Category Archives: Information

Frederick Douglass

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Campus speech codes are stifling free speech on too many US campus. I just read a letter by Frederick Douglass with much to say about this.

No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech. It was in their eyes, as in the eyes of all thoughtful men, the great moral renovator of society and government. Daniel Webster called it a homebred right, a fireside privilege. Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power. Thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, founded in injustice and wrong, are sure to tremble, if men are allowed to reason of righteousness, temperance, and of a judgment to come in their presence.

But suppressing free hurts more than the speaker. “To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. It is just as criminal to rob a man of his right to speak and hear as it would be to rob him of his money.” It is sad to watch universities devolve.

Hacking into a Jeep

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Watch the video in this Wired article “Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It.” Two security researchers tap into a Jeep via the Internet. From a house miles away from the Jeep (which means anywhere) they disable the Jeep’s engine, as well as control various other functions. This is scary.

We are not ready for the Internet of Things.

Harvard student loses Facebook internship after pointing out privacy flaws

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From Boston.com:

Three months ago, Harvard student Aran Khanna was preparing to start a coveted internship at Facebook when he launched a browser application from his dorm room that angered the social media behemoth.

Khanna exposed a frightening lack of security. Facebook messages contain geolocation data. Facebook Messenger has been out since 2011 and they only now told users and provided a way to turn it off. This is an appalling lack of concern for users’ privacy and security.

His firing seems petty and vindictive. But Khanna has a good perspective. He accepted a different internship and said he learned a lot from the Facebook experience. I think we all did.