Category: Technology

National ID Does Not Equal Greater Security….

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Security expert Bruce Schneier writes about the reality of National ID cards:

The potential privacy encroachments of an ID card system are far from minor. And the interruptions and delays caused by incessant ID checks could easily proliferate into a persistent traffic jam in office lobbies and airports and hospital waiting rooms and shopping malls.
But my primary objection isn’t the totalitarian potential of national IDs, nor the likelihood that they’ll create a whole immense new class of social and economic dislocations. Nor is it the opportunities they will create for colossal boondoggles by government contractors. My objection to the national ID card, at least for the purposes of this essay, is much simpler:
It won’t work. It won’t make us more secure.

Saving money on your phone bill: VOIP

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David Pogue reviews the latest VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services, which allow you to call anywhere in the United States for as little as $20.55/month (plus your broadband internet connection):.

This development is annoyingly called voice-over-Internet protocol, or VoIP, which means “calls that use the Internet’s wiring instead of the phone company’s.” When you sign up, you get a little box that goes between your existing telephone and your broadband modem (that is, your cable modem or D.S.L. box, a requirement for most of these services).
At that point you can make unlimited local, regional and long-distance calls anywhere in the United States for a fixed fee of $20 to $40 a month (plus the cost of your broadband Internet service, of course). Overseas calls cost about 3 cents a minute. These figures aren’t subject to inflation by a motley assortment of tacked-on fees, either; voice-over-Internet service is exempt from F.C.C. line charges, state 911 surcharges, number-portability service charges and so on.

Save money, switch! I’ve been using www.packet8.net for some time.
Two alternatives beyond the phone interface: ichat | skype

The IBM System/360 Revolution

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Speaking of Entrepreneurs, IBM launched System/360 on April 7, 1964. Many consider it the biggest business gamble of all time. At the height of IBM’s success, Thomas J. Watson, Jr. bet the company’s future on a new compatible family of computer systems that would help revolutionize modern organizations. Get a behind-the-scenes view of the tough decisions made by some of the people who made them, and learn how the System/360 helped transform the government, science and commercial landscape.

Richard Clarke in the news

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Former White House Security Czar Richard Clarke was evidently on 60 minutes Sunday recently talking about terrorism & politics (he also has a new book on the way…). Interestingly, Clarke was part of a federal government effort to cozy up to convicted monopolist microsoft regarding an initiative to “bifurcate” the internet..

I believe we must decide to bifurcate cyberspace into the current area of anonymity on one side and a secure zone for critical infrastructure on the other

Recall also that the Department of Homeland Security chose Microsoft as it’s exclusive supplier of desktop and server software. (DHS chooses the least secure product…)
From John Robb…

Astronaut Jim Lovell visits Madison

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Apollo and Gemini astronaut Jim Lovell spoke last night at an American Family Children’s Hospital Fund Raiser at Monona Terrace VR Scene.
There aren’t too many places Jim Lovell hasn’t been. (Google) (All The Web) (Teoma) (Yahoo Search)
The 71-year-old former astronaut has made two trips to the moon — the historic first lunar orbit flight, December 1968’s Apollo 8, and the aborted Apollo 13 mission in April 1970.
I posted some photos here.