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Comment Re:Why civil? (Score 5, Informative) 606

I met the Bakers around 2002 at a neighborhood party and heard this story. At that time, Goldman's excuse was "L&H lied to us." However, given that a couple Wall Street Journal reporters exposed the fraud mostly by making some phone calls, it was clear that Goldman had done little work. I wish the Bakers the best of luck.

Comment Thoughtful paper on why privacy is important (Score 3, Informative) 312

by dalosla (#40329353) Attached to: Online Activities To Be Recorded By UK ISPs
A paper on privacy and why "monitoring is no problem because only criminals have something to hide" is a poor justification. If you compare the benefits of monitoring for the good of society against the usually slight or non-existant damage to an individual from being monitored, society always wins out. However, privacy is not just monitoring. What affect does it have on society when everyone is aware that there are large databases of information about your life and people will use to make decisions about you, but you can't know what is in it, you have no means of making sure it is correct, and you don't know who is using it and for what purposes? There is much more to it than this, and the paper is worth reading for a deeper view on privacy issues.

Comment git-annex assistant on Kickstarter (Score 1) 239

by dalosla (#40213189) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Syncing Files With Remote Server While On the Road?
I don't want to start a kickstarter debate, but the author of git-annex has a project on kickstarter to add functionality. Quoting a little bit of the initial proposal:

The first step will be to make git-annex watch for changes to your files, check them into git, and automatically sync them to your other repositories. I have a prototype of this using Linux's inotify. It will be extended to also support Mac OS X.

Then I will build a web app that can be used to control and configure things. Watch files as they upload and download, set priorities, etc. No command line needed. I plan to use Haskell's amazing Yesod web framework.

Finally, I will add configuration assistants to help you get the most out of the system. Easily set up syncing to remote computers, store encrypted copies of your data in Amazon S3 or other cloud services, automate moving old files to archival drives. There are many possibilities like these, and I will prioritize the ones my backers need.

I'll spend around one month on each of these steps. Then I'll spend another month or two on an Android port, and additional time I'm funded for to add more features. I'll be blogging about my progress all along the way, and each new feature will immediately be available in git-annex's own git repository.

If he gets another $3500 in funding in the next 6 days, he even promises to spend a least 1 month trying to create a Windows port.

Submission + - Fire retardants: ineffective, possibly dangerous, pushed by Big Tobacco (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by dalosla
dalosla writes: The Chicago Tribune has a 4 part series on flame retardants in furniture. Their widespread use started when tobacco companies pushed the use of flame retardants to divert pressure from developing a safer cigarette, one less prone to starting fires. They secretly funded organizations that would support their goals, and one of their consultants helped create the National Association of State Fire Marshals. He influenced the organization's agenda while hiding his connections to the tobacco industry. These days, chemical companies that sell flame retardants have taken over the roll of advocating continued use flame retardants. However, flame retardants in furniture foam don't stop fires the real world, where upholstery readily ignites, and they might contribute to serious health problems. This appears to be yet another case of corporations secretly and not so secretly bending public policy to support themselves, even if it is to the detriment of the general public.

Part 1 came out Monday, and part 2 came out today, so stay tuned for the rest. It seems like every week the Tribune has a new front-page story on some political or corporate outrage. Too bad they have so much material to choose from. It makes me appreciate once again the roll of an independent press. Support your local investigative reporter!

Submission + - Astroturfing for Speed Cameras (chicagotribune.com)

Submitted by dalosla
dalosla writes: Chicago's mayor is pushing to change red light cameras near schools and parks into speed cameras. Just about everybody sees it as a cash grab by the city. Today's Chicago Tribune has an article about how the expanded speed camera program would benefit Redflex, the company that Greg Goldner, one of the mayor's long time political supporters lobbies for. This is of merely local interest, but of wider interest in the article would be information about Goldner's astroturfing for Redflex around the country. Redflex is the sole financial supporter for the Traffic Safety Coalition, a "grassroots" organization to promote more traffic camera usage and fight any attempts to restrict such cameras. Goldner has already successfully facilitated the killing of one anti-camera ballot measure in Texas.

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