Ebooks + Open Source = ?

Book publisher adopts open-source idea. Prentice Hall, a technical and academic book publisher, embraces the open-source philosophy for a new series of books, the content of which may be freely distributed. [CNET News.com]

5:41:45 PM    

$500 -- All you can eat OS.  What a deal?

Lindows license offer targets schools. The software maker launches a program to let educational institutions install its namesake operating system on an unlimited number of computers for $500 per year. [CNET News.com]

10:00:17 AM    

Total Information Awareness --- more background information

Pentagon database plan hits snag on Hill. A plan that would link credit card, health insurance and other databases--creating what critics have called a "domestic surveillance apparatus"--raises concern on Capitol Hill. [CNET News.com]

The article points to several primary sources of information, including a recent (Jan 10, 2003) letter to John Ashcroft from three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.  It's seven pages and marks the beginning of detailed inquiry into the governments surveillance tactics.

9:49:27 AM    

Total Information Awareness gains opposition

Planned Databank on Citizens Spurs Opposition in Congress. Opposition is growing to a domestic antiterrorism surveillance program being developed in the Defense Department. By John Schwartz. [New York Times: Politics]

9:43:18 AM    

ACLU viewpoint on surveillance

ACLU Spooked by Domestic Spying. A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union raises concerns about the growth of U.S. surveillance in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. The group recommends legislation to protect Americans' privacy rights. By Julia Scheeres. [Wired News]

Hmm, they evidently have a page on cyber-liberties and have issued a report summarizing recent changes in law, advances in technology, as well as growth of data aggregation businesses such as Choicepoint, which compromises, in the ACLU's view, our privacy and freedom.

9:26:18 AM