Denialism of science

• Denialism (WikiPedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denialism
  • In human behavior, denialism is exhibited by individuals choosing to deny reality as a way to avoid dealing with an uncomfortable truth. … “[It] is the refusal to accept an empirically verifiable reality. It is an essentially irrational action that withholds validation of a historical experience or event”. … group denialism [is defined] as “when an entire segment of society, often struggling with the trauma of change, turns away from reality in favor of a more comfortable lie.”
  • In science, denialism has been defined as the rejection of basic concepts that are undisputed and well-supported parts of the scientific consensus on a topic in favor of ideas that are both radical and controversial. … It has been proposed that the various forms of denialism have the common feature of the rejection of overwhelming evidence and the generation of a controversy through attempts to deny that a consensus exists. … A common example is Young Earth creationism and its dispute with the evolutionary theory.

2014

• “How To Convince Conservative Christians That Global Warming Is Real” by Chris Mooney (Mother Jones; 2014.05.02) – http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/inquiring-minds-katharine-hayhoe-faith-climate
  • Millions of Americans are evangelical Christians. Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe is persuading them that our planet is in peril.
  • “Years of Living Dangerously Premiere Full Episode” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brvhCnYvxQQ
• “Most Americans doubt Big Bang, not too sure about evolution, climate change – survey” By Rik Myslewski (The Register; 2014.04.21) – http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/21/most_americans_doubt_big_bang_not_too_sure_about_evolution_climate_change_survey/
  • Science no match for religion, politics, business interests

  

• “AP-GfK Poll: Big Bang a big question for most Americans” (AP-Gfk; 2014.04.21) – http://ap-gfkpoll.com/featured/findings-from-our-latest-poll-2
  • Few Americans question that smoking causes cancer. But they express bigger doubts as concepts that scientists consider to be truths get further from our own experiences and the present time … Americans have more skepticism than confidence in global warming, the age of the Earth and evolution and have the most trouble believing a Big Bang created the universe 13.8 billion years ago….
  • Just 4 percent doubt that smoking causes cancer, 6 percent question whether mental illness is a medical condition that affects the brain and 8 percent are skeptical there’s a genetic code inside our cells. More – 15 percent – have doubts about the safety and efficacy of childhood vaccines …
  • About 4 in 10 say they are not too confident or outright disbelieve that the earth is warming, mostly a result of man-made heat-trapping gases, that the Earth is 4.5 billion years old or that life on Earth evolved through a process of natural selection, though most were at least somewhat confident in each of those concepts. But a narrow majority – 51 percent – questions the Big Bang theory …
  • “Science ignorance is pervasive in our society, and these attitudes are reinforced when some of our leaders are openly antagonistic to established facts,”…
  • The poll highlights “the iron triangle of science, religion and politics,” … And scientists know they’ve got the shakiest leg in the triangle….
  • To the public “most often values and beliefs trump science” when they conflict, … … Political values were closely tied to views on science in the poll, with Democrats more apt than Republicans to express confidence in evolution, the Big Bang, the age of the Earth and climate change….
  • Religious values are similarly important… Confidence in evolution, the Big Bang, the age of the Earth and climate change decline sharply as faith in a supreme being rises, according to the poll. Likewise, those who regularly attend religious services or are evangelical Christians express much greater doubts about scientific concepts they may see as contradictory to their faith … “When you are putting up facts against faith, facts can’t argue against faith,” … “It makes sense now that science would have made no headway because faith is untestable.” …
  • Beyond religious belief, views on science may be tied to what we see with our own eyes. The closer an issue is to our bodies and the less complicated, the easier it is for people to believe, …
  • Marsha Brooks, a 59-year-old nanny who lives in Washington, D.C., said she’s certain smoking causes cancer because she saw her mother, aunts and uncles, all smokers, die of cancer … But when it comes to the universe beginning with a Big Bang or the Earth being about 4.5 billion years old, she has doubts. …
  • Jorge Delarosa, a 39-year-old architect from Bridgewater, N.J., pointed to a warm 2012 without a winter and said, “I feel the change. There must be a reason.” But when it came to Earth’s beginnings 4.5 billion years ago, he has doubts simply because “I wasn’t there.”…
  • Experience and faith aren’t the only things affecting people’s views on science. … “the force of concerted campaigns to discredit scientific fact” as a more striking factor, citing significant interest groups – political, business and religious – campaigning against scientific truths on vaccines, climate change and evolution….
  • … sometimes science wins out even against well-financed and loud opposition, as with smoking. Widespread belief that smoking causes cancer “has come about because of very public, very focused public health campaigns,” … [also, what is very encouraging is] the public’s acceptance that mental illness is a brain disease, something few believed 25 years ago, before just such a campaign.
• “Why climate deniers are winning: The twisted psychology that overwhelms scientific consensus” by Paul Rosenberg (The Salon; 2014.04.19) – http://www.salon.com/2014/04/19/why_climate_deniers_are_winning_the_twisted_psychology_that_overwhelms_scientific_consensus/
  • There’s a reason why overwhelming evidence hasn’t spurred public action against global warming
  • “The reason ‘consensus’ has not appeared to work in society at large to date isn’t because it’s ineffective – it’s because there is a well-funded counter-movement out there that takes every opportunity to mislead the public into thinking that there isn’t a consensus,”
• “How politics makes us stupid” by Ezra Klein (Vox; 2014.04.06) – http://www.vox.com/2014/4/6/5556462/brain-dead-how-politics-makes-us-stupid

Older articles

• “How Do You Get People to Give a Damn About Climate Change?” by Chris Mooney (Mother Jones; 2013.10.18) – http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/10/inquiring-minds-kahan-lewandowsky-communicate-climate
  • Experts have come a long way in figuring out which messages can successfully open minds and move public opinion. There’s just one problem: They disagree about whether the message everyone’s using actually works.
• “Scientific uncertainty and climate change: Part I. Uncertainty and unabated emissions” by Stephan Lewandowsky, James S. Risbey, Michael Smithson, Ben R. Newell, John Hunter (Springer) – http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-014-1082-7
  • Uncertainty forms an integral part of climate science, and it is often used to argue against mitigative action. This article presents an analysis of uncertainty in climate sensitivity that is robust to a range of assumptions. We show that increasing uncertainty is necessarily associated with greater expected damages from warming, provided the function relating warming to damages is convex. This constraint is unaffected by subjective or cultural risk-perception factors, it is unlikely to be overcome by the discount rate, and it is independent of the presumed magnitude of climate sensitivity. The analysis also extends to “second-order” uncertainty; that is, situations in which experts disagree. Greater disagreement among experts increases the likelihood that the risk of exceeding a global temperature threshold is greater. Likewise, increasing uncertainty requires increasingly greater protective measures against sea level rise. This constraint derives directly from the statistical properties of extreme values. We conclude that any appeal to uncertainty compels a stronger, rather than weaker, concern about unabated warming than in the absence of uncertainty.
• “Scientific uncertainty and climate change: Part II. Uncertainty and mitigation” by Stephan Lewandowsky, James S. Risbey, Michael Smithson, Ben R. Newell (Springer) – http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-014-1083-6
  • In public debate surrounding climate change, scientific uncertainty is often cited in connection with arguments against mitigative action. This article examines the role of uncertainty about future climate change in determining the likely success or failure of mitigative action. We show by Monte Carlo simulation that greater uncertainty translates into a greater likelihood that mitigation efforts will fail to limit global warming to a target (e.g., 2 °C). The effect of uncertainty can be reduced by limiting greenhouse gas emissions. Taken together with the fact that greater uncertainty also increases the potential damages arising from unabated emissions (Lewandowsky et al. 2014), any appeal to uncertainty implies a stronger, rather than weaker, need to cut greenhouse gas emissions than in the absence of uncertainty.
• “The pivotal role of perceived scientific consensus in acceptance of science” by Stephan Lewandowsky, Gilles E. Gignac, Samuel Vaughan (Nature Climate Change 3, 399-404 (2013); doi:10.1038/nclimate1720; 2012.10.28) – http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v3/n4/full/nclimate1720.html
  • Although most experts agree that CO2 emissions are causing anthropogenic global warming (AGW), public concern has been declining. One reason for this decline is the ‘manufacture of doubt’ by political and vested interests, which often challenge the existence of the scientific consensus. The role of perceived consensus in shaping public opinion is therefore of considerable interest: in particular, it is unknown whether consensus determines people’s beliefs causally. It is also unclear whether perception of consensus can override people’s ‘worldviews’, which are known to foster rejection of AGW. Study 1 shows that acceptance of several scientific propositions-from HIV/AIDS to AGW-is captured by a common factor that is correlated with another factor that captures perceived scientific consensus. Study 2 reveals a causal role of perceived consensus by showing that acceptance of AGW increases when consensus is highlighted. Consensus information also neutralizes the effect of worldview.

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Related:

• “Climate change – or not” – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/climate-change-or-not/
• “Antivaccination movement” – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/antivaccination-movement-and-other-lunacies/
• “We don’t need stinking renewable energy …” – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2014/04/21/we-dont-need-stinking-renewable-energy/

Facebook sinking even deeper

• “Why I’m quitting Facebook” by Douglas Rushkoff (CNN; 2013.02.25) – http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/25/opinion/rushkoff-why-im-quitting-facebook/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
  • I have always argued for engaging with technology as conscious human beings and dispensing with technologies that take that agency away.

    Facebook is just such a technology. It does things on our behalf when we’re not even there. It actively misrepresents us to our friends, and worse misrepresents those who have befriended us to still others. To enable this dysfunctional situation — I call it “digiphrenia” — would be at the very least hypocritical.

  • Facebook does not exist to help us make friends, but to turn our network of connections, brand preferences and activities over time — our “social graphs” — into money for others.
  • The true end users of Facebook are the marketers who want to reach and influence us. They are Facebook’s paying customers; we are the product. And we are its workers. The countless hours that we — and the young, particularly — spend on our profiles are the unpaid labor on which Facebook justifies its stock valuation.
• “Facebook Is Recycling Your Likes To Promote Stories You’ve Never Seen To All Your Friends” by Anthony Wing Kosner (Forbes; 2013.01.21) – http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/21/facebook-is-recycling-your-likes-to-promote-stories-youve-never-seen-to-all-your-friends/
• “Why are dead people liking stuff on Facebook?” by Bernard Meisler (ReadWrite > Social; 2012.12.11) – http://readwrite.com/2012/12/11/why-are-dead-people-liking-stuff-on-facebook

This is getting tiresome: Facebook never stop monkeying with its users

• “Why I’m quitting Facebook” by Douglas Rushkoff (CNN; 2013.02.25) – http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/25/opinion/rushkoff-why-im-quitting-facebook/index.html?iid=article_sidebar
  • I have always argued for engaging with technology as conscious human beings and dispensing with technologies that take that agency away.

    Facebook is just such a technology. It does things on our behalf when we’re not even there. It actively misrepresents us to our friends, and worse misrepresents those who have befriended us to still others. To enable this dysfunctional situation — I call it “digiphrenia” — would be at the very least hypocritical.

  • Facebook does not exist to help us make friends, but to turn our network of connections, brand preferences and activities over time — our “social graphs” — into money for others.
  • The true end users of Facebook are the marketers who want to reach and influence us. They are Facebook’s paying customers; we are the product. And we are its workers. The countless hours that we — and the young, particularly — spend on our profiles are the unpaid labor on which Facebook justifies its stock valuation.
• “Facebook Is Recycling Your Likes To Promote Stories You’ve Never Seen To All Your Friends” by Anthony Wing Kosner (Forbes; 2013.01.21) – http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/01/21/facebook-is-recycling-your-likes-to-promote-stories-youve-never-seen-to-all-your-friends/
• “Facebook: the most congenitally dishonest company in America” – http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2012/06/26/facebook-the-most-congenitally-dishonest-company-in-america/

Oh well

• “How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street” by Chris Moody (Yahoo! News; 2011.12.01) – http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/republicans-being-taught-talk-occupy-wall-street-133707949.html
• “The shocking truth about the crackdown on Occupy” by Naomi Wolf (The Guardian; 2011.11.25) – http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/nov/25/shocking-truth-about-crackdown-occupy
  • The violent police assaults across the US are no coincidence. Occupy has touched the third rail of our political class’s venality
  • DHS coordinated violent attack on Occupy Wall Street protests in 18 cities.
  • The mainstream media was declaring continually “OWS has no message”. Frustrated, I simply asked them. I began soliciting online “What is it you want?” answers from Occupy. In the first 15 minutes, I received 100 answers. These were truly eye-opening.
    • The No 1 agenda item: get the money out of politics. Most often cited was legislation to blunt the effect of the Citizens United ruling, which lets boundless sums enter the campaign process.
    • No 2: reform the banking system to prevent fraud and manipulation, with the most frequent item being to restore the Glass-Steagall Act – the Depression-era law, done away with by President Clinton, that separates investment banks from commercial banks. This law would correct the conditions for the recent crisis, as investment banks could not take risks for profit that create kale derivatives out of thin air, and wipe out the commercial and savings banks.
    • No 3 was the most clarifying: draft laws against the little-known loophole that currently allows members of Congress to pass legislation affecting Delaware-based corporations in which they themselves are investors.
• “Reporters Meet the Fists of the Law” by Michael Powell (The New Yrk Times; 2011.11.21) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/22/nyregion/nypd-stops-reporters-with-badges-and-fists.html
• “Poet-Bashing Police” by Robert Hass (The New Yoirk Times; 2011.11.19) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/20/opinion/sunday/at-occupy-berkeley-beat-poets-has-new-meaning.html
• “Caught on Camera: 10 Shockingly Violent Police Assaults on Occupy Protesters” (AlterNet; 2011.11.19) – http://www.alternet.org/story/153134/caught_on_camera:_10_shockingly_violent_police_assaults_on_occupy_protesters/
  Probably 97 percent of police act professionally toward protesters. But the other 3 percent are armed and dangerous, and know that they’re unlikely to be held accountable.
• “Retired NY Supreme Court Justice Karen Smith Roughed up by Cops for Intervening in Brutal Beating of ‘Occupy’ Protester’s Mom” (Moral Low Ground blog; 2011.11.17) – http://morallowground.com/2011/11/17/retired-ny-supreme-court-justice-karen-smith-roughed-up-by-cops-for-intervening-in-brutal-beating-of-occupy-protesters-mom/
• “Homeland Security Coordinated 18-City Police Crackdown on Occupy Protest” (Washington’s Blog; 2011.11.16) – http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/11/homeland-security-coordinated-18-city-police-crackdown-on-occupy-protest.html
  Remember when people were freaking out over the Patriot Act and Homeland Security and all this other conveniently ready-to-go post-9/11 police state stuff, because it would obviously be just a matter of time before the whole apparatus was turned against non-Muslim Americans when they started getting complain-y about the social injustice and economic injustice and income inequality and endless recession and permanent unemployment? That day is now, and has been for some time. But it’s also now confirmed that it’s now, as some Justice Department official screwed up and admitted that the Department of Homeland Security coordinated the riot-cop raids on a dozen major #Occupy Wall Street demonstration camps nationwide yesterday and today.
• “Did Mayors, DHS Coordinate Occupy Attacks?” by Allison Kilkenny (In These Times; 2011.11.16) – http://inthesetimes.com/uprising/entry/12303/mayors_dhs_coordinated_occupy_attacks/
• “Raids on OWS coordinated with Obama’s FBI, Homeland Security & others” (News from Undeground; 2011.11.15) – http://markcrispinmiller.com/2011/11/raids-on-ows-coordinated-with-obamas-fbi-homeland-security-others/
• “Journalists obstructed from covering OWS protests” (CPJ [Committee to Protect Journalists]; 2011.11.15) – http://www.cpj.org/2011/11/journalists-obstructed-from-covering-ows-protests.php

Facebook foolies

• “Facebook Admits Hiring PR Company for Google Smear Campaign” (International Business Times > San Francisco edition; 2011.05.13) – http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/145361/20110513/facebook-admits-hiring-pr-company-for-google-smear-campaign.htm
• “‘Facebook has sparked open warfare in dotcom land’” (The Telegraph; 2011.05.13) – http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8512730/Facebook-has-sparked-open-warfare-in-dotcom-land.html – A leading public relations executive has defended Facebook’s recent attempt to smear Google in the US press using a top PR firm, saying dirty tricks are not unusual.
• “How big firms bash their rivals, in public and private” by Robert Plummer (BBC News; 2011.05.13) – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13387807
• “Update: Facebook says no ‘smear’ campaign intended” by Tim Mullaney (USA TODAY; 2011.05.12) – http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/05/report-facebook-launched-smear-campaign-against-google/1
• “Facebook’s Stealth Attack on Google Exposes Its Own Privacy Problem” by Steven Levy (Wired; 2011.05.12) – http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/facebook-privacy-problems/
• “Facebook vs. Google fight turns nasty” by Julianne Pepitone (CNNMoney > Tech; 2011.05.12) – http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/12/technology/facebook_google/
• Compromising email exchange – http://pastebin.com/zaeTeJeJ
• “Smear Story Source Speaks: Facebook Wanted to Stab Google in the Back” (BeatBeat; 2011.05.12) – http://www.betabeat.com/2011/05/12/smear-story-source-speaks-facebook-wanted-to-stab-google-in-the-back/
• “Facebook Hired PR Firm to Run Smear Campaign Against Google” by Chloe Albanesius By Chloe Albanesius (PCMagazine; 2011.05.12) – http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385263,00.asp
• “Facebook’s Embarrassing Secret Campaign To Discredit Google Revealed (UPDATE)” (The Huffington Post; 2011.05.12) – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/facebook-google-smear_n_860942.html
• “The Irony of Facebook’s Secret PR War Against Google” by Adam Clark Estes (The Atlantic Wire; 2011.05.12) – http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2011/05/irony-behind-facebooks-secret-pr-war-against-google/37619/
• “Sleazy PR Firm Throws Scummy Facebook Under The Sordid Bus” by MG Siegler (Tech Crucnh; 2011.05.12) – http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/12/swallowing-puke/
• “Facebook Loses Much Face In Secret Smear On Google” by Michael Arrington (Tech Crucnh; 2011.05.12) – http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/12/facebook-loses-much-face-in-secret-smear-on-google/
• “PR FIRM: Facebook Asked Us To Do Something Sleazy And We Never Should Have Done It” by Henry Blodget (Business Insider; 2011.05.12) – http://www.businessinsider.com/burson-marsteller-facebook-2011-5
• “Facebook Embraces J. Edgar Hoover: Anti-Google Lie Campaign Revealed” by Lauren Weinstein (Lauren Weinstein’s Blog; 2011.05.12) – http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000852.html
• “Facebook Busted in Clumsy Smear on Google” by Dan Lyons (The Daily Beast; 2011.05.12) – http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-12/facebook-busted-in-clumsy-smear-attempt-on-google
  The social network secretly hired a PR firm to plant negative stories about the search giant, The Daily Beast’s Dan Lyons reveals—a caper that is blowing up in their face, and escalating their war. …
• “Burson Marsteller, Facebook, Scandal: B-M Says Facebook Assignment “Should Have Been Declined”” by Tonya Garcia (PRNewser; 2011.05.12) – http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/b-m-says-facebook-assignment-should-have-been-declined_b20772
• “Attempt to Involve Me in Anti-Google “Astroturf Lies” PR Campaign” by Lauren Weinstein (Lauren Weinstein’s Blog; 2011.05.11) – http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000850.html
• “BUSTED: Former CNBC Tech Reporter Jim Goldman Caught Spreading Lies About Google For Unnamed PR Client” by Henry Blodget (Business Insider; 2011.05.10) – http://www.businessinsider.com/busted-former-cnbc-tech-reporter-jim-goldman-lies-about-google-2011-5
• “B-M Pitch on Behalf of Unnamed Client Raises Ethical Questions” by Tonya Garcia (PRNewser; 2011.05.10) – http://www.mediabistro.com/prnewser/b-m-pitch-on-behalf-of-unnamed-client-raises-ethical-questions_b20643

Anti-scientism

• “Science Is Not Your Enemy – An impassioned plea to neglected novelists, embattled professors, and tenure-less historians” by Steven Pinker (New Republic; 2013.08.06) – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114127/science-not-enemy-humanities
  • “No, Science Doesn’t Have All the Answers” by New Republic Literary Editor Leon Wieseltier (New Republic; 2013.08.07) – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/114172/leon-wieseltier-scientism-and-humanities | = Leon Wieseltier on the Value of the Humanities – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GevfKLmmMr0#at=110
  • “The Trouble with Scientism – Why history and the humanities are also a form of knowledge” by Philip Kitcher – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/books-and-arts/magazine/103086/scientism-humanities-knowledge-theory-everything-arts-science
  • “Science’s Sacred Cows (Part 1)” by Dave Pruett (Huffington Post; 2013.01.02) – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-pruett/sciences-sacred-cows-part-1_b_2392381.html?
  • “Time to Separate Scientism and State” by Wesley J. Smith (2012.12.24; national Review online) – http://www.nationalreview.com/human-exceptionalism/336436/time-separate-scientism-and-state
    • “Politicians must not elevate mere opinion over science” by Brian Cox and Robin Ince (NewStatesman; 2012.12.18) – http://www.newstatesman.com/sci-tech/sci-tech/2012/12/brian-cox-and-robin-ince-politicians-must-not-elevate-mere-opinion-over-sc
  • “The Folly of Scientism” by Austin L. Hughes (The New Atlantis; 2012 Fall) – http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-folly-of-scientism
  • “Philosophy Is Not a Science” by Julian Friedland (The new York Times; 2012.04.05) – http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/05/philosophy-is-not-a-science/
  • “The New Intolerance” by melanie Phillips (Standpoint; 2012.05) – http://standpointmag.co.uk/text-may-12-the-new-intolerance-melanie-phillips-secularism-religion-intolerance-atheism-islamism-scientism
  • “Defending Freedom” by george Lakoff (New Repoblic; 2006.10.16) – http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/defending-freedom
  • “Block That Metaphor” by Steve npinker [- a review of “Whose Freedom?: The Battle over America’s Most Important Idea” by George Lakoff (The New Republic; 2006.10.19)] – http://www.powells.com/review/2006_10_19
  • “Frame Game” by The New Republic staff (The New Republic; 2006.11.04) – http://www.newrepublic.com/blog/open-university/frame-game

USA:Anti-Evolution

• “Tennessee Bill Helps Teachers Challenge Evolution” (SlashDot; 2011.04.08) – http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/04/08/1353249/Tennessee-Bill-Helps-Teachers-Challenge-Evolution
  “In a 70-28 vote yesterday, the Tennessee House of Representatives passed HB 368 (PDF), a bill that encourages science teachers to explore controversial topics without fear of reprisal. Critics say the measure will enable K-12 teachers to present intelligent design and creationism as acceptable alternatives to evolution in the classroom. If the bill passes, Tennessee would join Louisiana as the second state to have specific ‘protection’ for the teaching of evolution in the classroom.”
• “Bill Allowing Teachers to Challenge Evolution Passes Tennessee House” by Sara Reardon 9Science; 2011.04.07) – http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/04/bill-allowing-teachers-to-challenge.html

USA: Anti – Climate Change

Privacy articles

• Report: “Dispelling the Myths Surrounding De-identification” (Anonymization can still work) by Lauren Weinstein (Lauren Buzz; 2011.06.16) – http://bit.ly/lbH5PE by Information and Privacy Commissioner of Canada [PDF]
  “Recently, the value of de-identification of personal information as a tool to protect privacy has come into question. Repeated claims have been made regarding the ease of re-identification. We consider this to be most unfortunate because it leaves the mistaken impression that there is no point in attempting to de-identify personal information, especially in cases where de-identified information would be sufficient for subsequent use, as in the case of health research. The goal of this paper is to dispel this myth – the fear of re-identification is greatly overblown. As long as proper de-identification techniques, combined with re-identification risk measurement procedures, are used, de-identification remains a crucial tool in the protection of privacy.”
• AOL search data scandal (WikiPedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AOL_search_data_scandal
• “What the know” series of articles (The Wall Street Journal) – http://online.wsj.com/public/page/what-they-know-digital-privacy.html
• “The privacy covenant is an illusion: How to regain control” by Chad Perrin (Tech Republic; 2011.04.18) – http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/the-privacy-covenant-is-an-illusion-how-to-regain-control/5351?tag=nl.e036

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Related pages here: Privacy and digital liberties – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/privacy-and-digital-liberties/|Personal computer security – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/personal-computer-security/ | Online privacy tools – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/12/25/online-privacy-tools/ | Unending stream of Facebook privacy news – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/unending-stream-of-facebook-privacy-news/ | TSA folies – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/tsa-folies/

Taboo

• “What You Can’t Say” by Paul Graham (2004.01) – http://paulgraham.com/say.html
  • “Re: What You Can’t Say” – http://paulgraham.com/resay.html
• “The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930 (Hays Code)” (in Reformation of the Arts and Music) – http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html
• “What You Can’t Say Will Hurt You” By Geoffrey R. Stone (NYT; 2005.08.15) – http://www.archub.org/stone.txt
• “A Civic Duty to Annoy” by Wendy Kaminer (1997.09) – http://www.archub.org/civicduty.txt
• “Stanley Milgram: The Perils of Obedience” (at Paul Graham’s web site) – http://paulgraham.com/perils.html
• “Mark Twain: Corn-pone Opinions” (at Paul Graham’s web site) – http://paulgraham.com/cornpone.html
• “A New Blacklist for “Excuse Makers” ” (FAIR; 2005.07.27) – http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2598
  New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has urged the U.S. government to create blacklists of condemned political speech–not only by those who advocate violence, but also by those who believe that U.S. government actions may encourage violent reprisals. The latter group, which Friedman called “just one notch less despicable than the terrorists,” includes a majority of Americans, according to recent polls.
  Those who think Iraq War sparks terror are “despicable,” says Friedman
• book “The Ten Things You Can’t Say In America, Revised Edition” by Larry Elder (Amazon) – http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312284659/
• “Stratagem XXXII” from “The Art Of Controversy” by Arthur Schopenhauer – http://coolhaus.de/art-of-controversy/erist32.htm
  If you are confronted with an assertion, there is a short way of getting rid of it, or, at any rate, of throwing suspicion on it, by putting it into some odious category; even though the connection is only apparent, or else of a loose character. You can say, for instance, “That is Manichaeism” or “It is Arianism,” or “Pelagianism,” or “Idealism,” or “Spinozism,” or “Pantheism,” or “Brownianism,” or “Naturalism,” or “Atheism,” or “Rationalism,” “Spiritualism,” “Mysticism,” and so on. In making an objection of this kind, you take it for granted (1) that the assertion in question is identical with, or is at least contained in, the category cited – that is to say, you cry out, “Oh, I have heard that before”; and (2) that the system referred to has been entirely refuted, and does not contain a word of truth.

Scientology

• “List of Scientology Security Checks” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Scientology_Security_Checks
  A security check resembles the confessional in traditional religions. However, it also differs from them in that it is not voluntary and that it explicitly gives power to the auditor to scrutinise and control individual Scientologists. Hubbard told security checkers that “you are not merely an observer, or an auditor, you are a detective.”
  Susan Raine of the University of Alberta observes that the questions asked in security checks show that L. Ron Hubbard was intensely preoccupied with scrutiny, surveillance and betrayal. She notes that this intense form of surveillance makes sense from a bureaucratic perspective as a way of making sure all individuals follow (and internalize) the organisational goals. Bent Corydon, an ex-Scientologist, compares security checking to the use of thought police in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. He writes that Scientologists are punished for having negative thoughts about Hubbard or Scientology and so learn to think only positively. David Mayo, another former member, reported that sec checks included the question, “Have you ever had any unkind thoughts about LRH?” and that such “discreditable thoughts” could land a follower in trouble.
• FACTnet (F.A.C.T.net Inc. = Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network Since 1993) – http://www.factnet.org/ – Since 1993, Discussion, Resources and Support for Recovery from the Abusive Practices of Religions and Cults
• Scientology Critical Information Directory – http://www.xenu-directory.net/
  • Security Check (Sec Check) – http://www.xenu-directory.net/practices/seccheck1.html
• Ask the Scientologist – http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com/
• Infinite Complacency / Violence and Abuse in Scientology (Jonny Jacobsen) – http://infinitecomplacency.blogspot.com/
• Leaving Scientology (Jeff Hawkins) – http://leavingscientology.wordpress.com/
• Scientology v. Armstrong (Gerry Armstrong) – http://www.gerryarmstrong.org/
• The Wog Blog (Mark Bunker) – http://www.xenutv.com/blog/
• Xenu Directory’s Weblog (xenu-directory.net) – http://xenudirectory.wordpress.com/
• “The Apostate – Paul Haggis vs. the Church of Scientology” by Lawrence Wright (The New Yorker; 2011.02.14) – http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/02/14/110214fa_fact_wright?currentPage=all
• “Tom Cruise and Church of Scientology investigated by FBI” by Lucius Wilson (Examiner.com; 2011.02.08) – http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-icons-in-national/tom-cruise-and-church-of-scientology-investigated-by-fbi
• “Scientology & Tom Cruise Give Us More Reasons to Be Afraid” by Kim Conte (The Stir; 2011.02.08) – http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/116017/scientology_tom_cruise_give_us
• “What You Need to Know About The New Yorker’s Paul Haggis–Scientology Article” (Vulture magazine; 2011.02.07) – http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/02/paul_haggis_scientology.html
• “Paul Haggis and the New Yorker Scientology piece: What will be the fallout?” (LA Times; 2011.02.08) – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/02/paul-haggis-scientology-hubbard-new-yorker-wright-miscavige.html
• “True Grit star Josh Brolin calls Scientology F**king bizarre!” by Lucius Wilson (Examiner.com; 2011.02.07) – http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-icons-in-national/true-grit-star-josh-brolin-calls-scientology-f-king-bizarre
• “Paul Haggis now says he isn’t cooperating on Scientology book” (LA Times; 2011.01.13) – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/01/paul-haggis-not-involved-scientology-book.html
• “How much will a Paul Haggis book hurt Scientology’s image?” [Updated] (LA Times; 2011.01.06) – http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2011/01/paul-haggis-scinetology-book-tom-cruise-will-smith-church.html

Art of rulling

Overthrowing non-compliant weak states = making future vassals

• “Shy U.S. Intellectual Created Playbook Used in a Revolution” by Sheryk Gat Stolberg (The New York Times; 2011.02.16) – http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17sharp.html
  • Gene Sharp’s ideas were used by series of movements used to overthrow governments of Georgia, Serbia, Ukraine, Tunisia and Egypt.
  • “When Egypt’s April 6 Youth Movement was struggling to recover from a failed effort in 2005, its leaders tossed around “crazy ideas” about bringing down the government, said Ahmed Maher, a leading strategist. They stumbled on Mr. Sharp while examining the Serbian movement Otpor, which he had influenced.“
• “From Dictatorship to Democracy” by Gene Sharp – http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations/org/FDTD.pdf [PDF]
• “198 Methods of Nonviolent Action” by Gene Sharp – http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations103a.html
  • These methods were compiled by Dr. Gene Sharp and first published in his 1973 book, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol. 2: The Methods of Nonviolent Action. (Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973). The book outlines each method and gives information about its historical use.
  • Source: Gene Sharp, The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Vol. 2: The Methods of Nonviolent Action (Boston: Porter Sargent Publishers, 1973) – http://www.aeinstein.org/organizations3e7d.html
• Lessons for the Future of Civic Resistance: Georgia and Ukraine” (United States Institute for Peace) – http://www.usip.org/publications/lessons-future-civic-resistance-georgia-and-ukraine

Movers

• Albert Einstein Institution – http://www.aeinstein.org/ – Mr. Sharp’s front end
• United States Institute for Peace – http://www.usip.org/

Client/instrumented movements

• Serbia 2000: Otpor (= “Resistance!”) movement:
  • at WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otpor
    “Otpor members were instrumental in inspiring and providing hands-on training to several other civic youth organizations in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, including Kmara in the Republic of Georgia (itself partly responsible for the downfall of Eduard Shevardnadze), Pora in Ukraine (which was part of the Orange Revolution), Zubr in Belarus (opposing the president Alexander Lukashenko), MJAFT! in Albania, Oborona in Russia (opposing the president Vladimir Putin), KelKel in Kyrgyzstan (active in the revolution that brought down the president Askar Akayev), Bolga in Uzbekistan (opposing Islom Karimov) and Nabad-al-Horriye. in Lebanon. A similar group of students was present in Venezuela against Hugo Chávez. In 2011, an April 6 Youth Movement emerged in Egypt during the 2011 Egyptian protests using the same symbols as Otpor.“
  • Otpor’s challenge to Milosevic (BBC News; 2000.05.15) – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/749469.stm
• Georgia 2003/2004: Kmara movement = “Rose Revolution”:
  • Kmara at WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kmara
  • Rose Revolution at WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_revolution
• Ukraine 2004: Pora (=”it’s Time!”) movement = “Orange Revolution”:
  • Pora at WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pora
  • Orange Revolutionat WikiPedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Revolution
  • “The Orange Revolution” by Paul Quinn-Judge and Yuri Zarakhovich (Time Magazine; 2004.11.06) – http://www.time.com/time/europe/html/041206/story.html
  • “Book Excerpt: The Orange Revolution” by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton (Business Week; 2010.09.24) – http://www.businessweek.com/print/managing/content/sep2010/ca20100924_731486.htm
• Belarus

Arab winter 2011

• Tunisia
• Egypt
• Lybia
• Algeria
• Jemen
• Bahrain

• “What name will history give the Middle East Revolution?” – http://sahibagill.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/what-name-will-history-give-the-middle-east-revolution/
• “Colour revolution 2.0 …” (Bet Aljazair’s Chronicle; 2011.02.14) – http://bentaljazair.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/808/

More:

• “The last of the colored revolutions goes south” by Ian Bremmer (The Foreign Policy; 2010.04.08)- http://eurasia.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/04/08/the_last_of_the_colored_revolutions_goes_south

Ruling vassals

• From: “Tunisians Drive Leader from Power in Mass Uprising” (Cryptogon.com; 2011.01.15) – http://cryptogon.com/?p=19903| also in “Egypt Protests: America’s Secret Backing for Rebel Leaders Behind Uprising?” (Cryptogon.com; 2011.01.29) – http://cryptogon.com/?p=20232.
  Excerpt: At times like this, it’s generally a good idea to keep a copy of The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzezinski handy:
  • As the imitation of American ways gradually pervades the world, it creates a more congenial setting for the exercise of the indirect and seemingly consensual American hegemony. And as in the case of the domestic American system, that hegemony involves a complex structure of interlocking institutions and procedures, designed to generate consensus and obscure asymmetries in power and influence. American global supremacy is thus buttressed by an elaborate system of alliances and coalitions that literally span the globe. …
  • American supremacy has thus produced a new international order that not only replicates but institutionalizes abroad many of the features of the American system itself.

  He writes that two steps are required for the, “Formulation of American geostrategy for the long-term management of America’s Eurasian geopolitical interests.”

  • First, to identify the geostrategically dynamic Eurasian states that have the power to cause a potentially important shift in the international distribution of power and to decipher the central external goals of their respective political elites and the likely consequences of their seeking to attain them; and to pinpoint the geopolitically critical Eurasian states whose location and/or existence have catalytic effects either on the more active geostrategic players or on regional conditions;
  • Second, to formulate specific U.S. policies to offset, co-opt, and/or control the above, so as to preserve and promote vital U.S. interests, and to conceptualize a more comprehensive geostrategy that establishes on a global scale the interconnection between the more specific U.S. policies.
  • In brief, for the United States, Eurasian geostrategy involves the purposeful management of geostrategically dynamic states and the careful handling of geopolitically catalytic states, in keeping with the twin interests of America in the short-term preservation of its unique global power and in the long-run transformation of it into increasingly institutionalized global cooperation. To put it in a terminology that hearkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are
    1. to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals,
    2. to keep tributaries pliant and protected,
    3. and to keep the barbarians from coming together.

• The Grand Chessboard
  • Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465027261
  • Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grand_Chessboard
  • quotes – http://www.takeoverworld.info/grandchessboard.html
  • http://sandiego.indymedia.org/media/2006/10/119973.pdf
  • http://www.hollings.org/Content/Zbigniew.Brzezinski_Grand.Chess.Board.pdf

Propaganda

• UNSPEAK – a book by Steven Poole [http://stevenpoole.net/|http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stevenpoole]
  • Unspeak blog – http://unspeak.net/
  • http://vimeo.com/groups/688/videos/52943730
  • UNSPEAK – an introduction (Vimeo) – http://vimeo.com/35801019
• “What is Propaganda?” – http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/captainplanet/propagandaterms.html (at “Captain Planet is Propaganda” – http://www.angelfire.com/tv2/captainplanet/
• “Propaganda, American-style” by Noam Chomsky – http://www.zpub.com/un/chomsky.html
• “The Propaganda Model: An Overview” by David Cromwell (Excerpted from Private Planet, 2002) – http://www.chomsky.info/onchomsky/2002—-.htm
• “Propaganda model” (WikiPedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model
• “Noam Chomsky on Propaganda” video (Message in a Matrix blog; originally from Google Videos; produced by BBC 1996) – http://messageinamatrix.wordpress.com/2006/09/28/chomsky-on-propaganda/

WikiLeaks 2010

• CableSearch – http://cablesearch.org/ – an attempt for an user friendly search engine of already published documents from Wikileaks.

On the leaks

• HBGary Email Viewer (at Anonleaks.ch) – http://hbgary.anonleaks.ch/greg_hbgary_com/
• “Leaked Emails: Anti-WikiLeaks Security Firm Targeted Journalists” by Neal Ungerleider (FastCompanyl 2011.02.16) – http://www.fastcompany.com/1728259/leaked-emails-anti-wikileaks-security-firm-targeted-journalists
  A cache of emails leaked by the Anonymous collective indicates dirty tricks were considered against Salon’s Glenn Greenwald; the New York Times’s Jennifer 8. Lee and The Guardian’s James Ball also appear to have been monitored–they’re part of a “sabotage” PowerPoint.
• “Firm targeting WikiLeaks cuts ties with HBGary – apologizes to reporter” by Steve Ragan – (The Tech Herald; 2011.02.11) – http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201106/6804/Firm-targeting-WikiLeaks-cuts-ties-with-HBGary-apologizes-to-reporter
• “A disturbing threat against one of our own” by Kerry Lauerman (Salon; 2011.02.11) – http://www.salon.com/about/inside_salon/2011/02/11/threats_against_glenn_greenwald_wikileaks/index.html
• “BofA denies connection to proactive tactics to silence WikiLeaks” By Byron Acohido (USA TODAY; TechnologyLive blog; 2011.02.11) – http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/02/bofa-denies-connection-to-proactive-tactics-to-silence-wikileaks/1
• “Disgraced security firm asked Bank of America to fund anti-Wikileaks/anti-Glenn Greenwald campaign” by Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing; 2010.02.10) – http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/10/disgraced-security-f.html
• “Get Glenn Greenwald!” by Jesse Walker (Reason; 2011.02.10) – http://reason.com/blog/2011/02/10/get-glenn-greenwald
• “Private Contractors Plan To Protect Bank Of America From WikiLeaks By ‘Neutralizing’ Glenn Greenwald, Others” by Jason Linkins (The Huffington Post; 2011.02.10) – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/10/wikileaks-glenn-greenwald-bofa-neutralizing_n_821510.html
• “Did Security Firms Pitch Bank Of America On Sabotaging WikiLeaks?” by Andy Greenberg (Forbed; 2011.02.09) – http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2011/02/09/did-security-firms-pitch-bank-of-america-on-sabotaging-wikileaks/
• “The leaked campaign to attack WikiLeaks and its supporters” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2011.02.11) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/02/11/campaigns
• “Get Greenwald” by Yglesias (2011.02.09) – http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2011/02/get-greenwald/
• “Leaked HBGary Documents Show Plan To Spread Wikileaks Propaganda For BofA… And ‘Attack’ Glenn Greenwald” – from the this-is-like-out-of-a-bad-movie dept (techDirt; 2011.02.09) – http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110209/22340513034/leaked-hbgary-documents-show-plan-to-spread-wikileaks-propaganda-bofa-attack-glenn-greenwald.shtml
• “Data intelligence firms proposed a systematic attack against WikiLeaks” (EmptyWheel; 2011.02.09) – http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2011/02/09/security-firms-pitching-bank-of-america-proposed-targeting-glenn-greenwald/
• “Tit for Tat and Hack for Hack” (Hullabaloo; 2011.02.09) – http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/tit-for-tat-and-hack-for-hack.html
• “Data intelligence firms proposed a systematic attack against WikiLeaks” by Steve Ragan (The Tech Herald; 2011.02.09) – http://www.thetechherald.com/article.php/201106/6798/Data-intelligence-firms-proposed-a-systematic-attack-against-WikiLeaks
• “Wiki Rehab” by Evgeny Morozov (The New Republic; 2011.01.07)- http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/81017/wikileaks-internet-pirate-party-save – How to save Julian Assange’s movement from itself.
• “WikiLeaks’ Assange Threatened Lawsuit Over Leaked Diplomatic Cables” by Kim Zetter (Wired; 2011.01.06) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/01/vf-wikieaks/
  Just weeks prior to unveiling a giant cache of leaked U.S. State Department cables, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange threatened to sue the Guardian newspaper in Britain over publication of the documents, […]
  After receiving the database of a quarter-million cables from Assange under embargo last August, the Guardian obtained a second copy of the database from a WikiLeaks insider without conditions — which led the newspaper to conclude it was no longer bound by a signed agreement with Assange that it wouldn’t publish the documents until he gave the go-ahead.
  Assange, suddenly faced with having lost control of documents that WikiLeaks itself had received from a source, asserted that he owned the information and had a financial interest in how and when it was released, the magazine reports.
• “Amazon Cloud Not Big Enough For Feds and WikiLeaks” (SlashDot; 2010.12.29) – http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/12/29/1815238/Amazon-Cloud-Not-Big-Enough-For-Feds-and-WikiLeaks
• “Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers” 9NYTimes) – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204527804576044020396601528.html – Everyone knows that Daniel Ellsberg leaked top-secret government documents about the Vietnam War. How many remember the ones he kept secret, or why?
  • “Why WikiLeaks Is Unlike the Pentagon Papers” (SlashDot; 2010.12.29) – http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/12/29/1417246/Why-WikiLeaks-Is-Unlike-the-Pentagon-Papers
• “Wired Responds In Manning Chat Log Controversy” (SlashDot; 2010.12.29) – http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/12/29/0644234/Wired-Responds-In-Manning-Chat-Log-Controversy
• “Wired’s refusal to release or comment on the Manning chat logs” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2010.12.29) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/29/wired_1/index.html
• “Response to Wired’s accusations” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2010.12.29) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/29/wired_response_1/index.html
• “Putting the Record Straight on the Lamo-Manning Chat Logs” by Evan Hansen and Kevin Poulsen (Wired; 2010.12.28) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/greenwald/ – belated attempted defense of Poulsen’s and Lamo’s conduct in disclosing Manning and attacking WikiLeaks
• “The worsening journalistic disgrace at Wired” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2010.12.27) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/12/27/wired/index.html
• “FDL Manning-WikiLeaks Key Articles Table” by Jane Hamsher (FDL Action; 2010.12.27) – http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/12/27/fdl-manning-wikileaks-key-articles-table/
• “The Nixonian henchmen of today: at the NYT” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2010.10.24) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/10/24/assange
• “The strange and consequential case of Bradley Manning, Adrian Lamo and WikiLeaks” by Glenn Greenwald (Salon; 2010.06.18) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/06/18/wikileaks
• “‘I Can’t Believe What I’m Confessing to You’: The Wikileaks Chats” by Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter (Wired; 2010.06.10) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/wikileaks-chat/
• “Wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army ‘source'” by Jonathan Fildes (BBC News; 2010.06.08) – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10265430
• “U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe” by Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter (Wired; 2010.06.06) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/
• “The war on WikiLeaks and why it matters” by Glenn Greenwald (The Tech Herald; 2010.03.27) – http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/03/27/wikileaks

Contents of leaks

• “WikiLeaks: Panama’s leader pressured U.S. to help wiretap opponents” by Tim Lister (CNN; 2010.12.29) – http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/29/panama.wikileaks.wiretaps/
• “How WikiLeaks Just Set Back Democracy in Zimbabwe” (The Atlantic; 2010.12.28) – http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/how-wikileaks-just-set-back-democracy-in-zimbabwe/68598/

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Related here: Information disclosure sites – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/information-disclosure-sites/ | ACTA – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/acta/ | Law vs Technology – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2012/05/16/law-vs-technology/

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X-Ray Vans on US streets

It is time for tin-foil hats … and (tin-foil) whole-body uniforms.

• “Security Theater Creep: Full Strength X-Ray Body Scanners coming to Airports” by Steve Watson (Prisonplanet.com; 201.03.02)- http://imperialtwilight.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/security-theater-creep-full-strength-x-ray-body-scanners-coming-to-airports/
• “Mobile X-Ray Anti-Terrorist Van Disturbs Privacy Advocates” by Charles Tate (Internetbits; 2010.10.04) – http://www.internetbits.com/mobile-x-ray-anti-terrorist-van-disturbs-privacy-advocates/54175/
• “Full-Body Scan Technology Deployed In Street-Roving Vans” by Andy Greenberg (Forbes; 2010.08.24) – http://blogs.forbes.com/andygreenberg/2010/08/24/full-body-scan-technology-deployed-in-street-roving-vans/
  

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Related here: “Surveillance, wiretapping, tracking, etc.” – https://eikonal.wordpress.com/2010/09/27/surveilance-wiretapping-etc/.

TSA folies

• Association for Airline Passenger Rights’ (AAPR) – http://www.flyfriendlyskies.com/
• 2001.03.15: “TSA Admits Bungling of Airport Body-Scanner Radiation Tests” by David Kravets (Wired; 2011.03.15) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/03/tsa-radiation-test-bungling/ – the radiation is either 10 times larger or 10 times smaller than the previously stated levels.
• “X-ray Screening Technology Safety Reports” (TSA; documents disclosed due to FOIA requests) – http://www.tsa.gov/research/reading/xray_screening_technology_safety_reports.shtm
• 2011.01.24: If you assert your right to decline being irradiated by them; they force you march though the machine anyhow; promising “Oh we won’t turn it on…”
• 2011.01.02 – Tom Toles cartoon at http://www.gocomics.com/tomtoles/2011/01/02/:

Government sanctioned groping

• “Felt up or blown up? The psychology of the TSA, body scans and risk perception” by David Ropeik (Scientific American; 2010.11.23) – http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=tsa-body-scans-and-risk-perception-2010-11-23
• “Call the TSA’s Office of Strategic Comms when you’re threatened with arrest for airport photography” by Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing; 2010.11.23) – http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/23/call-the-tsas-office.html
  • TSA’s Office of Strategic Communications: (571)227-2829.
  • TSA Office of Civil Rights: (571)227-1917.
• “San Diego Airport Says Recording TSA Gropings Is An Arrestible Offense?” (TechDirt; 2010.11.23) – http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101122/16092011976/san-diego-airport-says-recording-tsa-gropings-is-arrestible-offense.shtml
• “Debate: Do Body Scanners Make Us Safer?” (NY Times; 2010.11.23) – http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2010/11/22/do-body-scanners-make-us-safer
• “TSA Abuses, Dental X-Rays, Children — and How to Lie About Radiation” by Lauren Weinstein (2010.11.23) – http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000784.html

  • … But while trying to get to sleep last night, thinking about this horrendous TSA mess along its various vectors — everything from the Bush DHS head who pushed body scanners and then went to work for the manufacturer, to the useless TSA groping, to the arguments about radiation levels — I suddenly thought about a rather horrifying article in today’s New York Times that I read last night: “The Radiation Boom”: “Radiation Worries for Children in Dentists’ Chairs.” …
  • … The companies that manufacture such equipment have everyone by the proverbial balls — including the government which seems to have a historically duplicitous attitude toward such systems — just think of all the blatant “safety” lies told to the public in the name of national security related to nuclear weapons tests and manufacturing-related radiation contaminations of people and property historically.
  • And to make matters worse, typically it’s impossible to prove whether any given radiation exposure directly related to cancers down the line. It can take years or decades for these to develop, and nobody is really keeping track of radiation dosage levels for anyone who isn’t a medical or nuclear worker — and even for them it’s only tracked to some degree within their work environments.
  • Put this all together, and think about all of those backscatter x-ray units in airport terminals, being operated as if they were popcorn machines by — frankly — unskilled personnel.
  • TSA is begging people not to refuse to go through the x-ray units. Their argument lately appears to be more about not disrupting air travel than about catching terrorists (TSA now apparently considers the information about whether their x-ray units and groping procedures have ever actually stopped a terrorist to be a state secret!)
  • Here’s my bottom line opinion on all this. You may not like it: Given the current state of information, research, and “validation,” if you voluntarily go through those x-ray backscatter units, you are approximating the behavior of a fool. It’s your choice, of course. But if you allow your young children to go through the units, you are, I believe, worse than a fool.

• “Terrorist Triumph” by Yaakov Kirschen (“PA Pundits – International” blog; 2010.11.23) – http://papundits.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/terrorist-triumph/
• “It’s Muslim Terrorists, Stupid, Not Americans!” by Alan Caruba (“PA Pundits – International” blog; 2010.11.23) – http://papundits.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/its-muslim-terrorists-stupid-not-americans/
• Janetalia (Warning Signs blog; 2010.11.23) – http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com/
  
• “Untold Stories of the TSA Abuses of Power” (“The Word of Me…” blog; 2010.11.22) – http://thewordofme.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/untold-stories-of-the-tsa-abuse-of-power/
  … In March of this year a developmentally delayed 4 year old boy who had to wear leg braces because his ankles were malformed and weak because of a premature birth, was on his way to Disney World for his birthday celebration.
  The braces the boy has to wear are made of metal and hard plastic…of course this sets off the airport scanners in Philadelphia and the SS TSA screener said the boy had to take the braces off and he had to walk without them…
• “TSA Sexual Abuses and the Long Shadow of Abu Ghraib” (Kittywampus blog; 2010.11.22) – http://kittywampus.wordpress.com/2010/11/22/tsa-sexual-abuses-and-the-long-shadow-of-abu-ghraib/
  • Am I the only person struck by the Orwellian weirdness of calling a grope-down an “enhanced” pat-down? The term seems to originate with the TSA. …
  • “Enhanced Pat-downs” by “Blogger Bob” (TSA blog; 2010.08.27) – http://blog.tsa.gov/2010/08/enhanced-pat-downs.html
• “ABC producer says TSA agent felt inside her underwear” by David Edwards (RawStory; 2010.11.22) – http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/abc-producer-tsa-patdown-worse-gynecologist/
• 2010.11.22: Shirtless boy:
  • “Utah man posts video of TSA searching shirtless boy” by Erin Alberty (The Salt Lake Tribune; 2010.11.22) – http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50725057-76/tait-tsa-video-shirt.html.csp
  • “Young boy gets pat down from TSA” (LA Times) – http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-viral-video-boy-strip-searched-tsa,0,7895580.htmlstory
• “TSA workers face verbal abuse from travelers ” (MSN; 2010.11.22) – http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40318901/ns/travel-news/
• “US airport security chiefs stand firm over invasion of the body scanners” (Guardian; 2010.11.22) – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/22/american-protests-body-scanners-terrorism
• “Please Remove Your Prosthetic Breast: The TSA Horror Story to Trump Them All” by Steven James Snyder (Time.com; 2010.11.22) – http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/22/the-tsa-horror-story-to-trump-them-all/?iid=nfmostpopular
• Business Travel Coalition: National airport screening opt-out protests dangerous (2010.11.21) – http://www.eturbonews.com/19677/btc-national-airport-screening-opt-out-protests-dangerous
  • As expected, this guys are trying to protect their income. No surprise here.
• “Yes Hillary, It is called Profiling.” by notalemming (YourDaddy’s Politics blog; 2010.11.21) – http://notalemming.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/yes-hillary-it-is-called-profiling/
• “TSA screeners leave cancer survivor covered in urine” by Daniel Tencer (TheRawStory; 2010.11.20) – http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/tsa-cancer-survivor-covered-urine/
  • “TSA Chief Apologizes to Airline Passenger Soaked in Urine After Pat-Down” by Kim Zetter (Wired; 2010.11.23) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/sawyer/
• “TSA to exempt pilots from screenings, mulls ‘G-rated’ scanners” (TheRawStory; 2010.11.19) – http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/tsa-exempt-pilots-screenings/
• “Boycott Airport Full Body Scanners And Patdowns” (“The World of Me …” blog; 2010.11.19) – http://thewordofme.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/boycott-airport-full-body-scanners-and-patdowns/
  • YouTube video – http://www.youtube.com/v/X1vmcJVIErA
• Liberty Lost (The Berger Memoranda blog; 2010.11.19) – http://bergermemo.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/liberty-lost/
  http://bergermemo.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/tsa_patdown.jpg
• “Ron Paul says what I said: the airport groping and x-raying has to stop!” (Xanthippa’s Chamberpot blog; 2010.11.18) – http://blog.xanthippas.com/2010/11/18/ron-paul-says-what-i-said-the-airport-groping-and-x-raying-has-to-stop/
  • YouTube video – http://www.youtube.com/v/Qwsdq69AHnw
  • “Ron Paul Blasts TSA and Introduces Legislation” (Dvorak Uncensored; 2010.11.18) – http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/11/18/ron-paul-blasts-tsa-and-introduces-legislation/

  Published on November 18th, 2010

  • Update: MDs and scientists warn that the full body scanners are unsafe and were not properly tested – http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2010/05/17/concern.pdf [PDF]
• “Pat-Downs 101: Nine Things to Know About Your Thanksgiving Airport Screening” by Josh Sanburn (Time.com; 2010.11.17) – http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/17/pat-downs-101/
• “TSA Now Putting Hands Down Fliers’ Pants” by Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones (PrisonPlanet; 2010.11.16) – http://www.prisonplanet.com/tsa-now-putting-hands-down-fliers-pants.html
  The TSA’s invasive new screening measures include officers literally putting their hands down people’s pants if they are wearing baggy clothing in a shocking new elevation of groping procedures that have stoked a nationwide revolt against privacy-busting airport security measures….
• “100 Naked Citizens: 100 Leaked Body Scans” (Wired; 2010.11.16) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/giz-scans/
  … To the point, these sample images were removed from the machine in Orlando by the U.S. Marshals for distribution under the FOIA request before the machine was sent back to its manufacturer — images intact….
• “More on airport ‘security’ procedures” (Xanthippa’s Chamberpot blog; 2010.11.16) – http://blog.xanthippas.com/2010/11/16/more-on-airport-security-procedures/
• 2010.11.16: “Junk-gate”: A new specific incident where a passenger refused to be either radiated or groped:
  • “TSA Investigating ‘Don’t Touch My Junk’ Passenger” by Kim Zetter (Wired; 2010.11.16) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/tsa-investigating-passenger/
    • … Due to privacy and health concerns, Tyner opted out of the scan in favor of a pat-down. But when the TSA agent explained in detail the agency’s new policy for “enhanced” pat-downs — which includes using the front of hands and fingers to touch passengers in their groins — Tyner balked….
      “If you touch my junk,” he told the agent, “I’ll have you arrested.”
      The agent called his supervisor, who told Tyner that if he wasn’t comfortable with the enhanced pat-down “we can escort you back out and you don’t have to fly today.”
      Tyner told the agent, “I don’t understand how a sexual assault can be made a condition of my flying.”
      When the agent replied that a pat-down was not considered a sexual assault, Tyner said, “It would be if you were not the government.”
      The TSA supervisor told him, “By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.” …
  • Traveler to TSA Agent: “If you touch my junk, I’ll have you arrested.” [Video] (We Won’t Fly blog; 2010.11.16) – http://wewontfly.com/traveler-to-tsa-agent
  • California Man Tells TSA, Don’t ‘Touch My Junk’ – http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/tsa-encounter-dont-touch-my-junk/19716789
  • John Tyner Utters Those Immortal Words “Don’t Touch My Junk!” (Tasithoughts’s Weblog; 2010.11.16) – http://tasithoughts.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/john-tyner-utters-those-immortal-words-dont-touch-my-junk/
  • “TSA Cavity Search Goes Awry” by Karson & Kennedy (2010.11.16) – http://mix1041.radio.com/2010/11/16/tsa-cavity-search-goes-awry/
  • TSA encounter at SAN – http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html
• Protest grows:
  • “TSA Rage Hitting All Age Demographics Now” (Time online; 2010.11.16) – http://newsfeed.time.com/2010/11/16/tsa-rage-hitting-all-age-demographics-now/
  • “Screening Protests Grow as Holiday Crunch Looms” by Joe Sharkey (The New Yourk Times; 2010.11.15) – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/business/16road.html
  • “Opt-Out Day” campaign’s web site – http://www.optoutday.com/
  • Say “I Opt Out” of Airport Scanners on National Opt Out Day, November 24 (We Won’t Fly blog – http://wewontfly.com/) – http://wewontfly.com/opt-out-day/
  • “National Opt-Out Day Called Against Invasive Body Scanners” by Kim Zetter (Wired; 2010.11.12) – http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/national-opt-out/
  • “Body scanners, pat downs prompt traveler backlash” by Jonathan Adams (The Christian Science Monitor; 2010.11.16) – http://www.csmonitor.com/World/terrorism-security/2010/1116/Body-scanners-pat-downs-prompt-traveler-backlash
• “Welcome to Antfarm World — sociopathic modality at the airports” at the The Path Whisperer blog – http://pathwhisperer.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/welcome-to-antfarm-world-%E2%80%94-sociopathic-modality-at%C2%A0the%C2%A0airports/
• “TSA adopts neck-licking anti-terror screening; warns body cavity searches could follow on behind” – http://hogsatemysister.com/tsa-adopts-neck-licking-anti-terror-screening-warns-body-cavity-searches-could-follow-on-behind/ – a satire.
• Full Body Scans and Pat Downs. Violation or Safety? (“It is my Time to Shine’ blog; 2010.11.16) – http://itismytimetoshine.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/full-body-scans-and-pat-downs-violation-or-safety/
• Three year old girl searched by TSA cries, “Stop touching me!” (2010.11.16) – http://saynsumthn.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/three-year-old-girl-searched-by-tsa/
• A simple example of abuse by TSA:
  • Small penis jokes lead to TSA worker beatdown – http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Small-penis-jokes-lead-to-TSA-worker-beatdown-2508247.html | http://guyism.com/humor/small-penis-jokes-lead-to-tsa-worker-beatdown.html
  • “Rolando Negrin: TSA Worker Arrested, Assaulted Colleague Over Genital Joke” – http://law.rightpundits.com/?p=1566
• “Your choice: nude photos or sexual assault” (Xanthippa’s Chamberpot blog; 2010.11.09) – http://blog.xanthippas.com/2010/11/09/your-choice-nude-photos-or-sexual-assault/
  • YouTube video – http://www.youtube.com/v/5EqV2Rmkqaw
• “Airline Pilots Union Rejects use of Body Scanners for Health Reasons” (Dvorak Uncensored blog; 2010.11.08) – http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2010/11/08/airline-pilots-union-rejects-use-of-body-scanners-for-health-reasons/
• “Enhanced Airport Pat Downs (VIDEO) Get ‘Personal'” by Jim Brogan (the Post Chronicle; 2010.11.01) – http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212330260.shtml
  • “TSA to air travelers: ‘Enhanced pat-downs’ start Friday” by Katie Boer (KVAl.com; 2010.11.01) – http://www.kval.com/news/local/106156984.html
• “‘Enhanced’ airport security measures taking effect” (MarketWatch; 2001.01.04) – http://www.marketwatch.com/story/enhanced-airport-security-measures-taking-effect-2010-01-04
• Full body scanner (WikiPedia) – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_body_scanner

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Elsewhere:

• WordPress blog’s postings on TSA – http://en.wordpress.com/tag/tsa/

Influencing the public opinion

This is an art old as society. A new twist on it:

• “China’s Fifty Cent Party for Internet Propaganda” by Usha Haley (2010.10.04) – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/usha-haley/chinas-fifty-cent-party-f_1_b_749989.html – the Chinese students and other expatriates all over the world serve as a watchdogs (both paid and voluntary) of the host country press (and web/blogs) for any opinion that s/may be adversarial to the Chinese government or China in general. Nothing new here (many other countries and governments do this, too), it is just interesting to see this mechanisms exposed in such a clear form. Some reference links contained in that article:
  • Instructions: China Youth Daily: Zhoukou City Serves and Guides the Youth in Creating a New Internet Space – http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/12/china-youth-daily-zhoukou-city-serves-and-guides-the-youth-in-creating-a-new-internet-space/ – Speaking of the “Fifty Cents Party,” the following article was published on China Youth Daily on November 30, 2009, excerpts translated by CDT (China Digital Times)
  • China news tagged with: “fifty cent party” – http://chinadigitaltimes.net/china/fifty-cent-party/
  • “China’s plan to use internet for propaganda” by John Garnaut (The Sydney Morning Herald; 2010.07.14) – http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/chinas-plan-to-use-internet-for-propaganda-20100713-109hc.html
  • Speech by the deputy directory of propaganda department of communist party of china: “Concerning the Development and Administration of Our Country’s Internet” (HRIC; 2010) – http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/article?revision_id=175119&item_id=175084
  • Topical issue of the CRF (China Rights Forum) – CRF 2010, N0.2 – “China’s Internet”: Stalking Digital Playground – http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/category?cid=175033
  • “China’s 50-cent Twitter censors” by Thomas Crampton (Danwei; 2008.07.11) – http://www.danwei.org/the_thomas_crampton_channel/chinas_50cent_twitter_censors.php
  • “Han Han: Fifty Cent Party Must Work Overtime” – http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2010/02/han-han-fifty-cent-party-must-work-overtime/