Author: Shawn K. Quinn

Permit first, food later

The Hartford Courant reports on a conflict between the local government and a charitable organization known as Food Not Bombs. For those not familiar with the organization, Food Not Bombs was founded in 1989 by anti-nuclear activists, and aims to serve fresh vegetarian meals to anyone, in public spaces, without restriction.

The squabble centers around a permit requirement from the city of Middletown (among others) stating that the kitchens used by the group need to be properly licensed for compliance with the cities’ health codes.

I understand the concerns of the cities in question. It is a great show of goodwill by Middletown’s chief public health sanitarian Salvatore Nesci to recognize the work of the group as “admirable.”

I believe in the overall goodwill of humanity, and that some kind of arrangement can be worked out to solve this conflict.

The disturbing part, however, is according to this article on wesleying.org, it’s not just the small towns in New England; the war on Food Not Bombs and organizations like it is actually a national trend.

Is this what we have really come to as a society? That simple, grassroots efforts of charity are shut down because of government red tape?

I’d like to think we, the human race, are better than that as a whole.

Twitter and Facebook banned at some college sporting events

I can’t believe I’m reading this, much less blogging about it.

The St. Petersburg Times recently reported on the Southeast Conference (SEC) issuing an edict to its twelve member schools, further limiting the amount of audio, video, and real-time blogging allowed at practices, games, and news conferences.

The truly disturbing part, is that according to this same edict, fans are now barred from updating social networking sites from the stands. This includes updating Twitter or Facebook, posting pictures to Flickr, or uploading videos to YouTube, and (I would assume) live blogging during a game.

This policy is not just galactically stupid, it’s an enforcement nightmare and has untold masses of sports fans in an uproar.

This quote is about as direct and to-the-point as one can get:

“I would guess,” said Mike Masnick, the editor of the respected blog techdirt, “that they’re realizing that anyone can be a reporter or a broadcaster these days.

A.J. Liebling’s famous quote, which I’ve used here before, “Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one,” is about to become about as quaint as the printing presses of his era.

Information wants to be free. Technology has advanced to the point where video cameras can be combined with a device that’s nominally a telephone. This policy, even if nominally a success, will still reflect very badly on the SEC as an inept attempt at censorship, doomed to failure in the long term.

(Note: I now also see the quote attributed to H.L. Mencken. I’m not sure which attribution is actually correct. If anyone knows for sure drop me a line using the comment form.)

Alice Cooper: Too hot for Tampere

Paul Cashmere writing for Undercover.com.au reports on a rather icy welcome received by Alice Cooper. Apparently, the act is not welcomed in Tampere, Finland, as he is barred from performing at Tampere Areena Oy per a statement issued by the managing director, Harri Wiherkoski, which states in part “Artists who express suspicious values from Christianity’s point of view cannot be allowed to perform at the venue.”

Not to be outdone, Alice Cooper management has invited fans of the act to come to Helsinki which, it would seem, is outside of Finland’s version of the Bible Belt. Quoting from the article:

In response, Alice Cooper management said “We hope fans from Tampere denied access to these ‘suspicious values’ can come to Helsinki and make their own judgment. What’s really ‘suspicious’ to us is the act of judging something that one has never seen, heard or, otherwise, experienced. There’s nothing like an open mind and, clearly, Mr. Wiherkoski has nothing like one.”

Some rather harsh words for Mr. Wiherkoski. But it is my firm belief that he deserves them. If Alice Cooper was booked at a church, I could see the logic behind the restrictions on “suspicious values.” Culturally literate people know what Alice Cooper is about, and can see far above and beyond attempts to unjustly paint the concert as a thinly-veiled demon worship session. Unfortunately, it seems cultural literacy is lacking in Tampere. Based on what I’ve read, I think when I go to Finland, that’s a city I’d rather avoid.

Cheerleading coach extorts Facebook credentials, spreads private info

Ars Technica reports on a case very similar to the recent flap over the city of Bozeman, Montana, requiring social network login information to apply for employment (a policy since rescinded). This case involves a high school cheerleader in Mississippi which was pressured into giving her Facebook login credentials to her cheerleading coach. The teacher found a heated discussion of some of the cheerleading squad’s internal politics not intended for the coach’s–or school administrators’–prying eyes, and resulted in the student being sanctioned.

From the article:

The Student Press Law Center has more detailed account (via TechDirt) of the events, in which it reports that several other students asked for their logins simply deleted their accounts using their cell phones, preventing this sort of intrusion; the schools apparently have a filter that blocks access to its Web interface from school computers. It also suggests that the initial search of the Facebook accounts was done with the intent of finding pictures of the students smoking or drinking.

Of course, the best move for the students would have been to simply state that Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities prohibits the sharing of one’s password or other authentication info:

\6. You will not share your password, let anyone else access your account, or do anything else that might jeopardize the security of your account.

Please, remember this, and pass it along to friends or family members, especially younger ones who are still in high school or middle school and thus most vulnerable to having their credentials extorted.

Even if the search was simply for pictures of students being naughty, the coach or administrators could have done this using their own personal account and limited sanctions to those pictures accessible to the public. As it stands, the school administration has a nasty lawsuit on its hands, and an ex-cheerleader hopefully has a huge and well-deserved payday in exchange for unjust humiliation and disciplinary action.

Palm’s leaking mobile phone miscue

Matt Hartley writing for Lockergnome reports on a disturbing privacy problem with the Palm Pre, citing a BBC story. The detail of data being sent back to Palm is rather alarming, including user location, application usage patterns, and a list of applications installed on the phone.

Palm’s PR department, of course, responds with more spin than a Steve Mizerak masse shot. Quoting the BBC article:

Palm issued a statement about Mr Hess’ discovery and said it “offers users ways to turn data collecting services on and off”.

It added: “Our privacy policy is like many policies in the industry and includes very detailed language about potential scenarios in which we might use a customer’s information, all toward a goal of offering a great user experience.”

“We appreciate the trust that users give us with their information, and have no intention to violate that trust,” said Palm.

Excuse me Palm, but I really think you just did exactly that. I would be willing to bet it has been intentionally made difficult to turn off the “data collecting services” you refer to.

It’s inexcusable to leak that kind of detailed data and bury it under some kind of legalese “privacy policy.” How about being honest about this and telling the user, in plain English, you’re going to do this the first time the phone is turned on?

And we wonder why Palm nearly went bankrupt. Wonder no more. At least now we know this time they’re going to sink for a good reason.