Tag: Humor
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The Next Step towards an Open Internet
Now that the FCC has finally acted to safeguard network neutrality, the time has come to take the next step toward creating a level playing field on the rest of the Information Superhighway. Network neutrality rules are designed to ensure that large telecommunications companies do not squelch free speech and online innovation. However, it is…
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My Experiment with "Digital Drugs"
The latest scare meme is “digital drugs” or “i-dosing”, in which kids listen to audio tracks that supposedly induce altered mental states. Concerned adults fear that these “digital drugs” may be a gateway to harder (i.e., actual) drugs. Rumors are circulating among some kids: “I heard it was like some weird demons and stuff through…
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CITP Expands Scope of RECAP
Today, we’re thrilled to announce the next version of our RECAP technology, dramatically expanding the scope of the project. Having had some modest success at providing public access to legal documents, we’re now taking the next logical step, offering easy public access to illegal documents. The Internet Archive, which graciously hosts RECAP’s repository of legal…
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A Modest Proposal: Three-Strikes for Print
Yesterday the French parliament adopted a proposal to create a “three-strikes” system that would kick people off the Internet if they are accused of copyright infringement three times. This is such a good idea that it should be applied to other media as well. Here is my modest proposal to extend three-strikes to the medium…
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On the emotions you feel when you do a security review
[I’m happy to introduce Dan Wallach, who will be blogging here from time to time. Dan is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Rice University. He’s a leading security expert who has done great work on several topics, including e-voting. – Ed] I was one of the co-authors of the Hart InterCivic source code…
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Woman Registers Dog to Vote, Demonstrates Ease of Fraud
A woman in Seattle registered her dog to vote, and submitted absentee ballots in three elections on the dog’s behalf, according to an AP story. The woman, Jane Balogh, said she did this to demonstrate how easy it would be for a noncitizen to vote. She put her phone bill in her dog’s name (“Duncan…
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You Can Own an Integer Too — Get Yours Here
Remember last week’s kerfuffle over whether the movie industry could own random 128-bit numbers? (If not, here’s some background: 1, 2, 3) Now, thanks to our newly developed VirtualLandGrab technology, you can own a 128-bit integer of your very own. Here’s how we do it. First, we generate a fresh pseudorandom integer, just for you.…
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Miracle Fruit: Tinkering with our Taste Buds
Miraculin, the extract of a West African fruit, is said to make sour foods taste sweet. It’s not sugary, but it’s said to trick your taste buds into misreporting the flavor of the food you’re eating. One of my students, Bill Zeller, bought some miraculin and a group of us tried it out. Here, in…
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Is SafeMedia a Parody?
[UPDATE (Dec. 2011): I wrote the post below a few years ago. SafeMedia’s website and product offerings have changed since then. Please don’t interpret this post as a commentary on SafeMedia’s current products.] Peter Eckersley at EFF wrote recently about a new network-filtering company called SafeMedia that claims it can block all copyrighted material in…
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Holiday Stories
It’s time for our holiday hiatus. See you back here in the new year. As a small holiday gift, we’re pleased to offer updated versions of some classic Christmas stories. How the Grinch Pwned Christmas: The Grinch, determined to stop Christmas, hacks into Amazon’s servers and cancels all deliveries to Who-ville. The Whos celebrate anyway,…