Tech Bones

An upsetting trend looms over proposed national legislation and international agreements that threatens First Amendment rights on the internet. While public outcry has successfully hindered the advancement of such measures so far, attacks to our freedom of speech on the internet continue to increase according to Google. A Fox News article entitled "Google sees 'alarming' uptick in government censorship' outlines several recent examples of governments submitting requests to have material it finds "illegal, hateful, terrorism-promoting, or offensive" removed from the internet. While Google has refused the requests in some cases, they have been forced to comply in others. Fox News: Google sees 'alarming' uptick in government censorship http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/06/18/google-sees-alarming-uptick-in-government-censorship/ Dorothy Chou, Google's senior policy analyst, wrote in a Sunday blog post, "It's alarming not only because...

(Updated: October 4, 2011) I received an eMail regarding a Dell promotion called the "Military Appreciation Event." Both my wife and I fervently support our military men and women. Years ago in our hearts, we adopted one of our oldest son's best friends, currently stationed in Afghanistan. In addition, I was a military brat myself, as well as having been a consultant and service provider to the DoD over the years. The email naturally caught my attention. Knowing many people serving in the military and friends who have relatives deployed, I decided to compose a quick post to share this information. As I was reviewing the eMail, I noticed the lengthy size of the URL and wondered how many people would attempt to cut/paste and forward it via eMail. Too often, an eMail contains a Web site link that requires multiple lines and often breaks into two or more distinct strings. This in turn causes the link to fail and makes copying it into the browser's Navigation Toolbar d...