: Name: Paul Hyland; Location: Silver Spring, Maryland, United States

I'm the executive producer for the web site of a nonprofit publisher of education news, information, and resources, I play in a band, and I work on analyzing and influencing the impact of computers on society. I love my partner in life and my daughter very much.

My Daughter

She hangs w/ her peeps
Old Pictures | More Recent
Videos:
She Walks @ 1 (9.6MB)
She Drums @ 2 (2.6MB)

Paul's Web Space 2.1

Politics, Culture, Technology

Stories about cool events I've attended, musings about social media and other technology, and commentary about people, issues, ideas, whatever. I've had a web site since 1994, at my own domain since 1997, and switched it to blog format in 2005. Now, in 2008, I've added labels, shuffled things around a bit and fixed some style and UI quirks - hence 2.1. Watch for more widgets and microformats....

Monday, March 17, 2008

Colbert Report on Protect America Act

Stephen Colbert once again hits the nail on the head regarding the power of telecommunications companies. This time, he skewers their request for retroactive immunity from prosecution for illegally wiretapping an unknown number of Americans in the aftermath of 9/11.

The House Democratic leadership must stand firm on their commitment to leave this clause out of the renewal of the Protect America Act. This would set a bad precedent, by essentially letting the administration and telcos off the hook for widespread disregard of privacy rights. If we give up our rights in the name of security, we've lost the war on terror.

It looks like they are holding fast for now. Read more on FISA.

Labels: aclu, amnesty, fisa, privacy, telco