Privacy is out the window

Sure, we're upset about the NSA spying. But Yasha Levine says that the spying done by Google and other companies is probably worse. 

Take, for example, the automated cars Google uses for its Street View application. Besides taking photos, the cars were geared to pick up all the wireless network communication data that crossed their path. An FCC investigation showed that the company knowingly deployed the surveillance program, and then analyzed and integrated the data that it had intercepted. But an even greater invasion of privacy is accomplished via Gmail. 

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and others claim that Google does not restrict its email scanning activities solely to its registered user base, but intercepts and analyzes the private communication of anyone who exchanges emails with a Gmail user.

Levine has reviewed two patents filed by Google before releasing Gmail. The patents allow Google to construct user profiles based on:

• Concepts and topics discussed in email, as well as email attachments
• The content of websites that users have visited
• Demographic information — including income, sex, race, marital status
• Geographic information
• Psychographic information — personality type, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyle interests
• Previous searches users have made
• Information about documents a user viewed and or edited by the users
• Browsing activity
• Previous purchases

There is currently a class action lawsuit against Google asserting that the scanning of the messages violates state and federal anti-wiretapping laws.

Levine has written other articles about this issue.

Congress and the Unemployed

From the Washington Post

Some Sad Charts from Steven Rattner

Three of the charts he had in today's NY Times.

2013 as seen by Reuters photographers

The NY Fed is THE Boss

Pam Martens of Wall Street on Parade has been bashing the NY Fed for quite a while. Her basic argument is that the bank is riddled with conflicts of interest; the bank is basically in bed with Wall Street. Some points she makes in her latest diatribe:

This is just a partial list of how the New York Fed is unique among its peers:
The President of the New York Fed sits permanently on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). The Presidents of the other 11 regional banks rotate on the FOMC;
Although there is no law requiring that the New York Fed should be the sole regional Fed Bank to conduct the open market operations of the FOMC, it has uniquely served in this function since 1935;
It is the only regional Fed Bank to have its own trading floor and speed dials to the largest firms on Wall Street;
It is the only regional Fed Bank to be allowed to intervene in foreign exchange markets;
The New York Fed, uniquely among the regional Fed Banks, stores gold for foreign central banks, governments and international agencies;
The New York Fed played a uniquely controlling role in the disbursement of trillions of dollars in loans to foreign and domestic banks during the 2007 to 2010 meltdown of Wall Street;
And, problematically, while needing the good will of Wall Street firms to carry out its open market operations mandate, it simultaneously functions as a primary regulator to some of the largest firms.

You really should read the full article. It will raise some fundamental questions about our government.

Comments on our times.

from the NY Times

Acetaminophen can have some bad effects

ProPublica has been doing a lot of work relative to acetaminophen. The drug has been very useful in relieving pain and reducing fevers. But, like most things in life, it is not perfect. If taken in large doses, the drug can damage your liver and even kill you. 

ProPublica's latest report discusses the dangers the drug presents to children who may accidentally drink too much of the liquid form of the drug. The federal government estimates that in 2011 74,000 kids came to the ER because of drinking the drug; about 1 in 5 had to be hospitalized for further evaluation. About 20 children died each year from such accidents.

These accidents could be prevented by use of a type of safety valve called a flow restrictor. It slows the release of fluid, providing a backup if caregivers leave child-resistant caps unfastened or kids pry them off. The device is now part of infants’ and children’s acetaminophen. However, kids can still get at other pediatric or adult drugs, use of which accounts for roughly one-quarter of kids’ ER visits for drug accidents.

Also,some companies that have placed flow restrictors on acetaminophen-only kids’ products have not put them on bottles of pediatric cough and cold syrup that contain the same amount of acetaminophen. Why government agencies have not acted to prevent such use is difficult to understand.

The Crooked Forest

These pine trees have been growing in Western Poland since 1930. They began life as normal pine trees. But at some point in the 1930s the planters decided to hold the trees down to create the effect seen above.  The forest contains about 400 trees.

Say "no" to the TPP

Bob Burnett, who has a strong technical background, summarizes some of the problems with the Trans Pacific Partnership:

1. U.S. trade negotiators want TPP to get special, "fast-track" treatment from Congress.
2. TPP doesn't include China.
3. Free-trade agreements, such as TPP, haven't protected U.S. jobs.

4. If TPP were to be approved, most of the benefit would go to corporations and the rich.

5. There are a wide variety of serious issues that need to be discussed by Congress and the American public.

I guess it's not the American way

Frankly, the lionization of the military really frosts me. When the First Lady says, "And with more and more of our troops back here at home, now it’s our turn to serve – it’s our turn to step up and show our gratitude for the military families who have given us so much. And that’s why Jill Biden and I started our Joining Forces initiative – to rally all Americans to support our military families in ways large and small", I want to vomit.  I find it hard to accept that the military has given us so much more than many other Americans have, whether those Americans be teachers, doctors, policemen, your next door neighbor, etc.

I could understand such concern and sympathy when we were drafted and had no choice as to how we served this country. Today's military volunteered to join the service, just as someone volunteers to be a policeman, doctor, teacher, philanthropist. Who really does more for this country?

Of course, I have to realize that Obama's repeated praise for the military is just more of the b.s. that is endemic to being a politician today.

Is there an employment crisis?

Setting a record

There is just too much b.s. coming out of Washington. The administration tells us that Healthcare.gov logged a record-breaking 850,000 site visits by 2 p.m. today. Using this logic the first visitor to the site on October 1 also set a record. How stupid do our leaders think we are?

Chip or Strip?

Most countries in Europe and Asia use a credit card based on embeddable microchips. Our credit cards are based on magnetic strips. Hacking the microchip card is a lot harder than hacking the magnetic strip card. Hence,we have become the place for the hackers to spend their time. 

Other countries have been using the chip cards for ten years or so, largely because of a push by the financial regulators in those countries. We have begun to use these cards, but 99% of us don't. 

Since the chip cards are a major medium of exchange elsewhere, frequent U.S. travelers to these countries have started to switch to the chip cards. In fact, our credit card companies have set October 2015 as the date when we will join the rest of the world and upgrade our cedit card technology.

Do as I say

Our leaders call for improved working conditions in sweatshops in places such as Bangladesh, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Mexico, Pakistan and Vietnam. Yet the federal government spends more than $1.5 billion a year at sweatshop factories overseas, acquiring everything from the royal blue shirts worn by airport security workers to the olive button-downs required for forest rangers and the camouflage pants sold to troops on military bases.

The primary reason for the continuation of this practice is the same as us in our roles of shoppers - price. Most of these purchases are made through contractors, rather than through the factories themselves. So, few federal agencies know where these products are actually made.

Keeping us on the right track

io9 has an interesting map of weird sex laws in this country. Here are some of the more interesting:
Alaska Moose are banned from having sex on city streets (in Fairbanks).

Arizona You may not have more than two dildos in the same house.

California No man shall dress as a woman without the written permission of the sheriff. (In Walnut, CA)

Illinois If you sell a reptile, you must give a written warning not to "nuzzle or kiss" them.

Louisiana Necrophilia is legal.

Tennessee Students may not hold hands in school.

Texas It's illegal to own more than six dildos.

Utah It's illegal to marry your first cousin before the age of 65 — or 55 if you can prove both parties are infertile.

Gatherings of people can be dangerous

We have a thing about people gathering together in places like Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc. We try to kill them. It doesn't matter if they're attending a wedding or a funeral. Someone determines that there is at least one bad person in the crowd, so it's okay to wipe out the crowd. Since the war on terror began, we have wiped out eight wedding parties killing about 300 people. Could all of them have been members of al-Qaeda?

The dog had to be right

True or false? A woman from New Mexico has filed suit against the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the University Medical Center of El Paso, and various agents. She charges that she was searched for drugs while crossing the border into Texas. The search was initiated by a drug-sniffing dog. The Customs people really tried hard to verify that the dog was right; the woman was subjected to more than one search of her body cavities. She was taken to the Medical Center when the border search found no drugs. The Medical Center also found no drugs, but billed her $5,000 anyway. All of this was done without a search warrant being issued.

More money available from Medicare Part D

A month ago I wrote about Medicare's failure to take advantage of the far lower cost of generic drugs bought through Part D. This failure cost us $300,000,000 a year. Today, ProPublica reports on more shenanigans re Part D - fraud.

Again, we're talking millions of our dollars going down the drain because of poor management by our employees. Credit card companies routinely scan their records for fraud, flagging or blocking suspicious charges as they happen. Medicare can't do that. Thus, there are those doctors whose prescription volume can double, triple, etc. in one year, but Medicare does not do anything about it, like looking into the reason for the rise.

Part D payments are made by insurance companies. However, if insurers suspect fraud, Medicare encourages — but does not require — them to notify its Part D fraud contractor, a private firm hired to review complaints and recommend cases for investigation. The insurers, however, are not allowed to block a suspect doctor's prescriptions. There is no attempt made to determine whether other insurance companies are paying exorbitant money to the suspected doctor.

Does Congress really want to reduce the deficit?

Leaving money on the table

Oil and gas companies pay royalties to state and federal governments for drilling on our land. They pay 25% to Texas, 18.75% to the federal government for drilling offshore. But they pay only 12.5% for drilling on federal lands.  This rate was established in 1920 and is the same today. Using it results in lost revenue of hundreds of millions of dollars every year. This loss is shared between the federal government (51%) and the states in which the federal land is located (49%).

And now for something different