Circuit Writer Version 6.3
by Jim Scheef

As I sit down to begin writing, it is already one day past deadline and I haven’t even started writing Ask DACS either. My main delay so far has been the Sunday morning talk shows.

The Defense of Liberty

Have any of you been watching the BBC series The Last Enemy on PBS (channel 13 or 49) on Sunday evenings? The actual plot is far too complex to explain here, but it involves a massive database system called T.I.A. for Total Information Awareness (by coincidence, someone closer to home called their data mining database TIA after the public reacted poorly to the original name of Carnivore). Its backers hale it as the ultimate weapon against terrorism and common crime. Since this is a BBC production, the action takes place in London where there are already more surveillance cameras than possibly anywhere else on Earth. T.I.A. links all the surveillance video with facial recognition software, all the credit card databases, with all government records to provide a “nowhere to hide” means to find and track people, see with whom they associate, what they buy, whether they vote, where they travel, and more and more. All this has been made easier by the introduction of a national ID card that contains a chip with basic information. While the card is “optional”, it is virtually impossible to enter a government building or obtain medical services without one. Police carry a reader that verifies the card’s authenticity and displays the information on the chip. One of the characters is a minister of the government agency that sponsored the development of the database by a government contractor.

Naturally T.I.A. is being misused from the very beginning by people in government, and others outside the government already have unauthorized access. So far (Episode 3) we don’t know how that happens. From a technical standpoint the production is very, very good – none of those 100-point type messages that flash “searching…” or other hokey stuff going back to “War Games”. The resolution of satellite images are only a little better than the good parts of Google Earth. Perhaps the best (or scariest) part from a technical standpoint is that the technology is fairly well explained when that is appropriate to the story line. Most of the time, the system is used to develop the story line. T.I.A. is itself a character central to the plot.

The story is an eye opener, even for me, as it shows the potential for misuse of such a system better then I ever dreamed. While not even part of the plot, government backers of the system are shown using the system to identify people in crowds protesting against a law authorizing national implementation of the system. So much for the “I’ve got nothing to hide” people. Merely walking past such a protest could associate you with some “radical group”. Amazingly the American Experience (www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/presidents/) profile of Richard Nixon was on PBS the nite after the second episode. With surveillance cameras in every parking garage, think about how he could have used T.I.A!

You can catch up by watching the first three episodes online at www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/lastenemy/. The series ends the Sunday before Election Day. In his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in 1964, Barry Goldwater said, “I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!” I believe this statement was misunderstood then and now. If we give up our liberties in the name of security or just give them up because we aren’t paying attention, the terrorists have won. Be sure to vote on Election Day and even more important, know why you vote the way you do.

Tech Terms to Avoid

Several people pointed me to David Pogue’s latest email column (not the one printed in the NYT) about words often used by elitist technosnobs to impress the luddites or just obfuscate what they write. You can read it at tinyurl.com/6rzla3. I must admit that I use some of his terms when I write this column. For instance, I often rail against DRM (digital rights management). I agree with Pogue that this should be called what it is: copy protection. If I use technical jargon in this column, I want you to call me on it – give me a virtual slap on the wrist – and I’ll try to do better.

RFID Skimming

I had no idea there was a name for the act of surreptitiously reading RFID tags. No matter what you call it, it is now illegal in California. The law had the backing of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Gun Owners of California, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Citizens Against Government Waste, California State Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Republican Liberty Caucus, and the National Organization for Women (NOW). Is that a coalition, or what! Read the complete Information Week article at http://tinyurl.com/6axnu8. By the way, in The Last Enemy, the protagonist is “chipped” with RFID tags hidden in his clothes to make it easier for the government to track his whereabouts.

Fun Stuff – History of the PC

As the microprocessor marks its fourtieth anniversary, read this story (http://tinyurl.com/5mgxfc) in Computerworld about the true origins of the personal computer – in Texas, not Silicon Valley.

More Browser News

Are you tired of having malicious code in websites write bad stuff to your computer? Well, how about a browser that runs in a virtual environment? The “HP Firefox Virtual Browser” will somehow do just that. Initially to be available as part of something called the “HP Compaq dc7900 business desktop”, a new browser is news when it comes from Hewlett Packard, that largest computer maker (given market volatility, who knows if this is still true). Read all about it in eWeek at tinyurl.com/5spqst plus related stories.

Politics

I know you’re disappointed that I didn’t talk more about the election. Carefully consider what issues you care about most and then learn the positions of the various candidates on your issues. And do this for all the elections, not just the Presidential race. Did you know that we will vote on whether to convene a constitutional convention to amend or even rewrite our state constitution? Television advertising has already started about the issue. You might want to learn more than just what the “No” side puts on TV. Another ballot initiative would lower the voting age to seventeen. You might want to discuss this one with your teenager (or find one in your neighborhood) before you make up your mind.

As you can see from the version number, this begins my seventh year writing monthly for DACS. This column is available as a blog at circuitwriter.spaces.live.com/Blog/. Comments welcome.

DacsGear!
Mugs and more, visit CafePress to order