Verizon snoops Obama
Verizon has once again demonstrated that they cannot be entrusted with their customer’s private data. It was revealed today that multiple Verizon employees have accessed President-elect Obama’s cell phone records without authorization. The employees have apparently been put on paid leave until further notice.
According to telecom analyst Michael King of Gartner, the snoops could likely see the numbers Obama had called, how long his conversations lasted and when he made his calls.
The incident is reminiscent of a time earlier this year when State Department employees were caught snooping in Obama’s passport records as well as those of fellow presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
Obama is no doubt only one of many citizen’s having their privacy violated by cellular companies like Verizon. In fact a 2006 lawsuit filed against Verizon alleges the existence of a third party data center being operated out of Quantico Virginia — home to a Marines base as well as the center of FBI surveillance operations– where eavesdroppers could access “all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls.” For more on this bit head over to Wired or the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
a new day
I walked around today and couldn’t help but think to myself that we are living in a different world. There was impromptu music, dancing, and marching in my city’s streets last night and I could feel a tangible difference in the popular sentiment today.
For today at least, it seemed that people were more polite on the road and strangers more friendly with one another. It does indeed seem like some degree of hope has come back to the people of my town.
Everyone I’ve talked to seems to agree that with Mr. Obama’s election our country has taken one giant step in the right direction. These are truly historic times and it’s really something to be a part of.
zombie karl marx
The real irony of Karl Marx, of course, is the extent to which he’s been embraced by the right and used as a sort of political bludgeon applied routinely to the eyes, ears and skulls of a constituent base that couldn’t pick the guy out of a lineup.
The next time I satirize the Republican party’s ridiculous obsession with Marx, I’ll depict a decrepit elephant swinging a zombie horse through hordes of short-sighted children.
young republicans
Trying to imagine what my response to a munchkin McCain or a pint-sized Palin might possibly be if I were to come face to face (or more likely face to about knee) with one during the course of tonight’s annual candy harvest… I had a hard time coming up with anything positive to say. As it went, I decided not to say anything at all… and do something at least marginally more productive to commemorate the recent intersection of politics and paganism.
alan greenspan: standup comedian
In his recent testimony before congress, Mr. Greenspan came clean:
“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interest of organizations, specifically banks and others, was such as they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders.”
Hmm… so greed is an ineffective check on bad behavior? Curious.
Video of the statement is available here.
leave a comment