The digital world is eroding our privacy. Every week, users post 3.5 billion pieces of information on Facebook. Twitter has over 100 million users. Google has over 900,000 servers. The content on social media sites reaches 80% of all internet users.

The data trail we leave behind on the internet is enormous.

“There has never been another time in history where privacy was under the kind of assault it is today,” said Rainey Reitman, activism director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). “Consumers have increasingly digital lives and they are developing an unfathomably large data trail every day.”

There is a perfect storm, Reitman says, involving digital lives, low-cost storage that allows companies to save everything, and the revenues that incent those companies to collect as much data as possible.

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While the validity of the charges in the Megaupload indictment will take years to work its way through the courts, and many will have little sympathy because of the amounts of money the defendants earned, consider the case of British student Richard O'Dwyer.

O'Dwyer set up a site in his basement, TV Shack.net. He didn't download copyrighted material, he just provided links to it. His site was hosted on servers located in the UK, not the U.S. His site did not violate laws in the U.K. But the U.S. charged him with criminal copyright violations and sought his extradition. A few weeks ago, a court in the U.K. ordered his extradition. He will now come to the U.S. where he is facing two crimes, each with a 5 year penalty. [More...]

The media says Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are "trading jabs" with Mitt Romney hoping for a "knockout." The idea of either one of these guys in a boxing ring is pretty comical.

Update: Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times poll just released: Curtains for Newt? He's trailing Mitt by 11 points, and the paper says Mitt's lead looks "insurmountable", especially since it cuts across "geographic, ethnic and gender lines." Why did Herman Cain board a sinking ship?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

The New Zealand Herald has an editorial today criticizing the U.S. and FBI's co-opting of NZ police to launch the over-the-top raid at Kim DotCom's rented mansion in the MegaUpload takedown.

Some 76 officers, six times as many as took out Osama bin Laden, swooped - a lot more than are deployed against allegedly desperate homegrown criminals, except perhaps for terrorists in Te Urewera.

The paper, which says it has no reason to support DotCom, given that it tangled with him in the past over an unpleasant and expensive defamation claim, concludes with:

In short, a legal resident here, which Dotcom is, is entitled to our protection against unreasonable harassment by foreign jurisdictions. It is rooted in a notion, unknown in our law books but familiar to every one of us: a fair shake. There needs to be a good deal of official disclosure about the background to this case if it is to lose the stench that hangs around it.

Newt Gingrich's poll numbers drop.

Do we really need to hear the 911 Demi Moore call? Why are they even public records when no crime is involved? How many people are less likely to call for help if they know their call will be spread over the internet by the local fire or sheriff's dept?

Yesterday it was Google, the day before Facebook and today it's Twitter on the hot seat. Seems Twitter is going to start censoring tweets in countries that ban publishing on certain topics when they receive a takedown request. Examples: France and Germany restrict pro-Nazi content. [More...]

The FBI has published a solicitation seeking applications capable of massive social media datamining. It says it is conducting "market research."

The Federal Bureau of Investigations is conducting market research to determine the capabilities of the IT industry to provide a social media application. The tool at a minimum should be able to meet the operational and analytical needs described in the attachment.

......All submitted solutions should include price estimates for the respective solution(s) which will be reviewed and used for market research and planning purposes.

You can download the solicitation packet here, or read it here. [More...]

The Constitution Project's Liberty and Security Committee has released a new report warning of the potential for privacy invasion in proposed cybersecurity intitiatives, especially those providing for sharing of information between the government and private sector. The full report is here.

It is important that our nation develop and operate cybersecurity programs and policies to these vulnerabilities. These programs, however, pose a potential threat to Americans’ privacy rights and civil liberties. As proposals have arisen that would enable the federal government to move toward monitoring all information transferred over private networks, individuals face the risk of being subjected to the equivalent of a perpetual “wiretap” on their private communications and web browsing behavior.

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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeated her now oft stated intention to step down after President Obama's first term:

"I think I have made it clear that I will certainly stay on until the President nominates someone and that transition can occur," Clinton said at a "town hall" forum with State Department employees Thursday morning. "But I think after 20 years—and it will be 20 years—of being on the high wire of American politics and all of the challenges that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am."

But what comes next? Previously, Secretary Clinton has said she would not run again for President, the only plausible political office she would seek. This time she said:

I don't want to think about what might come next, because I don't want me or any of us to divert our attention," Clinton continued, adding that she plans to "work as hard as I can to the last minute I have the honor of being Secretary ... to support all of you.

My view is clear - the Democratic Party needs her to run in 2016. After 8 years of a Democratic Administration, it will be tough for the Dems to hold the White House. Hillary is the candidate who can do it (for a variety of reasons, including the distance she has from Obama due to her 2008 run.) I hope she runs and I think she runs. And wins.

Speaking for me only

Newt was collapsing in Florida before last night's debate. Apparently last night will only contribute to Newt's decline.

The RCP Average has Romney leading Newt by 7.2 points, but the trend is clear- Florida is heading to a Romney double digit blowout. Santorum is said to have done well and that will probably bleed Newt even more.

So that's that it seems. Well Newt. It was fun while it lasted this past week.

Get ready for Obama-Romney in the Fall.

Expendable has been released. You can watch it here. It tells the story of Schapelle Corby, the young Australian woman en route to a vacation in Bali, sentenced to 20 years in a Bali prison when 4 kilos of marijuana were found in her boogie board. Schapelle has always maintained her innocence and her incarceration has resulted in severe mental illness.

How a government wilfully withheld vital evidence from a court of law, deceived its public, orchestrated an unprecedented media campaign, and ruthlessly deployed its organs of state against one of its own citizens.

This is a frightening but entirely true narrative; a grotesque political horror story which is still unfolding today. It exposes what happens when an individual’s human rights conflict with strategic political need.

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Human Rights Watch has released a new report, “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States."

Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.

By the numbers: [More...]

If you're watching the Florida Republican Debate, here's a place to comment.

You can watch online here.

Unlike in SC, the crowd tonight will be allowed to hoot and holler.

Steven Tyler did a better job on the national anthem. The immigration debate is now about grandmothers. Mitt's father was born in Mexico, his mother in Wales. Mitt 1, Newt 0 on immigration, though he wasted it because at the end, they were saying the same thing. Romney looks refreshed, Newt looks worn and like he could use a few weeks at a health spa. [More...]