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  1. And of course, you don't hear about this!! Jennifer Arianna Frances
  2. I agree. I'll be writing emails this weekend. I heard there is a large portion of the PA up for 'extension' in 2005. Writing letters now could stop it. Something has to stop it!!! Jen Arianna Frances
  3. exactly - there is a dime's worth of difference between democrats and republicans... vote libertarian Thankfully over 400 towns/cities in the US have condemed the PA - more need to follow. Jennifer Arianna Frances
  4. Ok - so in otherwords the american people could be looking at 30+ years of this? Supreme Court Judges are appointed for life! There must be a way to do something sooner than that!! grr.... wake up people! Do something, they're taking away your freedoms!!!! Arianna Frances
  5. Why should I have to give up any of the services I use to keep the governement out of my affairs??!? Thats a foolish way to look at it. Jennifer Arianna Frances
  6. But how do we get the word out that people should vote against this? A party platform (such as the libertarians) would be the best place to start to get the word out... ...but it will take YEARS to undue this injustice. Jen Arianna Frances
  7. I'm foaming at the mouth over the cable companies. Sounds so much like that aspect in the Matrix where they tracked Neo. This is so wrong!!!!!!!! What does it take for people to stand against this? I believe it was Jefferson that said "When a governement fears its people its freedom, when the people fear the government its tyranny". THis is absolute BS... I wish there was more I could do Jennifer Arianna Frances
  8. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/ZDM/big_brother_commentary_pcmag_040218.html Big Brother Is Watching How Patriot Act Search Warrants Can Affect All of Us Online Commentary By Lance Ulanoff PC Magazine March 18— A recent Associated Press article about the FBI raiding an Ohio-based chat host company's offices and confiscating its servers sent a chill up my spine. The FBI acted on information that someone may have used the service for hacking. It was within its jurisdiction, obtaining a warrant for the search and seizure. But it's what they could do with those servers and the information stored on them that really has me spooked. I've visited Internet chat rooms. They tend to be useless, annoying affairs where, along with potentially interesting discourse, there are always a dozen or so idiots trolling for online sexual banter. Spend three minutes in any chat room and you're likely to get either a pop-up note or a direct question in the live thread that asks: "ASL?" (Age, Sex, Location). It's annoying and this intrusion usually drives me right out of the virtual room, but others stay. Chat rooms enjoy wide popularity across the Net, and I doubt we'll ever see them fade away. I think this one, based in the Columbus suburbs, was pretty nickel and dime. Even so, people who visit chat rooms of any size and scope can become a pretty devoted bunch, so I'm sure the servers will show some frequent participants. There are also hundreds of looky-loos — people who drop in for a time, find nothing particularly interesting and then drop out, probably never to return again. A Suspect Until Proven Innocent Now here's where the story gets scary. These chat rooms' servers have IPs and probably e-mail addresses (if not much more) stored on them about both the regulars and the "just-passing-through" users. Since the FBI was looking for someone who may have hacked someone else's computer through the aforementioned chat hosting service, everyone came under scrutiny. In other words, if you ever visited that chat room and participated (or maybe just looked around) you're a suspect. This brings me back to my concern about the FBI's (heck, any federal agency's) technical acumen. How good are they really about ferreting out the difference between someone who may have done something to attack another user and someone who was just hanging out? What if someone turned another user's system into a zombie and it attacked another computer. Who will the FBI go after then? Right now, I'm envisioning a series of frightening home raids where the FBI confiscates personal computers from anyone they think may have been involved. Powerful Patriot Act This new Big Brother-ish environment is fueled, to some extent, by the Patriot Act, which is giving federal authorities far more latitude in their pursuit of cybercriminals. I have no love for jerks that create viruses and attack or take over other people's PCs, but I worry that the Feds now have more power than they know what to do with. I believe this is primarily because they don't understand just how twisted the thread of cyberterrorism can become and how hard it can be to trace an attack to its correct origin. Let's, for argument's sake, consider the possibility that the FBI knows exactly how to tell the good IPs and e-mail addresses from the bad ones. What about all that other information that's on those servers? There could be home addresses, credit card info, personal e-mails, you name it. Who gets to draw the line about what the FBI can see? A warrant to confiscate a server is like giving the FBI a warrant to search every house in the state of Maine. The level and kinds of information that could be on the servers is certainly as varied as what you could find in a few thousand homes. I Was Framed, I Tell You It gets worse. Now say some employee at the unfortunate chat host company has recently been slammed by pornographic spam e-mail. A user was annoyed by the way he was treated in the chat room, so he signed up the chat administrator (by using an e-mail he got in a reply from the administrator) for a dozen porn services. He did it so fast that the admin's spam and content filters have actually missed some of the e-mails. Joe Administrator deleted the e-mails as soon as they arrived, but he accidentally left Outlook's preview pane open and a message or two, complete with the porno graphics, loaded into his message window. One message happened to contain a kiddie porn shot that had been passed around the Net so many times that no one, including the porn company, realized it was an illegal shot of a 12-year-old. The FBI, in its analysis of the servers, stumbles across this image in the admin PC's cache and finds that it was stored as part of his mailbox. Now he's under scrutiny for trafficking child porn. This can actually happen. See how scary it can get? My words of warning to you are this: Think twice, even three times, before visiting a chat room, message group, or any site where you are interacting with hundreds of people you don't know. We all love community, and making connections with other people is what drives this world. But as long as Big Brother is watching, we're all at risk. Discuss this article in the PC Magazine forums. Arianna Frances
  9. http://news.com.com/2100-1034_3-5173320.html Cable taps into wiretap law Last modified: March 16, 2004, 11:00 AM PST By Ben Charny Staff Writer, CNET News.com At least one cable operator is starting to comply with a federal law that has long required telecommunications carriers to help police conduct electronic surveillance, according to a source familiar with the company's plans. Time Warner Cable is the first cable company to begin trying to adhere to the Communications Assistance For Law Enforcement Act, the source said. Cable companies are not yet required to comply with the 1994 wiretap law, but they see the writing on the wall. Vernon Irvin, executive vice president at security vendor VeriSign, said during a recent interview that his company had signed a deal with a "major cable operator" in the United States to help it follow CALEA. He did not identify the provider, but the source tagged Time Warner as the company. A Time Warner representative did not have an immediate comment. Irvin, however, did assert that other cable companies are sure to follow. That's because the FBI has made public a far-reaching proposal to require all broadband Internet providers--including cable modem and digital subscriber line (DSL) companies--to restructure their networks to support easy wiretapping by police. "The cable guys aren’t waiting," Irvin said. The FBI's proposal would, for the first time, force cable providers that sell broadband to come under the jurisdiction of 1994's CALEA, which further defined the already-existing statutory obligations of telecom carriers to help police conduct electronic surveillance. Telephone companies that use their networks to sell broadband have already been following CALEA rules. Because the eavesdropping proposal has the support of the Bush administration, the Federal Communications Commission is expected to take it very seriously. Last month, FCC Chairman Michael Powell stressed that "law enforcement access to IP-enabled communications is essential" and that police must have "access to communications infrastructure they need to protect our nation." Irvin said that details of the VeriSign deal will be announced next week. Arianna Frances
  10. Being a cardiac patient myself (have an internal defibrillator) - I see nothing wrong with that. (I also work in a hospital). Many patients who have continued cardiac problems will request a DNR (do not recusitate order) or have a living will. I have a living will that states "that if the chances of survival similar to previous life are not obtainable, no extra provisions are to be made to retain living functions" I would hope many doctors would respect this, my wishes, and those of my family. Jennifer Arianna Frances
  11. hehe - its "I got rhythm"... jazz standard. And congrats on gaining tenure FallinWoman! Jennifer Arianna Frances
  12. Big vibes to him and his family Jennifer Arianna Frances
  13. From one 100% irish gal to you: Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh Jennifer Arianna Frances
  14. I lived in TX for one year while I went to UNT and a tornado ripped through Denton real quick one night - tore the corner of the room off the building I was in. Lived in New England my whole life and can never remember a tornado coming through.... now a hurricane, yes - had a few of those. I get worked up over snow - anything over a foot sucks. Jen Arianna Frances
  15. 9/11 - 8 am, in boss' office. I was being laid off. 9:15, packing up my desk when someone down the hall shouted to turn on the tv. Went home and turned on the TV and just sat and watched all day... Jennifer Arianna Frances
  16. Hey, y'all rock! Thanks for the great ideas! Jennifer Arianna Frances
  17. Thats an awesome idea! I think it might be a little too deep for freshman in HS, but its a great idea! Thanks bunches
  18. well... ya, but we can't have both of them doing research projects on the same thing. The school they attend is an alternative school that focus' on 'real world' application, so they spend a majority of their time in LTI (Learning through internships). So, doing one on golf course design... well... its not going to cut it. Whereas Feng Shui can also teach you about history. Its all so much to balance! Making my head swim, and I'm not in their school! hehe Jennifer Arianna Frances
  19. One of my jobs is to mentor some highschool students that are doing an internship with us as part of their curriculum. They are begining their second project which are to design us a ficticious office (it will be VERY plush!). One is designing the interior and one the exterior. My job this weekend (as I'm no architect/designer I can't help with the technical stuff) is to brainstorm some ideas of a research paper one of the students can do in connection with his part of this project (he's doing the exterior). He will be designing a small golf course, track, football field etc (ya, we're really athletic in our office! LOL ). The student that is doing the interior is going to do a paper on Feng Shui (Chinese interior design philosophy), and we'd like something of similar 'depth' for the exterior part. Any ideas? Thanks everyone!
  20. ya! Good to hear. Its different for everyone, but the only time I've heard of alcohol being a problem is when someone is ALREADY on medication and the alcohol limits the effectiveness of the medication. Don't let her drive if she's too tired - thats often a trigger for people. Also, that message board is AWESOME! I used to spend alot of time there. Good Luck! Jennifer Arianna Frances
  21. Congrats!! Many years of happiness to you both
  22. I am very familiar with epilepsy - before I was diagnosed with my heart condition they thought I had epilepsy (this was 6 years ago)... so they put me on epileptic medication, which when taken by people who don't have epilepsy or in large amounts can cause seizures - ask any dr., this is true. (I haven't had one since I took myself off the medication more than 4 years ago and am now told I never had epilepsy). Unfortunately my dr. took away my driving privilege immediately. Most states have a '6 month rule' - you have a seizure you loss your privilege to drive for 6 months following it. I never drove during the time and am very glad I didn't as I sometimes had warning, but then started to get no warning at all. She needs to be careful, as the chances of her hurting someone are VERY VERY high. The medication takes approximately 5 months to adjust to, then you regain 'normal function'. Its much better than going without as the longer you go without medication the better the chances of the seizures causing more electrical pathways in the brain thus causing larger, more dangerous seizures. Please please please please please get help - your hurting yourself by not. Jennifer Arianna Frances
  23. mine is after my siamese cat mai_lin. Jennifer Arianna Frances
  24. hehe - not too much that isn't larger Jennifer Arianna Frances
  25. Sorry to hear about your injury Sunny Hope it gets better real quick! Jennifer Arianna Frances