Posted on by lhl
Posted on by lhl

Diebold Issues Cease and Desist to Indymedia. from the boards, harriet nyborg:

Any technology introduced to improve the act of voting cannot make the act of counting less transparent or democracy suffers.

It is apparent that Diebold’s systems (not to mention Diebold’s paranoia for secrecy) render the act of counting less accountable and less transparent. Ergo, democracy suffers.

If used in a close election – where exit polling and other secondary measurements are unable to confirm the results of the counting – the wrong person might actually get elected President of the United States of America.

With no sense of responsibility to the coutry at large, this illegitimate President might launch a series of Napoleonic wars to to compensate for his own feelings of inadequacy.

I digress into fantasy… the little blue ones I washed down with all those adult beverages must be kicking in.

Posted on by lhl

Following up on the Diebold links, found an interesting article on sfindymedia: LOCAL PEACE GROUP INFILTRATED BY GOVERNMENT AGENT:

According the California Constitution, law enforcement does not have the right to investigate and infiltrate groups unless they have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. If local law enforcement and the JTTF was using Kilner to investigate Peace Fresno, one has to ask – what else are they up to? Do they have agents imbedded in other community groups? Are they watching what people say at Churches and Mosques? Because of the Patriot Act, does law enforcement now believe they have the right to monitor what you do and say in your home? In your bedroom?

There have been several meetings between law enforcement and groups concerned about civil liberties, in the wake of September 11, 2001. One such meeting was held with Lt. Pat Farmer of the Fresno Police Department. Lt. Farmer told this group of community activists that there is nothing to prevent the police or JTTF members from investigating and interrogating community members. He suggested that the person being investigated might not even know he was talking to a police officer. “If the person doesn’t want to talk with us, they don’t have to,” Farmer said. At an earlier meeting, immediately after 9-11, an FBI agent told a group, of mostly immigrant rights activists, that anyone helping a group identified as a “terrorist group” by the United States government would be investigated as a potential terrorist. That was interpreted to mean that if you are working, for example, to support the Zapatistas in Chiapas, you might be investigated as a supporter of international terrorism. This FBI agent said that every agent in this area was now focusing on stopping the terrorist threat.

Posted on by lhl

Getting serious on interactive media:

Next step: spending less time on useless classes?

Posted on by lhl
  • Ben Fry, the other co-creator of Processing
  • Floatutorial – been pointed out everywhere else already, but I just got around to taking a look at it, and yeah, it’s good stuff (but you probably already knew that already)
  • Leader of the Free World – the title no doubt is giving RMS fits; a great article on Linus, the person
  • Cubs Fan – andy writes about the Cubs fan who interfered w/ the foul ball on Tuesday (and how the Chicago Sun-Times probably stepped over the line, publicizing most of his life; usenet apparently does the rest); see also: wil’s letter
  • Child’s Play – Would today’s tykes tolerate the classic games you grew up with? Kids do say the darndest things in this uncut version of an EGM article.now with a bonus game not included in the original story! — some great zingers in there
  • Spider-Man 2 will rock? – description of just finished trailer from Japan. From the talkback: quick, re-read this to yourself with an excited asian accent. it sounds awesome
  • Maya now Free for Personal Use – after the /.ing, you can download it for free (legally this time); oh wait, it’s just the PLE version. nm
  • RIAA Sequentially Repeating Edison’s Mistakes – ba-zing!
  • The Filthy Critic is Dead, Matt Weatherford is Not – I missed that the Filthy Critic ‘died’ this summer. Luckily, it was just the character and not the man behind him
  • iTunes for PC came out; they also partnered w/ Pepsi to give away 100M free songs, which is absolute genius. I’m surprised at the paucity of rare/alternate/remix/live tracks; I’d be much more likely to buy a song for $1/pop if it were something I couldn’t get a high quality version of otherwise
  • EFF: MP3 Caper – this weekend you can see my version (my student film was entitled ‘Fear to Fear’)
  • Nanodot – News and Discussion of Coming Technologies
  • PHP Scales As Well As Java – fLAME 0N!!!1!
  • Adobe and Macromedia copy protection – whoa, Macromedia’s going to write crap in my boot sector? Fuck that. (reply to comment on why not having anti-piracy measures can be a win-win)