Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
fix some CI
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
  • Loading branch information
benbalter committed Jan 5, 2016
1 parent 249ca25 commit b5df23e
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 6 changed files with 10 additions and 11 deletions.
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion Gemfile
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ gem 'github-pages'
gem "jekyll-seo-tag"

group :test, :development do
gem 'html-proofer'
gem 'html-proofer', '2.5.2'
gem 'ra11y', github: "benbalter/ra11y"
gem 'rake'
gem 'pry'
Expand Down
7 changes: 3 additions & 4 deletions _posts/2011-01-04-the-files-in-the-computer.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -24,11 +24,11 @@ In *[People v. Diaz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Diaz)*, the court ru

Today, and even more so tomorrow, information will not be "carried on" a phone, but rather, that phone will merely be the vehicle used to access information stored elsewhere, information that would otherwise carry the highest expectation of privacy. Put another way, the device holds, both literally and metaphorically, the address, keys, and means to access one's digital home, a breach of privacy that would not be tolerated if it occurred in a more tangible sense.

In a world where in reality, nearly every e-mail I have ever sent or received can be accessed by opening a folder on my phone virtually indistinguishable [^2] from any neighboring folder that contains locally stored information, the majority's interpretation grants the state access to nearly everything one says or does on a daily basis. Put another way, how much information do you think *won't* be accessible from your mobile phone in 5 years? 10 years? 20? Just scroll through your home screen. [^3]
In a world where in reality, nearly every e-mail I have ever sent or received can be accessed by opening a folder on my phone virtually indistinguishable [^2] from any neighboring folder that contains locally stored information, the majority's interpretation grants the state access to nearly everything one says or does on a daily basis. Put another way, how much information do you think *won't* be accessible from your mobile phone in 5 years? 10 years? 20? Just scroll through your home screen.[^3]

The majority's decision was well argued by legal minds much wiser than my own, but even reading through the verbiage of the opinion, discussing the nature of containers and cavities as they relate to what is "in" the phone, it leads one to believe that their analysis is handicapped by [outdated concepts of storage and space](http://movieclips.com/sgNVB-zoolander-movie-computer-experts/). [^4]
The majority's decision was well argued by legal minds much wiser than my own, but even reading through the verbiage of the opinion, discussing the nature of containers and cavities as they relate to what is "in" the phone, it leads one to believe that their analysis is handicapped by [outdated concepts of storage and space](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2uHBhKTSe0).[^4]

While it may not be practical to install [Faraday cages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) in every police station to ferret out what information can be gleamed from a mobile device without it querying a remote server (if there is any information at all), the majority's opinion fails to take into account the reality of how mobile phones are used today, let alone, how they will be most likely be used in the not-to-distant future. While the courts sort out [what fourth amendment protections are extended into the digital world](http://ben.balter.com/2010/12/20/late-night-infomercials/), I for one, will be sure to put a password on my phone next time I cross the California state line. [^5]
While it may not be practical to install [Faraday cages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage) in every police station to ferret out what information can be gleamed from a mobile device without it querying a remote server (if there is any information at all), the majority's opinion fails to take into account the reality of how mobile phones are used today, let alone, how they will be most likely be used in the not-to-distant future. While the courts sort out [what fourth amendment protections are extended into the digital world](http://ben.balter.com/2010/12/20/late-night-infomercials/), I for one, will be sure to put a password on my phone next time I cross the California state line.[^5]

\[photo: [Thomas Hawk](http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/61076493/)\]

Expand All @@ -39,4 +39,3 @@ Notes:
[^3]: Beyond the obvious (e-mail, phone, contact, calendars), there's [dinner reservations](http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/opentable/id296581815?mt=8), [car rentals](http://www.zipcar.com/iphone/), [TV viewing habits](http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/15/comcast-xfinity-remote-app-for-iphone-ipad-launches-video-stre/), [financial data](http://www.mint.com/features/iphone/), [recent purchases](http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000291661){: data-proofer-ignore="true"}, even [desktop browsing history](http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/mobile/home/) — it's like winning the lottery of personal information.
[^4]: It's worth noting that the word "server" is not mentioned once in the opinion, yet the phrase "storage capacity" is used no less than five times — a concept that [even as early as 2007 was considered a thing of the past](http://mashable.com/2007/05/14/yahoo-mail-unlimited/).
[^5]: A password may only delay the inevitable. *See* Gershowitz, Adam M., [*Password Protected? Can a Password Save Your Cell Phone from the Search Incident to Arrest Doctrine?*](http://ssrn.com/abstract=1669403) (August 31, 2010).

2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion _posts/2011-02-03-a-site-by-any-other-name.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently began protecting America's sh
And that's exactly what happened when the Feds [seized riojadirecta.org](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/02/rojadirecta-org-seized_n_817458.html).However, the law in the area is a bit more nuanced than a single form can satisfy. Riojadirecta did not actually host any infringing content — it merely aggregated links to such content — potentially invoking the safe harbor provisions of the copyright act. [^1] Compounding the issue, Spanish Courts had found the Spanish-based site to be [perfectly legal](http://torrentfreak.com/sports-streaming-torrent-links-site-victorious-in-court-100510/), just a few months prior.

Seizures of this type are nothing new. Back in November, DHS [commandeered](http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-seizes-bittorrent-search-engine-domain-and-more-101126/) some [80 bit torrent domains](http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2010/domain_names.pdf) (PDF) as part of the broader "[Operation In Our Sites](http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1006/100630losangeles.htm)". One such site, dajaz1.com, a music blog dedicated to hip-hop, was claimed to have infringed on music copyrights, however it was later revealed that the [music in question was provided to the site by music industry executives](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/business/media/20music.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper){: data-proofer-ignore="true"}. Despite this revelation, DHS made no apparent move to look into the case or restore the domain, and <del>the site remains down to this day.</del>
Seizures of this type are nothing new. Back in November, DHS [commandeered](http://torrentfreak.com/u-s-government-seizes-bittorrent-search-engine-domain-and-more-101126/) some [80 bit torrent domains](http://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2010/domain_names.pdf) (PDF) as part of the broader "[Operation In Our Sites](https://ibcap.us/operation-in-our-sites-targets-internet-movie-pirates-ice-manhattan-u-s-attorney-seize-multiple-web-sites-for-criminal-copyright-violations/)". One such site, dajaz1.com, a music blog dedicated to hip-hop, was claimed to have infringed on music copyrights, however it was later revealed that the [music in question was provided to the site by music industry executives](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/business/media/20music.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper){: data-proofer-ignore="true"}. Despite this revelation, DHS made no apparent move to look into the case or restore the domain, and <del>the site remains down to this day.</del>

Part of the problem may stem from law enforcement being out of touch with today's trends. Even the agent in charge of the investigation [referred to the infringing material as "a bit torrent,"](http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/12/busting-bittorrent.ars) suggesting a sophomoric understand of just what exactly was being seized.

Expand Down
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ tags:
post_format:
- Quote
---
As Aaron Shapiro over at Fast Company [cogently argues](https://www.fastcompany.com/1779120/why-digital-talent-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-work-your-company), "*it's because you're not providing them the right opportunity. The talent you want would be happy to work in an un-air-conditioned garage in New Mexico if it meant the chance to change the world*."
As Aaron Shapiro over at Fast Company [cogently argues](https://www.fastcompany.com/1779120/why-digital-talent-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-work-your-company){: data-proofer-ignore="true"}, "*it's because you're not providing them the right opportunity. The talent you want would be happy to work in an un-air-conditioned garage in New Mexico if it meant the chance to change the world*."

Specifically he points out:

Expand All @@ -39,4 +39,4 @@ Specifically he points out:

I think the argument could be extended to hiring 20-somethings more broadly ([I'm looking at your Federal Government](http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20100423_7313.php)), but a great read, nonetheless.

\[via [Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/1779120/why-digital-talent-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-work-your-company)\]
\[via [Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/1779120/why-digital-talent-doesn%E2%80%99t-want-work-your-company){: data-proofer-ignore="true"}\]
4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions _posts/2013-07-01-technologys-the-easy-part.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ description: "Tools aren't the challenge, culture is. We should make it so ridic
author: Ben Balter
comments: true
category: Technology
tags:
tags:
- government
- culture
- version control
Expand All @@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ We're geeks. We're good at building things. Heck, it's fun, and it's what we do

## Dat Elegant solution

There was a [recent exchange on the Twitters](https://twitter.com/dan_munz/status/351065902642503681) with some members of the open government community whom I respect greatly about [a recent proposal](https://github.com/maxogden/dat/blob/master/readme.md) that I'm afraid is a bit ahead of its time. The need for a distributed version control system to handle real time and large-scale government data would be a great problem to have. It'd be great because it'd mean that the supply side was already there and demanding it. Unfortunately, it's not, at least not yet, and no amount of [OT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_transformation) can overcome the challenges we current face:
There was a [recent exchange on the Twitters](https://twitter.com/dan_munz/status/351065902642503681) with some members of the open government community whom I respect greatly about [a recent proposal](https://github.com/maxogden/dat/blob/master/README.md) that I'm afraid is a bit ahead of its time. The need for a distributed version control system to handle real time and large-scale government data would be a great problem to have. It'd be great because it'd mean that the supply side was already there and demanding it. Unfortunately, it's not, at least not yet, and no amount of [OT](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_transformation) can overcome the challenges we current face:

I watch day in and day out as many of my former colleagues fight tooth-and-nail trying to convince well-meaning government bureaucrats to toss a scrap of government data over the firewall. It's a tiring process. After all, whack-a-mole is, by definition, a losing game. But the answer's not Yet Another Mallet, nor is it to give up and build our own mole management solution. We should be making it dumb-simple to do the right thing. We should be building really, really boring stuff. The more boring the better. In many cases, we probably shouldn't be building anything at all. This is one of them.

Expand Down
2 changes: 1 addition & 1 deletion _posts/2015-04-22-the-difference-between-18f-and-usds.md
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ USDS may be strongly influenced by non-geek technologists, but that also provide

Is 18F better? USDS? You're asking to compare Apples to PCs. They exist to serve different masters, and that's a *great* thing. For all that separates their efforts, they share much more in common, both in form and in function. They've both brought some of the smartest, most passionate technologists I've ever met into government to serve their country, and as [any student of organizational change will tell you](http://www.kotterinternational.com/the-8-step-process-for-leading-change/), a two-pronged, top-down-and-bottom-up approach is the only way to unstick the the world we find ourselves in today (USDS) while simultaneously bringing about the world we want to live in tomorrow (18F).

*If you're a technologist and looking at the way our government approaches technology gives you the same nails-on-a-chalkboard feeling it gives me, I encourage you to [give in to your sense of civic duty](https://medium.com/thelist/why-i-m-returning-to-government-e191f8b14355) and [lend the federal government](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/02/25/we-are-hiring/) [a hand](https://www.whitehouse.gov/digital/united-states-digital-service/apply) for a three-month, six-month, year-long, or lifetime sprint. As you can see the stakes are high, the potential impact is immeasurable, and it's all but guaranteed to be the most meaningful IT experience you'll have.*
*If you're a technologist and looking at the way our government approaches technology gives you the same nails-on-a-chalkboard feeling it gives me, I encourage you to [give in to your sense of civic duty](https://medium.com/thelist/why-i-m-returning-to-government-e191f8b14355) and [lend the federal government](https://18f.gsa.gov/2015/02/25/We-Are-Hiring/) [a hand](https://www.whitehouse.gov/digital/united-states-digital-service/apply) for a three-month, six-month, year-long, or lifetime sprint. As you can see the stakes are high, the potential impact is immeasurable, and it's all but guaranteed to be the most meaningful IT experience you'll have.*

[^disclosure]: Full disclosure, I was [a member of the inaugural round of fellows](http://ben.balter.com/2013/09/30/ten-things-you-learn-as-a-presidential-innovation-fellow/), but since then, work in the private sector. These are my own observations, reading public-facing representations, and being intimately familiar with government IT reform efforts. Your experience may vary.

Expand Down

0 comments on commit b5df23e

Please sign in to comment.