It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you

Christopher Soghoian, of Northwest Airlines boarding pass generator fame has compiled some startling data about the underreporting of law enforcement requests to telecom companies and the lack of comprehension our policy-makers have with respect to domestic surveillance.

It’s long and there’s a lot of data, but it’s worth a look.

[via Daring Fireball]

Theft is not cool

I love the Designers Toolbox, and I use their design resources frequently. Their browser elements for web design comps and standard stationary sizes and templates have been especially useful over the years. But they appear to have run afoul of teehan+lax by jacking their iPhone GUI PSD without changing the file to make it their own or even giving teehan+lax some credit for the original. That’s messed up.

Stealing public property

The U.S. government hates monopolies, unless it’s one they run. But opening up an FBI investigation into a 22-year-old coder that “liberated” public court records from a public library computer to donate to a public court document resource library is a little much.

Everyone loves fan mail

Well, maybe not everyone. But it looks like Bernard Madoff will be getting plenty during his time in prison thanks to this genius undertaking.

[Via Josh Spear]

Get to know your neighborhood

Visit this link: 
 http://nyc.everyblock.com/

EveryBlock collects all kinds of data like crime reports, building permit filings, graffiti cleanup requests, geo-tagged Flickr photos and restaurant inspections to name a few. It’s all organized in a neat, orderly and searchable interface.

Practice your racial profiling skills

Visit this link:
http://picktheperp.com/

This addictive game forces you to pick the photograph of the individual that you believe was most likely to have committed the crime in question. It’s not as easy as it looks. Hint: Racial profiling actually leads to success in this instance.

Public shaming is back

The St. Petersburg Times and TampaBay.com are performing a wonderful public service in the form of a well-built site that aggregates, orders, and displays data pulled from local police blotters.

Public shaming is back

The St. Petersburg Times and TambaBay.com are performing a wonderful public service in the form of a well-built site that aggregates, orders, and displays data pulled from local police blotters.