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Australians Could All Get Free Lifetime Federally Hosted Inboxes, If Government Quits Snail Mail

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:33:26 +0000

In the future, all your government mail — jury duty slips, election notices, those Social Security earnings statements — may not come in the mail at all. In Australia, federal politicians are debating ditching snail mail entirely, giving all citiz...

US Government Backs Suitcase-Sized "Shadow Internet" to Battle Censorship Abroad

admin — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:46:55 +0000

The United States is developing what the New York Times is calling “shadow internet” – a prototype network that can fit into a suitcase and be carried across state borders to provide political dissidents with access to the web in the event that ...

Every Six Hours, the NSA Gathers as Much Data as Is Stored in the Entire Library of Congress

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:45:49 +0000

The National Security Agency is, by nature, an extreme example of the e-hoarder. And as the governmental organization responsible for things like, say, gathering intelligence on such Persons of Interest as Osama bin Laden, that impulse makes sense--th...

US Government Archived Bin Laden’s Sister’s Brain For DNA Comparison

admin — Mon, 02 May 2011 18:54:41 +0000

It’s predictable that the U.S. government, not leaving anything to chance, used DNA to identify Osama Bin Laden’s body. What is more than a little creepy, is that they matched his DNA to that of his sister, who died several years ago of brain can...

Government Says Biotech Companies Can Be Their Own Safety Testers

admin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:15:17 +0000

Letting the fox guard the henhouse? Biotech companies will soon perform their own studies to determine whether their genetically modified seeds are safe for the environment, according to a new federal plan. That means companies like Monsanto, which pr...

Who Killed The Deep Space Climate Observatory?

admin — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 16:28:51 +0000

Nearly a decade ago, NASA built an Earth-monitoring satellite that could have observed global warming in action. Then the agency stashed it in a warehouse in Maryland, where it remains to this day. It all began so hopefully. Al Gore proposed the satel...

National Broadband Map Goes Live, Shows Vast Swathes of Unconnected Country

admin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:00:00 +0000

As promised, the Commerce Department's National Broadband Map went live yesterday, showing the various types and speeds of internet connections all across the country. It's meant to function both as a tool for consumers and businesses, and as a wakeup...

Finland Launching National Pilot Program To Open and Scan All Snail Mail

admin — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:38:36 +0000

Is online delivery a viable future for inconvenient old paper mail?

In an effort to increase efficiency, cut carbon emissions, and reduce costs, Finland has begun a pilot program wherein snail-mail letters are converted into PDFs and made viewable online by their addressees, in advance or in lieu of physical delivery. So far, the effort is volunteer-only, but it has already sparked concerns in Finland about privacy and government overreach.

In the program, the volunteers will have images of all their letters viewable on a computer or phone, and then optionally physically delivered later on. The postman will still arrive twice a week to deliver the scanned letters, as well as any packages. Additionally, the postal service will filter out junk mail for the volunteers, essentially adding a spam filter to physical mail.

Itella, the state-owned company that operates Finland's postal service, has vowed that employees will not read the letters, that all sorting and opening will occur in specially secured facilities, and that employees will sign strict confidentiality agreements. 126 families and 20 businesses have already signed up for the service, which will begin on April 12th.

Itella stresses this program is only an experiment designed to discover what types of snail-mail the Finnish people feel comfortable receiving in this fashion. However, despite the small size, experimental nature, and high security of the program, some Finish citizens have already begun drawing comparisons between Itella and Communist-regime security services.

A similar service, Earth Class Mail, already operates commercially in the US, and claims to serve tens of thousands of users. Whether Itella can replicate Earth Class Mail's success remains to be seen. But given the high level of technical savvy amongst the Finnish population, as well that citizenry's more robust trust in the responsibility of their government, Itella's scanning program may very well be the future of mail.

[Samaa]

FCC Broadband Plan Promises High-Speed Internet For 100 Million More Americans By 2015

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:32:14 +0000

Today the Federal Communications Commission unveiled its plan to expand broadband Internet access to 100 million more Americans within the next five years. The plan calls both for the expansion of wired networks in under-serviced areas, and for the dedication of more wireless spectrum for Internet use as opposed to television. Largely deficit-neutral, the plan has bipartisan support in the current Congress, in part because contentious issues of net neutrality and privacy were not tackled by the FCC's plan. As you remember, PopSci called for an improvement to the nation's broadband infrastructure last year

The FCC's plan involves the expansion of both home broadband capacity, but also pays special attention to ensuring that hospitals, libraries, and schools, where most Americans currently use broadband Internet services, get upgraded as well. Ultimately, the FCC hopes to provide 50 megabits per second of upload speed, and 100 megabits of download speed, to another third of the US population over the next decade. Additionally, the FCC wants 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum, currently operated by TV stations, rededicated to servicing mobile devices.

Estimates place the cost of the plan at between $15.5 and $25 billion, but FCC claims that the majority of that money will come from altering the Universal Service Fund, a program to subsidize rural phone service paid for by telecomm companies, from paying for telephones to paying for broadband. Additional funds will come from the auction of wireless spectrum for mobile device use. And if that doesn't cover the bill, the FCC has plans to ask Congress for a one-time, $9 billion boost.

The FCC, the telecommunications industry, and Congress all agree that the expansion of broadband is key to ensuring that America remains competitive in the world. The integration of TV and the Internet, the digitizing of medical records, and an increased use of cloud computing all threaten to tax America's currently limited broadband infrastructure. Despite having more broadband users than anywhere else in the world, the US only ranks 19th in percentage use, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, behind economic competitors like South Korea, Germany, and Great Britain.

Starting at the end of the month, Congress will begin holding hearings on the plan. However, with a lawsuit between the FCC and Comcast over the FCC's ability to regulate the Internet still undecided, the climate change bill poised to distract the Commerce Committee members tasked with FCC oversight, and an election in November that could reverse party control in Congress, it may be some time before the FCC can begin implementing the plan in full.

[The NY Times, Reuters, The BBC]