British Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement on Feb. 20 of a “special status” for the United Kingdom in the European Union (EU) briefly boosted support for staying in — if only because he dominated the news. However, support will decline before the referendum on June 23, particularly on the issue of “national security,” which he falsely offered … Continue reading »
security
14-year old’s arrest over a clock: a teaching moment
The arrest of 14-year old Ahmed Mohamed at the Independent School District in Irving, Texas illustrates the pervasiveness and normalization of Islamophobic responses that assume guilt before innocence. In this incident, Ahmed’s school principal, Dan Cummings, informed parents in a letter that the police were called to the campus in response to a “suspicious-looking item.” He assured parents … Continue reading »
Privacy vs. privacy
It’s common to see privacy pitted against security in the form of the question: “How much privacy are we willing to give up for security?” Some call the security vs. privacy debate a false choice, and suggest the debate is actually liberty vs. security, or liberty vs. control, or privacy vs. cooperation. At UC Berkeley, … Continue reading »
The good, not so good, and long view on Bmail
Many campuses have decided to outsource email and other services to “cloud” providers. Berkeley has joined in by migrating student and faculty to bMail, operated by Google. In doing so, it has raised some anxiety about privacy and autonomy in communications. In this post, I outline some advantages of our outsourcing to Google, some disadvantages, … Continue reading »
Shaken but secure
The horrific images from the Japanese earthquake-tsunami have probably shaken everyone’s confidence. When a nation so modern — so modern that its technology is considered cutting edge — is knocked down so badly, with thousands of citizens dead and many more left in the cold dark for days, with food running short, communities isolated, and … Continue reading »