featured an illustration of a woman going through a meat grinder. — Read the rest
NEW YORK—Noting that the structures along the city’s sidewalks had adopted technology that appeared to come from at least 200 years in the future, local restaurant patrons observed Monday that outdoor dining solutions were now the most technologically advanced aspect of human civilization. “Since autumn, patio service…
