Goodbye Patriot Act

Not really, just the bits about recording phone data. So that's all over with, except it isn't. There's all these nice secret Presidential orders that allow pretty much the same thing. Don't worry, it's all being overseen by committees and secret courts . . . and Superman, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny.

We have nothing worry about. Never mind that it all happens in the shadows. What? It's not like we have a functioning democracy, or even a representative republic. Openness and transparency were never the hallmarks of those in power, but things have gotten out of hand. It doesn't matter which party is in office. Being at the controls of a surveillance state is too much power to willingly give up.

It doesn't make us safer, but those in power hope it makes them safer. The problem, however, is that by listening in to our whispers they know we don't like them very much. Of course, a goodly part of the reason we don't like them is that they are a bunch of creepy peeping Toms. Not much trust all around.

In the United States it's easy to see when a new law or government program is going to be bad. They give it a good sounding name. “Patriot Act.” In post 911 America who did not want to be a Patriot? Any law with the word “Freedom” in it is especially bad. That's what they want to take away. It's all so George Orwell 1984 doublespeak.

At least in Belarus they still call the KGB the KGB. I guess that's the difference between a western democracy and the last dictatorship in Europe. Dictators don't have to pretend and so they call something what it really is.

We have the classic philosophical problem of who watches the watchers. Whistle blowers? Yes, they help. How else would we know anything about what goes on? The spies know they have little to worry about from their official overseers. They are all part of the same club and no one is going to do anything to hamper “National Security.”

Now imagine there really is a group of people who could shut everything down, but are hesitant to act. Surveillance is so interwoven into our communication systems that abruptly shutting it down could also shut down the whole system -phones, the Internet, everything. They wield a blunt instrument indeed. As long as the NSA types don't actually do much damage with their information they gather, the watchers remain quiet.

Do these guys even exist? How would I know? I've only heard rumors, just as some folks in the intelligence community have heard rumors. There are some strange things going on in deep dark computer land.

Letting parts of the Patriot Act expire is a good thing. Call it a step in the right direction. The US is wasting an awful lot of treasure and talent spying on normal people to the point where its normal to not trust the government. Time to break the circle. The truth will set us all free.

-Sixbears

Big data's diminishing returns

Have you ever read novels from over 100 years ago? Notice how often people were afraid something embarrassing would become public? People would commit murder to hide the fact that they were homosexual, had an illegitimate child, or any number of little secrets from their past. The only way these novels have any tension about people's secrets is if we can put ourselves in a 19th century mindset.

Okay, so there are still plenty of people alive today with a 19th century mindset. Every year there are a lot fewer of them. On the flip side, every year we have young people who are growing up with no sense of privacy. Everything they do is on social media -including all the dumb things they do. Maybe especially the dumb things they do. They joke about doing things a Victorian would have paid blackmail money to keep hidden.

So what happens when these young people become old enough and interested in public office? Embarrassing things from their past? No big deal. Everyone has embarrassing things from their past. It may actually be suspect if someone does not have skeletons in their closet. It won't be normal.

There are two groups interesting in all that data: governments and business. Governments, by their nature, don't trust the public and want to get the goods on them. Business wants to know all about someone so they can sell to them -or to do things like deny credit to people with bad medical histories. That's just creepy.

So what has the government found out? They've discovered that a lot of people hate them, so the government spooks are feeling pretty unloved. They also want to discover dark things about folks. That only works as long as people care to keep those things hidden. Will the younger generations even care? Blackmail doesn't work when no one gives a darn.

Right now businesses are very excited by the promise of big data. Every tiny bit of information about someone has market value. Past performance is a good indicator of future actions. That works as long as everyone is safely in their ruts. Big data is only predictive for fairly short periods of time in a relatively stable society. When things upset the status quo, all old data goes out the window.

Now there are big data geeks who think they know how people will behave in stressful life changing situations. They may even have a small track record. Fine, but wait until truly disruptive things knock people out of their routine -repetitively. It could be anything from war, plague, a comet strike to a new religion suddenly catching fire. Mix and match for even more confusion.

Then you have the people on the web with a number of personas totally divorced from their real selves. No one on the 'net knows for sure if you are even male or female. Then there are folks who think it's fun to game the system by feeding erroneous data into the mix. In a world where no data is deleted, the bad data pollutes the stream forever. Go ahead, Google for things that you have no interest in at all. It's fun, like throwing a tiny monkey wrench into the system.

-Sixbears

Going, going, gone

The Internet has been an amazing ride. Already people take for granted instant communication and massive information availability. I'm old enough to have graduated high school without touching a computer, but young enough to have learned on some of the earliest home computers.

The Internet turned computers from desktop curiosities to one of the most powerful tools available to regular people.

We have reached a turning point in the development of the Internet. Governments seem to be of two minds about the 'net. On one hand, repressive regimes “go dark” and try and shut down the Internet. On the other hand, other governments use the Internet for spying and influencing public opinion.

Here's the thing that most people don't get about the Internet. It's not a stable thing. It's changing all the time. There are even dangers of it getting so unwieldy that it becomes a lot less useful than it is now. There are things going on out there in Cyperland that surprise even the smartest computer people.

There are also things out there that can crash the next and scramble computer systems. I'm not going into detail for obvious reasons. I don't want to be responsible for assisting those of malicious intent.

One big danger is that too many people will lose trust. When they don't trust the Internet and feel it can't be understood at all, that will be the beginning of the end. Okay . . . when enough people feel that way. Right now the average Joe has some blind faith that the big brains out there have things under control. When that faith is lost it won't come back easily.

It is possible that in a single person's lifetime, the Internet was born, grew to maturity, and then dies. I hope it doesn't come to that. However, governments with all their manipulation and cyberwar are hastening the day.

-Sixbears

The Day After

I hope everyone survived the holiday in good shape. Ours was quiet here at dad's but not a bad one. Sometimes quiet is good. Thanks to the modern miracle of cell phones and Skype, we were in contact with family and friends far away. It's not like being there, but we can't be everywhere.

Now it's back to trying to find a mechanic I can trust. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but my first choice is to ask the people I trust who they trust. My dad can't help me there as he's been driving new cars lately and hasn't needed a mechanic. At his age he doesn't want to bother with that sort of thing so he drives cars with full warranties.

Part of my problem is that I know how to do the job, but lack the tools and a good workspace. That makes it much harder to give the job over to someone else. When it comes to vehicle repair, there's nothing worse than paying for some mechanic's education. I have to find someone who does these things all the time. That narrows the field.

Then there's the distance factor. How far do I want to drive a van with mechanical problems?

One thing for certain. The van isn't going to pull the sailboat back to the boat launch until all systems are 100%. That's motivation for getting it fixed as soon a possible. The sea is calling.

-Sixbears