Fed's force Google to reveal private info

So.. Google actually IS trying to not be evil. They're fighting the government's demand.

It has just come to light that the federal government is trying to force Google to reveal all searches conducted in a one-week period, as well as records for 1 million Web addresses.

The effort is part of a government campaign to revive an anti-pornography law, the 1998 Child Online Protection Act, which the Supreme Court struck down two years ago. The law attempted to ensure that only adults visited porn sites by requiring that visitors register, or use access codes, before gaining entry to such sites. Now, the Bush administration is back in court, trying to prove that these requirements are the only realistic way of preventing minors from accessing online porn.

What remains unclear is why the government would need records from Google--which is, after all, a private company and not an investigative arm of the Department of Justice.

Too bad Yahoo can't claim the same thing.

Yahoo Inc., based in Sunnyvale, Calif., acknowledged on Thursday handing over search data, but insisted no personal information on users was given to government attorneys. The disclosure followed reports that rival search engine Google Inc. had refused to comply with a similar subpoena, issued last year.

I'm not all that excited about kids getting into porn sites .. not good...but these guys regularly take 'common' causes (like stopping terrorists by illegally listening in on US citizens phone conversations, and now this) and using these common causes to IGNORE the laws we have in place that make this a free country.

What the hell, let's just start over. How about throwing out that pesky constitution thing that keeps getting in the way and writing a new one (Hey Mr. Attorney General... whip something up for us and slip it into that case titled 'The Constitution"...no one will notice, at least not for awhile).

Why am I so mad at a technology company?

I've been thinking about this the last few days. I am unreasonably pissed off at Apple right now because I bought a G5 based Mac a few weeks before I could have bought an Intel based Mac that runs twice as fast at the same price.

I bought it on the companies word that it would be 'summer' of 06 before these would be available.

My reaction, though, was more than just being PO'd at losing performance for the buck spent. It was an emotinoal response.

As much as I hate to admit it, I still am an admirer of Apple Computer. Having spent the better part of a decade of my life working there, it's in the blood. Like it or not.

A big part of it is watching them go down the same roads that almost killed them off in the past (proprietary hardware 'copy protection' for their operating system). They're still doing it, and even more so with the iPods.

I now own a Mac and an iPod (although I fought it for a long time, I swore off Mac's back in 95 shortly after leaving Apple for Paramount Pictures and finding that 'normal' customers were treated, well, like crap). I think this experience just underlined that treatment of customers that pushed me away from them initially. I felt lied to.

Ever have your girlfriend of wife lie to you? Maybe it's like that. I, sort of, want Apple to succeed, but then they slap me up the side of the head when I take a flyer and try them out again, unloading 'old' equipment on me when they knew damn well that it would be obsolete the instant (hell before) I bought it, but telling me it would be 'months.. maybe a year' before that would happen.

It's hard to get over, or ever completely forget, true love.

That'll teach me NOT to buy Apple

So, I bought a brand new G5 iMac a couple of weeks ago because Apple said their new Intel based Mac was 'at least' 6 months away.

Today, they screwed me. They announced their Intel Macs 'at the same price, but twice the speed'.

Thanks Steve Jobs. You lying bastard. From me and the several hundreds of thousands of 'new G5 owners', thanks a frigging lot.

NO more new Apple's for me. If I need an Apple product in the future, I'm going to buy something cheap and used from this day forward.

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail

And it keeps coming.

Bush signed into law big fines and up to 2 years in jail for annoying people (via anonymous posts or emailing under a name not your own) on the internet.

Story on Cnet (link above).

Oh yea.. what I really look like

Cartoons (like the one on my profile here for this blog) are great, but here's ACTUAL photo's of me. Yes, they do exist.

OK.. that's it on me. No more to see here folks.. keep moving.. keep moving...

What I drive

Ever wonder what other people drive? I know I do. I often make indepth social, economic, political and philosphical judgements about people based on what they drive (heh.. yea). So, here's my cars. An 05 Mini Cooper S (electric blue) and an 06 Scion xB (thundercloud silver).

My little world

Ever wonder what someone's work place looks like? I do... so here's mine. In the upstairs loft of my house. A mac, A PC, a Mixer and Mic (for podcast creation) and a bunch of other stuff floating around. Nothing special, but it's home.