Comments Off

By Dissent, April 23, 2013 9:35 am

For children of the 60s, protest music was such an important part of our lives, whether it was the music of the civil rights movement or the music of the anti-war movement. Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Richie Havens, Bob Dylan, Donovan, and others inspired us and unified those of us who were activists. For me personally, Ochs and Havens had an intensity to their anti-war music that resonated with me in a way that later, optimistic songs like John Lennon’s “Imagine” or “Give Peace a Chance” would never do.

I was fortunate enough to see many of these musicians perform at various times. Some of them, like Richie Havens, I first saw when they performed in small clubs in Greenwich Village. Others I saw in larger concerts, but their music left an indelible mark on me.  To this day, one of my friends remembers the night in 1968 that I dragged her to a concert where Phil Ochs and Richie Havens were performing together. I told her she was in the presence of musical greatness, and even she, who was pretty non-activist and non-political, came away understanding more.

A few years ago, I got to hear Richie Havens perform for what would be the last time I would get to hear him live. I wanted my husband to hear Havens sing Jackson Browne’s song, “Lives in the Balance.” Written in the 1980s, the song had powerful lyrics, but I never liked Browne’s performance of it, even though I’ve always liked him as a musician.

“Lives in the Balance” is still valid today when we think about Syria, Bahrain, and even the U.S. where the rich and powerful get more rich and powerful at the expense of the powerless.

Richie Havens’ death yesterday reduced me to tears.  And while most of the media is showing clips of his impromptu creation of “Freedom” at Woodstock in 1969, I am more likely to remember him for “Handsome Johnny,” his optimistic rendition of “Here Comes the Sun,” and   “Lives in the Balance:”

RIP Richie Havens. Your music touched and inspired my life for over four decades. You will be missed.

Comments Off

By Dissent, April 5, 2013 10:24 am

Ever wonder what your dogs are up to when you’re not home?

Yesterday, I glanced out my window and saw that my neightbor’s pit bull mix had gotten out of her back yard. Because both their pitbull mix and Rottweiler tend to scare people who don’t know how lovable they are, and because both dogs have a strong sense of adventure (the Rottie once jumped out a second story window to go exploring!), my neighbors had installed a high gated fence, with cinderblocks up against the gate to prevent the dogs from pushing the gate open.

Their measures notwithstanding, I watched the Pit roam around his property for a bit, and then, to my amazement, I watched as he nudged the back gate open a few inches with his nose. With the help of his buddy, the rottie, he let himself back into the back yard.

A few minutes later, the gate cracked open again, and out wandered the pitbull, who again, walked around for a bit, and then, with the help of the rottie, let himself back into the yard. This went on a few times while I just watched and laughed.

While I looked for my neighbor’s cell phone number to let him know that his dogs were having a fine old time while he was at work, my neighbor pulled into the driveway. As far as she knew, their security systems had worked just fine.

Little did she know.

Comments Off

By Dissent, January 25, 2013 1:21 pm

I am an inveterate coffee drinker. My Granny got me hooked on it when I was 7 (she also taught me to play poker, which, in retrospect, is probably why she wasn’t allowed to babysit me too often). In any event, you really don’t want to try to talk to me until I’ve had my first cup in the morning.

Today, however, I could not have my first cup until after a 9:15 am doctor’s appointment where they were going to draw blood.

So there I was, up for a few hours without coffee in me. It was not a pretty sight.

My son asked me if he could ask me a question about health insurance.

I glared at him and told him to come back in a few hours.

Finally, unable to take it any more, I packed a thermos of coffee and headed out to the doctor’s office, hoping they would just take me in early.

I hit my daughter’s car while backing out of the driveway. Both cars will now need some.. um.. cosmetic work.

I got to a red light and despite seeing the “no turn on red” sign, I didn’t process it and made a right turn anyway.

I pulled into the curb by the doctor’s office, but instead of pulling in, I managed to hit it and whacked the hell out of a tire.

I stumbled into the doctor’s office, and when the receptionist greeted me with a cheery, “How are you?” I replied, “THIS is a public safety emergency. Please take my blood already so I can get some coffee in me before I do more damage. Please?”

They took my blood, and I raced back to my car to get to the thermos of coffee.

I broke two fingernails getting into the car.

By the time I’d gotten to the first light, I had chugalugged the entire contents of the thermos.

I’m starting to feel more human.

So… how was YOUR morning?

Comments Off

By Dissent, January 13, 2013 2:37 pm

Last week, some members of the collective known as Anonymous petitioned the White House to have DDoS attacks legalized:

With the advance in internet techonology, comes new grounds for protesting. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), is not any form of hacking in any way. It is the equivalent of repeatedly hitting the refresh button on a webpage. It is, in that way, no different than any “occupy” protest. Instead of a group of people standing outside a building to occupy the area, they are having their computer occupy a website to slow (or deny) service of that particular website for a short time.

As part of this petition, those who have been jailed for DDoS should be immediatly released and have anything regarding a DDoS, that is on their “records”, cleared.

Their petition is unlikely to reach the 25,000 mark needed to trigger a response from the President, and I disagree with their analogy or attempts to legalize DDoS. When people occupy a space with their bodies – in an old fashioned sit-in, lie-in, or demonstration – they don’t necessarily prevent others from accessing the space or business being protested. Usually, people can still get to where they’re going if they are willing to walk through or around a picket line. With a DDoS, the business is usually unavailable online for an hour or more, effectually shutting down the business instead of just making a point. Indeed, in a physical demonstration, customers would see the protest and know why there was a protest. In a DDoS, customers only know a site is unavailable without knowing why.

Legalizing DDoS when there are victims of financial harm is not a good idea. On the other hand, sending people away to prison for years for engaging in that kind of protest is disproportionate. Those engaging in DDoS for political purposes or “hacktivism” need to understand that they are engaging in disobedience and they should be prepared to face some consequences for it – just as Thoreau wrote in Civil Disobedience.

Where’s the Proportionality?

But the consequences of civil disobedience or breaking laws need to be proportional.  What should be the consequences for blocking a bank’s online site for two hours? Should it be decades in prison? Of course not.

And if it makes no sense to send someone to prison for decades for DDoS, it makes even less sense to try to send someone away for decades when there is no victim alleging any harm, even if there was a violation of law.

Our government’s over-prosecution – or persecution – of Aaron Swartz should concern all of us because it was not a proportionate response to what he had done. JSTOR didn’t even support Swartz being prosecuted. So why did the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts go after Swartz with a vengeance?

I did not know Aaron Swartz, but news of his suicide troubled me greatly as it seems that our government’s heavy-handed prosecution likely contributed to his suicide.

But while we rail at the government, we need to do some soul-searching. We’ve all known for a long time that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) has been in need of revision and updating (cf, testimony by Orin Kerr). Had it been revised, the government might not have had grounds for prosecuting Swartz as a felon who might face 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Did we fail Aaron by not getting the law changed when we knew it needed changing? If we do not disarm our government from prosecuting activists as non-violent felons deserving decades in prison, how many more Aaron’s will we mourn?

Whether or not you blame U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and/or MIT or both, we need to acknowledge that had the law been revised, this prosecution might never have gone to these lengths.

In 1960, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair Jr., Joseph McNeil and David Richmond started a sit-in at a Woolworth’s lunch in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their courage and actions led to widespread protest thoughout the South and helped foster desegregation.  Had the government prosecuted them with 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines hanging over their heads, where would we all be now?

It’s time for the law to recognize digital activism – not by excusing it totally – but by treating it with rational, fair, and proportional consequences.  Aaron Swartz wanted the Internet to be free. At the very least, we should honor his memory by ensuring that the law does not excessively deprive people of their freedom for nonviolent activism.

Update: After posting this, I came across a commentary by Brendan Greeley of Bloomberg on Anonymous’ petition. It seems that he and I are of one mind on their petition.

Photo: We are legion by Sweet Peas Photography, Flickr, Creative Commons
Photo of Aaron, 2008, Flickr, Creative Commons

Comments Off

By Dissent, January 2, 2013 10:18 am

It was really bothering my husband that he couldn’t figure out why he knew the name Newtown, Connecticut where the terrible shooting had occurred. Finally he realized that two of the publications he has subscribed to for many years are from Taunton Press in Newtown. And so my husband, who hates to write and who hates e-mail, sent a condolence and supportive e-mail to them.

The following is the response he got (I’m redacting names):

Thank you for your very kind note. It helps immensely to know that our community is in your thoughts and that you are sending your compassion and strength our way. We at the Taunton Press are most fortunate in that none of our immediate family members were lost in the horror that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School. But as a community, we are devastated that this has happened–in our own backyard.

We (well, I anyway) will probably never be able to understand why this happened. How one disturbed — or as some say, evil–person could cause such devastating destruction of so many lives. But what has become abundantly clear, living as I do in Newtown and witnessing what’s happened the past few days, is just how much good is in this community–and in this world. You, and so many people like you, have taken the time to say “we’re here for you.” So many millions of people from around the globe have shown us in so many ways that “we’re thinking of you and we send you our love and support.”

This is what I’ll be taking away from this madness: That while awful, unimaginable things may happen at any moment to any one of us, we will always have friends, even if we have never meet them face-to-face, that will be there for us. There will always be people, though they may not always see eye-to-eye with us, who will offer a shoulder to cry on and an ear to let us voice our pain. And there will always be people, like the teachers who lost their lives at Sandy Hook School and the first responders to any of these horrific situations, who will be there to protect and help others.

There is so much more good in this world than bad.

Again, thank you for your kind expression of sympathy and wishing you peace on earth,

I cried when I read her e-mail, just as I’ve cried so many times when I’ve thought of Newtown.

In the immediate aftermath of the slaughter,  many suggested that this was the time to get “common sense” gun control through Congress.  I hope they haven’t forgotten that in the wake of other crises that took over the news cycle.

I can think of no greater loss in life than to have to bury your child.  We cannot bring back the lives already lost. But we can try to reduce repeats of the Newtown tragedy, and assault gun control is part of the solution.  One of the new Congress’s resolutions for 2013 needs to be to deal with assault weapons.

We just may need to keep reminding them of that.