Data dumps aren’t the sole province of whistle blowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.  In the name of transparency, our government unloads reams of data on a regular basis, so much so, that the search for specific information is like a forced to march though the dessert i

Encryption, which makes our electronic communications secure, is only as good as three things:  human nature, human nature, and human nature.  After Edward Snowden leaked information about government surveillance on our citizenry, Congress amended the USA Freedom Act to end NSA’s

Another of our western allies has given Edward Snowden an award, honoring him as a whistleblower of courage.  This time he’s been given the Bjornson Prize for freedom of expression from the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression.  (Click)  The accolades he’s

It read like a mystery thriller, the story one of my former students, now an attorney, related to me over afternoon tea.  During the Vietnam war, she had been active in the antiwar movement and had risen to the defense of several prisoners, calling for social reform.  Unfortunately

Edward Snowden’s leak about NSA data collection has raised a question for Americans to consider:  “In a technological world how do we defend our right to privacy?” But Sarah Ellison’s article, “The Man Who Kept The Secret,” raises a more pertinent one. “Are we fools to

A small news item with huge potential consequences appeared in the press the other day.  It touched upon the unified theory of everything, the quest for an understanding that would explain how electromagnetism, strong and weak forces in nature and gravity work together. (Blog 10/21/1

A blog reader wrote to thank me for sharing the latest PEW Research Center’s survey about Edward Snowden’s NSA revelations. In the main, the attitudes expressed there were similar to those found in the PEN survey I discussed earlier. (Bog 12/2/13)  Snowden’s revelations about t

Last week I had coffee with a contemporary.  She’s been a journalist for many years and though she’s in her 70s, she keeps current on trends.  Even so, she’s uncertain about whether or not she can get comfortable in a world without personal privacy. “I’m not sure I regret

While Edward Snowden cools his heels in the Russian winter, the world continues its heated debate on the good or ill he accomplished when he released volumes of information about NSA’s data mining. Few in this country are coming to the young man’s defense, though foreign leaders h

While Edward Snowden cools his heels in the Russian winter, the world continues its heated debate on the good or ill he accomplished when he released volumes of information about NSA’s data mining. Few in this country are coming to the young man’s defense, though foreign leaders h