I know it’s not particularly new, but why is George W Bush’s website inaccessible outside the U.S.? Netcraft reported last week that the site could not be reached except by users in North America. Even entering the numbered IP address appears to have been blocked. (GeorgeWBush.co.uk works fine, as does GeorgeWBush.org, but then they’re not… Read More »
RFID tags? Sinister chip or harmless piece of plastic and wire? I’ve been on the side of the former for some time, but in the face of some objection from readers. A listener to a piece I did on the BBC World Service a few weeks back about the danger that RFID tags would give… Read More »
An interesting essay by security guru Bruce Schneier (via the brianstorms weblog) on the economics of fixing an election. Put simply: How much is it worth a party to fix an election, and so how much would they be willing to spend on doing it? Put another way, how much should the folk designing an… Read More »
Did software, deliberately programmed by the CIA to fail, hasten the end of the Soviet Union? The Washington Post reports (registration required) that “President Ronald Reagan approved a CIA plan to sabotage the economy of the Soviet Union through covert transfers of technology that contained hidden malfunctions, including software that later triggered a huge explosion… Read More »
Here’s a very interesting piece from Mark Glaser on the Adopt-A-Journalist movement, otherwise called Watchblogs. “The so-called “watchblogs” are generally anonymous bloggers who have taken it upon themselves to read each report from a particular presidential campaign reporter and then critique it for factual errors or bias,” Glaser writes. “If they gain traction, watchblogs represent… Read More »