Loss of Privacy

China’s Green Dam Youth Escort Internet filter has been delayed due to manufacturers needing more time.  Sony, however, not only has started to ship computers with the Green Dam already installed, they did it early as the deadline was not until Wednesday.  The Green Dam has been accused of using stolen code and has serious security flaws.

While Chinese officials have claimed that the filter will help to prevent children from viewing porn or violence, it has been met with wide disapproval within China.  It has been reported before that there is very little in the way of porn filtering and more of silencing political dissent.

Chinese internet users already endure one of the most heavily-censored and politically-controlled internets in the world, our correspondent says, and were furious about this additional control.

Foreign governments have complained that the new software could break trade rules, and concerns have been raised about its effectiveness and safety.

Chinese citizens will still manage to get around the security protocols, however, additional controls will require additional time to figure out how to get past the new Green Dam filter.

Tests carried out on Green Dam outside China indicated that it left personal computers open to many different security risks, including virus attacks.

It’s not surprising that the Chinese government wants more control over its citizens, however, it is curious why the Chinese government approved a system that allows a hacker to take control of the computers running the software.  In a shrewd move, Sony did not ship their computers with the software installed.  They merely placed the executable on the hard drive to comply with the Chinese government.

It was also reported that the group “Anonymous” threatened to attack the program tomorrow if it was implemented and that the Chinese government might possibly be afraid of such an attack.

From the videogame, Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, this is the secret project video for The Self-Aware Colony.

Secret project details:
Cost: 500
Prerequisite Technology: Self-Aware Machines
Effect: Energy maintenance cost for facilities is halved at all of your bases. If use of police is allowed under the current social model, all of your bases are considered to have an extra police unit.

“Will we next create false gods to rule over us? How proud we have become, and how blind.”
– Sister Miriam Godwinson, “We Must Dissent”

Not everyone is happy about the proliferation of CCTV in the United Kingdom.  A police officer in the video claims, “I’m very confident that we’re using it properly and responsibly, and that innocent people have nothing to fear from the way we use it.”

John Catt found himself on the wrong side of the ANPR system. He regularly attends anti-war demonstrations outside a factory in Brighton, his home town.

It was at one of these protests that Sussex police put a “marker” on his car. That meant he was added to a “hotlist”.

This is a system meant for criminals but John Catt has not been convicted of anything and on a trip to London, the pensioner found himself pulled over by an anti-terror unit.

“I was threatened under the Terrorist Act. I had to answer every question they put to me, and if there were any questions I would refuse to answer, I would be arrested. I thought to myself, what kind of world are we living in?”

Naturally, the police won’t talk about the case.  They claim they have nothing to hide, but the system has already proved to be abused so that the police can watch people who are simply protesting and doing nothing wrong.

Robert Braun, 74, of West Allis, Wisconsin is mad as hell at his local library because they have a copy of Baby Be-Bop, by Francesca Lia Block.  He wants the book banned, removed, and burned because it’s offensive and vulgar.  He’s also suing to make this happen.

Braun and three fellow members of the Christian Civil Liberties Union have filed a claim against the West Bend Library for stocking “Baby Be-Bop” in its young adult section. The book, which is about a teen struggling with his homosexuality, is “explicitly vulgar, racial and anti-Christian” and is “inappropriate for the elderly and their minor grandchildren, and degrades the community,” according to the complaint.

The complaint asks for “damages and demand for relief pursuant to Wisconsin Statute Section 893.80.” Specifically, the plaintiffs, only one of whom lives in West Bend, are asking for $120,000, and that West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss resign and the “racist book be removed and publicly burned or destroyed as a deterrent to repeating this offensive conduct.”

Mr. Braun, even if you burn every single copy of this book known to exist, it isn’t going to deter people from creating similar content that will offend you.  Also, if this book is burn, then so should the bible.  After all, it’s racist and instills violence in its readers.  If one reads the Song of Solomon, it’s explicitly vulgar too.  Be careful what you wish for Mr. Braun.

According to the US DoD training manual, if you are protester in America, then you are a low-level terrorist.