Israel thumbs its nose at the world, again: What I’m reading, March 18, 2016

The phone number change I previously promised is now in effect. I am back to using +1-707-824-1194. As always, contact information is available here. +1-707-572-0136 has been suspended and should soon be deactivated.

I now have an old LG G2 smartphone available if anybody wants it. It was no longer doing data over the cellular network but I had also rooted it (this is now undone because I have reset the device) and it might be possible to upgrade the software (there are known security issues, so do this if you can). I do not know if it will now suddenly start doing cellular data again. It was doing calls just fine and data worked well over WiFi.


Palestine

Killian Redden, “Int’l Criticism mounts over massive Israeli ‘land grab’ in Palestinian West Bank,” Informed Comment, March 18, 2016, http://www.juancole.com/2016/03/intl-criticism-mounts-over-massive-israeli-land-grab-in-palestinian-west-bank.html


For-Profit Colleges

Michael Stratford, “Getting Ready for Another Corinthian,” Inside Higher Ed, March 18, 2016, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/03/18/federal-loan-forgiveness-jumps-education-department-may-require-more-risky-colleges


Security versus Privacy

Apple’s engineers would be completely right to resist a court order to break into or in any way facilitate breaking into the San Bernardino killer’s iPhone. I was never a member of the Association of Computing Machinery, but I am very glad to learn that this is in their ethical code. It was certainly part of my ethical training when I was last in high tech. We took this so seriously that even on systems where we had root (superuser) access, when a user was typing in their password, we would avert our eyes reflexively—a habit I retain. We not only had no need but no desire to know users’ passwords and the message we meant to convey was of utmost respect for their privacy. Yes, by the way, on company-owned equipment.

John Markoff, Katie Benner, and Brian X. Chen, “Apple Encryption Engineers, if Ordered to Unlock iPhone, Might Resist,” New York Times, March 17, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/technology/apple-encryption-engineers-if-ordered-to-unlock-iphone-might-resist.html

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.