civil liberties

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Chertoff cyber-security plan: who will fill the post?

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

In general, I’m in support of Sec. Chertoff’s new cyber-security plan: let’s not forget that cyber-threats can be of all stripes (terrorists, organized crime, state-sponsored groups, or individual hackers), that 85% of our critical infrastructure is in private hands (hence his call for coordination with the private sector, and that the threats range from the […]

I’m for DHS’ visual analysis program, IF…

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

GCN reports DHS’s Science and Technology Directorate is continuing to use visual analytics, which has been criticized for its past application to real data, as an analytical tool dealing only with “synthetic data.”
I’ve been a persistent critic of DHS’ other data mining programs because of a litany of abuses of privacy rights and constant errors […]

Very dubious about argument for firefighter/DHS alliance

Monday, November 26th, 2007

Count me among the skeptics regarding the new alliance between DHS and fire departments nationwide where firefighters will be trained to look for possible terrorist activities when entering homes  Unlike police, firefighters and emergency medical personnel don’t need warrants to access hundreds of thousands of homes and buildings each year, putting them in a position to spot […]

Utter baloney from LAPD on mapping Islamic areas

Wednesday, November 14th, 2007

Please pardon my long silence: my wife faces a major health challenge, and we’ve got a laser focus on her care, so I’ll only be posting occasionally in the near future. Yes, prayers and good wishes are gratefully appreciated.
Meanwhile, if you missed it last week, you’ve got to listen to Robert Siegel’s interview with LAPD […]

Google Android: upping cells’ value in emergencies

Wednesday, November 7th, 2007

I’m a big fan of open source in general, especially as it applies to emergencies — we can’t afford to have incompatibility restricting communication of critical information.
That’s why I’m excited by Google’s Android platform for cellphones, and the 34-company Open Handset Alliance.
In particular, given my emphasis on cellphones (and especially cameraphones) as the way to […]

I’ll be speaking on why liberals should care about homeland security

Monday, September 10th, 2007

Marking the 9/11 anniversary, I’ll be speaking Tuesday night to the Millis (MA) Democratic Town Committee on “why liberals should care about Homeland Security.”
The meeting (Millis Town Hall, Rt. 109) is open to the public. I’ll be speaking at 7:30 PM.
Tell a friend:

Technorati tags:
homeland security War on Terror terrorism antiterrorism e-democracy networked […]

Spy satellites for domestic surveillance: issue should unite right and left

Monday, August 20th, 2007

I was too verklempt to blog last week about the outrageous news that the Bush Administration has approved increased domestic use of spy satellite images for surveillance.However, IMHO, this far surpasses any of the violations of privacy rights this gang has been guilty of to date, and is absolutely unconscionable and untenable, particularly insofar as […]

Belated comment: spineless Dems and “Protect America Act”

Wednesday, August 8th, 2007

Sorry that I was fixated on the bridge collapse when the spineless Democrats caved and let Bush get away with expanded power under the “Protect America Act of 2007.”
It’s easy to see why Congress is getting such abysmal approval ratings right now: we elected them to change things, but they’re more fixated on keeping their […]

I-35W wiki: another great crowdsourcing example!

Friday, August 3rd, 2007

Aliya Sternstein, who writes great articles on Web 2.0 and other topics for National Journal’s Technology Daily, passed this one along.
Just as wikis provided invaluable crowdsourcing information during the tsunami and Katrina, e-democracy.org has created a wiki to share information in the wake of the I-35W collapse.
As e-democracy’s Steven Clift wrote to Aliya:
“Like the London […]

Republicans’ tipster immunity is half the answer…

Thursday, July 26th, 2007

I support the measure that Republicans insisted be added to the Homeland Security bill to would give immunity to tipsters reporting possible terrorist acts, but only if that’s coupled with the kind of active, creative public outreach program by DHS I’ve called for in the past to educate us about what terrorism is — and […]

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