VirusHead

I have been had. I am furious, but that’s nothing next to what I am fully expecting to receive from friends, family, and professional colleagues. ARRRGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

Please disregard any invitation from Quechup – from me or anyone else.

I was invited to this networking site by a friend. You can see on the right-hand menu that I am involved in lots of online social sites.

I joined up, but they somehow hijacked my emails’ address book. I was shocked to receive a couple of out-of-office auto-replies.

I did _not_ request for invitations to be sent, or for my email addressbook to be accessed!

I have deleted my own membership, and my friend has also deleted her account.

If you receive an invitation to join, I advise you to delete the email. I am researching to find out how I might pursue a formal complaint.

I am deeply sorry for the breach and any inconvenience. My sincere apologies.

I’ve just noticed the “aboutus.org” wiki. It looks as though they are trying to put together information on every domain.

AboutUs is a fully editable wiki, a type of Web site, that has been prepopulated with information about several million websites. Enter a domain name in the search box (for example: “Yahoo.com” or “AboutUs.org”) and see what comes up!

I discovered I was already listed, so I did fix a couple of things on the virushead page.

http://www.aboutus.org/VirusHead.net

However, it’s competely open and anyone could add whatever they want. It could become a destination spot for spammers, trolls, and stalkers. They do log the IP of the person who changes an entry, but no registration or login is required.

What do you think? Free advertising or soft surveillance? Information being free or future source of manipulation? Comments, criticisms?

NSA eavesdropping program ruled unconstitutional

Judge orders immediate halt to program

YES! Finally!

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government’s warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.

U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency’s program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.

“It was never the intent of the Framers to give the President such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights.”

We must first note that the Office of the Chief Executive has itself been created, with its powers, by the Constitution. There are no hereditary Kings in America and no power not created by the Constitution.

So what now?

NSA Telephone Monitoring – an animated editorial cartoon by Walt Handelsman (to the tune of “I Just Called to Say I Love You”)

(thanks Aunt Elaine)

The House will vote once again this week to hand the Arctic Refuge over to Big Oil.
Tell your Representative to vote NO!
(League of Conservation Voters)

Say NO to Drilling in the Arctic Refuge Before It’s Too Late – The House Votes Tomorrow
(Save Our Environment.org)

Block Bush’s Radical-Right Judges
(Act for Change)

Act now to stop phone companies from abusing your privacy. Join in the nationwide demand that the FCC and state utility commissions investigate reports of unlawful sharing of consumers’ call records with the National Security Agency, and issue cease-and-desist orders to any phone companies that are found to have been engaging in such practices.
(American Civil Liberties Union)

Stop Fueling Exxon Mobil’s Anti-Wildlife Agenda
(Defenders of Wildlife)

Sign the Pro-Choice Pledge, promising to vote pro-choice in November.
(NARAL – Pro-Choice America)

Tell the FCC to stop merger mania
The largest telecommunications and cable companies are fighting to shut down a free and open Internet. They keep raising prices while making empty promises about serving all Americans. They’ve even illegally handed over your personal information to government eavesdroppers. Now they want the government to help them get even bigger. AT&T is trying to buy BellSouth, which would make it the largest telecom company in the world. Comcast and Time Warner — the country’s two largest cable and Internet companies — are trying to wrap up their purchase of Adelphia, the nation’s fifth-largest cable company. If these deals go through, Comcast, Time Warner, and AT&T will control over half of all the high-speed Internet connections in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission is in the final stages of deciding whether these deals should go through. Your voice can make all the difference in stopping them.
(Free Press.net)