Author: Christopher Fahey
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My New “Sketchbook”
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The WordPress blog admin “Dashboard”, where I am currently typing these words. If you look closely, maybe you can see what kinds of things I might be posting here in the future. I have what I fancy to be interesting ideas just about all the time, and usually when this happens I like to start…
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Morning Subway Demographics
Because I often work very late or come in very early to the office, I have been able to observe some demographic patterns on the subways in the AM hours. It’s interesting to see how the ethnic, class, professional, and gender makeup evolves as the morning hours go by. (Please forgive the generalizations inherent in…
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NSA Data Mining 4: Total Information Awareness, Resurrected
A slight change of focus… (also check out Part 1 Part 2 and Part 3) You may recall that a nefarious global spying program called “Total Information Awareness”, spearheaded by convicted Iran-Contra criminal Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, was exposed in 2002 by the New York Times. After this program was made public, there was…
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NSA Data Mining 3: Wiretaps? Maybe not. Stakeouts? Definitely.
I honestly don’t know which is worse. (also check out Part 1 and Part 2) The press and Bush’s supporters make a big deal out of the fact that the NSA’s phone records program does not actually involve wiretaps. I think that’s a red herring. My argument is that the program is effectively a massive…
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NSA Data Mining 2: So you think you have nothing to hide?
(also check out Part 1) Most people who say that they would give up their liberty for temporary safety justify their opinion by saying “innocent people have nothing to hide”. But I wouldn’t be so sure. There are lots of ways a perfectly law-abiding American can get swept up by this program, both accidently and…
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NSA Data Mining 1: If you aren’t against it, then you don’t really understand it.
The NSA phone records program doesn’t seem quite so bad, at least not when it’s described this way. “Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” – Sir Walter Scott The NSA’s recently-revealed program to scour through and analyze the phone records of millions of normal and innocent Americans is…