Backdoor Safety

For a long time now the government has had the ability to listen in on phone conversations in case they believed your midnight pizza order was secret code for activating a terrorist cell.  Law is now being developed to extend these tapping rights to the internet.  It would require Internet-based communication providers to be “technically capable of intercepting and decrypting [secure] messages.”1  A backdoor to previously secure communications would be installed, giving the door key to service providers and government.  This is a philosophical problem—secure communications are secure because there is no backdoor.  Ultimately though, if this law keeps me safe then I don’t mind.  I’ll have a large pepperoni pizza with breadsticks and a diet Coke, please.

1 story

Grade School

Google Inc. was sued1 last week for being a bully.  The internet technology giant extorted other businesses into illegally breaching their contracts with Skyhook Wireless2 after they decided to cancel their own non-binding business deal with the smaller company.  This was done in hopes of squelching the small guy.  In essence, Google stole little Billy’s lunch money.  But don’t cry for Billy—he called Google’s mother, the federal government, to tattle. We have yet to see how the story ends, but just because Google is a rock star, buys up small companies with chump change, and bench presses twenty-three billion dollars3 doesn’t mean it should get away with this kind of behavior.  Perhaps it (and all big business) should just grow up.  We all have to some time.

1 2 3

What's the Rush?

“In the face of…rapid technological advance, it's no wonder that "blur" has become the latest buzzword for how information is experienced (and thus how the world itself is experienced).”1

“The relentless immediacy of today's media leaves no time for reflection...”1

“We cannot recycle or save the time allotted to us each day. With time, we have only one opportunity for choice, and then it is gone forever.”2

So, how is your time spent?  Do you choose to socialize online, or have an intimate conversation with a loved one?   Do you consume the latest celebrity gossip, or read from scripture?  Do you watch TV from the couch, or exercise instead?  Do you play a video game, or write in a journal?  It seems that life is fuller when activities are enjoyed in moderation and balance.  Spend time to experience a bit of everything that is good in life and you’ll be happier, healthier, and better off.
1 2