Via /., and discussed on the latest Command Line: some German researchers have found that the information sent home by smart power meters is sufficient to identify what you were using the power for, down to the level (by combining the data with other sources of public information) of what movie or TV show you were watching by looking for a fingerprint-like electrical-draw pattern produced by the interchange of light and dark frames. It’s a kind of Big Brothery chiaroscuriosity.

My paranoia is highly parallelized, so this immediately reminded me of how the RCMP gets all BCbians’ power consumption info as a consequence of the drug war. Now that Canada is beginning to engage in Copyright War (and, secondarily, our misadventures in mandatory minimum sentencing), I wonder how long before the natural tendency of government to connect and expand prosecutorial powers means that the RCMP can watch you download music and take note of when you watch one of Anonymous’ press channels.

Pinterest is 4chan (NSFW) for ladies: an image board, with comments, and a far better design scheme; and, as 4chan is used to spread misogyny, so is Pinterest.

When Jill first saw Pinterest she thought: “Hmm, I’m surprised there aren’t more gay Spiderman jokes on this.” Indeed, in the chaniverse this would be made far more disgusting than it is awesome:

The new buzz on 4chan, which has an amazing kind of crowd intelligence, is that it is now crawling with cointelpros trying to get the inside dope on Occupy Wallstreet’s “real” agenda.

It would be much easier to plan in public on Pinterest. I might suggest a flood later this afternoon.

Previously on MPF we wondered at Amanda Knox’s conviction. Now she’s free. Causal. My sources tell me a book deal is already in the works.

[Reprint with edits for legibility only. QFT. A public record of NYCGA minutes is here.]

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on September 29, 2011:

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known:

• They have taken our houses through an illegal foreclosure process, despite not having the original mortgage.
• They have taken bailouts from taxpayers with impunity, and continue to give Executives exorbitant bonuses.
• They have perpetuated inequality and discrimination in the workplace based on age, the color of one’s skin, sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.
• They have poisoned the food supply through negligence, and undermined the farming system through monopolization.
• They have profited off of the torture, confinement, and cruel treatment of countless animals, and actively hide these practices.
• They have continuously sought to strip employees of the right to negotiate for better pay and safer working conditions.
• They have held students hostage with tens of thousands of dollars of debt on education, which is itself a human right.
• They have consistently outsourced labor and used that outsourcing as leverage to cut workers’ healthcare and pay.
• They have influenced the courts to achieve the same rights as people, with none of the culpability or responsibility.
• They have spent millions of dollars on legal teams that look for ways to get them out of contracts in regards to health insurance.
• They have sold our privacy as a commodity.
• They have used the military and police force to prevent freedom of the press. They have deliberately declined to recall faulty products endangering lives in pursuit of profit.
• They determine economic policy, despite the catastrophic failures their policies have produced and continue to produce.
• They have donated large sums of money to politicians, who are responsible for regulating them.
• They continue to block alternate forms of energy to keep us dependent on oil.
• They continue to block generic forms of medicine that could save people’s lives or provide relief in order to protect investments that have already turned a substantial profit.
• They have purposely covered up oil spills, accidents, faulty bookkeeping, and inactive ingredients in pursuit of profit.
• They purposefully keep people misinformed and fearful through their control of the media.
• They have accepted private contracts to murder prisoners even when presented with serious doubts about their guilt.
• They have perpetuated colonialism at home and abroad. They have participated in the torture and murder of innocent civilians overseas.
• They continue to create weapons of mass destruction in order to receive government contracts. *

To the people of the world,

We, the New York City General Assembly occupying Wall Street in Liberty Square, urge you to assert your power.

Exercise your right to peaceably assemble; occupy public space; create a process to address the problems we face, and generate solutions accessible to everyone.

To all communities that take action and form groups in the spirit of direct democracy, we offer support, documentation, and all of the resources at our disposal.

Join us and make your voices heard!

*These grievances are not all-inclusive.

Insite won its court case!

In a unanimous decision, the court ruled that not allowing the clinic to operate under an exemption from drug laws would be a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Suck it, enemies of science, freedom, and humanity!

“Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernable negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation,” the ruling said, written by chief justice Beverly McLachlin.

Occupy Wallstreet, a protest movement lightly involving Anonymous and /b/, isn’t getting much coverage in my normal outlets. Maybe you’re missing it too? Via BB, here’s one of Rachel Maddow’s compatriots, Lawrence O’Donnell, on the police brutality:

Through the via link is a good roundup of the media bias against the protestors. Here’s Keith Olbermann with Michael Moore on Current TV recently:

CRTC regulates TV commercial loudness after 30 years of nonstop consumer complaints — next on the agenda: telegrams typed in ALLCAPS, parchments that are too crackly when unfurled.

Via BB’s comments, an in-depth discussion of racism in America, post-war. The original post was kinda dumb but a troll set the comment thread on fire, turning it into what looks like an intellectual boxing match for social policy wonks and academics, with tight paragraph-jabs and wild haymaker-essays.

The video’s predominant whiteness echoes the de facto white supremacy that’s always buttressed American society and its practices. The latter fueled the U.S. war effort in several ways (as it does today’s), and its being in place fueled the subsequent racist ways in which the GI Bill was deployed.

There’s supposedly a generation of Germans who are sick of being called Nazis and, I’m guessing, the generation of Americans who are sick of the same. The whole thing about privilege is that, supposedly, it’s invisible to the privileged.

Apparently the Libyan Air Intervention had one Western casualty — a robotic drone! The philosophical downside of robotic warfare is the idea killing without death. That translates into an interesting practical upside though: killing without death!

Recall that a lack of identity is a potential precursor to violence (McLuhan). Some media reports are saying that the rioters are essentially un-British and have no stake in the society. Correlation? Causality?

Certainly chucking rioters out of council flats won’t address underlying issues, namely (as always it seems):

• Poverty, and
• Police malfeasance.

And perhaps the perception of the police as an illegitimate force, though all my Brit-knowledge is mediated. Certainly kettling innocents and gunning down suspects hasn’t won them fans.

What is the difference between this British Summer and the Arab Spring? The skin colour of the overlords?