Tech Addicts

First, we have The Onion Facebook-CIA faux-expose.

Now this:

In February 2011, the Department of Homeland Security announced that the agency planned to implement a program that would monitor media content, including social media data. The proposed initiatives would gather information from "online forums, blogs, public websites, and messages boards" and disseminate information to "federal, state, local, and foreign government and private sector partners." The program would be executed, in part, by individuals who established fictitious usernames and passwords to create covert social media profiles to spy on other users. The agency stated it would store personal information for up to five years.
[...]
The records reveal that the DHS is paying General Dynamics to monitor the news. The agency instructed the company to monitor for "[media] reports that reflect adversely on the U.S. Government, DHS, or prevent, protect, respond government activities."
[...]
The DHS instructed the company to "Monitor public social communications on the Internet." The records list the websites that will be monitored, including the comments sections of [The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report, Wired, and ABC News.]"

Source: EPIC v. Department of Homeland Security: Media Monitoring via British Tourists Arrested in the U.S. for Tweeting (Bruce Schneier)

All I can say is... what did you expect?

THIS. IS. FUNNY. (Or is it?)

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Via Bruce Schneier

Addendum

Privacy? What privacy?

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I don't know where this originated, but I thought it was appropriate. The spectacle of people protesting against corporations while up to their eyeballs in products they buy from corporations seems... well... just silly.

I should know better than to expect logical consistency from these sorts of gatherings.

Via: Never Yet Melted.

Is there a $99 iPad in your future?

Analysts report that Apple slashed iPad parts orders by 25%. This may be a sign of weakening demand.

Karl Denninger, over at market-ticker.org, predicts Apple's impending fall from grace -- due to declines in sales as a result of the current and worsening economic mess, among other things:

Apple gets a lot of their sales in Europe. But Europe is a train wreck economically. To believe in the forward story and that the production cut is not "real" you have to believe Europe will avoid a Depression. Given what's going on over there, such a belief is an act of pure insanity.

Oh sure, they might not get the worst of it right now, but this is a forward projection, not a call for a crash in the morning. You also have to believe that the United States will not suffer the knock-on effects and that sales here won't get hurt. And finally, you have to dismiss the fact that HP effectively destroyed pricing power for tablets with their "blowout" of the Touchpad.

Denninger thinks that HP's Touchpad $99 blowout may have altered consumer price expectations:

The latter may well be a stake through the heart. HP's "blowout" put the $99 price point in the mind of consumers and that is not going to go away. This sort of "ratchet" mechanism has a well-documented history in America, and once it takes hold it is almost impossible to get rid of. There are already signs that this pricing pressure is eroding the edges of everyone else's tablets, with the first to succumb being RIMM's "Playbook." This will reach Apple and margin collapse is a well-documented phenomena that has a habit of trashing stock valuations.

The HP Touchpad is not an apples-to-apples comparison to the iPad. Apple products do sell at a premium, though I think it's safe to say that there are plenty of people who are not willing or able to pay Apple's current prices. If the economy worsens, that segment will grow–so there may be significant pressure to cut prices. And even though the HP blowout didn't last long, it may be returning in late October:

Fortunately, HP will be coming out with 100,000 to 200,000 TouchPads at reduced pricing, sometime around late October, giving you another chance to get your hands on one.

Some have observed that iPad sales may be reaching saturation, as well. If that's the case, Apple may be selling many iPads to repeat, upgrade customers. (Apple's fan base is known to enjoy the privilege of paying for the latest version of the product they already have.)

Will Apple be forced to reduce their premium pricing on the iPad product in order to maintain sales and preserve their market share? Will we see $99 iPads within the next year? If not $99, how about $199? $299?