b.cognosco
Where leaping to conclusions is my primary form of forward motion.
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PDF - Black Hole of Usability
RIAA Anti-Trust Settlement Approved
Homeland Security - Not Just For Terrorists Anymore
Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Weird Characters in RSS
Does anyone else see these weird high-ASCII characters in the Corante: IdeaFlow RSS feed?
If itâs true that the bust is about busted, I hope that the resulting opportunity to innovate innovation itself isnât overlooked. Thereâs been a lot of thought in the last few years about how to make sure innovation doesnât pack up and leave town when the venture capitalists close their wallets. For example, in the Open Innovation scenario, loose-pocketed venture capitalists aren't as necessary for technology innovation.
PDF - Black Hole of Usability
Usability pundit Jakob Nielsen takes PDF to task as a terrible on-line format. You'll get no argument here.Ironically PDF was never envisioned as a print format (at which it is reasonably good) but rather as a universal display format, and Adobe has made several attempts to turn PDF into the "future of the web". All those attempts failed, of course. As Nielsen points out, PDF just isn't very good for ad hoc online display no matter how much structure Adobe tries to put into it.
Such a view is anathema to PDF addicts. PDF is second only to the Macintosh in the degree of religious zealotry it attracts. No other file spec on the face of the planet has its own conferences and trade shows. Can you imagine going to the TIFF conference? How about living your life as a PNG evangelist? And how about those Adobe television commercials -- is it better to give a PDF, or to receive?
Now Adobe has launched a campaign to turn PDF into the "future of business", as noted in a recent Business 2.0 article (online version requires a subscription.) CEO Bruce Chizen is an Adobe sales guru who is intent on turning the company's core technology into the next "must-have" for governments, NGOs, and the enterprise.
It might work. PDF has some real advantages in the areas of forms, document stability, etc. But if you're running a web site please listen to Nielsen and stop putting your product brochures online as PDFs. A file is a terrible thing to waste.
Sunday, July 13, 2003
RIAA Anti-Trust Settlement Approved
The anti-trust settlement against the RIAA was finally approved last week. Refund claims are now being processed. Don't forget to endorse your check over to the EFF and send it to them. Let the RIAA know their money is being used for a good cause.Thursday, July 10, 2003
Homeland Security - Not Just For Terrorists Anymore
The rise of the American Police State continues as the Department of Homeland Security searches out new menaces, new threats, and new causes to justify its existence, its budget, and its ever-increasing intrusions into our lives.Like every good Government program, the first line of growth is "TO SAVE THE CHILDREN" -- the all-purpose wooing call for the simple-minded. People will blindly agree to the stupidest, most egregious laws and programs if you tell them it will SAVE JUST ONE CHILD. In the last 20 years SAVING THE CHILDREN has become the blanket justification for any and every imaginable usurpation of liberty, coercion, and boondoggled bureaucracy. Got an idea that no rational person would support? Tell 'em it's FOR THE CHILDREN and you'll have no trouble at all.
Really, what cold-hearted bastard could be against any program that could save a child from the clutches of a predator? Of course, we don't want to put any responsibility on parents to actually watch their children, exercise due diligence in securing care for them, or maybe even (God forbid) not give them open access to the Internet. Why, some of those things might make it seem like we really didn't need the most massive government agency in history to snoop in every facet of our lives and then, well, what *would* we do?
Child pornography is despicable, predatory, and malicious. But it is not terrorism. It is not the domain of DHS, and it is not justification for throwing away the liberties of millions of Americans while hiding behind the American flag and distorting the meaning of patriotism in a way even the Nazis would envy.
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday launched an operation to help protect children from pornographers, child prostitution rings, Internet predators and human traffickers.The initiative will use the Internet more effectively to track sex offenders who prey on young people and build a central database of child pornography images to help rescue the children involved and arrest those who exploit them.
"Harming a child in any manner or form is a despicable, despicable thing," said Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge as he announced "Operation Predator," which will be run by the department's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.[More...] [Wired News]
Maybe you're like my Mom, and you think I'm just a little bit wigged-out over all this American mullah/DHS/John Ashcroft/police-state business. Maybe you think we can trust these folks because they're the GOOD GUYS, or because they have our best interests at heart, or just because you don't know any better. You should read Cringely's tale of CALEA. It's a disturbing expose' on how those who are supposed to protect us already abuse and misuse the tools they have, quite possibly creating a greater threat than they were supposed to solve at the outset.
I'm not suggesting that we don't need law enforcement, or that they don't need modern tools. Certainly we do, and certainly Islamic Jihadists pose a threat worth watching. But *we* need to be watching the watchers, with more scrutiny than they can stand. For only then will we know for sure who the GOOD GUYS are. We should send copies of Cringely's article to our government representatives, mayor, and local newspapers and see if anyone knows anything about CALEA. Because only when know the secret uses and abuses of the watchers will we be able to protect our own liberties as law-abiding citizens of a free Republic.
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This Page was last updated: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:06:57 GMT
