Posts Tagged ‘internet’

#CISA, the New #CISPA Attempted In Secret shows #HouseofCards is Non Fiction

Posted: July 18, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
7/17/2014

I recently starting watching the Netflix original program House of Cards. It is a fictional show, but the more and more I watch it, the more and more it feels like a psuedo documentary of Washington D.C politics in the dark and behind the doors. The controversial and shady manner of how CISPA has been repackaged as CISA and is being attempted to be rushed through Congress reaks Frank Underwood.

Last year, when CISPA was brought to light, the public and (all) the tech companies went very politely apeshit. If you don’t know what CISPA is and couldn’t be bothered to click on the link above, it basically puts the NSA on steroids and makes the steroids legal.

CISPA =  The End of Privacy

The public has made it clear they do not want this legislation. Google, Reddit, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and basically every other big company that makes money through the internet informed the public about the negative privacy implications of CISPA and the public let it known they wanted the bill killed/stalled/not to become law of the land. The tech companies then did what is really required to pass or kill legislation, used millions of dollars to fund lobbyists.

Much like in House of Cards, now that the first bill has been killed in the court of public opinion, the real bill is going to be attempted to be crafted and passed behind the closed Congressional doors.

Now CISA is heading to the Senate floor, after being rushed through committee, so it can be quickly voted on before the current Congressional session expires. American politics mixed with American ingenuity, if at first you don’t succeed at an agenda with shady politics,  try and try again.

 

Anarchy (Pod)Cast System: Episode 2: #NetNeutrality

Posted: May 17, 2014 in anarchyroll media
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AJC abbreviated

Original articles about net neutrality can be found by clicking; HERE and HERE

#Google and the #NSA Sitting in a Tree; S-P-Ying on You & Me

Posted: May 10, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
5/7/2014

The last year has been full of vindication for all those paranoid schizophrenics out there.

We now know that not only has the NSA essentially been getting all the data on the internet and storing it, which is bad enough, but it came out this week that they weren’t using a back door but rather have the keys to the front of anything and everything Google. Which is basically everything that isn’t Apple.

The paranoia about what is done with our information is done online is spreading, and why wouldn’t it? It has also been found that our search engine uses and habits have changed in the wake of the NSA leaks.

I suppose I should think that unlawful spying is unlawful spying regardless. But something, and I’m not sure what exactly bothers me more than Google has been in on it the whole time. Call it naivety, and you’d probably be right or the other thing to call it is a natural reaction to massive trust violation.

This is why those agreements we have to sign before signing up for anything for free online is so long and in such small print I suppose. Fill it with loopholes so there is no legal obligation to not sell the information of every customer to a data broker or give it to Uncle Sam. What about the moral obligation? Oh, there’s that naivety again. It’s business, who has time for morals?  After all, what could be more moral than listening to one’s government?

It is sad how much Google is able to justify what they did to themselves. I suppose that there is a strong correlation with trust violation and monetary profit, not just these days, but basically since currency became the currency of the world. The amount of flagrant Big Brother going on with the NSA and telcoms physically weakens me. It makes me feel like not writing. All the more reason to write. The quality may not be on par, but if anyone learns about what is going on through my writing then it’s worth it.

Great news sources that stay on top of the NSA are: The Intercept, The Guardian, Al Jazeera, and The Verge.

 

#OWS + #NetNeutrality = #OccupyFCC

Posted: May 8, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
5/8/2014

The most influential protest movement this side of the 1960s has now had it’s overly wide net cast over the battle for net neutrality. Although not formally part of the movement, an Occupy Wall Street style protest camp has emerged outside of the FCC headquarters.

  • Why? Because net neutrality is on the verge of extinction.
  • How? Verizon won a case against the FCC in federal court which has set the stage for tiered internet service based on payola.
  • When did this verdict happen/when will new internet rules & regulations be announced? The verdict was issued in January. May 15th is when the FCC is set to announce the path going forward.
  • What is net neutrality anyway? It means that all content on the internet is treated equal regardless of content or content provider. No content can be delivered faster or slower or censored for any reason just or unjust. It means that the internet is a truly open road or blank canvas or democratic communication tool.
  • Who wants net neutrality to end? Internet Service Providers (ISPs). They want to charge more for certain content like streaming video. They want people who are willing to pay more to have faster internet access. They want a tiered system. Not just a highway with tolls to pay for infrastructure and maintenance, but an entirely separate highway (not just a lane) for those with money and power to dictate the speed and content that is delivered.
  • Where is the battle for net neutrality taking place? FCC HQ in Washington DC. That is where the future of the internet is being discussed and legislated. That is where the #OccupyFCC movement has physically opened up camp.

You may be wondering or assuming that this is a case of David vs Goliath. That Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and the other internet providers are going to steamroll over the little guys (aka 99% of the population) and get everything that they want. However, in the battle against the ISP Godzilla, the little guys have a Mothra on their side. Yesterday a coalition of companies whose entire business model and fortunes have been made on the back of the open internet let their voice and lobbyists be heard to try to protect net neutrality.

Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Amazon, Reddit and Google sent a letter to the FCC voicing their collective, formal support for net neutrality to remain the law of the land. They also backed the call of the common person, to change how broadband ISP’s like telecomm companies which would give the FCC more regulatory control.

You know a bill or potential law is bad if billionaires are on the same side as college students and common folk. The fact that all of these billion dollar companies think tiered internet is a bad idea, then there is likely fire behind that smoke. Net neutrality has allowed the internet to evolve into what it has become. Broadband providers trying to take net neutrality away is nothing more than a despicable money grab. Billionaires who wish to be trillionaires. The battle against net neutrality is greed at it’s worst. Contrary to what middle class white people use the internet for, an open internet is about more than cat videos, selfies, memes, and gifs.

The internet is a necessity at a level just under that of water, food, clothing, and shelter.

Forget the concept of the internet as an entertainment tool and time waster. Forget about social networks, You Tube, torrent sites, and porn. The fight for net neutrality has nothing to do with those. The fight for an open internet is about the internet as the greatest communication tool in the history of humanity. How many people NEED the internet to make a living? How many businesses rely on e-commerce? How big of a role is email in business and education? How many kids do their homework online? How many people around the world lift themselves out of poverty through the internet? How many inventions have been invented because of the internet?

The answer is to all of those is none. It’s not just the “internet” it is an OPEN INTERNET. The internet without network neutrality is not the internet. The death of network neutrality would fundamentally change the way the majority of human beings are able to access the internet. The end of network neutrality is the end of the internet as we know it. The internet will still exist, but in a new form that favors the rich and the powerful. A form that is detrimental to the common person. Ask yourself, who would want to do this to the internet and why?

Sign the petition.

 

 

#DataMining means #Privacy is so 20th Century

Posted: April 2, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
3/31/2014

Data mining and data brokers are two concepts that everyone who has a smart phone and/or uses the internet need to at least be aware of. One need not be an activist on the subject, but these are issues that effect you whether you care or not, know about them or not, are pro or con. If you are the type who is upset about the NSA bulk collection revelations by Edward Snowden, data mining and data brokers definitely need to be on your radar.

  • Who is mining our data? Traction, Acxiom, Datalogix, Epsilon and Experian are the big time data brokers. But there are literally thousands of these broker firms.
  • What is data mining? Data mining and data brokering is why email and social media are free. They are why you get a discount with a membership card at a grocery store, coffee shop, department store, etc. Our email addresses, likes, retweets, pins, reblogs, and purchases are monitored, collected, grouped, and sold in bulk to the highest bidder.
  • When is our data being mined? Any time we visit a website. Any time we log in to any online account with a registered email address. Any time we pay for something with a credit, debit, or gift card.
  • Where are these data mines? The headquarters/ server farms at the HQ of Google, Facebook, and the data brokerage firms listed above. Google and Facebook keep the information whereas the data brokers exchange and sell the information just as stocks, options, treasuries, etc are on Wall Street.
  • How is this done? Digitally/electronically through cookies in your web/ios browser(s), the networked computer the card swiper in the store is attached to…you get the idea.
  • Why is this worth knowing about and/or caring about? Because it is unregulated and most people don’t know that simply visiting a website is giving permission for your information to be raided, collected, and sold. Because our privacy is not just being violated, for those who use web browsers and smartphones, our privacy actually no longer exists.

The data mining industry is self-regulated. How did self-regulation work out for the meat-packing industry? Tobacco industry? Investment banking industry? Real estate industry?

60 minutes recently did a piece on data mining that is a must see for every internet user. The videos are short, easy to digest, informative, and unbiased. Including the journey to opt out of data collection and the easier, smaller steps we can all take to protect our privacy.

The billboards one sees when driving on a highway, have now replaced the road. There is no such thing as a free lunch. We were/are all naïve to think that email, social media, and discounts at retailers came at no cost. The costs are our identities, habits, desires, physical location, history, age, sex, preferences, strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments, and failures. All the things we used to only tell our friends and family that we now post electronically for the entire world to see. The thing about that is, advertisers are part of the world too.

We have a right to privacy. A basic human right. Many people will be and are happy to give it away in exchange for what they get online and offline. But data mining is done in secret. Big data are obstructing congressional investigations into them. If what they are doing isn’t wrong, why the secrecy? Why the obstruction? Why decline interviews? Why not let people opt out?

And before you point the finger at the firms listed above, remember the biggest, baddest and OG of the data mining industry has been and always will be, Google.

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