Thursday, June 29, 2000

Dan Gillmor: Oracle's Sleaze and Opinion Laundering -- Oracle Corp. hired private investigators to expose pro-Microsoft groups who are funded by the software giant. (Double sleaze!)

Reuters: Wildfire Burns at Washington Nuclear Reservation. The Hanford reservation, in southeastern Washington, is reportedly not directly threatened.

CNN reports on the massive effort to clean up radioactive dirt and sediment near Los Alamos before the heavy summer rains potentially wash this material into the Rio Grande River. The Los Alamos lab's environmental safety person is downplaying the hazard, noting that a frequent hiker in the area would receive the same amount of radiation as during a one-hour airline flight. Personally, I would make a large distinction between casual exposure (hiking, flying) and drinking contaminated ground water, but, hey, what do I know. Local residents are not convinced either.

Reuters: Senate To Pass Disclosure Bill -- "The Senate is poised to approve legislation forcing secretive groups on the left and right to say who is paying for campaign-style TV ads, radio spots and phone calls that are being used to influence elections nationwide."

Monday, June 26, 2000

Reuters: Supreme Court Upholds Miranda Police Warnings -- "In one of its most important criminal law rulings in decades, the high court by a 7-2 vote refused to discard its 1966 Miranda decision and replace it with a less-stringent federal law that allows voluntary confessions even when police fail to give the warnings." [See April 19]

The Supreme Court also overturned California's primary election law, which allowed voters to vote across party lines during primary elections.

To the possible disappointment of some doomsday cults, the Vatican has finally published the "Third Secret of Fatima", emphasizing that it "referred to a violent past rather than an apocalyptic future." [Reuters]

Sunday, June 25, 2000

Nando/Scripps Howard: To Web surfers, Uncle Sam more like Big Brother -- "While President Clinton has led an effort to crack down on corporate snooping and impose new regulations on business, privacy advocates say federal agencies still are collecting vast amounts of data on visitors to taxpayer-sponsored Web sites."

Unlike the surreptitious placement of cookies by the White House anti-drug web site (see June 24), many government sites, such as those run by the U.S. Postmaster and the FBI, make it very plain that visitors' page visits will be tracked. Privacy advocates contend that merely making such a privacy-related statement does not give the government the right to monitor visitors, citing the 1974 Privacy Act.

In the same vein, but in the private sector, "Mattel Interactive announced it would provide a tool to remove software surreptitiously placed on customers' computers that is designed to transmit to and receive information from Mattel." [AP]

Saturday, June 24, 2000

After our playing hookey for six weeks, some folks wondered "whassup." Call it an early summer vacation. ;-) Around this time of year, the weeds become mutant monsters, threatening to engulf everything; the weed-whacker winds up logging more online hours than the computer.

CNN: Clinton unveils new era of e-government. In a first-ever virtual fireside-chat (on the Web), Clinton announced what will essentially be a mega-portal entry site for all government web pages, dubbed "firstgov." Clinton stated, "Whether you want crucial information in starting a small business, or you want to track your Social Security benefits, you can do it all in one place, 24 hours a day, seven days a week." This sounds just wonderful, but considering the White House can't even figure out how to keep from losing its e-mail, I'll wait till "firstgov" is out of beta, thanks. Clinton also added that user privacy will be protected.

The last statement above probably explains why the President was extremely upset to learn that a federal anti-drug web site was tracking visitors by dropping cookies on their computers. After the cookie crumbs hit the fan, Clinton ordered that the tracking cease and that any data collected from that tracking be destroyed.

Scientists have announced evidence of water on Mars. Not old water, but water, now. The jury isn't in on this one, but the implications are fascinating in terms of potential previous (or current) life on Mars and elsewhere in the solar system.

The human genome map is nearly completed. Although this is itself a triumph on a monumental scale, it is only the beginning in terms of learning exactly how we are put together. One of the goals will be the ability to specifically tailor pharmaceutical medical treatment for an individual and his or her particular illness or condition. On the dark side, scientists agree that there must be sound federal legislation put in place to prevent discrimination in the realms of employment and health insurance.

Red Herring: Microsoft Makes a Big Bet on .NET -- An interesting look at Redmond's vision of the future of personal computing.

(The site was on virtual vacation most of this month.)