The right to die…

With the recent Supreme Court directive to consider the plea to end a life of a woman who is, in medical terms, “brain dead” since 1973 (here’s the news item), the discussions around euthanasia or mercy killing are gaining fresh ground.

Barring three states in the US (Oregon, Washington, Montana), the Netherlands, Belgium, Albania and Luxembourg, euthanasia (active, passive, and assisted) is a criminal offence by law.

Morally speaking, killing or murder in any form – homicide or suicide – is “wrong” – unless it was the last resort in an attempt at self preservation. That is my view. Hypothetically speaking, I would kill someone or myself if my or my loved ones’ existence or personal security was at grave risk.

Taking another point of view, thankfully the law does not recognize the caveat I give to qualify the definition of wrong (whatever be the motive you will be tried in a court); else based on our individual moral convictions we all would be firing (quite literally) each other and human civilization would move back to the Old Stone Age.

And that is what I understand to be the major deterrent in the legalization of euthanasia.

When one reads of terminally ill patients living a vegetative life (as in the news item quoted above) or of patients suffering from incurable painful diseases who would rather donate their organs and choose the option of leaving behind the throbbing of the life support systems (read about it here) – one wonders shouldn't they have the right to decide their fate – shouldn't they have the option to quit?

But then, who decides quits?

What if the patient is not in a state to take the decision – does the physician take a call? Do the family members decide? Would you take such a call for a loved one or would you hold onto the last breath waiting for a miracle that just might happen?

These issues, in a sense, are much larger than the obvious issue of the high probability of misuse of the right to mercy killing by criminals and others for selfish motives.

So, who should have the right to die?

I feel physician assisted euthanasia at the behest of the suffering patient when he/she is in a sound state of mind, and all medical hope is exhausted, should be legalized.

A voice in my head warns that with this each person gets the power to play God.

Is that right? I don’t know.

What are your views on this?

ISP Data Retention Doesn't Aid Crime Prosecution

Matthew J. Schwartz writes on InformationWeek:

Should Internet service providers be required to retain more data transferred over their networks to aid law enforcement investigations?


That was the precise request made Tuesday by a senior Department of Justice official at a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security hearing.


But according to a new study from German privacy rights group AK Vorrat, based on an analysis of crime data from Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (known in Germany as the BKA), "data retention, while in force, did not make the prosecution of serious crime any more effective."


When it comes to securing, regulating, or policing the Internet, the report highlights that while some common-sense approaches -- such as data retention, or mandating that service providers block child pornography sites outright -- may look good on paper, in practice such restrictions may be ineffective or even produce unintended results.

More here.

The Day Part of the Internet Died: Egypt Goes Dark

An AP newswire article by Jordan Robertson, via The San Francisco Chronicle, reports:

About a half-hour past midnight Friday morning in Egypt, the Internet went dead.


Almost simultaneously, the handful of companies that pipe the Internet into and out of Egypt went dark as protesters were gearing up for a fresh round of demonstrations calling for the end of President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, experts said.


Egypt has apparently done what many technologists thought was unthinkable for any country with a major Internet economy: It unplugged itself entirely from the Internet to try and silence dissent.


Experts say it's unlikely that what's happened in Egypt could happen in the United States because the U.S. has numerous Internet providers and ways of connecting to the Internet. Coordinating a simultaneous shutdown would be a massive undertaking.

More here.

Reports: Internet Disruptions Hit Egypt

Elinor Mills writes on C|Net News:

Amid a third day of anti-government protests, Internet outages and disruptions were reported today in Egypt, according to reports.


Facebook and Twitter confirmed the reports for their sites.


"We are aware of reports of disruption to service and have seen a drop in traffic from Egypt this morning," a Facebook spokesman said in a statement. "You may want to visit Herdict.org, a project of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University that offers insight into what users around the world are experiencing in terms of web accessibility."


According to Herdict.org, there were 459 reports of inaccessible sites in Egypt and 621 reports of accessible sites.


Twitter's Global PR account reported on the site that: "Egypt continues to block Twitter & has greatly diminished traffic. However, some users are using apps/proxies to successfully tweet."


Meanwhile, there were numerous reports of outages around the Web.

More here.

See also: http://bgpmon.net/blog/?p=450

- ferg

Alleged 'Scareware' Vendors to Pay $8.2 Million to FTC

Grant Gross writes on ComputerWorld:

The operator of an alleged "scareware" scheme, using deceptive advertising to trick Internet users into buying software to fix their supposedly infected computers, will pay the U.S. Federal Trade Commission $8.2 million to settle a complaint brought by the agency, the FTC said.


Marc D'Souza and his father, Maurice D'Souza, will give up the money in the settlement, announced Thursday by the FTC. Marc D'Souza was one of the key participants in a group of businesses that delivered online advertisements falsely claiming that the viewers' computers were infected with malicious software, the FTC said in a press release.


The FTC will use money from the settlement to reimburse customers who purchased software from the defendants, the agency said.


The defendants in the case, doing business under several company names including Innovative Marketing and ByteHosting Internet Services, falsely claimed that scans had detected viruses, spyware and illegal pornography on consumers' computers, the FTC said. The defendants sold more than 1 million software products, with names such as Winfixer, Drive Cleaner and Antivirus XP, to remove the malware the bogus scans had supposedly detected, the agency added.

More here.

Mark Fiore: CorporateLand

More Mark Fiore brilliance.


Via The San Francisco Chronicle.

- ferg

Google Comes Under Fire for 'Secret' Relationship with NSA

Grant Gross writes on PC World:

Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group largely focused in recent years on Google's privacy practices, has called on a congressional investigation into the Internet giant's "cozy" relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama's administration.


In a letter sent Monday, Consumer Watchdog asked Representative Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to investigate the relationship between Google and several government agencies.


The group asked Issa to investigate contracts at several U.S. agencies for Google technology and services, the "secretive" relationship between Google and the U.S. National Security Agency, and the company's use of a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration airfield in California.


Federal agencies have also taken "insufficient" action in response to revelations last year that Google Street View cars were collecting data from open Wi-Fi connections they passed, Consumer Watchdog said in the letter.


"We believe Google has inappropriately benefited from close ties to the administration," the letter said. "Google is most consumers' gateway to the Internet. Nonetheless, it should not get special treatment and access because of a special relationship with the administration."

More here.

Report: ISPs Are the New Secret Police

Jennifer Baker writes on PC World:

More and more European Union member states are delegating online policing to private companies and Internet service providers, according to a report released Wednesday.


Where law enforcement agencies would traditionally have tackled the problem of illegal online content, more powers are being given to ISPs in the name of industry self-regulation, according to a study by the organization European Digital Rights (EDRI). That trend is likely to become stronger with increasing "extra-judicial sanctions" against consumers, EDRI said.


Proposed legislation and "non-binding guidelines" have left intermediaries in a precarious position, unsure whether they are liable for the actions of consumers over their networks. So-called "three strikes" laws, under which alleged copyright infringers receive three warnings before their Internet connection is cut off, put the onus on Internet service providers to police customers. Such laws currently appear in some form in French, Irish and U.K. legislation, where they have met with anger from ISPs. In France, the law can impose a fine and a one-year Internet connection suspension. The U.K.'s Digital Economy Act, adopted last year, provoked concern from the country's two largest ISPs, BT and TalkTalk.


International trade agreements such as the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), and bilateral trade agreements the E.U. has signed with India and South Korea, all leave the door open for intermediary liability.

More here.

Published!

My review on The Garden of Solitude (here's the post) has been published in Kashmir Observer (the main source of news and information for vast Kashmiri diaspora, intending tourists, business leaders, diplomats, journalists and all those interested in India-Pakistan affairs.)

Here's the link to the Book Review on Kashmir Observer.

GOP Pushing for ISPs to Record User Data

Declan McCullagh writes on C|Net News:

The House Republicans' first major technology initiative is about to be unveiled: a push to force Internet companies to keep track of what their users are doing.


A House panel chaired by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow morning to discuss forcing Internet providers, and perhaps Web companies as well, to store records of their users' activities for later review by police.


One focus will be on reviving a dormant proposal for data retention that would require companies to store Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for two years, CNET has learned.


Tomorrow's data retention hearing is juxtaposed against the recent trend to protect Internet users' privacy by storing less data. Last month, the Federal Trade Commission called for "limited retention" of user data on privacy grounds, and in the last 24 hours, both Mozilla and Google have announced do-not-track technology.


A Judiciary committee aide provided a statement this afternoon saying "the purpose of this hearing is to examine the need for retention of certain data by Internet service providers to facilitate law enforcement investigations of Internet child pornography and other Internet crimes," but declined to elaborate.

More here.

In Passing; Jack LaLanne

 Jack LaLanne

September 26, 1914 - January 23, 2011

The Garden of Solitude

“Years from now, children of your children will return and plant saplings in the backyard of their old houses. Go home now and sleep through the dark nights”

I finished reading the book and the first thought that came to my mind was - with the release of Sridhar’s “The Book of Ancestors”, is it time for the Sufi’s foretelling to come true or is this just a milestone in the journey back home – a journey that might never be fully accomplished – a home that might never be reclaimed? The cherries have started to blossom again but is the long winter really over? And then, the uneasiest question of them all – has the finality of the futility of waiting been so absolute that, in Lasa’s words, “This is our end. We have only the past to seek refuge in.”

The Garden of Solitude by Siddhartha Gigoo traces the personal history of a whole generation of Kashmiris (Pandits and Muslims) caught in the whirlpool of the political tumult and military insurgency that the year 1990 brought to a place that school children are still taught as Heaven on Earth. The central protagonist is Sridhar - who belongs to a Kashmiri pandit family and is forced to leave his “home” in the dead of the night at the age of 15. Through his exile, his quest for self discovery, his yearning for the beauty of a childhood buried in Yarbal, and finally his pilgrimage to his abode after 15 years – comes alive the saga of devastation, betrayal, deaths and alienation.

The language of loss, pain, pathos, nostalgia and solitude – translated beautifully in words that come from a heart that has braved through it all – gives away Sridhar as none other than Siddhartha himself, and in parts, maybe his alter ego.

At one level, the book has been an educating experience for me. I did not know the extent of the horror that the exodus of Kashmiri pandits, from their own valley of magnificence and splendor, was accompanied with.

‘Each truck carried a home and hopelessness.’

The description of the inhuman conditions of the camp sites in Jammu, where the ‘sunsets were hollow’ and every day was a funeral (snakebites and sun strokes excuses to cremate bodies that had left their souls behind), bring out the disturbing details of life as a refugee.

It is surprising that so little is written on this. We have libraries of literature on the Hindustan – Pakistan divide, and most of the upheavals we have been unfortunate to experience, but Kashmir remains shrouded in hushed whispers.

Is it because the unrest is still not history; the time for mourning has not yet come?

The book offers no logical reasoning, no logical resolutions – it talks nothing of the politics of the state – Because no logic seemed to exist? Because it did not matter to the common Kashmiri? Because still no one has been able to untangle the chaos that suddenly changed the face of the valley?

As we learn the tragedy of Kashmir through Sridhar, what is striking is Sridhar’s state of mind – he is at times angry, frustrated, bewildered, disoriented, helpless, and even heartbroken, but he never once comes across as bitter or prejudiced. He has seen pandits and muslims suffer equally – both lost Kashmir – one having left it behind – the other having seen it burn to ashes – and he mourns that loss – his longing for a future that reminisces the past is, alas, in vain, he knows.

“The past was too beautiful to be left behind. The past evoked a longing to be re-lived...The present was just a crippled memory...”

…I can’t yet see the future through the tinted glass that’s still foggy from my memory and my dreams – the garden of solitude I have survived, is there a garden of solace in the offing?

Got $500? You Can Buy a Hacked U.S. Military Website

Robert McMillan writes on ComputerWorld:

If you're a criminal looking for full control of the Web used by the U.S. Army's Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM), you can get it for just under US$500.


At least that's what one hacker is offering in underground forums. Security vendor Imperva found the black market sales pitch Thursday and posted details of the incident on Friday.


The hacker says he has control over a number of websites, including other military sites, government sites, and those belonging to universities, said Noa Bar-Yosef, Imperva senior security strategist. Prices range from $33 to $499, depending on how important or widely used the website is. "You can actually buy the capability of being the administrator of the website," she said.


The hacker is also selling databases of personal information he's stolen from the websites for $20 per thousand records, she said. That data could be used by spammers, or by fraudsters to break into online accounts.

More here.

A Parting Shot: Living Life, Even in Death

This shot taken up in San Francisco sometime around April 2009.


We will miss you, Lori. I'll miss you.

Life is so precious, even as it passes us by.

- ferg

The yardstick for FB addiction...

...just went up a couple of notches :P!

I am fairly square and straight when it comes to talking about my affection (read addiction) for social networking sites, especially, Facebook. I am hooked on to it irreparably and have no qualms about it.

It is rare to find people who are as active or more active than me ... And believe me, I am not ashamed about it, though I do flash my sheepish grin when friends and family go out of their way to point out my hyper active status on FB!

However, it seems, I do have competition. Recently, I was thrilled to come across two dogs' profiles on FB...yes you heard that right!

So there's somebody I know who owns two dogs and each of them have their own profiles. The relationship status reads married (yep, the two dogs are apparently tied in holy matrimony) and they have their respective profile pics, friend lists, etc...

My hubby's first reaction was CRAZY! My first reaction was SUPER CUTE!

I have seen parents who are quick to create FB profiles for their new borns and children (and I will reserve my comment on that), then why leave pets who are such an integral part of your family?

Now c'mon, don't do the "utilitarian" argument with me...just sit back and "awwww...." at it... :D

Lori Jensen's Obituary

Please note: "In lieu of other expressions of sympathy, a memorial fund has been established at the funeral home."

Thanks,

- ferg

In Passing: Lori Jensen

Lori Jensen
28 June 1965 - 15 January 2011

Lori was my partner for about seven years -- we split up in late October 2010, and she moved back to Green Bay, Wisconsin -- her hometown, where she had friends and family.

Lori died tragically yesterday in a single-car crash outside of Green Bay.

I am deeply, deeply saddened by this news.

Although Lori and I had decided to go separate ways, we spent many years together.

My thoughts and prayers are with Lori's family. I am still trying to personally grapple with this tragedy in my own way.

- ferg

Stuxnet Called an Israeli-US Joint Project

Larry Seltzer writes on PC Mag's "Security Watch" Blog:

A report in the New York Times gives evidence that Stuxnet, the computer worm which appears to have done material damage to Iranian nuclear weapons development, was developed by an Israeli-US team at an Israeli facility.


The Dimona complex in the Negev desert has long been the reputed, but unacknowledged center for Israeli nuclear development. The Times cites "intelligence and military experts familiar with [Dimona's] operations" as saying that over the past 2 years Dimona has served as a testing facility for efforts to undermine Iranian nuclear weapons development.


Israel has acquired and tested, at Dimona, using centrifuges "virtually identical" to those used by Iran. This scenario is reasonable in that it explains how such sophisticated attack software worked when it finally reached its intended targets in Iran. Whoever wrote it had to test it, and they needed access to Siemens SCADA systems and centrifuges identical, or nearly so, to those used by Iran.

More here.

No longer young?

Numbers have a way to unnerve the placid quietude that one might hope for as life progresses...

... Concepts of weight, age, and the related associations are baseless and arbitrary I often console myself. Remember 18 til I die?

However, it is a mean and nasty world that we live in. I caught this No Marks (a brand of cosmetics that boasts of Ayurvedic formulations for diverse usage) commercial on TV and was thoroughly pissed off!

The "geniuses" have launched a new range of face washes that are categorized as follows:

- For teens

- For youth

- For 25+

So 25+ is no longer young? Ouch. Somebody convince me I am reading too much into this ad. Am hurting real bad.

Here, check out the commercial yourself. I am, for sure, never going to use No Marks face wash and I don't care if you dismiss me as being petty. Hummpphh...

Mark Fiore: Shooting From The Lip

More Mark Fiore brilliance.

Via The San Francisco Chronicle.

- ferg

Dakshinachitra

I finally succeeding in dragging Vish to Dakshinachitra – quite literally translated as the “picture or vision of the South (India)”, and much against the locals’ quips that the place is not worth the hype – I enjoyed my trip.

Dakshinachitra, DC for short, is promoted as a heritage village site with the objective of recreating the rural life of the four states of Southern India – Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

For Bollywood fans out there, this is the place where Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan spent “the two days” in the movie Phir Milenge :).

Situated on the east coast road (ECR), DC is a perfect family getaway on a weekend/holiday morning with not only sight seeing to do, but fun activities such as basket weaving, pottery, puppet making etc., and ofcourse shopping that add to the tourist value of the place.

The best part is that it does not get too crowded; though being in the open, a hot summer day may not be the ideal time for a visit.

DC endeavors to preserve the traditional art, craft and architecture forms by providing a platform to the artisans to showcase their talent in the form of demo booths (sari weaving, glass blowing among others) and exhibitions.

Pitched as a cultural odyssey of the South, DC does try to live up to the buzz around it – The Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh sections are still under construction whereas the Tamil Nadu and Kerala sections are complete and offer a fairly detailed insight into the various aspects of the village life.

So, I would recommend that if you are in Chennai or visiting Chennai, take a half day out for a trip to Dakshinachita and you won’t regret it.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

A view of the craft bazaar that greets you right at the entrance…

The structures of village houses…

A peak inside the houses…

Now for some demo and fun stuff…

Silk sari weaving…

Pottery (A statutory warning: The potter thatha is one impatient guy – he was screaming at me in tamil that I was not doing it properly without even teaching me how to mould the clay first :(.

You can also take a shot at grinding rice :D...

Kili jyoshiyam or the parrot fortune teller is another interesting stop over. Following instructions, the parrot comes out of its cage, randomly selects one card from the pile of cards, takes it to the god’s picture and the gives it to the guy sitting there – who then reads out your fortune.

And finally, some shots, which I think were in Phir Milenge…

If you have seen the movie, you couldn’t have missed the amphitheater…

------------------

Added:

Here's the song from Phir Milenge, shot at Dakshinchitra (Thanks a ton Aastha!!!)

Iceland Summons U.S. Envoy Over WikiLeaks Probe

An AP newswire article by Raphael G. Satter, via The San Jose Mercury News, reports:

The American ambassador to Reykjavik has been summoned to explain why U.S. investigators are trying to access the private details of an Icelandic lawmaker's online activity as they try to build a criminal case against WikiLeaks.


Revelations that the U.S. Justice Department obtained a court order to examine data held by Twitter Inc. on Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic parliamentarian who sits on the country's Foreign Affairs Committee, immediately caused consternation in the tiny North Atlantic nation.


"(It is) very serious that a foreign state, the United States, demands such personal information of an Icelandic person, an elected official," Interior Minister Ogmundur Jonasson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV.


"This is even more serious when put (in) perspective and concerns freedom of speech and people's freedom in general," he added.


Jonsdottir is a one-time WikiLeaks collaborator also known for her work on Iceland's media initiative, which aims to turn the island nation into a free speech haven. Jonsdottir told The Associated Press she was too overwhelmed to comment Sunday, but in a recent post to Twitter, she said she was talking with American lawyers about how to beat the order—and was drumming up support in Iceland as well.

More here.

Mark Fiore: Resolution

More Mark Fiore brilliance.


Via The San Francisco Chronicle.

Enjoy.

- ferg

Food, Inc.

I finally got around to watching this documentary -- and although unsurprised, I am continually shocked by the ability of corporations in this country to wield such power and control.

If you haven't seen it, please do.

It is truly heartbreaking, maddening, and almost criminal what is happening with the basic food we all need.

- ferg

Updated 21:50 PST: Let's hope that this helps. Fingers crossed.

In Passing: Gerry Rafferty

Gerry Rafferty

16 April 1947 – 4 January 2011

wallpapers

wallpapers

In Passing: Pete Postlethwaite

Pete Postlethwaite

7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011

If this is any indication…

No, am not really superstitious but don’t they generally say well begun is half done?!?

Now, not that I have an ambitious list of new year resolutions – mine remains little changed year on year (and here it is for posterity) – but I’d rather have the “firsts” of the new year spent well as a good omen for times to come…However, how do I deny destiny its self-assumed right to come in my way :D?

So here is the list of things already gone wrong in 2011:

• My first meal of 2011 consisted of a comforting quantity of chocolate – snickers to be precise! Cutting down on carbs and staying in shape has been my resolution every year since teenage! Alas!

• I decided to cook for hubby and myself on the first day of the year. If that does not sound disastrous enough…I burnt the pressure cooker so badly. The only positive I see in this is I was able to do some damage control and most of the biryani could be salvaged from total burn down – and I learnt a new kitchen tip – soaking the burnt cooker in baking soda and hot water overnight removes the black residue completely!

• Containing avarice could have been on my wish list had I not gone shopping on the very first weekend and reduced my bank balance by a considerable margin.

• Let’s come to the first working day for the year – I reach office late because the PM decides to travel the same route as mine around the same time as I do.
• As if reaching office late on a day I wanted to leave early is not reason enough to make me feel guilty, I have to approach my manager for 3 days’ leave this week!
• And did I mention that I forgot my ID card at home today!

Phew! Compare this to the rather placid new year beginnings I have had in the previous years. I wonder what kind of a roller coaster 2011 is going to be!

Leaving with you a new year greeting that has remained very close to my heart...

“How beautiful the turning of the year!

A moment artificial yet profound:

Point upon an arbitrary chart

Passing like a breath upon the heart,

Yearning with anticipation wound,

New hope new harbored in old-fashioned cheer.

Even when the boundary line is clear,

We recognize the oneness of the ground.

Years, like circles, do not end or start

Except we lay across their truth our art,

Adjusting dates as they go round and round

Revolving to a tune long sung and dear.”

Happy New Year folks!

Why We Need Stronger Whistleblower Protections, Not Less

Wow.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And do not let the U.S. Government water-down any whistleblower protections.

- ferg

All Day, New Year's Day: The Three Stooges

All Day Today on AMC -- The Three Stooges.

Great stuff!

Happy New Year,

- ferg

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to One and All.