01/09/29 Hackers are terrorists?
01/09/28 Understanding
01/09/24 Faith and humanity
01/09/23 Remember
01/09/17 Random signals
01/09/03 Going places, meeting people
01/09/02 Flames and flame wars
01/09/29 Hackers are terrorists?
01/09/28 Understanding
01/09/24 Faith and humanity
01/09/23 Remember
01/09/17 Random signals
01/09/03 Going places, meeting people
01/09/02 Flames and flame wars
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today condemned portions of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) currently under consideration in Congress which would treat all computer trespass as terrorism (in addition to other provisions we oppose, such as vast expansion of surveillance authority). "Treating low-level computer crimes as terrorist acts is not an appropriate response to recent events," said EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "A relatively harmless online prankster should not face a potential life sentence in prison."
EFF action alert: hackers could get life in prison, no parole, under "anti-terrorism" bill
This past Friday, H.R.2500, the emergency funding act that contained $40 billion for recovery from the tragedies in New York and Washington, passed in late sessions of the legislature. It's admirable that in this time of need partisan politics was put aside (for the most part) to facilitate the recovery from these disastrous attacks. Let's now take a closer look at some of the provisions and amendments to this bill - Particularly Title VIIII - that went through the legislature in the wee hours of September 14. [...] The amendment to HR 2500 rewrites federal wiretap laws in several key areas (listed from least to most disturbing). First, It allows jurisdictional US Attorneys to authorize warrantless wiretaps (where previously only a few high level officials had this authority to grant wiretaps on an emergency basis without a warrant. Second, it makes semantic changes to the pen register laws, allowing them to be interpreted to include interception of online communications. Third - and most disturbing - broadly expands the circumstances under which warrantless taps can be authorized; to include: threats to public health & safety, national security and any attack on the integrity or availability of a protected computer - the latter of which covers any suspected computer hacking of almost any kind.
Kuro5hin: Combating terrorism act of 2001 analyzed
The process started last Sunday after the Bush administration and congressional leaders met and agreed to come up with drafts of an anti-terrorism act. By Wednesday, two draft bills had been released. One came directly from the Department of Justice; the other was from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. The two bills share many provisions. Among them: extending more aid to victims of terrorism; allowing for so-called "roving wiretaps"; and giving law enforcement access to previously off-limits education records.
Salon: The end of liberty
For a decade, America's been fighting a losing secret war against terror. A NEWSWEEK investigation into the missed clues and missteps.
The road to September 11
(via Signal vs. Noise)
As difficult as it is for many Americans to hear a week after tragedy struck at the World Trade Center, there is a history to why Middle Eastern terrorists hate the United States. The roots of the enmity date back more than 150 years ago.
Why a military response won't work - historic roots of mideast grievances
(via Metafilter)
If you read my article in full, It will take about an hour of your time. In this hour, 14 more people will have died in Afghanistan of war and hunger and 60 others will have become refugees in other countries. This article is intended to describe the reasons for this mortality and emigration. If this bitter subject is irrelevant to your sweet life, please don't read it.
Limbs of no body
(via Kuro5hin)
Support freedom of the press in Iran
Hate is the attempt to disconnect that which cannot be disconnected. Hate burns itself out. The light of connection is eternal because its source is eternal. We are connected not because we are great. We are connected not because of anything we have done. All of us arrived into this world connected. And when we leave this world the connection continues. There is nothing we can do about it because it is what God has already done, in us, among us and through us. The opportunity of this past week is to wake up to the light that is already here.
Disarming the inner terrorist
(via Lake effect)
Look elsewhere for words. I have not yet found any that does what I saw justice.
Hoboken, NJ. September 11, 2001
(via Fathom5)
On September 11, 2001, an unthinkable act of terrorism occurred in New York City and Washington DC. It left holes in our lives, holes in the skyline, holes in our spirit. These are some of the stories of those who were there. These are our missing pieces.
Fray: hope - missing pieces
Still trying to make sense of it all. Two of the links were found on metafilter.
Metafilter
It is now almost 48 hours since two airliners ploughed into the World Trade Center, another dived onto the Pentagon, and a fourth came down near Pittsburgh. You'd think that every possible angle would already have been covered by people writing about the events of September 11th. So why am I writing this, and why now? Because in all the media coverage I've seen so far, nobody has been asking the right, the important, questions. Like: why did this happen, what circumstances got us into a de facto state of undeclared war with the Islamic world, and what can we realistically do to prevent those circumstances from ever recurring.
Needed: a new age of enlightenment
As a Muslim, I feel that the horror of recent terrorist attacks demands a serious, conscientious pause. Terrorism is an aberration, but most often it is of a particular type, an extreme manifestation of underlying social and ideological currents prevalent in a particular culture. Terrorism is not a virus that suddenly infects the brain of a person; rather, it is the result of long-standing and cumulative cultural and rhetorical dynamics.
What became of tolerance in Islam?
The attack on the World Trade Center puts me in an awful place. On the one hand, I've been deeply fortunate. Neither my loved ones nor I were injured. Like everyone else, I am horrified and angered. I could have been there, munching a bagel on the observation deck. I can't imagine how someone could have planned such an attack, and my shock is turning into anger and mourning. At the same time, I feel excluded from the national unity that happens after such a tragedy. Why? As an Arab-American, I'm subject to reprisals. I'm nervous, wondering if I will somehow share the blame. Slurs, threats and even violence have already been leveled against anyone associated with Islam, and I wonder what will happen to me. I'm looking for work-will I be denied a job? What if a wider war breaks out? Will I lose my liberty?
American and Arab
Encounters on my way to work.
01/09/03 Going places, meeting people (journal)
Article and discussions about flames and flaming. From the article: We seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to flaming. It's wrong, wrong, wrong (although totally justified when we do it ourselves -- after all, *we're* not flaming, *we're* just defending ourselves). But is this really the case? I've been thinking about this for a long time (years), and I've got a few observations to share. I can't say that I'm convinced that all these are true, but I think they're worth thinking about.
In defense of flame wars
Discussion on Metafilter
Related discussion on Kuro5hin
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