Hi, Big Brother, can I help you?

"The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists.

But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans.

"It's the beginning of the surveillance society where you can be tracked anywhere, any time and all your movements, and eventually all your activities will be tracked and noted and correlated," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Project."
Link to CNN article- one of the mildest on the topic.

Health insurance companies can deny your coverage if they don't like your Myspace. True!

No, seriously, if you've got an eating disorder, don't put it online. Well, that should go without saying, but, hey, people do stupid things. Especially online. But this is pretty dodgy stuff here- read on and be horrified!

"Litigation over an insurer's refusal to pay health benefits for anorexia or bulimia may turn on what is revealed from the alleged sufferers' e-mails and postings on the social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.

...In December, U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz ordered the plaintiffs to turn over by Jan. 15 the children's e-mails, diaries and other writings about their "eating disorders or manifestations/symptoms thereof, and related health conditions" that had been "shared with others, including entries on Web sites such as 'Facebook' or 'MySpace.'"
LINK

Happy Holidays, from WalMart.

The Junior's Department at Walmart is selling these interesting panties, suggesting, to put in clearly, that young girls don't need credit cards, because they have a more valuable asset within their knickers. Christ.










From Feministing, through Jezebel. Good lord- I've just churned through about 5 books about marketers defining teens, and pushing sexuality to young girls as part of KGOY (Kids Growing Older Younger) strategies, but this is ridiculous to the extreme and unspeakably offensive.

Link to Feministing's original rant on this, complete with contact info at Walmart, should you feel sufficiently outraged/disgusted to spend a few seconds letting them know. These are the people who censor cd's, for the love of Pete.

Libraries sidestepping GoogleBooks

"Several major research libraries have rebuffed offers from Google and Microsoft to scan their books into computer databases, saying they are put off by restrictions these companies want to place on the new digital collections.

The research libraries, including a large consortium in the Boston area, are instead signing on with the Open Content Alliance, a nonprofit effort aimed at making their materials broadly available."

Link to interesting NYT article

Scary, sexy marketing to children.

This is sick stuff, people. On the advice of kids (the eldest who recommended this site was 11, his older brother at 13 said that it was "for kids" and that he likes MySpace better) I visited Gaia Online. Wow. It was eerie for me, and really pushed a lot of buttons.

The main thing that freaked me out was how the site is all about shopping to define your identity. I know that sounds like, Oh, there goes Lexicat freaking out about material culture replacing theoretical culture again, or, as one girl sighed to me years ago when we were having a long talk about religion, "This isn't going to be as complicated as your feelings about shopping, is it?" But well, anyway.

When you join Gaia, a NPC called Moira comes to greet you and show you around. Moira was pretty nice, very cute, very sexy, and totally OBSESSED with making you go shopping.

So there I go, following the beginner's quests (which were pretty much about choosing my avatar- I enjoyed that, and was happy when I was done- my avatar has spiky hair, a

blue t shirt, a black skirt and black boots), and then up pops Moira with a message. She wants me to play the Daily Chance, to see if I win something good. I'm up for it, why not? So I click on it, and win 25 gold. Sweet, right?

Then I continue trying to explore Gaia. I am trying to get a feel of the map, when Moira pops back up. She's bossy.

Moira says "Ooh, let's go spend it! Shopping spreeeee! Don't worry about throwing a little gold around, you can always get more [by playing on Gaia]"

I tried not to go shopping. I kept clicking off Moira, and trying to navigate the site. She kept coming back. Over and over and over.

Now Moira says "Have you bought anything cool yet? That money must be burning a hole in your pocket by now!" She's so perky, and cute, and my only friend in this new world. So Ok, Moira, let's go shopping.

We go to Barton Boutique, and I scope out the clothes. Wow, lots of choices. All of the free clothes you get when you start were pretty gender neutral, but I hadn't thought much of it- although I did admire Moira's cleavage, belly ring, and unfastened(?) jeans. but wow- shopping was surprising.

For a mere 2 gold, I could buy another blue T-shirt from Rufus, the cute cat who runs that shop.

Hey, it's "A warm fitted top with a super cute design." Sounds good to me, so I buy it. Then I realise, oh, hey, it said Gender: Any. Huh. Ok, I am kind of amused because IRL I do wear lots of guys' T-shirts and hoodies, but I think about being a preteen/tween whatever, and how much I would want to make it clear that I was a girl. I keep browsing.

And lo and behold, the first top that I found that wasn't Gender: Any, makes it very clear that this is a top for a womanly woman. Look at those! Also, it is 160 gold. (Remember, the gender neutral top is 2 gold.) I keep browsing.

There are some skirts- how about the Dark Mistress Skirt? The advertising copy reads "When this skirt came down, so did he." Now, I am not even sure what happened to him, or why the skirt came down, as opposed to going up, but it sounds, well, racy. Only 600 gold to be a sexy dark mistress! The Red Goth Skirt is "A crimson skirt for the emotionally disturbed." Emotional disturbance, too is 600 gold. The Leather Tube Top is 1300 gold. The advertising copy is simple and to the point. "Tease Men". (Yeah, men, not boys. Tease men.)

I am getting kind of freaked out clothes shopping (as y'all can tell, because I took a ton of screencaps) so I go furniture shopping, something I enjoy more in real life too. I don't have much money, so I click to search for the cheapest stuff there is. After lamps and wall clocks, I come to chairs. One of the cheaper choices (and I do want to say that there are many other choices) was a "Redwood Bar Chair", ad copy reading "This chair was made for drinkin', and that's just what it'll do". Really? The chair will go out drinkin'? Now, that's a fancy chair. Gives new meaning to the 'hollow leg' thing.

Anyway, the shopping saga was giving me agita. Moira was proud of me that I had bought something. "Hey, you went shopping! Isn't it fun? Watch out, you might get addicted! I'd better give you a little bit more gold so you don't go broke!" Moira gives me 25 more gold.

I went looking for the kids, the real kids who had finished their shopping, and were hanging out, connecting, bonding in their social network. (I must say that the main reason that I was at Gaia was because I am co-hosting a meeting about social networking, youth, and libraries)

Imagine, if you will, my delight when I found the forums. Here, I hoped, I might find the justification I was looking for, for why we shouldn't keep this crap out of the libraries, for why it might be valuable.

Recent topics

* All about the butt-secks

* Enter Topic Here

* Igamer64 waz here

* Come and chill :D

*Django bought this area

* if ur name is garaa come here

* CAKED IS YUM (:

* Queer Land by Leland

* Enter Topic Here

Yeah. Soooo not feeling up to the "All about the butt-secks" conversation (love that "the", by the way, stylewise- the headline just wouldn't be as powerful and attention getting if it was just "All about butt-secks". Also, am horrified/amused that this phrase ( I know it from Fark forums) has become a seemingly universal way to discuss anal sex while bypassing filters that would block 'anal' or 'sex'.)

So I went fishing. I didn't catch much though, a few guppies and an old boot.

The guy at the fishing shack suggested that my chances might be better if I bought an expensive new, fancy fishing rod and some Grade A bait - my 'free' Basic rod and 'free' Grade F bait weren't doing it.

So I logged off. Damn. So doomed.

Um, that bug is following me.

SPOOKY stuff, just in time for Halloween.





Robot bugs. Robot spy bugs. Remote control robot spy bugs. Scared yet?

Follow the LINK for the full horror.

Ever feel like somebody's watching you? Senate blocks use of ID implants in employees

For now. How long do you think it will be before Homeland Security requires this?

"Tackling a dilemma right out of a science fiction novel, the state Senate passed legislation Thursday that would bar employers from requiring workers to have identification devices implanted below their skin.

State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) proposed the measure after at least one company began marketing radio frequency identification devices (RFID) for use in humans. The devices, as small as a grain of rice, can be used by employers to identify workers. A scanner passing over a body part implanted with one can instantly identify the person.

"RFID is a minor miracle, with all sorts of good uses," Simitian said. "But we shouldn't condone forced 'tagging' of humans. It's the ultimate invasion of privacy."
LINK