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First Things First

...But not necessarily in that order.

Posts tagged with "miscellaneous"

One reason why censorship doesn't work

Wednesday, 6. June 2007, 18:59:21

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This Reuters article speaks for itself:

A young clerk with no knowledge of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown allowed a tribute to victims slip into the classified ads page of a newspaper in southwest China, a Hong Kong daily reported on Wednesday. [...]

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said a young woman on the Chengdu Evening News classified section had allowed the ad to be published because she'd never heard of the June 4 crackdown.

A man gave the advertisement to the clerk, who had recently graduated and worked for an advertising company responsible for receiving content for the ads section, the Post reported.

"She called the man back two days later to check what June 4 meant and the man said it was (a date on which) a mining disaster took place," the Post quoted a source at the paper as saying.

"This highlights (the fact) that the government needs to face up to history," the paper quoted the source as saying.

References to the massacre are barred in state media, the Internet and printed works, meaning many of China's younger generation are ignorant of the events.


Which, of course, points up the problem of censorship: it's kind of tough for someone to censor history if she doesn't know what the real history is.

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Deteriorata and Google Maps

Thursday, 31. May 2007, 19:24:48

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A long time ago, a magazine called National Lampoon published Deteriorata, a parody of Desiderata, a spoken-word poem. Deteriorata still makes me chuckle, but one line comes to mind: "Know yourself. If you need help, call the FBI."

At the moment, some people are getting all excited about Google Maps, which has unveiled Street Views, the result of a years-long effort to beef up its maps service with street-level photos -- most of which were taken by Google people -- of a growing number of city streets. The fact that identifiable details are included in these photos is raising privacy concerns:

The new Google Maps zoom feature zooms all the way into my living room window. See cat on cat perch. I'm all for mapping, but this feature literally gives me the shakes. I feel like I need to close all my curtains now. I'm going to look into whether it's possible for a person to have pictures of their home removed from Google Maps.

Some of the links provided show people (who could, ostensibly, be identified) emerging from a strip club, as well as readable vehicle license plates.

I'm a privacy advocate (as some previous posts might have suggested), but this is just overblown. Keep in mind that these are static photos. Most won't show anything interesting, and (as far as I know) they'll change rarely, if at all. And if someone does object, they have recourse, as the BoingBoing post notes:

There is a way to have an image removed from Google's Street View -- or at least an interfact that allows you to report an inappropriate image. If you hit "Street View help" from the image window, there's a link at the bottom that allows you to "Report inappropriate image." One of the options is "this image infringes on my privacy."

I'd be far more concerned with the number of cities whose governments are installing real-time surveillance cameras (including so-called red-light cameras) throughout the city. Places like Seattle, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Chicago, and many more, including in Washington DC (even though they don't seem to do much good). And should you travel to England, they have over four million surveillance cameras -- literally on every street corner as well on the highways -- and you'll be on candid camera over 300 times every day.

I'm not worried about Google Maps invading my privacy. Frankly, there are too many other risks to worry about. And for us web authors, this option never fails:


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Reduce junk mail - and junk phone calls

Tuesday, 15. May 2007, 16:07:56

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I've been able to cut down enormously on the amount of junk mail my family receives. It's easy enough to do. The EcoCycle blog lists five easy steps:

Remove your name from mailing lists; Know the Magic Words to keep from being added to more lists; 1-800 No Thanks (to get off still more lists); End Credit Card Solicitations (although if you're trying to establish a credit history, you may wish to skip this step); and Stop Junk Promo Products to stop receiving free samples, AOL disks, and such.

In most cases, all it takes is a trip to a handy website. Stubborn cases may require an actual letter (remember snail mail?) or a phone call.

It's easier to stop most telemarketers from calling you incessantly. Before Uncle Sam set up their Do Not Call website, it was at the point where my wife and I just stopped answering the phone altogether. We'd let the answering machine pick up, because literally eight of 10 calls were telemarketers. I'm not a big fan of government interference in the marketplace, but I applauded this effort, because it works. (Be sure to add your cell phones, too -- it can't hurt.)

But be sure to read more about this in this EcoCycle post, because you might actually make some money from a telemarketer:

Finally, be sure to take advantage of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. It requires that telemarketers who call or fax you must put you on a "do not call" list– IF you ask. Keep a record of your request. If they call again within one year you can sue them in small claims court. One lawsuit netted an irate customer over $1,500 in damages.


Also, there are exceptions to that list -- politicians and tax-exempt non-profit organizations, for example.

Look, I like and support select charities, but here's the thing that fries me: the moment you donate to one, your name and address are instantaneously transmitted to every other charity in the known universe. And then they all call you. All the time. Or so it seems. It's got to the point that we've once again stopped answering the phone. So now we also politely request that they, too, add us to their own do-not-call list. I don't know if that will work, but it's worth a try.

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The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get

Thursday, 10. May 2007, 21:47:38

You know that feeling you get when you lean back in a chair, and you almost tip over but you catch yourself just in time? I feel like that all the time. -- Steven Wright


You know that feeling you get when you suddenly realize that it's the middle of May, that spring will too soon turn into summer, and you haven't even prepped the garden for planting? I feel like that more and more often.

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