Google has taken steps to address the privacy concerns over their Latitude service, and most people seem to be satisfied.  One thing I’m slightly surprised about is that no one seems to be particularly suspicious of what their statement
Google stores only the most recent automatic update or location selection you manually entered on our servers.
does [...]

My friend Sellam Ismail is going to visit this weekend, and I might sell him a computer. I also might have a coin-op video game for him. In an email exchange to make plans, he asked:
Do you need anything from me?
I replied:
World peace, or failing that, maybe some whirled peas?
And his response was:
I [...]

I wish I could say that I was surprised at how many female students at Padua Academy were willing to sign a petition to end women’s suffrage. The issue seems to be controversial at UVM.
Personally, I’m in favor of women’s suffrage.

A friend tells me that at his son’s school, it would be a violation of school policy for a student to give valentines only to other students of his or her choice. If any are given, they must be given to the entire class.
So much for the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. [...]

The U.S. Congress has enacted various legislation and regulations intended to encourage energy savings. Some of the better known programs are the EPA’s Energy Star program, and the DoE’s Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products. In some cases, though, poorly thought out legislation or regulations may backfire.
Last night I decided to buy a [...]

The DHS I-9 form, used by employers to report verification of employment elgibility, has expired as of 31 March 2007, and the DHS not issued a replacement. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq., the government cannot assess any penalty for failure to fill out the form:
Public protection
(a) Notwithstanding any [...]

As the gun powder was clearing on the Virginia Tech massacre a few months ago, the gun law lobby was citing the tragedy as evidence for greater gun control. On our side we were pointing out that draconian gun laws in Blacksburg failed to disarm the perp or protect the 32 victims. Additionally there were [...]

Last night I dreamt that I lived in a place where the government was gradually taking away many of the people’s freedoms, in the supposed interest of protecting them. It started with relatively minor things, like losing the right to travel without showing papers, the right to privacy (for instance, in telephone conversations), and [...]

I have a lot of respect for Congressman Tim Ryan for taking the Food Stamp Challenge. Recently as he was taking a commercial flight the TSA confiscated his peanut butter and jelly, depriving him of meals for two days. I posted the following comment on his blog (here slightly edited), though it [...]

Now, in addition to the ridiculous, ineffective “No Fly List,” the U.S. government also has a “No Buy List,” officially called the “Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN).”  If you do business with anyone on the list, you can be subject to up to a $10 million fine and 30 years in prison.  The credit bureaus [...]