A rise of TSA “incidents” are driving people up the wall:

Jake’s trip through Pittsburgh International ended with a TSA guard picking up a tray where his laptop was located and accidentally dropped and broke his laptop. Pieces broke off of it and Jake was furious and wanted to know how to file a damage claim.

TSA’s response: Get out of the security area now or we’ll arrest you.

TSA’s Claim office

Phone: (866) 289-9673
E-mail: tsaclaimsoffice@dhs.gov

Download TSA Claims forms

Reasons you might need this information:

1. harassment by TSA Agent
2. damaged property
3. security complaint
4. other TSA abuse

A Yahoo blogger asked the question, should you stick around and “fight for your rights” or quietly move along. It’s a good question, often when things get heated you have to ask whether you want win the “battle” or win the “war”. Sticking around to argue and make a scene might help get you a story that’ll go public and tarnish the TSA’s already negative reputation. However, if you simply want a resolution, sticking around and bickering may just get you in trouble. The last thing you want when you are traveling on business or to see family is a potential delay, missed flight, or even worse: indefinite detention. We know all know that can get ugly fast!

Throughout the week, countless articles have been released that attack the founder of Facebook for alleged theft of code that helped create the latest social online phenomena. All sorts of dirty laundry have been aired regarding the 23 year old Harvard grad and owner of Facebook.

It’s alleged that Mark essentially stole Facebook and he’s being sued by Tyler Winklevos and his brother Cameron, pals at Harvard. Mark Zuckerberg is now a billionaire (at least on paper) and presumably he’d have to split the pie if the court agrees with the complainant.

While it seemed things couldn’t get any worse for Mark Zuckerberg, it turns out that his company is engaging in questionable if not downright unethical practices with regard to privacy. There was plenty of concern by Facebook users that their private data was being shared and sold without hesitation. Politicians in favor of a telecommunications industry that plays the role of big brother have used social networking sites, particularly face book, as a prime example that people don’t really care about their privacy in this “new world of social networking.”

Well, they’d be wrong on that point and here’s the latest frightening revelation coming out of the Facebook camp. It turns out that they’ve been keeping track of users even after they log out!

Facebook has confirmed findings of a CA security researcher that the social-networking site’s Beacon ad service is more intrusive and stealthy than previously acknowledged, an admission that contradicts statements made previously by Facebook executives and representatives.

If you’ve been a naughty citizen and perusing the naked ladies or cheating on your wife on the side with some hot college coed you met online, there’s a possibility that Facebook knows about it! Maybe it’s time to lead a revolution against these corporate giants that are getting fat off of our personal data. Question is, how do you destroy a multi-billion dollar corporation? Is it as easy as telling people to stop using the site? Will the younger generation wake up to this nasty reality we’re embarking upon?

Time will tell, stay tuned for more exciting gossip on ‘as the Facebook turns.’

The MPAA’s “University Toolkit” –universities have been asked by the MPAA to install spying software in their networks to monitor student behavior.  The measure was taken as the MPAA and RIAA are continuing to crack down on copyright violations of their software. In a humorous twist of irony, due to copyright violations, the MPAA was prevented from using the toolkit.

The GPL (license) that comes with the “open” software includes a provision by which the code must be available upon request and licensed under the same rules that govern the original code. After several attempts to contact the MPAA, the author was forced to resort to the same tactics that the MPAA uses to harass students. A developer of the operating system Ubuntu decided to send a DMCA notice to the MPAA’s ISP and demanded that the material be taken down as infringing.

This was just too funny to pass up. Here’s the original exchange that got picked up by Slashdot (comments for your amusement) and BoingBoing before finding its way here.

The lawsuit alleges that both companies were infringing on patented technology by offering Visual Voicemail service to iPhone customers. According to Apple Insider, Klausner is seeking damages and future royalties estimated at $360 million. The suit was filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Texas. The claim argues that the sale of the iPhone, Visual Voicemail and other visual voice messaging services implemented by AT&T infronge Klausner’s patents.

The patents at issue are 5,572,576 and 5,283,818.
Patent 5,572,577 deals with the method for organizing communications via a Telephone Answering Device

A telephone answering device (TAD) which includes a means of intelligently organizing voice messages, associated entered codes such as personal IDs and home telephone numbers, and information stored in the memory of the TAD. These codes or numbers are decoded by means of the caller entering DTMF signals into the telephone which are recognized, recorded and processed by the TAD. When processed with codes and personal information previously entered into the device’s memory, the TAD displays the identity of the callers for each message, thus providing a menu of choices, i.e., a list of callers.

This enables the user to access messages in a selective manner based on the identity of the caller.The need to listen to the actual voice messages to determine the caller’s identity and the need to listen to the messages sequentially or chronologically is obviated, saving both time and effort. Additionally, because the voice message is also linked to pre-stored additional data in the data base, when hearing a message, one also can view relevant associated information, such as a fax number, etc., that might not have been left in the audio message but might be important. A remote access device is also provided that allows the user to retrieve and display the callers’ identities and select a message to be played back from a remote location.

..and Patent 5,283,818

A telephone answering device (TAD) which includes a means of intelligently organizing voice messages, associated entered codes such as personal IDs and home telephone numbers, and information stored in the memory of the TAD. These codes or numbers are decoded by means of the caller entering DTMF signals into the telephone which are recognized, recorded and processed by the TAD. When processed with codes and personal information previously entered into the device’s memory, the TAD displays the identity of the callers for each message, thus providing a menu of choices, i.e., a list of callers.

This enables the user to access messages in a selective manner based on the identity of the caller. The need to listen to the actual voice messages to determine the caller’s identity and the need to listen to the messages sequentially or chronologically is obviated, saving both time and effort. Additionally, because the voice message is also linked to pre-stored additional data in the data base, when hearing a message, one also can view relevant associated information, such as a fax number, etc., that might not have been left in the audio message but might be important.

Previously, when this issue was litigated, the big boys lost and were forced to purchases licenses. Among the juggernauts that bended previously, included Time Warner’s AOL for special voice mail features and Vonage for it’s Voicemail “Plus” services. With regard to iPhone, Klausner alleges that Apple violated its intellectual property rights byletting its users selectively retrieve voice messages using the iPhone’s inbox display.

“We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions,” said Greg Dovel of Dovel & Luner, counsel for Klausner. “With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents.”

Klausner’s lawyer’s have been busy. On Monday, they also filed claims against Comcast and Cablevision Systems Corp, as well as Ebay’s Skype. They are seeking damages and future royalties estimated at $300 million.

NEW YORK (AP) The lawsuit asserts that the above companies’ VOIP voicemail products and services infringe Klausner Technologies’ U.S. Patent 5,572,576. The patent has already been licensed to various other companies which provide the same visual voice messaging services, including Time Warner’s AOL (TWX:NYSE) for its AOL Voicemail services, Vonage Holdings (VG:NYSE) for its Vonage Voicemail Plus services as well as others, under the Klausner Patents. Cablevision’s Optimum Voicemail, Comcast’s Digital Voice Voicemail and eBay’s Skype Voicemail each violate Klausner’s intellectual property rights by allowing users to selectively retrieve and listen to voice messages via message inbox displays.

When all is said and done, these patented methods are going to net Klausner’ well over a billion dollars. Not a bad racket for Klausner, hopefully it’ll not stifle innovation in this area, though, it sounds like a lot of telecommunications had big ideas in this area of software and hardware development.

“Technology has changed. You can’t go back, there’s no way to go back. And I don’t think there’s a will to go back.”

This is an interesting commentary about the future of Technology. We’ve made so much noise over the issue of the RIAA hunting down college students or even trying to dig their claws into poor people who can’t afford to buy CD’s and end up pirating stuff. It doesn’t look like users are relenting on the issue either. A lot of lawsuits have given the ‘authorities’ the deterrent factor they need, but it isn’t working.

At some point, you just have to recognize that on principle, people don’t see the downloading of movies and songs online as a big deal anymore. You can try to make this stuff illegal, but where is the enforcement mechanism? Think about Marijuana, for an example of an illegal substance that is impossible to regulate. Most people who read about the subject, can agree that Marijuana use is no more dangerous than Alcohol. In fact, when it comes to encouraging accidents and resulting in deaths, alcohol is in a league of its own. What happens when you try to enforce laws that people find arbitrary, obnoxious, or overbearing? Well here’s a nice little photo that I found on Reddit that illustrates the problem:

From the Michael Salamon blog: “Procedurally Enforcing Workflow”

A great reminder for the RIAA/MPAA: You can’t force people to follow directions they deem arbitrary. I bet if that gate spit out $100 bills people would use it! Schneier first published the photo on his Technology and Security blog.

There in lies the rub. In general, if you continue to enforce rules that are complete garbage, people are going to call you on it and your authority diminishes. This happens to governments, law enforcement officers, and it is most certainly the way of the Internet given that there is no way to regulate it through a single central authority. The United States can try and impose its views on the world, but try getting around the jurisdictional problem.

Here’s a hint: you can’t! Check out the latest tech article on the Crunch site, it reminds us all how easy it is to simply lift copyrighted content in the digital age of technology.  It’s very difficult to enforce: “Stealing books with Kindle is trivial“

I’ve been beyond angry at the “network you can trust — AT&T” over its willingness to open up customer records, bills, and Internet activity to the government. I’ve never been a sucker for the “if you aren’t doing anything wrong, what’s the big deal” pro-Government argument. Recently, it looks like the government has been putting similar pressure on other companies. For example, Amazon, Inc. has received “exigent circumstance” requests from the military for the records of thousands of users that purchased used books through their service.

While AT&T is spending billions trying to figure out how to spy on Americans, Amazon.com is defending American privacy rights.

Ars Technica’s Timothy Lee writes:

Recently unsealed documents show that a federal judge has rejected an attempt by federal prosecutors to obtain the records of thousands of people who bought used books on Amazon. The records were sought as part of an investigation of a Robert B. D’Angelo, a Madison city employee who is accused of underreporting his income to tax authorities and operating a private business using city resources. The ruling was released after a federal grand jury handed down a 39-count indictment against D’Angelo.

Just as the government has exploited telecommunications companies to do it’s bidding, it’s now trying to go after other corporations that control information. We all know that information is knowledge, whoever controls the information controls the world. It’s no surprise that the United States government under a pseudo-fascist regime is trying to dictate to corporations how they operate. Further, they’re trying to control the Internet in order to manipulate and force “the people” into submission.

AT&T’s joint operations with the NSA and illegal wireless surveillance, as per WIRED magazine: “Whistle-Blower outs NSA spy room“

AT&T provided National Security Agency eavesdroppers with full access to its customers’ phone calls, and shunted its customers’ internet traffic to data-mining equipment installed in a secret room in its San Francisco switching center, according to a former AT&T worker cooperating in the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s lawsuit against the company.Mark Klein, a retired AT&T communications technician, submitted an affidavit in support of the EFF’s lawsuit this week. That class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco last January, alleges that AT&T violated federal and state laws by surreptitiously allowing the government to monitor phone and internet communications of AT&T customers without warrants.

Think about it, if the government knows all about its citizens, from favorite books to sexual fantasies to privileged conversations between husbands and wife, friends and other family communications, what is sacred anymore? All this does is puts citizens in a position to distrust government, the telecommunication’s industry and gives terrorists a reason to hack phones and turn to rogue providers for their communication. If privacy is so easily disturbed by a government that wants so badly to win this “War on Terror” ™, where do you draw the line?

I am a great fan of Amazon.com now and I have to say that Ask.com’s privacy policy and desire to protect its users is equally attractive on the corporate front. If Google didn’t have a ridiculous monopoly on search, it would be even easier to abandon the government tainted companies for ‘lesser’ companies. I’ve got some major ideas to help protect citizen’s rights and make a major profit in the process, so if anyone has the resources or contacts, please feel free to contact me on the matter. I think the time has come to revolutionize the telecommunications industry, because if no one does it, the government is going to continue to get away with tampering in our everyday lives while they chase the bad guys.

Before I get any nut jobs that want to hang me for being anti-Establishment or whatever your cute phrases are for people like me, let me say I love America and what it once stood for. Today, our country isn’t the one I once knew. I am not proud of our country, in fact I’m downright ashamed of some of the fascist principles that we’ve allowed to creep into society. I don’t favor granting ‘additional’ rights to criminals or villains, but we need to buckle down and start defending our Constitution. Indeed, we need to protect and restore the rights of American citizens and citizens of the world that we’ve deprived over the last decade. Our Constitution has all but lost meaning in the United States and for us to continue to claim we’re spreading Democracy overseas while abandoning at home is hypocritical at best.

If you liked this article, you probably are of similar mind and I’d like to point you to a previous article that I wrote on topic. “The network you can trust is a fraud“

AT&T’s technology has proven useful for spying on American citizen

Freedom to Tinker : According to government documents studied by The New York Times, the FBI asked several phone companies to analyze phone-call patterns of Americans using a technology called “communities of interest”. Verizon refused, saying that it didn’t have any such technology. AT&T, famously, did not refuse.

What is the “communities of interest” technology? It’s spelled out very clearly in a 2001 research paper from AT&T itself, entitled “Communities of Interest” (by C. Cortes, D. Pregibon, and C. Volinsky). They use high-tech data-mining algorithms to scan through the huge daily logs of every call made on the AT&T network; then they use sophisticated algorithms to analyze the connections between phone numbers: who is talking to whom? The paper literally uses the term “Guilt by Association” to describe what they’re looking for: what phone numbers are in contact with other numbers that are in contact with the bad guys?

This story hits close to home, because recently, I was called paranoid and delusional for thinking that the government would bother to spy on Americans. (especially, insignificant Fred!) I’d love to agree with the sentiment so I could feel more at ease with the state of American politics. Sadly, life is rarely that simple; and I am left to wonder if the echoes and clicking sounds that come from my AT&T telephone are occurring because the service sucks or because I’ve managed to be among the lucky Americans to win the ‘potential terrorist’ lottery.

Typical cell phone interference happens… we’ve all experienced it. Yet, now we know that it could be the result of some schmuck listening in and recording my latest call to my 51 year old mother. The excuse for such an invasion of privacy? Protecting national security, of course! When I consider that there is a chance I’m on “a list”, it enrages me beyond belief. I’ve never so much as received a speeding ticket, much less plot to commit an act of terror.

Hard right wingers and some law enforcement types would say, “it is better to err on the side of caution, don’t ya think?” I’d disagree, lets err on the side of liberty and freedom from government interference in citizens’ daily lives instead of bend to the will of fear and fascism. If you want to live in fear of terrorists go right ahead, but don’t take me along for the a ride into an America that promotes pseudo fascist ideals. The tighter our wing nuts squeeze her neck, the more pain she’ll inflict on us all when their patriotic glass shatters from this grip of fear.