77 Sunset Strip

Popped up on the old side project, it did, on the side-project.

Pulp fiction, at its finest? The title is 77 Sunset Strip.

Haven’t read it yet, I think it was a gag gift from a fishing buddy, but looks like it might be fun.

The image is obviously just from my own desk, but still, it leans in a direction, pulp, as true pulp. Woody paper, cost $0.25, in 1959 dollars.

There’s a hint of romance and adventure, the Left Coast when it was fun, everything was new. Fast cars and loose women.

The original image? 77 Sunset Strip.

Net Naïveté
Seriously, “net naïveté?” Sure.

I’ve watched as NSA, Google, well, everyone, from big telecom to ISPs all lined up and complained about privacy.

I put my first web page up in 1993. I’ve been involved in online business, transactions, and communications from before then. So here’s the deal, the illusion of privacy? That is an illusion.

The question used to come up, in the grand old days of “Free AOL account,” the question came up about the relative security of e-mail, circa, 1994, the deal — back then — was the line was not secure, but the practical measure, it was more safe than using the company’s fax machine. My company’s fax machine was located in the living room of a now-disappeared apartment in old East Austin — think student barrio —

The only person who was going to see it besides myself and the cat, might’ve been the odd assortment of dates who staggered through at relatively random intervals.

Why I lived like a monk.

I wound up in a trailer park, slightly better off, but not by much, and remember, trailer parks still weren’t cool back then, but the fax machine finally went away, the march or progress, and that was the last secure connection.

I’ve long since been aware that all electronic communication is subject to observation. The medium is too porous. Always has been. In theory, it’s rather easy to intercept any communication between computer and server, and from thence, to computer again. Too many holes. Which is why, truly secure communications — e-mail, web mail, and so forth? All an illusion.

Security and anonymity has always been an illusion.

In the past, I’ve corresponded with a number of clients who have e-mail addresses that end with “dot gov.” On occasion, I’ve even corresponded with “dot mil” as in United State Military, Army, Air Corps, &c.

In my mind, I simply point out that there’s a guy in the basement of a building someplace, reading all the email as it bounces back and forth. Couple of times, it was mash mail, as in, filled with promise of assignations and carnal implications. Other times it’s just lunch, with no hidden meaning. I was long since aware that the mail — email — was probably monitored. Some guy, in the basement, getting his jollies from reading my trash.

It’s like carp, “One man’s trash fish is another man’s trophy.”

The point is, there is no real privacy on the Internet. Never was.

It’s like the copyright notice I employ. While still legally enforceable, unless it’s a serious case, there’s not a lot of material on the web that’s not easy to swipe.

I watched as one colleague went “fishing” for some art to adorn a blog entry and article. Found one on a website and just “right-click” copied the art.

In strict, binary, “right/wrong,” that’s illegal. Practically? Near impossible to prevent. There’s a popular misconception that anything on the web is “public domain,” which it’s not.

The popular misconception is that “We’re not being watched,” is an illusion like privacy.