Elderly man scared of technology, News at 11
State Rep John Binienda makes news today with a plan to track who’s buying pre-paid cell phones in an effort to show criminals we’re tough on crime. Apparently by showing criminals we really don’t understand technology.
“There has always been a concern that prepaid services in general enable anonymity in wireless usage and that’s in part a concern because it lends to its use by criminals,” said Fedor Smith, an analyst who monitors the prepaid cellphone industry for Boston-based consulting and research firm Atlantic-ACM. “If you’re calling other prepaid wireless costumers, there’s a completely anonymous network of people.”
Government has officially become your mom, searching through your sock drawer every day after you leave for school because Phil Donahue convinced her you were smoking dope.
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This comes only a week after Governor Patrick signed into law H. 4811, Massachusetts version of Jessicas Law, which along the way picked up this amendment (which has nothing to do with protecting kids) while nobody was looking:
SECTION 3. Chapter 271 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 17B, as so appearing, and inserting in place thereof following section:-
Section 17B. Except as otherwise prohibited under section 2703 of Title 18 of the United States Code, whenever the attorney general or a district attorney has reasonable grounds to believe that records in the possession of (i) a common carrier subject to the jurisdiction of the department of telecommunications and energy, as defined in paragraph (d) of section 12 of chapter 159; or (ii) a provider of electronic communication service as defined in subparagraph (15) of section 2510 of Title 18 of the United States Code; or (iii) a provider of remote computing service as defined in section 2711 of Title 18 of the United States Code, are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation, the attorney general or district attorney may issue an administrative subpoena demanding all such records in the possession of such common carrier or service, and such records shall be delivered to the attorney general or district attorney within 14 days of receipt of the subpoena. No such common carrier or service, or employee thereof shall be civilly or criminally responsible for furnishing any records or information in compliance with such demand. Nothing in this section shall limit the right of the attorney general or a district attorney otherwise to obtain records from such a common carrier or service pursuant to a search warrant, a court order or a grand jury or trial subpoena.
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a subpoena issued pursuant to this section shall not be used to obtain records disclosing the content of electronic communications, or subscriber account records disclosing internet locations which have been accessed including, but not limited to, websites, chat channels and newsgroups, but excluding servers used to initially access the internet. Nor shall the recipient of such a subpoena provide any such records accessed, in response to such a subpoena.
For those of you whose legalese is a little shaky, let me translate ‘In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the AG and DA can get your phone, internet and email records with nothing more than a hunch and a strongly worded letter‘. No really, that’s what it says.
A good week for freedom and capitalism all around. Surely now, with these exciting new tools, we’ll capture that pesky Emmanuel Goldstein!
The smartest dumbphone in town
Dumbphone probably shouldn’t be a word, but it seems to be picking up usage with people dumping their smartphones (Blackberys, iphones, Windows Mobile devices, ect) in favor of a ‘less is more’ device. I became one of those people a few weeks back.
My love affair with smartphones has progressed through a SMT5600
Treo 650
and most recently a Tmobile Dash
Now I’m using a Motorola F3 that was designed for developing nations, cost under $40 with no contracts to get locked into and isn’t much more advanced than the Motorola MicroTac Elite I bought in 1994.
I’m in love. The battery lasts a week, its one of the smallest and lightest phones I’ve used and most importantly, I’m not getting pinged 24hrs a day with email that 99% of the time can wait till I get to a computer. It’s a phone, that’s it. No camera, no calendar, no media player and no web browser, just a phone that makes phone calls, remember those? Dumbphones, stupid word but I’m sold.
Sirius is where it’s at.
I ended up with two Sirius satellite radios in my possession for Christmas, I had bought one for the lady who always seems to show up in my bed and my parents managed to show off a little hipness in their old age by purchasing one for me. Life is complete. If you don’t yet have access to satellite, I feel obligated to tell you just how amazing Sirius programming really is; wicked amazing for my Worcester brethren. Now I’m more than comfortable admitting my decision to go with Sirius over XM was Stern, but after looking over the channel list I can see me calling Charter Cable by the end of the week to cut back on the crap they seem content pumping into my house (that’s assuming they don’t call first looking for the money I owe them for the last two months). Most of what I ‘watch’ on cable these days is CNN, CSPAN, FOX News and a little bit of local programming just to keep in touch with where Julie Tremmel has manged to cart her camera off to today. But with the exception of the local programming, Sirius has me covered. TV has for the most part become background noise while I’m in the house finding other ways to avoid finishing my kitchen, and I like it that way. Theres a strange potential for satellite radio providers to really muscle in on the cable providers for just that reason. The introduction of terrestrial radio into the American home had an odd effect on the family unit, drawing them closer together. Television on the other hand seems to have had the exact opposite effect. You could be in a room with 30 people and with the exception of that one jerk who has to ask stupid questions about everything that happens on the tube in real time, you can’t interact with others much with two pretty important senses being at the mercy of the magic picture box. Radio is so different, having CNN on Sirius, an actual conversation can take place without feeling that you’re missing anything. I don’t need to SEE Anderson Cooper or Lou Dobbs and Congress doesn’t get any more exciting if I’m looking at them. Never mind the spectacular music and comedy programming, they’re better heard than watched with the obvious exceptions of Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Gallagher. My point is that I can see myself getting more done and spending more time with my family by peeling my eyes away from the television and still being able to avoid the sense of anxiety I’m subject to if there is even a remote possibility of missing real time coverage of a panda being born, penguin being stolen or yet another middle class white woman going missing. I never had a real radio experience from a social perspective; outside of the car TV has been king since I’ve wandered the earth. I’m not so naive to thing that American Idol is going to go out of business, I don’t think the average American would be able to handle that cut in sensory input. And the technology wont be well understood by the average consumer until it’s installed in their car for them as a standard feature, which is underway but hasn’t reached any sort of meaningful saturation point. But once the hardware becomes more accessible I can see the potential for a sort of retro-revolution in American media. If content is going to be King, then it needs to come the way I want it. Between Sirius and Netflix I feel just a little bit more in control without feeling I’m missing out on something. But enough about my moment of media Zen. Tissue time with Heidi Cortez is about to start.
12 Schekles a month well spent from where i sit.
Podcasting going strong
Nearly 30% of the estimated 22 million U.S. adults who own MP3 players have listened to podcasts, which are audio files that have been published or syndicated online as an RSS feed.
Now that’s what I’m talking about. 6 million users and only a year or so in as a buzz word? Not to shabby. But I still think getting in early on self-sydicated video is the way to go; and so does Google.
