CivicActions

Without a doubt, the most productive time in getting through my inbox is when I'm on an airplane, sans Internet access.

This week I'm exploring Freedom to help me accomplish the same result.

Essentially, Freedom disables all wireless and ethernet networking on an Apple computer for up to 3 hours at a time. After the time is up, Freedom will re-enable your network adapters and display a confirmation that you're back online.

If you absolutely need to pull the cord and MUST get back online, just restart your computer to reset.

Let me restate that: just stopping or quitting the Freedom application will not re-enable your network adapters - and yes, this is purposeful! Freedom is a program designed to help you get things done, away from the distractions of network connectivity.

http://www.ibiblio.org/fred/freedom/

Hi everyone, and welcome to our post-9/11 police state.

I'm really troubled by two recent examples of the accepted methods of law enforcement and the way the media reports on them.

Example #1:
The guy at the Kerry political talk who got tazered: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvrWt_dHAT4

Example #2:
The MIT student who was arrested today at Boston's Logan airport as a terrorism suspect: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_re_us/fake_bomb

Richard Stallman was visiting my home this week, and he picked up a new book I had on my coffee table. The next morning, he mentioned that he had read The END of AMERICA, Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, by Naomi Wolf, just published by Chelsea Green Publishing. RMS told me that he couldn't put the book down. He read the entire book that night. He also mentioned that he had blogged it as URGENT. "Really?" I asked.

Amnesty International USA just launched tearitdown.org, and with it an online movement to tear down the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Visitors to the new Web site can eliminate one pixel from a photo of Guantanamo by signing a pledge protesting the U.S. government's detention center. This is extremely cool!

Public Radio is reporting this morning that border agents on the US Canadian border are looking way back into people's past to find ways to deny them entry to one country or the other. Border agents are even using Google. One case mentioned in the story was of a Canadian Psychoanalyst who was denied entry after agents found an article he wrote in 2001 about his use of LSD in the 1960s.

I imagine the day is not far off when border agents use facebook or myspace!

Bruce Byfield wrote a nice article for Linux.com about the work of our client, the Free Software Foundation in this past year including the DefectiveByDesign campaign.

Just saw an email from Matt Thompson up in Canada (met him at WebOfChange, even video cast). Matt just did a video for the SaveTheInternet.com campaign. The video is fantastic. Uses great visuals including clips from the Daily Show, news reel footage and animation all linked with a strong voice over narration (by Matt).