Google and the whore of Verizon

Google...
I loved you!  Why'd you have to go and sleep with that whore Verizon?

So this morning I've called about a dozen different Google offices around the country asking to speak to the person who is putting the Verizon deal together.  Of course I didn't get to that person, but Google needs to know how people feel that they have betrayed the principles of net neutrality.

What is net neutrality?  I'm glad you asked....


You like access to all the stuff you like?  Protect it.  Speak out.

Look, it matters when people speak out.  Good things happen.

I've written my Senators today, and I'll do so again.  They need to hear over and over that net neutrality is a value.

Hmmm.... What if I put out a meme to the Tea Party that this is an Obama plan to take away their first amendment rights?  Think we could get them to ally with us?

Wait! Let me kiss my civil liberties goodbye!

Once upon a time in a great land there were a people who valued freedom. But then something bad happened and the people grew fearful. Soon, they were giving up those freedoms in exchange for promised security.

"Have we got a deal for you!" says Lamperd Less Lethal... "Instead of giving you a ticket to get on the plane, we're going to fit you with an electronic bracelet that we can trigger at any moment if you get unruly... er, we mean appear to be taking over the plane."

See - we all get to wear shock collars and if we get out of line? ---------------------------->

Don't believe me? See for yourself.

And hey - there is the added bonus of being able to track your movements anywhere in the airport.

I guess my question is... why stop at the airports? I'm sure we have unruly people running around on trains... metros... buses... hell, on the sidewalks!

We could fit infants at birth. They'd carry all the bio-genetic information needed. The government (who else would you trust to watch out for you?) could monitor us and if someone seems to pose a threat, just tase them. The police will be along to pick up the twitching body from the sidewalk and take them to a ... what shall we call it? Behavior modification facility? Re-education camp? Somewhere where they'll be made into a safe citizen.
It's for our protection don't you see? And if you're not going to take over the plane, why would you oppose wearing a shock collar? Besides, if you don't wear a shock collar - you're probably for the terrorists. And you probably hate the troops.

For light reading check out Huxley's Brave New World, or Orwell's 1984, or Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451

Welcome home - now turn over the laptop

An article today in the Baltimore Sun made me imagine our 'heightened alert' in the war on terror is becoming a slow slide into a police state. Don't get me wrong, we ought to protect our country from would be terrorists or criminals - but how far do we go?

Customs Agents can seize a laptop for 'random inspection'. They keep it for a couple of weeks, comb through it and return it. Sounds reasonable if you don't need it for work or don't want people reading your personal emails. Except for me, it's not reasonable.

The refrain - "if you don't have anything to hide you shouldn't worry" - worries me. Somehow in the name of freedom we've been asked to give up our freedoms....

If only we had some sort of legal protection.... Something like, oh I don't know... a Constitutional Amendment?

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.