Big Brother is NOT the Government, it’s CORPORATIONS

Yeah… it’s fixin’ to get POLITICAL — as in ALL UP IN YO’ BIZNISS!

Almost EVERYONE complains about Congress, but not everyone votes. Some don’t for religious reasons, some don’t because that RIGHT has been voided by the government, others just don’t give a shit because they say “no one listens to me, anyway,” and for the greatest part, they’re correct. With a Representative-to-People ratio of 1-to-766,000, there’s no question — you’re NOT being heard, and they don’t care… or else ongoing & necessary would’ve happened long ago.

BUT!

There IS a group(s) who ARE listening to & watching you… all WITHOUT your knowledge.

You could call them “Big Brother,” but it’s NOT the government… it’s private enterprise — corporations not only in America, but worldwide.

Yeah.

You see,

Our “Privacy” Policy

Policy is NOT law.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, defines policy as:

1. A plan or course of action, as of a government, political party, or business, intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters: American foreign policy; the company’s personnel policy.
2. a. A course of action, guiding principle, or procedure considered expedient, prudent, or advantageous: Honesty is the best policy.
b. Prudence, shrewdness, or sagacity in practical matters: It is never good policy to speak rashly.

Policy can change at any time, for any reason. It is not set in stone.

Furthermore, policy is not legally binding, nor is it a promise, and can be violated at any time, for any reason whatsoever, even by the one that establishes “policy.” A company does NOT have to abide by their “policy.”

Companies that have so-called “Privacy” policies are simply pulling your leg. They’re buffaloing you, pulling the wool over your eyes, fooling you, into believing that they actually “care” (give a rat’s ass) about you.

They do not.

To them, you’re nothing but a sales tool, to be exploited, bought, sold, and traded on the open market — a means to an end, that end being increasing their bank account.

Seriously.

Now, think about it for just one moment: Why, or what possible legitimate business reason, would ANY company have to “respect” your “privacy,” unless they had an ulterior motive (or policy) to violate it to begin with?

That’s like a couple going out on a first date, and one says to the other, “I don’t kiss on the first date,” while the other says, “That’s okay… I don’t mind. But I fuck on the first date,” and then proceeds to rape the one — but doesn’t kiss.

So to the other’s way of thinking, the one’s “policy” of not kissing was upheld.

That’s what a so-called “privacy” policy is like to businesses.

It’s like going into a dressing room, changing clothes, and admiring yourself in the mirror, only to find out later that it was a “one-way mirror,” and that you were not only being watched the entire time, but being recorded, as well — AND, that the video was sold — all without your knowledge, or consent.

How about THEM apples, eh?

Yeah.

THAT is what’s going on.

Why?

Because Congress has NOT given Americans any online privacy protection laws like the European Union has.

Or Japan.

The Fourth Amendment of our Constitution states, verbatim:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated,
and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be searched,
and the persons or things to be seized.

That amendment is NOT limited to the government, because

Ted Cruz, Jack Dorsey, Twitter, and Free Speech

GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz, member of the Senate Commerce Committee, moments before he screamed at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey via remote hearing about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Once again, Ted Cruz turns in a great performance, and quite possibly may be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for the same.

A reminder:
While he was in high school, Ted’s parents talked him out of moving to California to pursue an acting career. So he said in a November 2013 interview with the Boston Globe.

But yesterday, the Asshole from Texas, aka Republican Senator Ted Cruz, made an ass out of himself.

No surprise there, eh?

Nobody likes Cruz. Recall that in 2016, former Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner (OH-8) called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” Additional diatribes against Cruz may be found at the conclusion of this article.

Ted WILL make a run for the Presidency again, so he’s just posturing. After all, it IS election season, and even though he’s not on an election ticket, per se, he is on the ticket. And just 2 years ago (2018), Cruz just barely escaped being replaced by Democratic challenger Representative Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) – 50.9% to 48.3% of 8,371,655 ballots cast.

In fact, the entire GOP slate is on the ticket nationwide this year. And so far, it’s not looking good. It didn’t look good yesterday, either. The “optics” aren’t good, goes the saying about political appearances.

But more to the point…

The Senate Commerce Committee conducted a Full Committee Hearing on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 10:00 a.m. which was entitled, “Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?”

What is Section 230?

In short, Jeff Kossett describes it as the “26 words that created the Internet.”

Who is Jeff Kossett?

Jeff Kossett is Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is one of the nation’s foremost experts on Section 230. Regarding the law, he said, “Section 230 set the legal framework for the Internet that we know today that relies heavily on user content rather than content that companies create. Without Section 230, companies would not be willing to take so many risks.”

The law, written in 1996, modified the 1996 Communications Decency Act, is short, sweet, and to the point.

Section 230(c)(1) reads:

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

But this hearing was pure grandstanding from the get-go.

Why?

Senators

Free Television

A “rabbit ears” television antenna sat atop television sets to receive television broadcast signals.

Would you pay to watch advertising?

If you have cable teevee, or satellite service, you do.

I dare say most folks are unaware that television signals still come over the airwaves – even digital ones – can STILL be received with

What If I Told You…

That Google knows where stuff is in your house?

Too far fetched?

Not really.

If you have a “Roomba” brand robot vacuum cleaner device, The Great G knows your house layout.

Seriously.

Danger, Will Robinson… DANGER! Big Brother IS Watching -and- Listening!

Feeling paranoid?

Not to worry.

You just think you are.

But it’s true.

YOU’RE BEING WATCHED.

-and-

Did you know?

Even the direction-finding app Waze is owned by Google.

The G will eat your babies.

The G has already eaten your lunch.

And G, you didn’t even know it.

The G is Google.

So, here’s the deal: You THINK you’re searching for something and the search will return UNBIASED results… right?

WRONG!

From Forbes, Mar 5, 2012, 12:34pm: “Google will track what you search for in its search engine facility and then use that intelligence to its advantage.”

But we can go back even further to see where “You’re not the customer; you’re the product.”

In 1973 the artists Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman broadcast a short video titled “Television Delivers People.” An anodyne soundtrack played while sentences in white text on a blue background slowly scrolled upward. The messages displayed thematically matched the saying under exploration. Emphases were added to the excerpt by Quote Investigator: ¹”

Commercial television delivers 20 million people a minute.
In commercial broadcasting
the viewer pays for the privilege of having himself sold.
It is the consumer who is consumed.
You are the product of t.v.
You are delivered to the advertiser who is the customer.
He consumes you.
The viewer is not responsible for programming——
You are the end product.

If you think that anything has changed, you’re WRONG AGAIN.

This time, it’s Google.

And not only is there online Google, there’s now the danger of Amazon’s Alexa listening device, which increasingly is being found to be not only INSECURE, but invasive.

Truly…

BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING!

Look, I’m not now, nor have I ever been one to be conspiracy-minded, nor any kind of fear-monger. But THIS is not surreptitious, this is BLATANT! Echo/Alexa, Siri, Cortana and Google’s Home Assistant are ALL privacy invaders! Those so-called “smart speakers” are ALWAYS LISTENING! They’re snoops! Blatant eavesdroppers! And the tragic irony is, folks freely give up their privacy to have that “shiny new thing.”

Okay, perhaps you don’t have that “shiny new thing,” and if you don’t, GOOD FOR YOU! But

Trump is President. What could possibly go wrong? Could the Electrical Power Grid go down? Ask NIST.

If the GOP and POTUS have their way, your cell phone GPS, cell phone clock, Internet clock, atomic clock, communication satellites, and countless other devices reliant upon accurate timekeeping which are not even owned by you could go awry. Even our power grid could suffer.

Why?

First, some background.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has for many years operated our national Atomic Clock. In fact, in 2014 they “launched a new atomic clock, called NIST-F2, to serve as a new U.S. civilian time and frequency standard, along with the current NIST-F1 standard.”

According to the NIST’s news item,

Why Alabama Can’t Have Nice Things, Including Internet Service

Why Can’t Alabama Have Nice Things?
-or-
Why FCC’s Net Neutrality Repeal Could Be Good For Alabama’s Economy

Already, following quickly on the heels of GOP FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s (a former corporate lawyer for Verizon) Net Neutrality repeal, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) such as Comcast, Cox Communications, and Frontier Communications have announced increased costs starting January. see: https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/12/19/comcast-cox-frontier-net-neutrality/

<sarcasm>I suppose the “savings” regular families get from the GOP’s Tax Scam bill will offset any additional costs.</sarcasm>

Now, here’s the (easy to understand) “deal”:

Those firms want to increase sales, and by extension, increase profits. Not merely margins. In order to do that, one must TRULY compete on a “level playing field.”

But, let’s consider another thought, that being of service. There are, even now, many areas in our nation WITHOUT ISP, or options. It’s VERY “close to home.”

For example, I can drive 30-45 minutes and be in a VERY remote area… which, until this point, had NO ISP, save for satellite service. At my urging, relatives, whose example I am referencing, began to collaborate with their neighbors to get ISP to “lay line” to their, and others’ residences.

They (area residents) were already paying for a service (satellite ISP) which quality was poor, unreliable, and costly. The “wire line” ISP (falsely) claimed that to extend service to that area (even though it was already nearby – at the road), would not be “profitable.” I demurred, urged and encouraged them ALL THE MORE to

Yellow Journalism Is Alive & Well

Recently, numerous off-kilter, slanted “yellow journalism” Internet-based outlets parading under guise as “conservative,” “right-wing,” or GOP-sympathizers (TRANSLATE: Fake News generating trolls) have trumpeted a regularly mandated HUD OIG report which they deceitfully and improperly credit to some specially unique directive or missive issued, given, or ordered by new HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, MD.

Problem Number 1, is that Carson didn’t do any such thing. HUD OIG reports are – as stated above – regularly mandated.

In their false, purposely misleading, and deliberately deceptive reports, they boldly claim that in the brief time he’s been Secretary (<90 days), that Carson ordered an audit, which audit was completed, and which audit “found” money that was due to “bookkeeping errors.”

Problem Number 2, is that audits are not performed in <90 days. And in some cases, audits of multi-billion-dollar agencies, companies, or organizations are not performed within 6 months, because they cannot be performed wholly, fully, completely, reliably, or accurately in such a short time frame.

The only part of those salacious and deliberately fraudulent claims made by such pernicious “Trolls” and malignant “Fake News” writers that is even remotely close to truth, is that there was a report made by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) upon the accounting given by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The rest of their specious assertions are total lies and yes, utter bullshit.

Problem Number 3, the liars and prevaricators who churn out such garbage take you, and other readers, to be fools, because they prey upon your, and others’ ignorance. And just like the snake oil salesmen, miracle-cure peddlers, sideshow hucksters & barkers that they are, they only want to make a fast buck on “click-through” Internet visits, and so, they write stories that are accurately called “click bait.” That’s because they’re fishing for you!

Let’s face it – there is not any one person who knows everything about anything, or everything. So in essence, we’re all ignorant about something. That’s exactly why it’s important to rely upon TIME-HONORED TRUSTED SOURCES who back up their reports with direct quotes, and links to original sources. And ~THAT!~, my dear reader, is precisely why I supply links to validate, and verify about what I write… so that YOU may check my work. And I fully encourage you to do so!

Moving along…

Overall, this report is ~not~ something of which to be ashamed, per se, inasmuch as it demonstrates

Criticizing Stephen Hawking

Renown astrophysicist Stephen Hawking appeared on the Larry King Now show June 2016, and was interviewed by the esteemed long-time journalist.

In the interview, among the comments Hawking made was that “We certainly have not become less greedy or less stupid. The population has grown by half a billion since our last meeting, with no end in sight. At this rate, it will be eleven billion by 2100.”

News of the interview was covered by USA Today, and subsequently by The Intellectualist website, both which focused upon Professor Hawking‘s remark as referenced above.

This is worth noting:
The article quoted Hawking as saying,

What Underutilized Renewable Alabama Resource Could Catapult The State Economically?

Soon, the Alabama state legislature will reconvene, and soon enough, they will – once again – be faced with enormous fiscal shortfalls.

And, once again as well, the Republican super-dominated Alabama state legislature will be reticent, reluctant, and recalcitrant to raise taxes… except upon those least capable of paying them. I refer, of course, to the impoverished, which – according to the United States Census Bureau – comprise nearly 20% of Alabama’s population. And with a population estimated at 4,849,377, that’s 901, 984 people, who annually, according to the research,

Google Announces $600,000,000 Data Center Investment in Jackson County, Alabama

This is THE biggest news for Alabama since development of NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville!

JACKPOT!
Google Announces $600,000,000 data center investment in Jackson County, AL
https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/jackson-county/

100% powered by Renewable Energy
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-power-plant-for-internet-our-newest.html

A power plant for the Internet: our newest data center in Alabama

Posted: Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Every time you check your Gmail, search on Google for a nearby restaurant, or watch a YouTube video, a server whirs to life in one of our data centers. Data centers are the engines of the Internet, bringing the power of the web to millions of people around the world. And as millions more people come online, our data centers are growing, too.

We’ve recently expanded our data centers in Iowa, Georgia, Singapore and Belgium. And today we’re announcing a new data center in Alabama—our 14th site globally.

This time, we’re doing something we’ve never done before: we’ll be building on the grounds of the Widows Creek coal power plant in Jackson County, which has been scheduled for shutdown. Data centers need a lot of infrastructure to run 24/7, and there’s a lot of potential in redeveloping large industrial sites like former coal power plants. Decades of investment shouldn’t go to waste just because a site has closed; we can repurpose existing electric and other infrastructure to make sure our data centers are reliably serving our users around the world.

TVA Widow’s Creek fossil plant will be the site for Google’s 14th, and newest Data Center, and represents a $600,000,000 investment in Alabama.

At Widows Creek, we can use the plants’ many electric transmission lines to bring in lots of renewable energy to power our new data center. Thanks to an arrangement with Tennessee Valley Authority, our electric utility, we’ll be able to scout new renewable energy projects and work with TVA to bring the power onto their electrical grid. Ultimately, this contributes to our goal of being powered by 100% renewable energy.

In 2010, we were one of the first companies outside of the utility industry to

How many NSA agents does it take to screw in a light bulb?

How many NSA agents does it take to screw in a light bulb?

The reader will take note of the following:
The Federal agencies involved – ICE & HSI – discovered a violation of law secondary to another investigation.
“Law enforcement authorities discovered Smiths’ email… during an investigation into the individual in the other state.”

—

News Releases

August 15, 2013
Orlando, FL

Volusia County man pleads guilty to child pornography charges

ORLANDO, Fla. — A Port Orange man pleaded guilty Tuesday to distribution of child pornography and possession of child pornography. The guilty plea resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) with assistance from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

According to court documents, on July 31, 2012, Tyler Andrew Smith, 23, sent an email

Hi WordPress! What’s up with all the SPAM?

Used to, the good folks at WordPress had fantastic SPAM catchers.

Nowadays, it very much seems like they’re falling down on the job.

Too much SPAM!

Check out the latest offings.

More to follow below…

President Barack Obama to visit Chattanooga, Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Chattanooga is an old, old, old, old city.

It’s older than Civil War old.

Throughout the city there are narrow streets, many (if not most) of which need widening and repaving. Interstate 24, which leads into the city, is in sore need of widening. Because of the twisting, winding route it takes as it leads into, through and around the city and it’s numerous mountains and hills, it can be treacherous. When any slowdown for any reason occurs, traffic can be backed up for 15-20 miles, or more. When wrecks occur on that route, they’re often fatal, and create even longer delays. The only other major route into the city is US Highway 72. There is no bypass. If there are problems on either of those two routes, significant delays can take hours. (See a Google Map of the area.)

It has a university – University of Tennessee, Chattanooga – with other smaller colleges & universities nearby (Lee University, in Cleveland & Southern Adventist University, in Collegedale). One of three hospitals in the area (each which has numerous campuses) Erlanger, is a Level One Trauma Center, and teaching hospital for the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Memorial Hospital, is part of the Catholic Health Initiatives system, and is a teaching hospital, while Parkridge Hospital is operated by TriStar Health.

Because of industrial waste released by area manufacturing, in 1969, Chattanooga had the filthiest air in the nation. The Tennessee River which serves as a boundary for the area was equally polluted. For many years, troubles GALORE plagued the city, including economic inequality, poor race relations, deteriorating economic infrastructure, rapid population decline, and departure of industry.

Recognizing that the city and area residents were suffering a slow suicide, officials and interested citizens embarked upon a plan to revitalize the area, including cleaning up industrial waste, reinvigorating the economy with employment opportunity, and looking forward, rather than backward.

EPB (Electric Power Board), one of the public utilities in the area, came upon an idea to infuse their power grid with Fiber Optic cable to enable better response times, to pinpoint areas of concern, and to re-route electricity during power outages when lines were downed by trees or severe weather. They faced stiff opposition in the form of legal fights by Comcast (principally), yet were successful in overcoming. In turn, they sold High Speed fiber optic Internet Connectivity to area residents at a significantly reduced cost in comparison to the Wall-Street-traded Comcast. They also provide better service.

While the area’s renaissance is by no means complete, it has advanced with enormously significant strides.

—
 

Obama to visit uneven Chattanooga area recovery

published Saturday, July 27th, 2013

Mike Pare, Deputy Business Editor, Chattanooga Times Free Press; MPare@ TimesFreePress.com phone: (423) 757-6318

by Mike Pare
view bio

When President Barack Obama flies into Chattanooga on Tuesday to tout new economic initiatives, he’ll see a city recognized in a national study as a metro area emerging from the recession as an “economic frontrunner.”

Area Development, a national business magazine covering site selection and relocation, ranked metro Chattanooga at No. 86 — in the top quarter — among 380 metro areas examined for the study titled “Leading Locations for 2013.”

While in Chattanooga Obama is expected to unveil new ways to spur the nation’s sluggish economic recovery.

At the Amazon distribution center at Enterprise South industrial park, the president will see a growing, state-of-the-art distribution facility with 1,800 full-time jobs created since 2011. The Chattanooga facility, along with

Here’s your Friday Funny!

Can you guess why this is funny?

Hint: You MUST view the page.

And just so you’ll be reassured to know, it is NOT pornographic.

How birds lost their penises – LATimes.com

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer gives new iPhone 5 to all Yahoo! employees & pays their cell phone bills

In reality, she offered a choice from among 6 smartphones.

She is also also going to pay its employees data and phone bills.

—

Marissa Mayer Just Gave Every Yahoo Employee An iPhone 5

Nicholas Carlson | Sep. 15, 2012, 11:32 PM
New Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer just sent an email to all of Yahoo’s full time and part time employees in the US, promising them a new Apple, Samsung, Nokia, or HTC smartphone.

Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer with Michael Arrington founder and former co-editor of TechCrunch at TechCrunch Disrupt September 14, 2011. Photo by Kevin Krejci

“People are happy,” says a source at the company.

A couple weeks ago, we reported that new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer was considering giving every Yahoo employee a new iPhone or Android smartphone.

Mayer has now put that plan into motion through a program Yahoo is calling “Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun!”

We learned about this plan from an internal memo, which we received from one source and confirmed with another.

Through the program, Yahoo employees will have a choice of phones: iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, HTC EVO 4G LTE, or Nokia Lumia 920.

Yahoo is also going to

More evidence that Government $pending boo$t$ economy

Recollect the brouhaha over Vice President Joe Biden‘s remark Thursday, July 16, 2009 in Alexandria, Virginia?

He was speaking at an AARP-sponsored town hall meeting also attended by AARP CEO A. Barry Rand, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Nancy Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform.

Vice President Biden said, “Now people, when I say that, look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’ The answer is ‘yes,’ that’s what I’m telling you.”

{ref: http://cnsnews.com/node/51162}

“And folks look, AARP knows – and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know – that the status quo is simply not acceptable. Its totally unacceptable. And its completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially, Were going to go bankrupt as a nation. Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?’ The answer is ‘yes,’ I’m telling you.”

Of course, Vice President Biden was speaking in context of the Affordable Care Act – also commonly known as “ObamaCare” – which the Government Accountability Office has shown has already demonstrated significant cost savings and proven to be business-stimulating legislation, and that to eliminate it’s protections would cost the federal government even more in the long-term.

Analogously, it’d be like having a fuel inefficient automobile – one that only got about 5 miles/gallon, or less. If you were to purchase even a used vehicle with twice the fuel economy – 10mpg – you could realize significant overall long-term savings. Simply ceasing driving will not solve any problem, but would rather create more problems.

Similarly, could you imagine having an inefficient Heating/Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) system? You gotta’ stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter – there’s no way around it. And to lower your average monthly utility bills by even 1/3 would be beneficial.

So, here’s a shocker for armchair philosophers, political pundits, amateur economists, Radical Republicans, TEA Party types and more: Government spending – in part – is a significant driver of our nation’s economy. And, spending on economic infrastructure is ALWAYS a most wise investment.

Why?

Because 1.) Materials and Manpower ALWAYS come from the PRIVATE SECTOR, and;

Yahoo! Marissa Mayer, employee #20 at Google, to be new Yahoo! CEO

Congratulations to both!

Now, perhaps Yahoo! can move ahead.

Here’s hoping!

—

July 16, 2012, 4:00 pm

Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and EVELYN M. RUSLI

Marissa Mayer, New CEO of Yahoo!

Marissa Mayer, one of the top executives at Google, will be the next C.E.O. of Yahoo, making her one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley and corporate America.

The appointment of Ms. Mayer, who was employee No. 20 at Google and was one of the few public faces of the company, is considered a surprising coup for Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years to attract top flight talent in its battle with competitors like Google and Facebook.

Ms. Mayer, 37, had for years been responsible for the look and feel of Google’s most popular products: the famously unadorned white search homepage, Gmail, Google News and Google Images. More recently, Ms. Mayer, an engineer by training whose first job at Google included computer programming, was put in charge of the company’s location and local services, including Google Maps, overseeing more than 1,000 product managers. She also sat on Google’s operating committee, part of a small circle of senior executives who had the ear of Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

With her appointment as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, Ms. Mayer joins a short list of women in Silicon Valley to hold the top spot. The elite club includes

Digital divide? What digital divide? We don’t need no stinking “digital divide”!

“Digital divide?”

What “digital divide”?

We don’t need no steenking “digital divide”!

Funny, ironic, and true.

Haves, meet Have-Nots.

—

How the digital divide developed in New Orleans & what that means for the future of news there

by Tracie Powell Published July 5, 2012 4:00 pm Updated July 5, 2012 7:03 pm

Come September when changes at The Times-Picayune take effect, not only will New Orleans become the largest city without a daily newspaper, its residents will likely become some of the most disconnected in the country.

New Orleans lags behind the rest of the U.S. when it comes to broadband Internet service connections, according to an investigative report produced by the nonprofit journalism organization The Lens in conjunction with the Center for Public Integrity and the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University. About half of Louisianans subscribe to broadband services while the national average is 60 percent. Those who do subscribe to broadband Internet service tend to be white and in higher income brackets, the report shows.

Only 43 percent of Americans who make less than $25,000 a year have home Internet access, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce study. “It’s clear that, in the midst of moving toward digital news, many people still need access to information that doesn’t require a computer,” Jesse Hardman writes in the Columbia Journalism Review.

This is especially true in New Orleans, where half the residents make less than $35,000 a year and The Times-Picayune will emphasize digital products, Hardman states. The concern should not be about a business decision, “but on how the citizens of New Orleans are going to get important information if they are not online,” he writes.

Poorer, more African American areas of New Orleans, such as the Lower 9th Ward, have broadband subscription rates between 0 and 40 percent while those living in more rural parts of the area account for subscription rates between 0 and 20 percent, Matt Davis writes in The Lens.

It’s harder to profit from the investment in broadband infrastructure in rural areas where fewer residents live further apart. Among poorer residents, broadband – and even newspaper subscriptions – tend to be luxuries for job seekers or people who are still trying to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina nearly seven years ago. The Picayune’s decision to print only three days a week means fewer newspapers will get passed around local barber shops, beauty salons, cafes and convenience stores — places where many people who don’t have broadband access at home often go to exchange information about what’s happening in their neighborhoods.

At the same time, private business executives and public officials seem to be in denial. They aren’t planning for a diminished newspaper presence and are holding out hope that a hero will swoop in and buy The Times-Picayune, even though the paper isn’t for sale. They also continue to support policies that favor the telecom industry rather than working to make broadband more affordable.

The other primary sources of information for poorer residents, television and radio, will have to step up their game to fill in the gap once the Picayune ceases daily publication, media observers say.

Why the Digital Divide

New Orleans is one of the most digitally divided cities in the country. The Lens’ report contains

FaceBook jokes aside, are there GENUINE dangers in Social Media?

Slowly, but surely, there is a resounding “YES!” which is beginning to reverberate throughout the nation, in response to that question.

Recently, news reports have emerged that FaceBook‘s lawyers are seeking a way around the “Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998.” Mr. Zuckerberg’s opposition to COPPA is well-known. In a May 2011 interview with CNNMoney writer Michal Lev-Ram, when asked how he would deal with COPPA, said “Because of the restrictions we haven’t even begun this learning process. If they’re lifted then we’d start to learn what works. That will be a fight we take on at some point.”

[Ed. note: The COPPA may be read here: http://www.ftc.gov/ogc/coppa1.htm]

That federal law, in essence, forbade (that is, made illegal) any effort by an online entity from collecting personally identifying information from children.

And, true to form, there will doubtlessly be laws enacted, and court cases decided that deal with issues of commerce, privacy, First Amendment rights, and other certain freedoms that we as people freely exercise.

Doubtless as well, those pushing the limits will be corporations – those “artificial” persons, which – according to the United States Supreme Court – also have the EXACT SAME RIGHTS as any real person.

And then again, there’ll be the TEA Party/Republican radicals that scream “too much government, too much regulation, smaller government, less regulation – let the free market decide!”

In essence, not only have you already become a commodity that is bought, sold & traded (think “slavery” – yes, I’m dead serious), but you will soon no longer have any rights to control the invasive eavesdropping/electronic surveillance/stalking that the companies perform against you while you peruse their websites or use their software. Suffice it to say, the information they collect about you is not yours, but rather theirs.

And just so you’ll be aware, this FaceBook problem is not exclusively limited to the United States.

Before closing this commentary, I’d like to let readers know that there are several good browser add-ons that assist privacy efforts. Among them are “HTTPS Everywhere” – by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and “DNT+” – by Abine. Of course, Aurora by Mozilla/Firefox is a more secure browser than either Microsoft Internet Explorer, or Apple’s Safari.

I encourage you to also read the Consumer Reports article on FaceBook privacy which follows this item.

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ADDENDUM Tuesday, 26 November 2013:

F.B. (Fluff Busting) Purity (FBPurity.com) is an anti-spam, browser extension / add-on that lets you clean up and customize Facebook. It filters out the junk you don’t want to see, leaving behind the stories and page elements you do wish to see. The list of story types that FBP hides is customizable to your taste. It alters your view of Facebook to show only relevant information to you. It removes annoying and irrelevant stories from your newsfeed such as game and application spam, ads and sponsored stories. It also hides the boxes you don’t want to see on each side of the newsfeed.

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Wising Up to Facebook

June 10, 2012, By BILL KELLER

WHAT’S the difference, I asked a tech-writer friend, between the billionaire media mogul Mark Zuckerberg and the billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch?

When Rupert invades your privacy, my friend e-mailed back, it’s against the law. When Mark does, it’s the future.

There is truth in that riposte: we deplore the violations exposed in the phone-hacking scandal at Murdoch’s British tabloids, while we surrender our privacy on a far grander scale to Facebook and call it “community.” Our love of Facebook has been a submissive love.

But now, not so much. In recent weeks it seems the world has begun to turn a jaundiced eye on this global megaplatform. While that may not please Facebook’s executives, it is a good thing for the rest of us — and maybe for the future of social media, too.

The recent history of the Facebook phenomenon has been a serial bursting of illusions.

Most conspicuously, there was the

Sure, money is power. But, is it also liberty and freedom? Or, is it a tool?

As Bob Dylan sang some years ago, “The times, they are a-changin’.” Our laws should reflect those changes while adhering to the values ensconced in our Constitution. In essence, the argument is about freedom – freedom from the large corporations that supply “content” via the Internet. As well, openness and honesty – popularly termed as transparency – should be the hallmark of all dealings, by government and enterprise.

In short, what we’re encountering in this age, in this era, is an almost unprecedented and wholesale onslaught of money and the power that comes with it. It is, in essence, a corrupting influence. It is, in essence, a type of bribery – and bribery is itself, a form of theft. Bribery is a form of theft because it takes away, removes, or forbids resources from going where they ought, or rightfully should. In this case, it robs freedom from the people. Not only does it usurp their decision-making capacity, it is a blatant announcement and condemnation of freedom, because it says that the rich, the wealthy have freedom, while the poor and disenfranchised have none.

If – as the Supreme Court has declared – money is the equivalent of free speech, and neither cannot, nor should not be limited, what freedom does the poor man have? Again, if money is equated with free speech (that is, our First Amendment rights), the poor man has none. And that, my dear readers, is but one reason why such a ruling is not only ANTI-Constitutional, but is antithesis of freedom.

Making a further case, our nation’s specie – that is, the currency and coinage – is the property of the United States government. It is NOT private property. Money is a thing used to represent something else. So again, I ask rhetorically… in such instances, and in this case, what does it represent?
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Google Says “It’s Our Web”–and they bought it fair and square

April 23, 2012 Chris Castle

Who can forget then-candidate Ronald Reagan’s classic line at the 1980 New Hampshire candidate’s debate:  “I’m paying for this microphone!”  And Google probably is wishing that whichever Ivy League idiot thought of rebranding their anti-SOPA campaign site with the double entendre “It’s Our Web” had not been quite so…uh..transparent…about it all.

President Obama had dinner with technology moguls February 17, 2011 in California’s “Silicon Valley” at the home of John Doerr, venture capitalist and partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, in Woodside, California. Flanking the president are (L) the late Steve Jobs, Founder/CEO of Apple Computer, and (R) Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of FaceBook. Also present are:Cisco CEO John Chambers, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. Art Levinson, chairman and former CEO of Genentech, is on the Apple board of directors, and was also present. White House press secretary Jay Carney said after the dinner President Obama exchanged ideas with the business leaders “so we can work as partners to promote growth and create good jobs in the United States,” and discussed research and development spending proposals with the CEOs. (Official White House photo by Pete Souza)

Because it certainly is “their web” and they bought it fair and square according to

Federal Investigators: Google obstructed justice in snooping case

To some, the decline was in full swing when the term “google” became a proper name, but when “Google” as a proper name (and therefore a noun) began to be used as a verb, as in “Google it,” when referring to an Internet-based search.

Is this not another case in point for strong regulation?

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Google fined by FCC for impeding Street View probe

By Hayley Tsukayama, Monday, April 16, 9:44 AM

The Federal Communications Commission has cleared Google of charges that it illegally collected WiFi data using its Street View cars, but fined the company $25,000 for obstructing the bureau’s investigation.

According to the FCC filing, the company has not been helping U.S. regulators look into the matter. “For many months, Google deliberately impeded and delayed the Bureau’s investigation by

Amazon.com STILL selling Pedophile’s e-books

Image via CrunchBase

Under sudden and intense public scrutiny for once again selling a pedophile how-to book, Seattle based Internet mega-retailer Amazon.com pulled Phillip R. Greaves’ “The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child Lover’s Code of Conduct” [Kindle Edition], yet continues to sell the 47-year-old Pueblo, CO man’s other sex books.

We promised to pay your retirement pension, but now, we won’t. Sosumi… you bastards!

For those “in the know,” “Sosumi” is the name of a computer sound which Apple Computer of Cupertino, CA created and has used for quite some time.

I love Apple Computer, well, not genuinely “love,” but have always believed them to be the best – bar none – computer operating system, superior in every way to Microsoft’s Windows OS. Folks used to say, “Oh, the Mac is good for graphics,” and other such nonsense, even when the Mac OS was in v7.x.

Today, I ask folks, “What’s the Internet all about?” Graphics, graphics, graphics, and media, media, media.

And still, some folks continue to use the infection-prone Windows. Oh well. Some folks never learn.

On to Sosumi.

If you’ve ever heard of the “Beatles,” (and who hasn’t?) you should be aware that

“I am a Blue Dog Democrat. I must align myself with the Republican Party.”

“I am a Blue Dog Democrat. I must align myself with the Republican Party.” – Parker Griffith, M.D., Representative, Alabama 5th congressional district

By now, the news of Alabama Congressional Representative Parker Griffith’s decision to divorce himself from the party that elected him and adulterate with Republicans, is all over the Internet. Doubtless, it will be mentioned on teevee talk shows, and their even more mindless radio counterparts. The Tennessee Valley is definitely abuzz with the news.

But, it will be in passing.

That’s “passing, ” as in “passing gas,” or “passing stool.”

And that’s exactly what it is – Parker Griffith’s passing.

He will pass from this life, into political oblivion. Having made his move, he has damaged the 5th Congressional District and effectively put a knife into the aorta – the main blood vessel – of everything in the district for which he previously worked, including most notably, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.

The local newspaper in the seat of his district,

The Banking Industry + Internet Social Networking

 

"Um, no... the other cabal of social retards."

 

“Um, no… the other cabal of social retards.”