I have only written about torture once before here on Continuations as part of my mini review of Zero Dark Thirty. I am glad that after long delays we at least now have a summary of the Senate’s Torture Report. Together with Guantanamo Bay itself, which I have mentioned a few times, and the Drone program, we have done great harm to the causes of democracy and freedom, all in the name of defending them. I don’t actually question the motives of the people who conceived of and conducted these pr...

I recently finished Dave Eggers’s “The Circle” which provided a good challenge to my baseline view that more transparency is good and that data protection is a futile effort. One of the systems in the novel is an easy to deploy camera that anyone can point at anything and provide a livestream. Called “SeeChange” the promoters argue that it will provide for reduced crime, increased safety and just additional information all around. The detractors are either smeared (with planted information) o...

I wrote about Russell Brand’s call for an unspecified revolution this past Friday. I liked his eloquent and indignant dismissal of the current political and economic system but he did not provide a vision of what a revolution should aim for. I have been struggling to wrestle down my own ideas on this and while I am still not quite there I feel like an outline is emerging. Let me start by describing the goal. It is nothing short of humanity coming together on a global scale to eradicate povert...

I have only written about torture once before here on Continuations as part of my mini review of Zero Dark Thirty. I am glad that after long delays we at least now have a summary of the Senate’s Torture Report. Together with Guantanamo Bay itself, which I have mentioned a few times, and the Drone program, we have done great harm to the causes of democracy and freedom, all in the name of defending them. I don’t actually question the motives of the people who conceived of and conducted these pr...

I recently finished Dave Eggers’s “The Circle” which provided a good challenge to my baseline view that more transparency is good and that data protection is a futile effort. One of the systems in the novel is an easy to deploy camera that anyone can point at anything and provide a livestream. Called “SeeChange” the promoters argue that it will provide for reduced crime, increased safety and just additional information all around. The detractors are either smeared (with planted information) o...

I wrote about Russell Brand’s call for an unspecified revolution this past Friday. I liked his eloquent and indignant dismissal of the current political and economic system but he did not provide a vision of what a revolution should aim for. I have been struggling to wrestle down my own ideas on this and while I am still not quite there I feel like an outline is emerging. Let me start by describing the goal. It is nothing short of humanity coming together on a global scale to eradicate povert...