View from the Edge

Phishing is one of the growing security threats we face today. Unlike technical attacks, which try to use loopholes in the code used to create operating systems and applications, phishing falls under a category more like “social attacks.” …

Everybody loves a joke … well, except when they don’t. In all honesty, its hard to believe that the people who came up with this idea truly didn’t see the potential for chaos and problems. In today’s world, its very hard to imagine anyone thinking that security personnel …

I stumbled across an interesting article this morning over at the War Room at Salon, that highlights the differences between the left wing and right wing elements in the US right now as far as rhetoric is concerned. Tim Grieve found a clip from a recent Ted Nugent show that is very interesting …

The Youtube video posted recently of a protest rally in Montebello, Que raises some pretty big questions about the role of SQ and/or RCMP officers in violent protest …

Jon Stewart is one of hose guys that falls into the trap of excellence. The Daily Show is comedy and satire at such a high level so consistently, that it takes something truly great to grab attention and provoke comment …

This week has seen 3 Canadian activists arrested, then later released, in China for activist related activities. As is often true in cases like this, the immediate media attention around the arrests focussed on the message of the protest for which the activists were arrested, and on ways to free them …

When we talk about labeling people “enemies of the state” and arresting and holding them indefinitely and without trial based on that label, we tend to think we are talking about history, from some nasty totalitarian regime like the former Soviet Union or East Germany …

As is probably apparent, one of my favorite sections of Salon.com is the War Room. The little bits of minutia that they manage to find for that section, coupled with the wit and writing skills of Tim Grieve, make it a truly fascinating read every day. In today’s War Room is a wonderful little piece about how it is actually the show “24,” as opposed to any official policy, that encourages “U.S. soldiers to think that torture is acceptable.”

I’ve written recently about the irony around the execution of Saddam Hussein, but the grainy, unauthorized cellphone video that has emerged of the proceedings is a chilling reminder of the power of new media, to inflame, to inform. I won’t link to the video here … no doubt its easy enough to find on […]

“No freeman shall be taken or imprisoned or disseised or exiled or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him nor will we send upon him except upon the lawful judgement of his peers or the law of the land.”
Article 39, Magna Carta, 1215
For close to 800 years, the principle of Habeas Corpus […]