Gongol.com Archives: May 2014
The law-makers need to know technology
It is inevitable that technological issues will find their way into legal matters, so it's important that the people who make law (and who adjudicate it) have some familiarity with technology. The same goes for voters. Unfortunately, some remarks made during recent oral arguments before the Supreme Court have some observers worried that the Justices may need some serious "Consumer Technology 101" education. The same, though, should go for voters.
Almost everything that Snapchat said it did...it didn't
Many of the privacy claims made by the app renowned for its supposedly "disappearing" messages were in fact totally wrong. That should embarrass Facebook, which tried opening its wallet wide to buy out Snapchat last year. Facebook seems to have been far more lucky than smart so far, and seeing how it got taken for a positively asinine amount in exchange for WhatsApp, nobody should be surprised when Facebook crashes and burns.
Surprise! Chicago's red-light camera program looks pretty corrupt.
The relationship between the city authorities overseeing the program and the private company providing the service looks like it got a little too cozy, with kickbacks and everything else you might expect.
Illinois has a $100 billion public-pension debt
But a judge just ruled that any changes to the program would be unconstitutional if they change benefits or retirement ages
New LA Times website wants to pre-write readers' Twitter updates
