There’s a relatively new site called “www.ready.gov” that the Department of Homeland Security has set up to keep the American people informed on what they do and how the people should prepare themselves for terrorist onslaughts, natural disasters and war and stuff. As with most such government initiatives, I see a lot of problems. First [...]

Tonight: The London police chief tonight said the order to shoot stands firm and even though they regret the mistake, more people can expect to be shot.

“It’s still happening out there, there are still officers having to make those calls as we speak, he said, adding: “Somebody else could be shot.”

I can’t believe this. Is [...]

It’s time for all good law-abiding citizens with a darkish exterior and heavy clothing to go into hiding or peroxide themselves into a more non-threatening color. Or at least avoid public transport. Or being outdoors. It’s “shoot on sight” if you *look* like a terrorist. See the quote below from the Jerusalem Post.

Terrorists may talk to each other using mobile phones, just like any other people in this world. They may even use them, theoretically, to set off bombs from a distance. This has led governments to consider switching off mobile phone networks after terrorist attacks. In the same vein, allowing the use of mobile phones on [...]

I just read a letter to the editor by Richard Stallman in Communications of the ACM, May 2005, where he points out that whatever the privacy policy of a website, the USA PATRIOT act (or USA PAT RIOT act as he calls it) allows collection by law enforcement of any private information without a warrant. [...]

I just read an article in IEEE Computer, June 2005, called “Security Technologies Go Phishing”. It’s about new ways of stopping phishing attacks. Among other things, they present a system that lets a bank (for instance) have their users choose a picture from an album. That picture is then included in email that the bank [...]

Increasingly, computers are used to write pharmaceutical prescriptions and other medical documents. In most cases, the “signing” of these documents is a sad affair involving some simple checking of checkboxes and clicking of buttons. The application usually takes it from there, attesting to anyone willing to believe it that the logged on user (whoever that [...]