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Your Daily Posterous subscriptions May 27th, 2011 Skype goes down globally, investigation underway Posted about 23 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/26/skype-goes-down-globally-investigation-underway/ Sent to you via Google Reader Senators Reveal That Feds Have Secretly Reinterpreted The PATRIOT Act Posted about 21 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous   Senators Reveal That Feds Have Secretly Reinterpreted The PATRIOT Act via Techdirt by Mike Masnick on 5/26/11 We had mentioned, briefly, the amendment that Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall had tried to push for with relation to the renewal of controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act, however didn't spend much time discussing it. The details are important -- even if we can't know what most of them are. Basically, what becomes clear is that both Senators -- who are on the Senate Intelligence Committee -- are aware of the fact that the feds have interpreted the PATRIOT Act provisions much more broadly than the wording suggests, but they've kept this interpretation secret. In other words, though the law says one thing, the federal government has announced internally that it's "interpreting it" an entirely different way, but it's kept that interpretation secret. The speculation is that these provisions are being massively abused for widespread warrantless wiretapping.   In an interview with Wired, Wyden makes the point clear: “We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says." He notes that he has no problem with keeping the techniques the feds use secret, but the interpretation should be public, and that's what their amendment is about.   And it's not just the public that's having the wool pulled over their eyes. Wyden and Udall are pointing out that the very members of Congress, who are voting to extend these provisions, do not know how the feds are interpreting them: As members of the Senate Intelligence Committee we have been provided with the executive branch's classified interpretation of those provisions and can tell you that we believe there is a significant discrepancy between what most people - including many Members of Congress - think the Patriot Act allows the government to do and what government officials secretly believe the Patriot Act allows them to do.   Legal scholars, law professors, advocacy groups, and the Congressional Research Service have all written interpretations of the Patriot Act and Americans can read any of these interpretations and decide whether they support or agree with them. But by far the most important interpretation of what the law means is the official interpretation used by the U.S. government and this interpretation is - stunningly -classified.   What does this mean? It means that Congress and the public are prevented from having an informed, open debate on the Patriot Act because the official meaning of the law itself is secret. Most members of Congress have not even seen the secret legal interpretations that the executive branch is currently relying on and do not have any staff who are cleared to read them. Even if these members come down to the Intelligence Committee and read these interpretations themselves, they cannot openly debate them on the floor without violating classification rules. In the understatement of the year, Wyden and Udall state "this is not acceptable." I think it goes beyond unacceptable. It's downright scary. That Congress is about to rubberstamp the extension of the law when they think it says one thing, while the feds pretend it says something entirely different, is a travesty. Embedded media -- click here to see it.   Embedded media -- click here to see it.   Permalink | Comments | Email This Story   The 19 Senators Who Approve Breaking The Internet To Protect Hollywood Posted about 18 hours ago by joelpomales to joelpomales's posterous   The 19 Senators Who Approve Breaking The Internet To Protect Hollywood via Techdirt by Mike Masnick on 5/26/11 Last fall, we noted that the Senate Judiciary Committee had unanimously voted to approve COICA, a bill for censoring the internet as a favor to the entertainment industry. Thankfully, Senator Ron Wyden stepped up and blocked COICA from progressing. This year, COICA has been replaced by the PROTECT IP Act, which fixes some of the problems of COICA, but introduces significant other problems as well. A wide cross section of people who actually understand technology and innovation have come out against PROTECT IP as written -- including librarians, human rights groups, public interest groups (pdf) and various technology groups (pdf), including CEA, CCIA and NetCoalition. Most significantly, a group of internet/DNS specialists have made a strong case that this would break the internet in significant ways:     unanimously voted to move forward with PROTECT IP as is   PermalinkCommentsEmail This Story   The U.S. Government and private industry have identified Internet security and stability as a key part of a wider cyber security strategy, and if implemented, the DNS related provisions of PROTECT IP would weaken this important commitment. DNS filters would be evaded easily, and would likely prove ineffective at reducing online infringement. Further, widespread circumvention would threaten the security and stability of the global DNS. The DNS provisions would undermine the universality of domain names, which has been one of the key enablers of the innovation, economic growth, and improvements in communications and information access unleashed by the global Internet. Migration away from ISP-provided DNS servers would harm efforts that rely on DNS data to detect and mitigate security threats and improve network performance. Dependencies within the DNS would pose significant risk of collateral damage, with filtering of one domain potentially affecting users' ability to reach non-infringing Internet content. The site redirection envisioned in Section 3(d)(II)(A)(ii) is inconsistent with security extensions to the DNS that are known as DNSSEC. The U.S. Government and private industry have identified DNSSEC as a key part of a wider cyber security strategy, and many private, military, and governmental networks have invested in DNSSEC technologies. If implemented, this section of the PROTECT IP Act would weaken this important effort to improve Internet security. It would enshrine and institutionalize the very network manipulation that DNSSEC must fight in order to prevent cyberattacks and other malevolent behavior on the global Internet, thereby exposing networks and users to increased security and privacy risks. So, with the people who actually understand this stuff pointing out that PROTECT IP would break the internet and go against various stated important priorities for the internet, you would think that the Senate Judiciary Committee might hold off before moving forward with such a poorly thought out bill. But, you know, the Hollywood lobbyists want it. So, let's just ignore the people who actually understand this stuff and give Hollywood what they want. This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee . It seems only fair to once again name the Senators who just voted (with a voice vote) to break the internet. Here's your list of technologically ignorant lawmakers of the day: Patrick J. Leahy -- Vermont Herb Kohl -- Wisconsin Jeff Sessions -- Alabama Dianne Feinstein -- California Orrin G. Hatch -- Utah Russ Feingold -- Wisconsin Chuck Grassley -- Iowa Arlen Specter -- Pennsylvania Jon Kyl -- Arizona Chuck Schumer -- New York Lindsey Graham -- South Carolina Dick Durbin -- Illinois John Cornyn -- Texas Benjamin L. Cardin -- Maryland Tom Coburn -- Oklahoma Sheldon Whitehouse -- Rhode Island Amy Klobuchar -- Minnesota Al Franken -- Minnesota Chris Coons -- Delaware | | Swimming Amongst Thousands of Jellyfish Posted about 18 hours ago by clementine to ReflectionOf.Me 1 Sometimes nature can be more surreal than any fiction. Filmmaker Sarosh Jacob took this vivid video at Jellyfish Lake in the Republic of Palau.   "Twelve thousand years ago these jellyfish became trapped in a natural basin on the island when the ocean receded," Jacob explains. "With no predators amongst them for thousands of years, they evolved into a new species that lost most of their stinging ability as they no longer had to protect themselves.   "These fascinating creatures survive by sharing a symbiotic relationship with algae that live inside of them. At night, the jellyfish go down to the depths of the lake where the algae feed on nutrients. During the day, the jellyfish come back to the surface and follow the sun across the lake in a massive migration. The algae convert the energy of the sun via photosynthesis into a sugar that feeds the jellyfish."     Embedded media -- click here to see it. JELLYFISH LAKE, PALAU from Sarosh Jacob on Vimeo. Magnificent Volcanic Eruption in Grimsvotn, Iceland Posted about 18 hours ago by clementine to ReflectionOf.Me "It took us 90 minutes to fly to Grimsvotn with a strong wind against us," said filmmaker Jon Gustafsson a couple days ago. "The eruption looked magnificent in the sunset. Once we landed 5 miles away from the crater the cold glacier air hit us like a truck. We tried to work outside but I only lasted for a couple of minutes.   "Pilot Reynir Petursson also didn’t want to stay on the ground for too long since it was very windy and the ash fall was unpredictable. The light was also disappearing and he needs visual reference which is difficult on a white glacier. Once we got off the ground again we had to stay low because there were so many lightnings all around the eruption. Getting hit by a lightning in that strong wind, extreme frost and next to a live volcano was not desirable."     Embedded media -- click here to see it. Volcanic Eruption in Grimsvotn, Iceland May 21 2011 from Jon Gustafsson on Vimeo. Awesome! Canon 16M Posted about 18 hours ago by clementine to ReflectionOf.Me   See the full gallery on Posterous Safest USB Posted about 18 hours ago by clementine to ReflectionOf.Me Safest USB from dialog05. no access for unauthorized persons. 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