Defenders of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations in the US like to note that every member of Congress has access to the negotiating documents of the massive trade agreement. Of course, that’s not telling the full story. While lobbyist “adv… Continue reading →

We were just mocking the government’s position that it cannot reveal the “metadata” on the numbers of FISA orders (and the number of people impacted) when those same people insist that we shouldn’t worry about many NSA surveillance programs since they’… Continue reading →

It’s not easy to study living things. Biological cells are made up of an insanely complex mixture of chemicals that somehow self-organize and react to produce stuff like sugars, proteins… and thoughts. Any help to visualize these biological processes… Continue reading →

There are lots of people digging through the latest Ed Snowden leaks concerning the black budget for intelligence activities in the US trying to pick out various nuggets. Over at Wired, Kevin Poulsen has found one of the most interesting tidbits, highl… Continue reading →

Maybe it’s because I’ve had to learn how to find Creative Commons images for use in posts, but I always thought that the outrage over Google image searches was silly. I mean, I get that there is such a thing as copyright, but when Germany can’t recogni… Continue reading →

Some good news has arrived on the Homeland Security front (although the department in charge of securing the Homeland probably wouldn’t agree). Last time we visited the infamous “No Fly List,” a federal judge (Anna J. Brown) wasn’t buying the governme… Continue reading →

There were many, many concerns related to SOPA and PIPA when they were proposed, but the absolute biggest was the use of DNS blocking as a “remedy” against sites where it was alleged that infringement was a primary purpose. Of course, as tons of techno… Continue reading →

As the leaks and stories about the NSA’s massive surveillance programs continue to breach the levees, the responses garnered by the government are perhaps as instructive as the leaks themselves. For instance, when the NSA itself comments are so fallaci… Continue reading →

Barton Gellman and Greg Miller over at the Washington Post have the latest scoops from the Ed Snowden leaks, in which it appears they’ve been able to go through the details of the infamous “black budget,” detailing the money that is spent on intelligen… Continue reading →

The ACLU’s lawsuit over the NSA’s program collecting all phone call information under Section 215 of the Patriot Act is just one of many lawsuits over the recently revealed details of the NSA’s surveillance activities, but it’s definitely one of the ke… Continue reading →