Tuesday, 8 March 2011
The Evolution of Androgyny in Music Videos
There’s something very compelling about androgyny, as we all know. But the theme resonates particularly, it seems, for those fashion-forward expressionists known as popular musicians. Architecture in Helsinki’s new video, featuring an ambiguous protagonist being groped by body-less limbs, got us thinking about the trajectory of androgyny in music videos — we tend to associate the trope with the ’80s, but in truth, the look seems to cycle in and out of fashion and it never quite loses its grip on our imagination. Though, let’s not lie, 1983 was a really big year for androgyny. We’ve also noticed that something about androgyny works especially well for redheads. Click through for a brief and incomplete look at the evolution of androgyny in music videos, and let us know what we’ve missed!
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Emily Temple @'Flavorwire'
♪♫ CCM Steel Band - Alberto Balsalm
"Alberto Balsalm" by Aphex Twin
Arranged by Ben Wallace for the CCM (College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati) Steel Band directed by Rusty Burge
June 2010
(Thanx Luke!)
Interestingly enough my (extreme) right wing dad had a set of steel drums in the garage! He had been regularly to the West Indies when he was in the Merchant Navy and had an amazing collection of calypso 78's and he also took a bit of a shine to the reggae and dub stuff that I was playing outta my bedroom as a teenager...not the usual reaction that my music got LOL!
(RIP you old bast'rd XXX)
China Deputizes Smart Phones to Spy on Beijing Residents’ Real-Time Location
The Chinese government has announced plans to track the real-time location of all cell phones in the city of Beijing, purportedly to ease traffic problems that have plagued the city. Human rights activists have expressed concerns that this plan may well be the newest attempt by the Chinese government to surveil its citizenry against any attempted uprising. As Wang Songlian of the Chinese Human Rights Defenders network told the Guardian:
This means that Beijing citizens have few choices when it comes to protecting their location privacy from the government, an especially problematic scenario considering China passed a law last year mandating that people register their cell phones in their real names. Currently, the only solution for true location privacy, whether in China or anywhere else, is turning off the mobile phone and removing the battery. Unfortunately, there’s no feasible and easily achievable consumer-facing software or hardware anywhere that can effectively circumvent location tracking while leaving modern smart phones functional.
There are, however, some hacktivists and academics beginning to explore creative solutions to this problem. Among the ideas being circulated is the possibility of a “mobile mesh network” connectivity – having cell phones connect directly to one another, rather than routing signals through cell phone towers. While there may be other security concerns around mesh networking, such communication methods hold promise for maintaining communications in "Internet blackout" scenarios such as those seen recently in Egypt and Libya. We look forward to future developments in this arena.
For ordinary people, the government is worried about social unrest. Often there's a spark somewhere and everyone gathers and puts out information. By registering people and tracking them, it enables them to find out about particular protests and punish individuals.Location privacy is an endangered concept. As technology evolves, many networked devices are becoming increasingly more portable and affordable — and increasingly sharing one’s real-time location data without a users’ explicit knowledge or consent. The threats to location privacy in the era of the smart phone are multifarious, including applications that leak private data and obsolete laws that fail to protect civil liberties. As the situation in China demonstrates, modern smart phones may also act as a mechanism for governments to vacuum up data on citizens who might protest authoritarian regimes. While EFF continues to champion cell phone location privacy in U.S. courts and on the Hill, the fundamental privacy conundrum posed by modern cell phones is that they cannot function properly without simultaneously exposing locational information.
This means that Beijing citizens have few choices when it comes to protecting their location privacy from the government, an especially problematic scenario considering China passed a law last year mandating that people register their cell phones in their real names. Currently, the only solution for true location privacy, whether in China or anywhere else, is turning off the mobile phone and removing the battery. Unfortunately, there’s no feasible and easily achievable consumer-facing software or hardware anywhere that can effectively circumvent location tracking while leaving modern smart phones functional.
There are, however, some hacktivists and academics beginning to explore creative solutions to this problem. Among the ideas being circulated is the possibility of a “mobile mesh network” connectivity – having cell phones connect directly to one another, rather than routing signals through cell phone towers. While there may be other security concerns around mesh networking, such communication methods hold promise for maintaining communications in "Internet blackout" scenarios such as those seen recently in Egypt and Libya. We look forward to future developments in this arena.
Rainey Reitman @'EFF'
Anonymous Hackers Target Alleged WikiLeaker Bradley Mannings’ Jailers
As army private Bradley Manning suffers for his alleged megaleak of secret documents to WikiLeaks, one group of hackers seems determined to make sure that others feel his pain.
Over the weekend, the loose hacker collective Anonymous declared that it will go on the offensive against those who are currently detaining Manning in a Quantico military brig, keeping him in solitary confinement and forcing him to strip nightly and stand at attention naked each morning.
In a crowdsourced document used to coordinate the group’s actions, Anonymous members name Department of Defense Press Secretary Geoff Morell and chief warrant officer Denise Barnes as targets and call on members to dig up personal information on both, including phone numbers, personal histories and home addresses. The goal of the operation, for now, is to “dox” the two officials, the typical Anonymous method of publishing personal information of victims and using it for mass harassment.
“Targets established,” reads the document, before naming Morell and Barnes. “We’re in the ruining business. And business is good.”
The group, which is calling its attack “Operation Bradical,” also lists demands as follows:
“Manning must be given sheets, blankets, any religious texts he desires, adequate reading material, clothes, and a ball. One week. Otherwise, we continue to dox and ruin those responsible for keeeping him naked, without bedding, without any of the basic amenities that were provided even to captured Nazis in WWII.”
One member of Anonymous, who tells me he’s not associated with the action, says that doxing will likely include “ruin life tactics” such as “ordering them pizza, sending them thousands of boxes, reporting them to police for drug abuse, sex offenders list, tricking their ISPs into canceling the Internet, messing with their social security numbers, false flag, fax harassment, phone harassment, email bombing, subscriptions to magazines, diapers, tampons.”
Nasty as they may be, those tactics seem relatively harmless in comparison to the attack that Anonymous recently launched against the security firm HBGary Federal in retaliation for one executive’s threats to unmask leaders of the hacker group. HBGary Federal chief executive Aaron Barr had his email archive hacked and published online along with that of his colleagues. HBGary Federal’s website was defaced and Barr’s Twitter account hijacked. After a series of scandals were revealed in the company’s published emails including a plan to launch cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns against WikiLeaks, Barr resigned last week.
Anonymous spokesperson Barrett Brown told the Tech Herald that harassment of Quantico officials will be just the first step in a “media war” against those detaining Manning. “Manning is an absolute hero,” Brown told the news site. “If this means me going to fucking prison, then that’s fine.”
Last week Manning was hit with 22 charges for his alleged role in a massive leak of classified information to WikiLeaks, including a charge of “aiding the enemy” that can carry a penalty of death. Since those charges were filed, Manning has been forced to strip naked nightly in a tactic that Quantico officials say is legal and aims to prevent suicide attempts, but others claim is designed to degrade and punish the young private. According to Manning’s lawyer David Coombs, Quantico officials have declined to state their full reasons for Manning’s stripping publicly to avoid “because to discuss the details would be a violation of PFC Manning’s privacy.”
“The Brig’s treatment of PFC Manning is shameful,” Coombs wrote in a statement Saturday. “It is made even more so by the Brig hiding behind concerns for ‘[PFC] Manning’s privacy.’ There is no justification, and there can be no justification, for treating a detainee in this degrading and humiliating manner.”
Andy Greenberg @'Forbes'
NaomiAKlein Naomi Klein
Attacks on union, net neutrality, even PBS, r all about destroying any possible counter weight to corporate power
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