Author Archives: Dan Gillmor

Just look at the list of problems at the invaluable Macintouch site. This thing isn’t ready for prime time — unless you’re a tinkerer who just loves to debug software. Comments

Paying taxes is nobody’s favorite activity. I just wrote a large check to the IRS and state tax department. But I favor the graduated income tax, because it recognizes that those who make more can afford to pay more. When … Continue reading →

Those who wonder if Silicon Valley’s economy is about to implode entirely should note the the Mercury News’ annual Silicon Valley 150 survey. While there’s quite a hangover from the party, the top companies in the valley remain basically healthy … Continue reading →

PC World: Iomega Ends Legal Battle With Rebate Offer. While the vendor denied any problems with its products, it agreed to settle the lawsuit filed in a Delaware district court by paying its opponents’ court fees of $4.7 million, donating … Continue reading →

Mercury News: Bush to put medical-data privacy rules into effect — with changes. The announcement is a victory for consumer groups that have complained that sensitive medical information could be sold or used without a person’s consent. The Bush administration … Continue reading →

Wall Street Journal: FBI turns to private sector for data. ChoicePoint and its rivals specialize in doing what the law discourages the government from doing on its own — culling, sorting and packaging data on individuals from scores of sources, … Continue reading →

Salon: Generation bankrupt. And if these wrinkle-free failures — who have already gone from slackers to high rollers to slackers again — aren’t feeling so exuberant anymore, who can blame them? Their lives are about to get worse. A new … Continue reading →

ZDNet: Yahoo backs off on porn sales. Yahoo has come under considerable scrutiny over the past few days after the Los Angeles Times reported that the company was expanding its online sales into sex-related videos and DVDs. In January, after … Continue reading →

Brad Templeton sends along the following: Two years ago, rec.humor.funny published a sick satire of the Mastercard“Priceless” ads (There are some things money can’t buy, for everythingelse there’s Mastercard) based around the Columbine tragedy. I won’t repeatit here, since it … Continue reading →

Every financial institution is in the process of mailing “privacy statements” to customers, explaining how they plan to sell, trade or otherwise make use of customers’ data. You can only opt out of having your information traded to non-affiliated companies, … Continue reading →