Arr-r-r-rgh! Somebody needs to put a muzzle on this guy. Louis Freeh thinks encryption should be controlled by The Government, and that private citizens should give up their rights to privacy on the net because of potential misuses by terrorists, pornographers, and other unsavory types.
Freeh was wrong when he was FBI Director, and he's wrong now. I for one am unwilling to give The Gov open license to snoop on any communications media, particularly one as powerful as the Internet. This is like saying "...we want the keys to all homes, all safety deposit boxes, all autos, just in case."
Article IV of The Constitution says "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. "
It's there for a good reason - power corrupts, and that goes double for governments. Mr. Freeh, take your scaremongering tactics elsewhere.
Here's another reason the tech downturn, at least in the pro-services segment of the market, may be more of a paradigm shift than a downturn. It may be permanent. Article from Line56.
SVN: This is a sobering article about the effects of the protracted "downturn" in the tech business. This kind of thing keeps me up at night, wondering if I'm really an idiot for turning solo in an economy like this. On the other hand, it's going well, so...But I sense the desperation that's out there. I know people like those in the article. It's bad.
Jon Udell has written a rambling but thought-provoking piece on digital identity. I'm with him - I think this single issue is the most important thing happening in the business/tech world today. Sometime soon, the conversation needs to swing around to the rights of online individuals, as opposed to the rights and ID of content and copyright holders.
This is also the kind of issue that could cause a third American Revolution. The first was over taxation and independent governance, the second was over slavery and culture. In all the time since, we've come close to revolution (Vietnam era protest and government corruption/stupidity) but have always managed to patch things up. I hope this time will be the same.
One Big Problem: the issue is too arcane and abstract for most people to care about, which is why the RIAA-types are winning. How can we personalize the issue?
Part of my wasted Sunday was an hour spent wandering around the local CompUSA. The mission was to buy some paper and ink for the HP 920, but I'm incapable of a simple purchase in any computer store. Wandering around looking and lusting is mandatory. Some observations:
1. The price of good quality inkjet printers needs to fall only another 20-30%, and it will be cheaper to buy an entirely new printer than to buy the ink refill for the old printer. The ink for the 920 cost $65!! I've watched tech gear product cycles accelerate for 20 years, and I've never seen a product category churn as fast as inkjet printers.
2. External hard drives are now cheap enough to use as casual storage. I saw 120 GB drives for less than $200.
3. They're practically giving away 802.11b network gear. And, the price of 802.11a gear is now the same as 11b a year ago (about $250 for the access point, $100 for the NIC).
4. I really, really want a Mac, but am loath to make the investment of time and brain cells learning an entirely new environment. I want one because of their beautiful design and OS X.
It's a slow Monday morning, after an even slower Sunday. The market's still wobbling; most of the blogs I read aren't updated yet; all the projects I'm part of are in the end stage. Today it feels like fall has really hit. Time to get busy and find the next customer/project.
