Google and Privacy: You Get What You Pay For

Picture credit: Amazon
In humankind's quest for email nirvana, Brooke points me to this article on Google and privacy. Apparently, Eric Schmidt -- Google's CEO -- is in a snit because CNET writer Elinor Mills googled him and posted the results. SFgate picks up the story:

...In her story, Mills included a link to Schmidt's home address, his net worth of $1.5 billion and noted that he has attended the Burning Man art festival and is an amateur pilot. Mills said she spent 30 minutes on Google to obtain the information... ...The crux of Mills' story was about the vast amounts of information Google collects that is unavailable to the public. For example, Google software scans user e-mails to learn what kind of advertising might appeal to the user. Mills wrote in her story that "hackers, zealous government investigators, or even a Google insider who falls short of the company's ethics standards could abuse that information."

My reaction is... uhmmm... big deal. As my Dad always says: there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. With Gmail, you get exactly what you pay for.

Consider: I'd wager most, if not all, of the email you send and receive is in clear-text. If you don't know what PGP or GPG is, that probably means you. And, since it's in the clear, your email could potentially be viewed by others. Bottom line? Email you send and receive is transiting the Internet with any means of protecting it from prying eyes.

Another consideration: if you use a wireless 802.11b connection (or use WEP at all) to connect to your broadband connection, you're at risk of having your connection monitored and/or hijacked.

And, if you have spyware or adware on your machine (which seems to be endemic among consumer PCs), only the software's developer knows whether your emails, contacts, cached web pages and browsing behavior are read, summarized and dispatched to company headquarters for analysis.

The bottom line is that Google is among the least of our concerns. Is it true that Google collects a lot of data on us by spidering the web? Yes - but it's not their fault. It's collecting information from external web sites and aggregating it. Find the sites in question and request that they be changed to remove your information (or modify them yourself, if possible). For example, if you don't want your phone-number on Google, get an unlisted number.

And if you use Gmail, remember one thing: it's free for a reason.

Blaming Google for the vast amount of personal data on the web is like blaming McDonald's for an expanding waistline. Keep away from the junk if you don't want the uncomfortable results.

SFGate: Search engine leader snubs tech news outlet

p.s., BTW, Brooke summited Mt. Rainier last week and has a writeup on his blog with plenty of great pictures.

"Get Used to the Minority"

Picture credit: Keppler on Campus
Here's a telling snippet of an interview with Mort Kondracke, along with a spot-on analysis, courtesy RadioBlogger.

MM: You would think if America has a 7/7 of its own coming up in any time of the near future, that we could face [UK-style immigration restrictions]? MK: Absolutely. I mean, there...what's unfortunate is that it's going to be an immigration crackdown, you know, and we're not admitting enough H-1B Visa applicants as it is now to fill the kind of professional jobs that we need to. You know, it's going to be close the border, all that kind of stuff. And it's going to be excessively punitive on people who have nothing to do with terrorism. CPL: But Mort, I know we're running out of time, but I guess our question is, in my view, why do these sort of proposals have to wait for another attack? I mean, where is any kind of Democrat out front on this, analogous to Tony Blair, who is essentially a Democrat in England? MK: Well, Tony Blair wasn't doing it until his country got hit, and you know, it concentrates the mind. ...I was absolutely floored when Mort said very matter-of-factly that the Democrats would be Johnny on the spot once we got hit again. And that attitude, which apparently is a plank in their national platform, the wait-for-disaster-and-get-political-mileage-out-of-it plank, is exactly why this party cannot be trusted anywhere near the levers of power for the foreseeable future. Is Bush or the Republican party perfect? Of course not. But they are trying to move the country towards a new paradigm where national security is more important than we've had to think about pre-9/11. The Democrats have no answers. They have no solutions. They do not have the country's defense as their first priority. Their first priority is to lay in the weeds like a snake and strike after its prey has already been bit by something else? What kind of leadership is that? Run away from Iraq. Neuter the Patriot Act. Investigate the kids of Court appointees whose ideology you don't share. Stall our representative to the U.N. Premeditate a political response if a national crisis occurs after a terrorist attack. Get used to the minority, Democrats. You simply are too dangerous to be trusted at the present time.

AutoRantic Virtual Moonbat

The terrifying aspect to this analysis is its stunning accuracy. In only a few, short sentences, RadioBlogger has captured the essence of today's Democratic party. Where is a Roosevelt, a Truman or a John Kennedy?

Where is a leader capable of bringing something to the table except obstructionism, a tape-recorder playing "the Best of Michael Moore", and shrill rants capped off by, "Yeeeeaaaaarrrrggggghh!"?

The current leadership of the party is best represented by its current spokesman, the AutoRantic Virtual Moonbat, pictured at right. While it presents no new ideas of its own, it can dispense pithy diatribes that tar the current administration while offering no solutions to the long-term threats facing the country.

Consider: the war against fundamentalist extremism. Social security. The tax system. Education. And so forth. Other than obstructionism, where do the Democrats stand?

Go ye and read of RadioBlogger, for it is good: RadioBlogger.

The Unbiased Media Gets Down to Business

Picture credit: USA Today
I opened up the paper this morning and witnessed a veritable cornucopia of wholesome, unbiased reporting. First article:

---

The headline reads, "Sept. 11 group criticizes White House"; but buried in the heart of the article is the real story:

...Thomas H. Kean... said he was surprised and disappointed that the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the FBI and several other executive-branch agencies had failed to respond to requests made two months ago for updated information on the government's anti-terrorism programs. The requests came not from the disbanded commission, which was created by Congress and had subpoena powers, but from its shadow group, which the members call the 9/11 Public Discourse Project...

The real headline should therefore read: "Unofficial shadow group ignored by all." Which really isn't news, is it?

---

Another headline reads: "March supports 'right to vote'".

...Civil rights groups fear conservatives will try to modify two key provisions of the [Voting Rights Act]... Activists also used the rally to protest Georgia's recently passed voter identification law, which critics call the most restrictive in the country. NAACP President Gordon on Saturday called the law "the most outrageous, oppressive, discriminatory" law he'd ever seen...

What isn't mentioned? The just-released report from the American Center for Voting Rights entitled, "Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election."

Without even mentioning the Democrats' infamous corpse, felon, multi-state and non-existent person voting blocs, the report's summary reads:

...While Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, neither party has a clean record on the issue. Instead, the evidence shows that Democrats waged aggressive intimidation and suppression campaigns against Republican voters and volunteers in 2004... a careful review of the facts shows that in 2004, paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression efforts than their Republican counterparts... Examples include: * NAACP National Voter Fund worker in Ohio paid crack cocaine in exchange for a large number of fraudulent voter registration cards in names of Dick Tracy, Mary Poppins and other fictional characters. * Former ACORN worker said there was “a lot of fraud committed” by group in Florida, as ACORN workers submitted thousands of fraudulent registrations in a dozen states across the country, resulting in a statewide investigation of the group in Florida and multiple indictments and convictions of ACORN/Project Vote workers for voter registration fraud in several states. * Misleading telephone calls made by Democrat operatives targeting Republican voters in Ohio with the wrong date for the election and faulty polling place information. * Intimidating and deceiving mailings and telephone calls paid for by the DNC threatening Republican volunteers in Florida with legal action. * Union-coordinated intimidation and violence campaign targeting Republican campaign offices and volunteers resulting in a broken arm for a GOP volunteer in Florida. * Paid Democrat operatives charged with slashing tires of 25 Republican get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee on the morning of Election Day. * Joint task force in Wisconsin found “clear evidence of fraud in the Nov. 2 election in Milwaukee,” including more than 200 felon voters, more than 100 double voters and thousands more ballots cast than voters recorded as having voted in the city.

Read the Executive Summary to get a quick insight into the real voter intimidation practices that no one seems to be protesting or reporting.

---

Here's one last example of pure, unbiased coverage. The headline reads, "Does Bush Loyalty Cloud His Judgment?". Subtitled 'President's actions raising some doubts', what example of Bush's unflinching loyalty does the author's analysis raise? Karl Rove? Donald Rumsfeld? Paul Wolfowitz? Uhmmm, no, none of the above. Someone far, far more important:

Former [baseball] commissioner Fay Vincent wasn't surprised when President Bush supported embattled Baltimore Orioles slugger Rafael Palmeiro after Palmerio tested positive for steroids by saying the star first baseman was a trusted friend.

Isn't the unbiased media great? They'd never take a cheap shot at a sitting president over his casual remark about a troubled baseball player, would they?

---

Average Circulation of U.S. Daily Newspapers (Editor and Publisher Yearbook data)

The mainstream media's thinly disguised, Bush-bashing agenda is so obvious and so transparent, it's almost humorous.

If it were any more tilted, most op-ed columns would have the bylines of Moore, Fonda, and Streisand, while the wire-service reports would be culled straight from the pages of Al Jazeera.

Come to think of it, that's pretty much equivalent to what's happening now. Consider the likes of Richard Cohen, Tom Teepen, and Maureen Dowd... combined with wire-service reports from the all-star squad of Reuters (or "Al Reuters," I think is the term they prefer), the AP, and the BBC.

And the editors and publishers still wonder why newspaper subscription rates are sinking faster than the Titanic after it slammed into the iceberg.

PayPal - Unintentionally Helping Phishers

Picture credit: Stern
In their zeal to market through email, financial institutions like PayPal sometimes make some really goofy mistakes. Sure, PayPal recognizes that phishing is a huge problem. But they just can't seem to resist outbound email marketing that criminals view the same way a dog looks at a sizzling piece of steak.

Consider the email that I just received from PayPal. No, seriously, this is a real one. I checked the message headers and the source of the message. The subject:

Spot spoof, protect your identity and more...
It included this unintentionally hilarious request:

Protect yourself with tools Guard yourself against "spoof" emails with the SafetyBar, and against fraudulent websites with the eBay Toolbar...

How long you figure until the first phishing email exhorting the victim to download a less helpful version of the "SafetyBar"? I'm guessing it's already started and the first evil trojans disguised as eBay Toolbars are already installed.

Asking PayPal users to download executables onto their machines is like handing Michael Moore your credit-card at Morton's. You're likely to get a lot more than you bargained for.

And it's ludicrous that PayPal continues to promote this kind of practice, which is certain to be exploited by phishers. Plain and simple - don't download anything you don't need. And never download something at the behest of an email.

The internet is dangerous enough. We don't need PayPal making it worse.

The Times: Left Behind

Picture credit: http://goldsea.com
In reading two of Michelle Malkin's recent articles this morning, I came to a stunning epiphany. The New York Times is a parody newspaper. I can find no other explanation of its recent behavior. I assert that its investigation of John Roberts' adopted children while simultaneously and studiously ignoring the Air Enron scandal reinforce the fact that the Times is pure satire.

It's like a sophisticated version of The Onion, only without the chuckles.

Consider: the Times reportedly resorted to what Malkin terms, "journalistic dumpster diving," in order to unearth the sealed adoption records of John Roberts' two children.

And: after a week of rising stink, the Air Enron scandal has reached the Eliot Spitzer level. And, so far as I can tell, nary a word has been printed in the Times about the furtive Al Franken and the missing Boys & Girls Club funds.

Folks, you just can't make this stuff up. This can't be anything but a brilliant parody. And, let me be first the congratulate the Times' on its new daily parody edition. It's gold, Jerry, pure gold.

Update: Looking for the Reader's Digest version of MSM/DNC self-parody? Look no further than Sister Toldjah's excellent recap.

Air Enron

Picture credit: http://www.airamerica.cc
The massively unsuccessful Air America network is embroiled in a major scandal that you probably haven't heard about. The heart of the scandal: hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans made to the liberal talkshow network by a Bronx-based Boys & Girls Club.

In early 2004, the directors of the nascent Air America network were scouring the nation for potential contributors... One of the network's directors, Evan Montvel Cohen, appears to have partially solved the problem by arranging loans from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club that eventually totaled at least $480,000, and possibly more...

Oddly enough, the mainstream media (oops, I meant the MSM/DNC) hasn't found any time to explore this scandal. Michelle Malkin points out:

Number of NY Times articles mentioning Air America since March 2004: 59 Number of NY Times articles mentioning the Air Enron scandal: 0

Chalk up another one for the utterly unbiased Gray Lady.

The ramifications for the Boys & Girls Club, however, have been catastrophic. New York City has suspended about $10 million in funding because of "inappropriate transactions and falsified documents."

The calculus (or, rather, the plain arithmetic) behind the scandal is simple: taxpayer funds appear to be siphoned from the Boys & Girls Club to help pay the likes of Al Franken. Now, I know that some of these geniuses have socialist tendencies but... wow. Taxpayer funding for a private enterprise like Air Enron?

Meanwhile, the kids who could have used the funding are left in sweltering apartments in the City. And the millionaire Franken continues to enjoy the perquisites of immense wealth. Nope. I don't see any scandal there.

Arizona Republic: A scandal below the radar

Quotes

"Now it's Roberts' turn. Barely had the president finished announcing the nomination when the Dems rushed Sen. Chuck Schumer on air, hunched and five-o'clock-shadowed and looking like a bus-&-truck one-man Nixon revue. Schumer's line was that, as a judge, Roberts had too thin a paper trail. His message seemed to be: Look, we Dems have the finest oppo-research boys in the business and, if we can't get any dirt on this guy, that must mean it's buried real deep and is real bad; the very fact that we can't get anything on him is in itself suspicious." -- Mark Steyn

"September 11 for me was a wake up call. Do you know what I think the problem is? That a lot of the world woke up for a short time and then turned over and went back to sleep again." -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"My Second Rule of Life, if you're interested is: Never eat in a Chinese restaurant next door to an animal shelter." -- Michael Barone