Be sure to look at the statistics footnote - EPIC has a great page on how often FISA has been used over the years. It's an eye opener.

Background

FISA, 50 U.S.C. § 1801 et seq [1]., was passed in 1978 in order to provide the means for law enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance, and later, physical surveillance, for foreign intelligence purposes. It also allows the US Attorney General to authorize emergency surveillance for 24 hours in the event of a lack of a judicial... read more

I need to have some repairs done on my Mac. So, in about 15 min. I'm heading off to the Apple Store to drop it off. I can check mail and stuff on my phone, but Tribe is going to be difficult.

I'll be using my significant other's computer periodically through the weekend, but after that --- I'm on my own!! Eeeg!

What's it like to be without a computer for a week? I don't know, I'm only computer-free when I'm on vacation. My work productivity this upcoming week is going to be shot.

The conference in San Diego on April 1st consisted of recruiters from all kinds of different companies, and then there was me, the lone privacy advocate. Not a crowd of 'friendlies' for me. My panel was a debate between me and the CEO of a company called Jigsaw, discussing privacy and the ethics of gathering information about a person without their permission. The debate was a Q&A format: the moderator would ask us questions, and we would take questions from the audience.

The CEO start... read more

Last night there was a psytrance party at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. What an incredibly fun place -- I'll have to go back again during normal business hours. As for last night, I was there to dance! :)

Turns out most of the exhibits were open. The dinosaur room which featured animatronic dinosaurs Parasaurolophus, Pachycephalosaurus, Apatosaurus, Allosaurus, Deinonychus (how refreshing to see a Deinonychus instead of a Velociraptor), and a Pteranodon (not technically a dinos... read more

t's really important to file comments objecting to Secure Flight by Oct. 22. This version of Secure Flight would require everyone to get permission from the government first before being allowed to fly.

====

Edward Hasbrouck emailed a bunch of us his comments on Secure Flight (which are quite good). He has worked as an activist travel agent for more than 20 years -- he now works with The Identity Project, which is a side project of the First Amendment. I asked him if I could share his c... read more