evilrouters.net

I believe in security and privacy on the intarwebz. I also use PGP for e-mail and whole disk encryption (more to protect data in the event my devices are lost or stolen than to “hide” anything). Because of that, this is kinda scary:

A federal judge has ordered a criminal defendant to decrypt his hard drive by typing in his PGP passphrase so prosecutors can view the unencrypted files, a ruling that raises serious concerns about self-incrimination in an electronic age. In an abrupt reversal, U.S. District Judge William Sessions in Vermont ruled that Sebastien Boucher, who a border guard claims had child porn on his Alienware laptop, does not have a Fifth Amendment right to keep the files encrypted. “Boucher is directed to provide an unencrypted version of the Z drive viewed by the ICE agent,” Sessions wrote in an opinion last week, referring to Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau. Police claim to have viewed illegal images on the laptop at the border, but say they couldn’t access the Z: drive when they tried again nine days after Boucher was arrested.

There is, of course, the alternative: =)

mccain argues that flip-flops are an example of a political leader who can’t be trusted — so he might as well drop out of the race.

read the rest of this story (alternet.org)

“if you’re going to pick some kind of sudden sickness to fake your way out of a court appearance don’t choose a heart attack because once they check your vitals it’s a tough one to stick with”:

…like the nsa headquarters.

thanks to the billboard liberation front!

just wanted to wish a belated happy birthday to president abraham lincoln, who was quoted as saying:

“i see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me, and causes me to tremble for the safety of our country. corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the republic is destroyed.”