la liberté avant tout
THE PUNISHER: President Obama signed an executive order declaring hacking a “national emergency” and offers sanctions to seize their property and effects By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org If cyber hackers are aiming their malicious code at American companies or government bureaus, they now face the wrath of brutal U.S. sanctions. That’s the latest law of…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org An easy way to fix the convoluted immigration system in the United States entails making it easier for foreigners to be hired, without a lot of red tape in their way. Even the 8.1 million illegal immigrants now in the workforce. That, at least, was the consensus of the five…
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org The Transportation Security Administration is defending its controversial “behavior detection program” against a torrent of criticism by civil libertarians and a fresh lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. “The Behavior Detection and Analysis (BDA) program is designed to detect individuals who exhibit anomalous behaviors indicating they fear discovery and…
Immigration Restrictions Create Distinctions, Not Skin Color Yaël Ossowski | March 26, 2015 | PanAm Post Is classifying white westerners as “expats” and others as “immigrants” when they live outside their home countries racist? That’s the question put forward by Mawuna Remarque Koutonin on the Guardian website last week: “Why are white people expats when…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 24, 2015 / Watchdog.org Much of the debate on the net neutrality regulations — now a reality — hinged on the FCC’s role in enforcing the rules. But after all the lobbying, all the pressure, and all the attention, is there a chance for abuse? For many activists who care…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 19, 2015 / Watchdog.org Since the Federal Communications Commission released its net neutrality regulations last week, there have been some strange interpretations about what these rules mean for Internet consumers. For instance, an article by Newsweek says the regulations will prohibit Internet service providers from limiting traffic based upon “commercial…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 19, 2015 / Watchdog.org In his first month on the job, the nation’s chief data scientist DJ Patil has been busy assigning Americans some homework. As part of his effort to celebrate Pi Day (3.14.15), Patil conjured up a geometry question for Americans to solve. “Imagine you have a rope…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 13, 2015 / Watchdog.org At long last, the FCC has released its 400-page tome of net neutrality regulations. One sentence alone reveals in a nutshell what’s to come. It’s to be found in the massive document released by the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday, nearly two weeks after three of…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 10, 2015 / Watchdog.org Yet again, Americans can rest reassured their government officials don’t really know how to use email. Or technology for that matter. Save for Hillary Clinton, of course. This has been made more clear after revelations that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used her private email…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 5, 2015 / Watchdog.org Taking risks and reaping huge rewards may be a fixture of American politics, but a bill being pushed through committee may completely outlaw the chance for Americans to do the same from their home computer or smartphone on Internet gambling websites. At least that’s the idea…
By Yaël Ossowski / March 3, 2015 / Watchdog.org After pushing Americans to contact the FCC and lobby to make the Internet a public utility under Title II, British comedian John Oliver used part of his HBO show Monday to celebrate the regulation and his effort to implement it. “Yes! Cable and telephone companies will…
By Yaël Ossowski / February 27, 2015 / Watchdog.org In the wake of a Texas judge’s decision to halt President Obama’s temporary amnesty for illegal immigrants, derided by most House and Senate Republicans, a quartet of top GOP leaders are bringing fresh perspective to the idea of positive immigration reform within their party and, if…
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 26, 2015 Watched by leagues of passionate activists on both sides, the Federal Communications Commission today passed its first significant Internet regulation by reclassifying it as a Title II public utility, known as net neutrality. “The American people reasonably expect and deserve an Internet that is fast, fair…
Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be giving a talk at Tilburg University in the Netherlands on the topic of “A World Without Borders”. The Facebook event can be found here. February 25, 2015 Tilburg, Netherlands
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 23, 2015 Whether the public knows it or not, the Internet is set to face its biggest transformation yet when the Federal Communications Commission meets in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. It’s at this meeting of the commissioners, cloaked in bureaucratic mystique, that FCC chairman Tom Wheeler is expected…
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 20, 2015 The idea of the Federal Communications Commission regulating the Internet by way of net neutrality is not only a bad idea in Mark Cuban’s view, but it’s also literally scary. “Having them overseeing the Internet scares the sh*t out of me,” said Cuban at the Code/Media…
I was recently asked about the “huge increase in racism” in the past few years. It’s a topic I’m normally faced with upon returning to North Carolina from abroad. Not sure why. It’s become a leading narrative for many political observers and it seems denotes something very bothersome about what is going on in society. …
By Yaël Ossowski / Watchdog.org / February 19, 2015 A coalition of 26 states fought and won a battle to freeze President Barack Obama’s deferred action plan to give temporary work visas to illegal immigrants with children born in the United States. Judge Andrew Hanen’s injunction order, issued Monday, makes certain eligible illegal immigrants won’t…
A protestor holds up a sign at a rally against the NSA’s spying program. By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org | February 18, 2015 A Russian security firm claims to have uncovered a major tool used to rewrite hard drives and collect all stored information in potentially millions of computers and hard drives around the world….
By Yaël Ossowski / February 11, 2015 / Watchdog.org The hacking collective Anonymous is on the offensive yet again, striking the Islamic State’s many proactive social media users who use sites such as Twitter and Facebook to recruit for jihad terrorism. In a series of posts on the website Pastebin over the weekend, purported members…