The Hidden Revolution

August 21st

2008-08-21T15:27:00.000-07:00

Tribunal Evidence Online Open To Abuse

Ontario Now - Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
The Open Court rule is important and has made things easier for society in some ways, according to Federal Privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. ...
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No such thing as privacy - top Aussie judge
Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand
... reveal personal information about themselves online indicates that the privacy laws may require a rethink, says Australia's top judge, Murray Gleeson. ...
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Award-Winner, Paul Radkowski, is Announcing the Launch of the ...
MarketWatch - USA
Radkowski was first inspired with the idea of the All Addictions Life Recovery online program after being recruited by the Government of the Northwest ...
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Why privacy just isn't what it used to be
The Australian - Sydney,Australia
SINCE the High Court opened the door to an action for breach of privacy, mobile phones and online social networking sites have altered the notion of what is ...
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Congress keen to know extent of website monitoring
Periscope IT - London,Greater London,UK
The members of congress have said that any reductions in online privacy are grounds for concern as privacy is one of the foundations of freedom. ...
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Web browser to get 'privacy mode'
BBC News - UK
By clicking a button, users of IE8 will be able to limit how much information is recorded about where they go online and what they do. ...
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In the Public Eye ; Some See Risks in Youngsters Creating Blogs
RedOrbit - Dallas,TX,USA
Though the federal government requires extra protection for Internet users who are younger than 13, not every Web site follows the Children's Online Privacy ...
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Internet Providers' New Tool Raises Deep Privacy Concerns
Washington Post - United States
By Rob Pegoraro If you're reading this story on our Web site, I don't know what you did online before you reached this page. But your Internet provider ...
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Google, Microsoft, Yahoo & Others Nearing Completion of Online ...
Dark Reading - New York,NY,USA
The idea was to create a code of conduct that would help companies do the right things in protecting user privacy and provide a method to resist censorship ...
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Online profiling: DPI's bad, data mining's worse
NetworkWorld.com - Southborough,MA,USA
As the good folks at the Electronic Privacy Information Center note: "Non-subscribers who are e-mailing a Gmail user have not consented, and indeed may not ...
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Online privacy
By donsurber
BBC: The next version of Internet Explorer will allow users to limit information given to Web sites. (more…)
Don Surber - http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber

The importance of building trust online with strong, consistent ...
By Tom Polanski
A real concern for end-users, too, is privacy…the collection and use of personal information. Studies show that 30% of the online population is still wary of giving out their personal information and an astounding 51% don’t trust search ...
eBizine - http://ebizine.com/

Online Privacy: The Complete Guide to Protect You
This is a very useful, informative article, it helped me understand how to care for my ID saftey on the internet and what to do if problems arise. Well worth a look.
Digg / Hardware / upcoming - http://digg.com/hardware

August 20th

2008-08-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

Privacy laws out of date
Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
PEOPLE'S willingness to talk loudly on mobile phones and reveal personal information about themselves online indicates that the privacy laws may require a ...
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Behavioral ad targeting, Web companies' favorite new way to invade ...
Slate - USA
Charter's proposal drew an immediate outcry from customers and privacy watchdogs. In June, the company announced that it would suspend its ...
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Unique conference will focus on finding ways to help youth protect ...
Canada NewsWire (press release) - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
Youth Privacy Online: Take Control, Make it Your Choice! TORONTO, Aug. 20 /CNW/ - Online social networking has progressed well beyond the point of being a ...
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US students' data accidentally exposed online
TechRadar.com - London,UK
"The Princeton Review takes internet privacy seriously, and we are currently conducting a review of all of our procedures." By Peter Gothard.
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Online tribunal evidence leaves citizens' data open to abuse
Globe and Mail - Canada
(Indeed, the Supreme Court of Canada is studying the problem of how to put vast amounts of court documents online without harming the privacy interests of ...
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89% of UK respondents offer personal details
Legalbrief (subscription) - Durban,South Africa
Almost 90% of UK Internet users are prepared to give away private data despite 84% of the same users claiming to be very guarded about online privacy. ...
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What Price Privacy?
ABC Online - Australia
But it might soon be harder for the media to serve them up, if they involve invasions of privacy like this... An online porn scandal has also engulfed the ...
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Court rulings posted online puts privacy at risk: Commissioner
Canada.com - Don Mills,Ontario,Canada
The privacy commissioner has received complaints involving personal information being divulged online in tribunal decisions, but she refused to elaborate. ...
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IE 8 to get ‘porn mode’?
ZDNet Blogs - USA
“(T)there’s more to online privacy than cookies, as cookies are only one implementation of content that can disclose information to websites. ...
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Keep your child safe on the internet - dangerous sexual predators ...
Ceylon Daily News - Ceylon,Sri Lanka
Privacy - Discuss this with your children. Do not single out online chatting as the only place where privacy should be maintained, as it should be ...
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August 19th

2008-08-19T19:37:00.000-07:00

The privacy gap
Times Online - UK
Despite polls that consistently show people to be concerned about online privacy, many services that essentially depend on diminished privacy – from Gmail ...
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Net users lower guard too easily
NEWS.com.au - Australia
AOL said its survey showed that the more that people understood about the nature and risks of online privacy violations, the less concerned they were about ...
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Invasion of Privacy: A Conversation With Larry Greenmeier
Scientific American - USA
Scientific American's Larry Greenmeier talks about your privacy and the threats to it. See our privacy package online at sciam.com, as well as the September ...
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Web firms defend ad, privacy policies
DM News - New York,NY,USA
This is not the first time the federal government has investigated online advertising. Last year, a group of nine privacy organizations, including the ...
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Parenting: When are girls too young to blog?
Northwest Herald - Crystal Lake,IL,USA
... not every Web site follows COPPA, or the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Aftab notes that the social networking site Xanga.com was fined $1 ...
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Online quake claims not priority
Stuff.co.nz - New Zealand
But he says providing claims information online might have privacy implications. "It is something we have got on our 'to do' list, but it is not top of the ...
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People Whine About Privacy, Then Freely Dole Out Private Data
Dslreports - USA
Techdirt points to a new study in the UK which shows that while many people talk about their desire to protect their online privacy, few actually walk the ...
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Young bloggers: For all the world to see
Post-Bulletin - Rochester,MN,USA
... not every Web site follows COPPA, or the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act. Aftab notes that the social networking site Xanga.com was fined $1 ...
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Eyes inside your computer
Chicago Tribune - United States
But the rapid rise of "behavioral advertising," as the industry calls it, raises questions about online privacy, security and the right of customers to be ...
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A Social Network for Your Doctor, Pharmacist and Insurer
Washington Post - United States
By Kendra Marr Imagine a virtual health clinic: Your lung doctor and heart specialist can pull up your online medical profile and chat, ...
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Privacy Issues Arise as Online Advertisers Get Tricky
So it is surprising to learn that Martinez, an aide in the Illinois Senate, is also vigilant about his privacy online. "I'm pretty aware of the fact that anything you do on the Internet pretty much should just be considered public," ...
CRM Daily - http://www.crm-daily.com

No Place to Hide Online Soon?
By Nick O'Neill
Yesterday I watched an interesting show produced by Peter Jennings about the future of digital privacy sparked by a book, “No Place to Hide”, written by Robert O’Harrow, Jr., a reporter at the Washington Post. ...
The Social Times - http://www.socialtimes.com

Online privacy - Hermida
By Doug Fisher(Doug Fisher)
Back in January, I wondered aloud about whether our standards of online privacy were changing -- noting an emerging meme that even if I post something online, if it was not intended for your eyes, it should be private. ...
Common Sense Journalism - http://commonsensej.blogspot.com/

On Company Equipment, Don't Expect Privacy
By Jeffery Fehrman(Jeffery Fehrman)
Most people are getting very comfortable with technology. Non-typers have evolved into typers. Non-writers have learned to get by. People once not inclined to make telephone calls now make them without blinking. Using technology, though ...
EDD Blog Online - http://eddblogonline.blogspot.com/

August 19th

2008-08-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

Score Zero for Privacy: Princeton Review Reveals Student Test ...
Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription) - USA
The New York Times reported today that the firm accidentally published the names and scores online and left them up for anyone to see for seven weeks. ...
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Does an Advertiser Know You Clicked on This Story?
Scientific American - USA
A small victory for online privacy, but in the age of Facebook and MySpace this is unlikely to be the last skirmish between advertisers—who will spend $1.4 ...
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Congress investigating internet tracking
Refreshed Media - Bournemouth,UK
The investigation could ultimately result in a sort of online-privacy Bill of Rights. That legislation is part of ongoing privacy legislation that would ...
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Web Firms Monitor Users Without Consent
NewsMax.com - West Palm Beach,FL,USA
And while privacy advocates are up in arms over the data collection, saying an online privacy “Bill of Rights” is needed — and fast — consumers are not ...
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Online Exclusive: Beloit College Mindset List Announced Via Webcast
Stockhouse - Vancouver,BC,Canada
... will need to be addressed, as this generation moves into the workforce, such as transparency vs. privacy, sustainability and multiculturalism. ...
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Chaya Unnikrishnan Posted online: Friday , August 22, 2008 at 1700 hrs
Screen Weekly - Mumbai,Maharashtra,India
There is absolutely no privacy whatsoever, which I think is a little awkward. Another room has a smoking zone and a gym. There’sa huge door through which I ...
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Who's Keeping an Eye on Your Online Health Records?
Scientific American - USA
... of different online services, including Google Health, Microsoft's HealthVault and AOL co-founder Steve Case's Revolution Health. Privacy advocates ...
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Yahoo to let users opt out of customized ads
Boston Globe - United States
In a letter to companies last week, lawmakers said they are concerned about how targeted Web ads affect consumer privacy. Online ad sales might climb 63 ...
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Yahoo lets users opt out of targeted advertising
CNET News - San Francisco,CA,USA
... Yahoo head of privacy and vice president for policy, said, "Yahoo strongly believes that consumers want choice when customizing their online experience ...
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Yahoo allows you to opt-out of contextual ads knowing you probably ...
VentureBeat - Fremont,CA,USA
It’s clear that Congress wants to give consumers more options with regards to their online privacy. (Or at least create an illusion that they are more ...
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Google Blogs Alert for: online privacy

Google Privacy Practices Worse Than ISP Snooping, AT&T Charges
By ZJK(CFC)
Stay tuned, as the House Energy and Commerce Committee that has been taking on ISPs that want to or have watched what their customers do online in order to serve them targeted ads appears to be nearing an online privacy omnibus bill. ...
Privacy Revolt! - http://consumercal.blogspot.com/

Still Big Threats Online, But Slowly Improving
By MacRonin
The newest State of the Net report from Consumer Reports has concluded that several major online risks- including spyware infections- are declining in precedence. Unfortunately, spyware still cost the country 3.6 billion dollars over ...
Privacy Digest - News that can... - http://www.privacydigest.com

GERMANS URGE TOUGHER LAWS AFTER NEW PRIVACY SCANDAL (REUTERS)
By Yahoo! News: Technology News
Reuters - German politicians called for tougher privacy laws on Tuesday after officials revealed personal and financial information on millions of Germans was readily available for cash on the Internet.
MyUSB.NET - Your Free USB Disk... - http://myusb.net

Who’s Keeping an Eye on Your Online Health Records?
By Dissent
... that directly protect a user’s online health information, all of the vendors who sell weight scales and/or blood glucose and pressure monitors that can send data directly to services like HealthVault set their own privacy policies, ...
Personal Health Information Privacy - http://www.phiprivacy.net

Snooping Common in Customer Databases

2008-02-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Again - not surprising that people are tempted to misuse the information available to them... case in point below.

"He said more companies have to start using software that can track each customer account that employees access.

WE Energies says it has taken numerous steps to stop the problem but even so detecting misuse can be difficult. That's because it is hard to discern the legitimate access of customer information from employees looking for curiosity.

"People were looking at an incredible number of accounts," Joan Shafer, WE Energies' vice president of customer service, said during a sworn deposition last year. "Politicians, community leaders, board members, officers, family, friends. All over the place."

Her testimony came in a legal case involving an employee who was fired in 2006 for repeatedly accessing information about her ex-boyfriend and another friend. An arbitrator in November upheld the woman's firing. The AP reviewed testimony and documents made public as part of the case."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ghPenZUJTE7BfSfgQbj6RX597DEAD8V019TG0

The walls have ears

2008-02-24T11:07:00.000-08:00

Not that I'm surprised. Of course the government would resume the warrantless wiretapping program since the House actually got a spine and refused to rubber stamp immunity for these telecoms... and of course the administration would issue this press release on a Saturday.

"The Bush administration said on Saturday U.S. telecommunications companies have agreed to cooperate "for the time being" with spy agencies' wiretaps, despite an ongoing battle between the White House and Congress over new terrorism surveillance legislation.

The Justice Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement saying wiretaps will resume under the current law "at least for now."

"Although our private partners are cooperating for the time being, they have expressed understandable misgivings about doing so in light of the ongoing uncertainty and have indicated they may well discontinue cooperation if the uncertainty persists," the statement said."

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2229053420080224

Common sense is never common

2008-02-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

I read this the other day. Ross Anderson, professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge, distilled the problems with these big national systems and has some common sense next steps. I don't have much hope of those ideas getting implemented, but it's great to see this issue in last week's Economist. I would feel much more comfortable storing personal information in local databases, like a municipality, since the limited scope would reduce the risk of fraud and likely provide more functionality for individual use.

He's a bit more of an optimist, assuming that government's will concede the futility of collecting our information. Personally, I think that the government will drop functionality/security and just settle for gathering as much knowledge as possible about the country's people.

“You can have security, or functionality, or scale—you can even have any two of these. But you can't have all three, and the government will eventually be forced to admit this. In the meantime, billions of pounds are being wasted on gigantic systems projects that usually don't work, and that place citizens' privacy and safety at risk when they do.”

...

"Cybercrime discredits the use of the internet not only by business but by government too. Mr Cameron suggests rethinking the whole issue, starting from the principle that users may be identified only with their explicit consent. That sounds commonsensical, but many big government databases do things differently. Britain's planned central records for the NHS, for example, will assume consent as it combines all the medical records held in local practice databases."

http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10638196

Virginia's Big Brother

2008-02-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

Those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. - Benjamin Franklin

This apt, if oft-used, quote sums up our ridiculous situation. Virginians have all their personal history - credit card purchases, medical records, internet usage, etc. - all aggregated in one handy-dandy Fusion Center in the name of "anti-terrorism" tactics. How are we not hearing more about these Fusion Centers?

" On February 12, 2008, EPIC filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request with the Virginia State Police. EPIC's request seeks documents
about a plan that would shroud the Virginia Fusion Center, a database
that collects detailed information on ordinary citizens, in secrecy. The
Virginia legislature is considering a bill that would limit Virginia's
open government and privacy statutes, as well as Virginia's common law
right of privacy, for Virginia agencies connected to the Fusion Center.

Fusion centers are a means of bringing together information from
distributed sources for the purpose of collection, retention, analysis,
and dissemination. The Virginia Fusion Center was established in 2005
and is one of several similar entities established by state governments
throughout the United States.

Federal guidelines state that the Fusion Center should accumulate and
retain information from a wide range of public and private sources.
Such information includes, but is not limited to: financial records;
credit reports; medical records; internet and email data; video
surveillance from retail stores and sporting facilities; data from
preschools; and welfare records. Press groups have criticized the
proposed law, and warned that, if passed, Virginia citizens can "say
hello to Big Brother." - EPIC Alert

Virginia Fusion Center: http://www.vsp.state.va.us/FusionCenter/About_Us.shtm

That database is disastrous on so many levels. Aside from the risk of individuals being targeted by the government for their purchases/beliefs, there's the risk of stolen or misused data. The site doesn't say who will have access to this comprehensive database and how the Fusion Center plans to secure the data that encompasses our lives. This Fusion Center is centralizing all Virginians' personal data without even the mention of their accountability to the people they are trying to "protect".

And don't forget to appreciate the video that plays footage from 9/11 right on the homepage. You know, in case you want to protest this abuse of power... think of what will happen. Disgusting.

Security vs. Privacy: Followup

2008-02-23T11:47:00.000-08:00

So I know I'm late on this, but this is an article on Huffington Post about the Security vs. Privacy debate last November. Clearly, I think there's no need to decide between the two, but it's good to see the arguments for each "side."

One note though- I shudder anytime an argument starts with the need for "preemptive" measures. The assumption that the government can fairly prosecute suspected future terrorists is a stretch for me, since we can't seem to handle those who might be guilty of crimes already committed, let alone crimes that might happen in the future.

Security: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ka-taipale/privacy-vs-security-se_b_71785.html
Privacy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-rotenberg/privacy-vs-security-pr_b_71806.html

Security vs. Privacy: I'll take both

2008-02-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

As I learned early in my career, positioning is everything. I've been frustrated since, oh, September 2001 that the media/government/powers-that-be have chosen to frame the debate over our personal liberties as "give us your privacy or risk death." This guy gives an amazing breakdown of that completely false dichotomy in the debate over the post-9/11 "anti-terrorism" tactics.

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/commentary/securitymatters/2008/01/securitymatters_0124?currentPage=all

This rhetoric is dangerous, plain and simple. Too many Americans already believe the hype in their desperation to stay safe, without stepping back and looking critically at the facts. Our intelligence community collected enough warnings before the attacks to take action - how much clearer can a memo saying "Bin Laden ready to attack the US with planes" be? Ultimately, the attack was successful due to incompetence at the highest levels of government... and now these people want to monitor our every move. What could possibly go wrong there?

2007-11-30T10:27:00.000-08:00

This debate is nuts to me. Why shouldn't we have a right to privacy? And how is it hypocritical to want to keep your purchases private, for whatever reason, instead of announcing it to all your acquaintances?

“We know we don’t have a right to privacy, but there still should be a certain morality here, a certain level of what is private in our lives,” said Tricia Bushnell, a 25-year-old in Los Angeles, who has used Facebook since her college days at Bucknell. “Just because I belong to Facebook, do I now have to be careful about everything else I do on the Internet?”

Two privacy groups said this week that they were preparing to file privacy complaints about the system with the Federal Trade Commission. Among online merchants, Overstock.com has decided to stop running Facebook’s Beacon program on its site until it becomes an opt-in program. And as the MoveOn.org campaign has grown over the past week, some ad executives have poked fun at Facebook users.

“Isn’t this community getting a little hypocritical?” said Chad Stoller, director of emerging platforms at Organic, a digital advertising agency. “Now, all of a sudden, they don’t want to share something?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/technology/30face.html?ex=1354165200&en=f448f8a210da7bdf&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Netflix anonymous data is not so anonymous...

2007-11-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

It amazes me that people still think they have a veil of anonymity online anymore. I'm reminded of the AOL searches that were made public last year; although AOL assured the public that individuals could not be identified, of course it was possible to determine personal information like names, addresses, etc.

Luckily, I don't mind who knows that I'm radical...Four stars to Fahrenheit 9/11!

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Of course, Netflix assured everybody that the data had been anonymized by removing any personal details.

That turns out to have been a tad optimistic. Arvind Narayanan and Vitaly Shmatikov at the the University of Texas at Austin have just de-anonymized it.

Here’s how: turns out that an individual’s set of ratings and the dates on which they were made are pretty unique, particularly if the ratings involve films outside the most popular 100 movies. So it’s straightforward to find a match by comparing the anonymized data against publicly available ratings on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).

....

Here’s what the dynamic duo have to say about one person whose data they outed:

“First, we can immediately find his political orientation based on his strong opinions about “Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times” and “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Strong guesses about his religious views can be made based on his ratings on “Jesus of Nazareth” and “The Gospel of John”. He did not like “Super Size Me” at all; perhaps this implies something about his physical size? Both items that we found with predominantly gay themes, “Bent” and “Queer as folk” were rated one star out of five. He is a cultish follower of “Mystery Science Theater 3000”. This is far from all we found about this one person, but having made our point, we will spare the reader further lurid details. “

So Netflix may have inadvertently revealed the political affiliation, sexual orientation, BMI and God-knows-what else of 500,00 of their subscribers. Way to go!"

http://arxivblog.com/?p=142

The tracking device in your pocket

2007-11-24T06:59:00.000-08:00

I'm not surprised that the police are using our cell phones to track us; I'm just surprised that it's coming to light now. Once the warrantless wiretapping program became public, I had a feeling that the Justice Department was going to use all communications to monitor us for "suspicious activity."

I want to know more about how the GPS data will be "available automatically"... Available to whom? And where?

You know, I can only imagine how excited the producers of "Cheaters" are...

*~~~~~~~~~
According to the Washington Post:

'Since 2005, federal magistrate judges in at least 17 cases have denied federal requests for the less-precise cellphone tracking data absent a demonstration of probable cause that a crime is being committed. Some went out of their way to issue published opinions in these otherwise sealed cases.

"Permitting surreptitious conversion of a cellphone into a tracking device without probable cause raises serious Fourth Amendment concerns especially when the phone is in a house or other place where privacy is reasonably expected," said Judge Stephen William Smith of the Southern District of Texas, whose 2005 opinion on the matter was among the first published.

But judges in a majority of districts have ruled otherwise on this issue, Boyd said. Shortly after Smith issued his decision, a magistrate judge in the same district approved a federal request for cell-tower data without requiring probable cause. And in December 2005, Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein of the Southern District of New York, approving a request for cell-site data, wrote that because the government did not install the "tracking device" and the user chose to carry the phone and permit transmission of its information to a carrier, no warrant was needed.

These judges are issuing orders based on the lower standard, requiring a showing of "specific and articulable facts" showing reasonable grounds to believe the data will be "relevant and material" to a criminal investigation.

Boyd said the government believes this standard is sufficient for cell-site data. "This type of location information, which even in the best case only narrows a suspect's location to an area of several city blocks, is routinely generated, used and retained by wireless carriers in the normal course of business," he said.

The trend's secrecy is troubling, privacy advocates said. No government body tracks the number of cellphone location orders sought or obtained. Congressional oversight in this area is lacking, they said. And precise location data will be easier to get if the Federal Communication Commission adopts a Justice Department proposal to make the most detailed GPS data available automatically.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201444_pf.html

Millions of records lost in the UK

2007-11-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

In the UK, two computer discs with the personal information of EVERY family with a child under 16 - name, address, bank statements - was lost today.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7103566.stm

Maybe no criminal has found the data, but... Damn.

Welcome...Mabuhay...Bienvenue

2007-11-19T19:26:00.000-08:00

"To the States, or any one of them,
or any city of the States,
resist much, obey little!
Resist much! Resist!
Once unquestioning obedience,
once fully enslaved,
no nation, state, city of this earth,
ever afterward resumes its liberty.
Resist! Resist!" - Walt Whitman, To the States

Honestly, I am a lover of the sixties, especially the civil rights and black power movements, because I am an idealist at heart. The sixties was a decade for justice to overcome centuries of oppression, for equality to be enshrined in the constitution for women and minorities, and even for the noble advancement of science. (I still dream of going into outer space.) I am humbled when remembering that only 40 years have passed since the paradigm of our national conscious changed. For example, Black became beautiful - and more importantly, legally enfranchised for the first time since Reconstruction. And since my ancestors died for my right to vote, among other liberties, I find myself drawn to the political process and our government's role.

Our government is a government of men, and men are fallible. Their errors can bring egregious injustices to the lives of innocents, and to those who would argue with me over the Iraq war, I point them to our own history. Our constitution, among the most perfect documents ever written, contains reference to the enslavement of my ancestors while espousing the ideals of "liberty for all". Clearly, it is our duty as citizens, individuals, and brethren to lovingly correct the misdeeds of our fellow men and women whenever necessary.

So for me, questioning the government is my right and my privilege, paid with the blood of my ancestors and embraced by my forefathers. I am their hope, their dream, their champion. Not only am I literate, I have attended one of the best universities in the world. Not only am I free to speak my thoughts, but I am someone who (usually) makes well-informed, careful statements.

Therefore, as a relatively well-informed citizen who believes civil engagement to be a duty and a privilege, I am appalled and frightened at the state of the news and the media. The Internet has the potential to create a society of informed and responsible citizens, and yet, we consume celebrity gossip exclusively. Rather than focus on the unpopular yet pressing issues of our country, the news outlets spew celebutrash, and we welcome it.

While blogs are an amazing tool to combat this cheapening of our collective intelligence, I still feel a grave shift happening in our culture. We not longer strive for excellence; instead we are content to fill our lives with mediocrity. Once we shrink our ambitions to living the "American dream" of 2.5 kids and a suburban house, we chain ourselves to our bubble, refusing to "rock the boat", unless it's suddenly OUR friend who cannot afford health insurance, OUR sister who contracts a incurable disease, OUR child who is killed in war. We must learn to care for others as family and to protect them, especially at those times when they cannot protect themselves. We should not, cannot, allow ourselves to ignore the exploitation of the masses at the hands of anyone - not the powerful, not the malicious, not even the well-intentioned.

Without vigilance, there is no accountability; without accountability, there is corruption. The government and its corporate sponsors have already expanded their powers in the wake of our irresponsibility. And this path will continue unless we read the fine print, peruse multiple news sources, demand a paper trail for voting machines. The revolution is happening right now, whether we choose to notice.

The Last Poets were right: the revolution itself will not be televised, the revolution is television (among other mediums), completely distracting you from the task at hand.

Welcome to the hidden revolution. Power from the people.

Not only will the revolution be televised...

2007-11-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

...it's already here.