Wired Pig's Lifestream

Microsoft, in 2008, published a document detailing the various privacy policies of Microsoft services and the ways that Microsoft can expose user data to law enforcement, among other things. This document, below, was the subject of a DMCA request by Microsoft to force the operator of Cryptome to remove the document on Feb 24th as they claimed it was their intellectual property and the website hosting company, Network Solutions, agreed. Microsoft “improper[ly] use[d] of copyright to conceal [...] violations of trust toward its customers,” according to an interview with Geekosystem. “Copyright law is not intended for confidentiality purposes,” he continued(1)  . As of today, Microsoft has reversed its decision(2) and said that Network Solutions has been told to reinstate Cryptome. The document is an interesting read. Microsoft Spy

Footnotes:Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. Source of quote here at Read Write Web. Source of information here from Read Write Web.Exciting, huh?

This is something most of America has not heard of. Familial DNA is the process of using found DNA at a crime scene to search for ‘near matches’ in a DNA database when a direct match isn’t found. Background The AP recently had an article(1) in which Familial DNA was used to catch a Denver auto burglar in a 2008 case. The total value of items stolen from the vehicle was $1.40. The story, from the AP article, unfolds like this - In Denver, District Attorney Mitch Morrissey pushed for the familial DNA search in the 2008 car break-in. The blood did not match anyone in the county’s DNA database of 1,700 convicted felons. So authorities searched the database for a near-match and came up with the name of a convicted criminal. From there, investigators narrowed their focus to the criminal’s brother, Luis Jaimes-Tinajeros. Only Colorado and California specifically allow Familial DNA searches, Massachusetts is drafting legislation to allow it and Maryland prohibits Familial DNA searches of its DNA samples(2) . NPR Episode on Familial DNA from 02282007

Familial DNA Searches have been used in the UK for over five years. According to an article at Law Officer dot com(3) - “This proposed method is similar in nature to the system used by the Forensic Science Service of the UK. The FSS has had success with familial searching and has solved several high -profile cold cases by using this method over the past five years.” As far as success, Colorado seems to be the only state to have used this technique with any success. In California six searches have been conducted since October 2008 but have not turned up anything(4) . The UK, in its 5 years of Familial Searches has solved (as of April 2008) eight (8) cases using the technique(5) In the U.S., one case solved by a partial match of DNA involves Darryl Hunt, a North Carolina man wrongfully convicted of a 1984 sexual assault and murder. Even after DNA evidence was later found to exclude Hunt, the judge sent him back to prison for ten more years, saying while he didn’t commit the rape, he still could have committed the murder.(6) Basics A crime is committed and the police find DNA evidence at the scene. A search is run through the DNA database but there is no match. A second search is run looking for partial matches. From that list of partial matches – obtained from people previously convicted of crimes and whose DNA was added to the database – the investigators start looking at family members of the partial matches. From there the investigation goes back to more traditional means. Usually a court would order the suspect(s) to provide a DNA sample for comparison to the original from the crime scene. Imperfect Implications While many forensic experts believe that familial searching would be a beneficial crime fighting tool, one problem in performing this type of searching is that CODIS was not designed for this type of searching. It was designed to indicate when two samples match each other perfectly–at all 13 locations on the DNA molecule that are compared. In a discussion on Charles Brenner’s Forensic Mathematics website regarding familial DNA searching, Brenner opines that the number of potential false matches utilizing a “low-stringency” search of the CODIS database is approximately 40/50,000. In a database consisting of only 50,000 DNA profiles, you will find 40 false familial matches in addition to the one possible true familial match.(7) As in other cases, most notably the BTK Killer, the DNA from a daughter – obtained and typed from a Pap smear given years earlier at university medical clinic  – was used to obtain a warrant for Dennis Rader who later confessed.(8) The obtaining of the daughters DNA was without her permission or knowledge. This has civil libertarians up in arms. From the American bar Association Journal we get - “If practiced routinely, we would be subjecting hundreds of thousands of innocent people who happen to be relatives of individuals in the FBI database to lifelong genetic surveillance,” Tania Simoncelli, science adviser to the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Post.(9) A Washington Post article lays out more information - Britain, with a database of 4.25 million profiles, has been doing familial searching for five years and has solved at least eight cases with it, said Tony Lake, chief constable of Lincolnshire and recent chairman of the DNA Strategy Board. He cited as an example the “shoe rapist,” who attacked at least six women, each time stealing their high heels. Twenty years later, his sister was arrested for driving under the influence and her DNA run against cold cases. That yielded a close match and led police to her brother. When he was arrested, his DNA was a perfect match and police found more than 100 stiletto heels hidden under a trap door. In Britain, too, concerns have been raised about the use of familial searching at a time when the database is rapidly expanding to include people arrested for minor offenses and children as young as 10. In one case, a 15-year-old was arrested for refusing to get off a public bus and obstructing a police officer. His DNA was taken. Although the charges were thrown out, the police have refused to remove his DNA profile from the database.(10)

Watch CBS News Videos Online Video from July 15, 2007 ASIDE – In the above video, at 1:49 , DA Mitch Morrissey says, “This isn’t car break-ins…” when that is exactly what was done in lone Familial DNA conviction from Colorado. Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. See article here. See ABAJournal.com Article here. See LO Article here. See article here. See source Washington Post article here. Source Article at 9News.com here. See LO Article here. See Wikipedia Entry here. See ABAJournal.com Article here. See source Washington Post article here. Exciting, huh?

According to a report in CNet, Americans do “not have a legitimate expectation of privacy in the cell phone” location information saved/stored by their cellular provider. This was noted in a 2009 opinion by U.S. District Judge William Pauley in a drug trafficking case. Pauley went on to not that, “if Navas (the defendant in the case) intended to keep the cell phone’s location private, he simply could have turned it off.” Why should you care? In a recent request to the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ( due to be argued on 021210(1) ), the BATF(2) wanted historical data on suspects who “use their wireless telephones to arrange meetings and transactions in furtherance of their drug trafficking activities.” The motion was initially denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Lenihan and will now be up for appeal on Friday. In short, the Government has not been REQUIRED, up until this point, to obtain a warrant to get your historical location data. “The government is arguing that based on precedents from the 1970s, any record held by a third party about us, no matter how invasively collected, is not protected by the Fourth Amendment”, said EFF’s Bankston. You can read the EFF, ACLU, CDT Amici Brief to the court here. U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisa Lenihan in Pennsylvania denied the Justice Department’s attempt to obtain stored location data without a search warrant; prosecutors had invoked a different legal procedure. Lenihan’s ruling, in effect, would require police to obtain a search warrant based on probable cause–a more privacy-protective standard. Lenihan’s opinion (PDF)–which, in an unusual show of solidarity, was signed by four other magistrate judges–noted that location information can reveal sensitive information such as health treatments, financial difficulties, marital counseling, and extra-marital affairs.(3) The Obama Justice Department has appealed Lenihan’s ruling stating it contains errors and that the information requested “provide only a very general indication of a user’s whereabouts at certain times in the past, the requested cell-site records do not implicate a Fourth Amendment privacy interest.” To further make things more clear, according to an OpEd from the Philadelphia Enquirer - The government has argued that “one who does not wish to disclose his movements to the government need not use a cellular telephone.” Here is what your provider does keep - Tower location when call initiated or answered. According to the CNet article, Verizon keeps that information on file for 12 months, the company keeps “phone bills without cell site location for seven years,” and stores SMS text messages for only a very brief time. Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. See EFF Article here. Or the ATF – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. From the CNet article here. Exciting, huh?

My wife, a former Jehovah’s Witness(1) , received this email from her mother, active in the WTBTS. I thought I would pass it along, as it is wholly incorrect. This single email, being sent to WTBTS members shows a singular lack of awareness about the movie “Avatar” and about the internet as a whole. The author of this email is instilling a false scriptural based fear in those WTBTS members reading the email. For additional reading, see the forum post Should a Christian see the movie Avatar over at jehovahs-witness.net. Disclaimer – I have no seen Avatar but plan to. Additionally I have no affiliation with jehovahs-witness.net aside from finding it when I searched for(2) “Family Worship Research (AVATAR)‏”  on Google. I have left the original formatting, colors and links. Any additions I have made have been with footnotes. START EMAIL NOW, ISN’T THIS INTERESTING!!! After discussing with our family and several friends about the popular movie “Avatar”(3)

, and the prevalence of “avatars” on the Internet, we thought that others might be interested in what we found in our family worship research, tell us what you think: Merriam-Webster Dictionary:(4) av·a·tar: the incarnation of a Hindu deity (as Vishnu) Mankind’s Search for God p. 106:(5) avatar-a manifestation or an incarnation of a Hindu deity Mankind’s Search for God p.116 Buddha – Gautama, founder of Buddhism; Hindus view him as an incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu Wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar(6) In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatāra (Devanagari अवतार, Sanskrit for “descent” [viz., from heaven to earth]) refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth Sound familiar?!? “And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day” Jude 6 Similarities between the Hindu goddess Kali(7) (left) and a character from the movie (right).

Another interesting point…the race of blue humanoids(8) in the movie are called “Na’vi” on researching that look what we found on Wikipedia:(9) Navi – (singular, Hebrew, plural: Nevi’im) refers to a (or the) prophet in the Hebrew Bible. We hope you all found this as interesting as we did. This is very interesting information to know especially since “Avatar” is one of the most popular movies in the world right now. Its good to keep well informed…(2Corinthians 2:11) . . . that we may not be overreached by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs.” We thought this was very interesting and researched it ourselves too. We put the word “avatar” & “Incarnation” into our spiritual google ( Watchtower Library)(10) . In searching for and it brings up a whole lot more interesting points from other publication. Agape, END EMAIL Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. Also know as “The Witness’” and “Watchtower Bible and Tract Society”. Who I will refer to as the WTBTS in this email. The title of the email Synopsis of Avatar from the IMBD. You can view the article here. When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge’s intentions of driving off the native humanoid “Na’vi” in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na’vi people with the use of an “avatar” identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri, the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand – and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora. Written by The Massie Twins See Merriam-Webster for the FULL definition of Avatar that includes, as #4:  an electronic image that represents and is manipulated by a computer user (as in a computer game) Not having a copy of “Mankind’s Search for God” I could not refute any of the definitions presented. But, in reading any of the other links provided you will find information of a non-sinister/satanic nature. See also Wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(computing) where the first entry is: An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself/herself or alter ego, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games,[1] a two-dimensional icon (picture) or a one-dimensional username used on Internet forums and other communities,[2][3] or a text construct found on early systems such as MUDs. It is an object representing the user. The term “avatar” can also refer to the personality connected with the screen name, or handle, of an Internet user.[4] This sense of the word was coined by Neal Stephenson[5] in 1992’s Snow Crash who co-opted it from the Sanskrit word avatāra which is a concept similar to that of incarnation. Since the emails author likes to use Wikipedia, I thought I would use it as well. As for Kali, you can find information about her here. Under the Iconography section “she is described as being black in color but is most often depicted as blue in popular Indian art“. Under Origins, The ‘Ratri Sookta’ in rigveda actually calls her as Goddess ‘Ratri’ and regards Ratri as the Supreme force in the universe. In the Tantras, she is regarded as the Shakti (Power) of The Great Mahakala(a form of Lord Shiva). Her portrayal on dead bodies in crematorium symbolizes her presence in the hearts of devotees who have killed their Earthly desires and want Supreme Consciousness in the lap of the Ultimate Mother, Kali. In another form, she is regarded as the destroyer, the Mahakali as Kali Tantra says-”kali kalanat” meaning Kali is the one who finishes. Kalika Purana depicts her as the “Adi Shakti” (Fundamental Power) and “Para Prakriti” or beyond nature. So, aside from the BLUE color (of which we know that Kali’s skin is actually BLACK) there is NO connection with Kali and the characters in the film Avatar. You can also look at Wikipedia for the Disambiguation page of Navi that also lists: The character Navi in the video game The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Navi can also refer to the study of Nevi’im, the Books of Prophets, a traditional Hebrew reference to the study of that section in the Hebrew Bible. An alternate name for the star Gamma Cassiopeiae. The name of one of the main villains in season four of television series 24. Navi, a village in Võru County, Estonia. A pseudonym of a famous Michael Jackson impersonator from Essex, England. You too can search the WTBTS Library here. In searching for ‘Avatar’ and ‘Navi’ I got a “Search Results Error”. I then searched the WTBTS website (www.watchtower.org for ‘Avatar and Navi’ using Google. Guess what? Nadda. There was NOTHING in ENGLISH for that term. To be fare, there was nothing I could understand. Try the search yourself. Use the link. Exciting, huh?

The Director of National Intelligence has come out and said(1)  that U.S. agencies may take action against U.S. citizens abroad who are a threat to Americans. According to the report, Blair is quoted as saying - He was speaking publicly about the issue to reassure Americans that intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense “follow a set of defined policy and legal procedures that are very carefully observed” in the use of lethal force against U.S. citizens. “I just don’t want Americans who are watching this to think that we are careless about endangering — in fact, we’re not careless about endangering American lives as we try to carry out the policies to protect most of the country,” Blair said. This is a departure from previous policy that did not specifically target U.S. citizens but instead listed them as collateral damage if they were killed while taking out a non citizen target. PDF of ABC News article here. Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. Source: Washington Times here. Exciting, huh?

Dedicated to Mrs. Natalie Morris. I received this story, as I’m sure some of you have, via an email. With the recent events in my friend Tee Morris life I thought this to be timely and appropriate. I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes.. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily apprising a basket of freshly picked green peas. I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas.. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes. Pondering the peas, I couldn’t help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me. ‘Hello Barry, how are you today?’ ‘H’lo, Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus’ admirin’ them peas. They sure look good..’ ‘They are good, Barry. How’s your Ma?’ ‘Fine.. Gittin’ stronger alla’ time.’ ‘Good. Anything I can help you with?’ ‘No, Sir. Jus’ admirin’ them peas.’ ‘Would you like to take some home?’  asked Mr.. Miller. ‘No, Sir. Got nuthin’ to pay for ‘em with.’ ‘Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?’ ‘All I got’s my prize marble here.’ ‘Is that right? Let me see it’ said Miller.. ‘Here ’tis.. She’s a dandy.’ ‘I can see that. Hmm mmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?’ the store owner asked. ‘Not zackley but almost.’ ‘Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble’. Mr. Miller told the boy. ‘Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.’ Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me. With a smile she said, ‘There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn’t like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store.’ I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles. Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died. They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could. Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts…all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband’s casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her and   moved on to the casket. Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one, each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes. Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband’s bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket. ‘Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim ‘traded’ them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size….they came to pay their debt.’ ‘We’ve never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,’ she confided, ‘but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho ..’ With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles. The Moral : We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath. Today I wish you a day of ordinary miracles A fresh pot of coffee you didn’t make yourself… An unexpected phone call from an old friend …. Green stoplights on your way to work… The fastest line at the grocery store… A good sing-along song on the radio… Your keys found right where you left them. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU GATHER, BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT  TELLS WHAT KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED! Tee Morris and Sonic Boom (his young daughter) are not only facing the loss of Natalie, but also significant and immediate costs involved with her death and keeping their family together. We’re all better off because of what Tee Morris has done for the podcasting community. He started this thing, let’s show him in a little way, that we are standing behind him.(1)

You can view Natalie’s Memorial Site here. Included is a copy (in PDF) of the Memorial Service pamphlet here (link to download it is on the page.). If you want to leave a message for Tee Morris and SB, please do so on this page. Footnotes are for reference only and may have little, if anything to do with the text from the post. From the ChipIn Page. Exciting, huh?