Dan’s Blog (2.0)

Score one for the rule of law. See Reuters article (spelling seems OK).

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 16:43 under Politics

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Here’s an interesting article on the unintended consequences of social networking. Basically, it is reported that the NSA is snooping social networking sites (with the juicy twist that it plans to do so using Semantic Web technology - more on that later). This seems to fit into the category of “examples of why it’s important to have some kind of user-controlled trust / privacy layer in the fabric of the Web.” Who should be able to see information you put online (including your links to others and the nature of these links) and who shouldn’t? P3P addressed some of these issues but it was never widely adopted. Liberty Alliance has built some interesting technology standards around federated identity, but they are not user-centric, they are provider-centric and they do not really cover privacy. An interesting effort called Dix seems to blend the two approaches, but after a quick read of some of their use cases, it doesn’t seem that they cover “prevent the government from snooping my network.”

Or is laying ourselves open to government surveillance the price we pay for living more of our lives in the digital realm?

Discuss!

By the way, on the whole Semantic Web issue, I think the link they are drawing in this article is tenuous at best, but it is true that the Semantic Web architecture is likewise lacking a coherent identity and trust mechanism.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 19:32 under Politics, W3C, Web 2.0

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…that in October of last year I said that George Bush was putting my family at greater risk with this ill-conceived Iraq war. Last week’s bombing in London bears out those concerns. Instead of “making the world safer,” Bush has made the world even more dangerous by stoking the fires of extremism, through the Iraq war, prisoner abuse, etc… etc… But still he goes on with his “war on terror” message (he’s consistent, I’ll give him that). Unbelievable.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 15:50 under London, Politics, Terrorism

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This report on the revolt of TV journalists in the Ukraine from BBC news online gives me hope for humanity. It’s the latest twist in what is turning into an edge-of-your seat story of politics on the brink. These people are putting despots on notice. More power to them.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 16:05 under Politics

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So every American should read this OSCE news releases. International observers (from the OSCE — Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) were monitoring our elections (invited by the U.S. State Department). This is a really good thing, because it helps to ensure transparency and fairness in the electoral process and it also sends a good message to the rest of the world. The news is actually pretty good, but the issues raised in their more detailed report are important ones to consider — especially allowing for greater access for international observers.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 10:29 under Politics

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So if W wins the day, which looks inevitable at this point, what then? My worry is that the coalition of organizations that have come together in opposition of Bush in this last year have essentially “shot their wad.” What we will need is further organized resistance to Bush and his policies. I have been voting with my dollars and giving to Amnesty International since this summer and just now I became a member of the ACLU as well. Amnesty works around the world to oppose torture and human rights abuses and the ACLU works fights in the U.S. to preserve rights and liberties. Supporting the ACLU is especially important right now as they have recently withdrawn from a federal grant program because they refused to screen their current employees against a terrorist “watch list.” The strategy must be to marginalize and immobilize Bush and his cronies wherever possible - to oppose them at every turn. Otherwise, I worry very much that the America of four years hence will be quite unrecognizable. Looks like we’re in for a “long, hard slog.”

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 9:10 under Politics

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Ok — This blog is not going to be predominantly political, because there are plenty of other blogs out there doing this (such as the highly recommended Shrillblog.) I will, however, say that I am really hoping we can kick this jack-ass out of the Whitehouse. Why? Because he has made the world a more dangerous place. For me, it’s primarily a personal issue: my family is at greater risk because of this nut-bar and his Iraq misadventure.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 23:21 under Politics

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Good BBC News article today, capturing some of the American expat experience during the election.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 17:15 under Politics

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With all the political partisanship in the air, it was refreshing to see this release from Amnesty International, admonishing both presidential candidates to condemn torture and abuse of human rights.

We (the U.S.) are just not doing a good job here, as you can seem from Amnesty’s more detailed report, condemning the U.S. for all sorts of abuses and failures.

If we want to “lead the world” with “transformational liberty” (or whatever), this is not the way to do it.

Filed by Daniel Appelquist at 14:20 under Politics

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