The Triumph of Technique – The Logic of the NSA (Part 1)
1. How might a person understand a collection of millions of phone records? The easy answer is that they would not. Millions of records is too much for a single … Continue reading
Hey, Queers!
Short notice, but this evening is Que(e)ry’s birthday party. They’re turning 3! The party, doubling as a send of to ALA, is at Metropolitan Bar, 559 Lorimer St., Brooklyn. 6-9pm. Yours truly … Continue reading
“I always preferred them stories without the morals,” he added.
Greetings, fellow castaways, cabin boys, and captains! You can call me Shekel, and I’ve been newly press-ganged to write for the Shipwreck. I hope this post serves as a worthy … Continue reading
Paranoia is Not a Tactic (so what is?)
Revelations of government misconduct can inspire a sort of paralysis: we want to take action but cannot figure out exactly what to do. This is particularly severe when it is … Continue reading
More Copyright Ridiculousness
We’ve had a few posts about the atrocious & unequal state of copyright in the US already. This one will likely, if you’ll pardon the saying, take the cake. A … Continue reading
The Left! For…um… (the Left will return as soon as it remembers how to do so)
Since 1981, New York City has annually played host to the Left Forum conference, a quasi-academic/quasi-activist gathering which brings together a hodge-podge of representatives from the union hall to the … Continue reading
News roundup: mostly Europe
Hiya, castaways. Things are busy across the pond. It was a rough day yesterday at Taksim Square in Istanbul. Despite assurances from local government to the contrary, police spent the … Continue reading
Protecting Your Privacy – A Resource Guide [Updated 6/16/13]
The recent revelations that the NSA (with the quiet acquiescence of numerous telecoms) has been watching the mobile and online activities of millions of people has sent a chill through … Continue reading
Did You Remember to Take Your Password This Morning?
By the time that most people begin to ponder the implications stemming from soon to become available technologies, these devices have already become dated and staid to those whose job … Continue reading
“More than machinery we need humanity” – The NSA, Verizon, Prism, and You
People generally do not like being spied on, but what people like even less than the actual spying is having to recognize that it is going on when they had … Continue reading
Book club!
Hey, y’all. I bet, after my last post on the subject that some of you really wanted to write to Jerry (or Jeremy, or some other prisoners), but didn’t know … Continue reading
The NSA puts the “All Seeing Eye” back in Verizon
As they travel through the ether digital communications can be easily snapped up, copied, saved, analyzed, and stored without you ever knowing it. Your phone calls, text messages, e-mails, tweets, … Continue reading
Does Your Smartphone Sync with Your Values? Behold: The Fairphone!
The speed of innovation and the speed of ethics do not run parallel. Technological change races forward at such velocity that we rarely have time to wonder if these technical … Continue reading
Occupation Libraries: Gezi Parki Edition
You’ve all been following what’s up in Turkey, right? Of course you have. Turns out that park occupations continue to produce libraries. Seems that folks have up and built one … Continue reading
Books everywhere.
Weekend before last I went up to Queens (for those not from NYC, that’s a long and arduous journey for a Brooklyner like me) to help Urban Librarians Unite sort … Continue reading
The Car is Moving, but Who’s driving?
Science fiction is a powerful colonizer of the collective imagination. Through it’s cultural tendrils (books, comics, film, television, video games etc…), science fiction is able to supply goals for technologists … Continue reading
Can’t Get There From Here
I always get a kick out of looking through our blog stats and seeing what search terms bring people here to the Shipwreck. Some of them are pretty good — … Continue reading
Buycott all you like (as long as you keep buying)…
Our days are defined by thousands of compromises. Moments when we act in violation of our ethics for the sake of convenience: we drive alone instead of taking public transit, … Continue reading
Advertising Our Ethics – Facebook does the right thing for the wrong reason
There is something about the anonymity – or near anonymity – of the Internet that can bring out the opposite of the best in people. When a bunch of people … Continue reading
Exciting Things Happening Wednesday 5/29
Ok, bookish friends, everything ever is all happening tomorrow. I’ve mentioned these all before, but this is my blog (partially), so I can repeat myself. First up is the beginning … Continue reading
Jeremy Hammond Update
Jeremy had court this morning. He pleaded guilty to the Stratfor hack & 8 other hacks. His sentencing is in September, and he could get as much as 10 years … Continue reading
Capitalism vs. the Internet – A review of Digital Disconnect by Robert McChesney
For many people the Internet seems to hold nothing but promise. This envisioned promise varies from one bunch to the next, yet across groups there seems to exist a certain … Continue reading
The Technologenie! You Can’t Wish away 3D-printers
Gun reform is no longer the major political issue it was even a few months ago, and much of the debate around guns now revolves around ones that would not … Continue reading
What a Tragedy! The Appleonian Drama of Tim Cook and our Dionysian Distraction
There’s something theatrical about seeing fabulously wealthy CEOs pulled before a government panel and grilled about tax avoidance. Granted, the “grilling” is frequently more befitting a bunch of chums gathered … Continue reading
So, Did You Hear the One about the Yahoo and the Tumblr?
People appreciate a good diversion. The humdrum routine of day-to-day life can be so dull, so alienating and stultifying that people yearn for a good laugh. To wrench these guffaws … Continue reading
Get out your pens!
Ok, librarians, bookish types tend to also be pretty prolific letter writers, so break out the stationary and find some stamps, because we’ve got another political prisoner who needs some … Continue reading
Liberate our education, please.
I’m really tempted to stop coming up with witty post titles and instead call everything “Fuck all y’all.” I’ve said this recently, I know, but, hot damn is neoliberalism a … Continue reading
What Does a Librarian Have to Do to get Sued for One Billion Dollars? Jeffrey Beall Found out!
What actions taken by a librarian, on a blog, could cause damages in the range of one billion dollars? That wasn’t an error, really, one billion dollars. This is likely … Continue reading
Upcoming Library Events: Mostly Drinking
If you’ve got nothing to do after work this Tuesday, join ULU for their May happy hour at LIC Bar, on Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, at 8pm. They … Continue reading
It’s a Verb! It’s a Company’s Name! It’s…a country!? Google, the nation state.
Living in a country with a nominally functional government has its annoying aspects. There are laws that you are expected to abide by, taxes that you are expected to pay, … Continue reading
Ne'er do wells
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
