(Image is used under the Pixabay license)

I'm not thrilled about Amazon since they are one of the worst privacy offenders on the web, but they are now offering music downloads without any DRM.

Though shopping with Amazon is like dancing with a hungry wolf, for now they may be one of the best places to get music content. Certainly if you had a choice between iTunes and Amazon for the same music, Amazon would be the better choice.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

Vista has been a rough release for Windows. I would say that it's probably the first time since Windows 95 that a new system wasn't better than the previous (other than ME, but that didn't last long). Some people think Microsoft's mistakes with Vista are such that they should just abandon it and move on.

Much talk has been given to Service Pack 1 and how this update should address many of the issues users have with Vista, but I simply don't agree. Will SP1 eliminate the ridiculous Microsoft licensing schemes? Will SP1 drop the price on the higher-end versions? Will SP1 eliminate the need for users to buy a new computer just to use the faulty OS?

(Image is used under the Pixabay license)

Pudding Media offers calling without any toll charges.

The trade-off is that Pudding Media is eavesdropping on phone calls in order to display ads on the screen that are related to the conversation.

Did we really need any further invasion of privacy?

I hope this company falls flat on its face.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

People who would normally be forced to have Vista because of buying a new computer are now being given the option to "downgrade" to XP.

The article also says that the unpopular Vista operating system cost 6 Billion dollars to create. Ouch.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

Perhaps Equifax is seeing the same gate closing on them that Transunion did. They are the second of the three credit reporting companies to offer credit freeze protection.

The credit and financial industries have aggressively lobbied against credit freeze laws, claiming they would reduce the availability of credit and discourage shoppers from making big-ticket purchases due to the time spent unlocking a credit account.

And that's bad how? If people have to spend $10 or so to unlock credit and have to spend more time to do it, maybe they won't be so quick to get into credit card debt. Anyway, with so many states having already passed freeze laws, I guess the credit reporting companies are trying to preempt the states that haven't by offering it first.

Either way, it's good news for everyone. Hopefully, the states will still pass regulation requiring fast and easy access to unlocking credit and a lower fee as well, but it's a dang good start. Now let's see if Experian follows the other two.

Says the only person to vote against the bill: "We are putting this industry out of business".

Well, yeah. You are. Kudos for all those who voted for it!

(Image used under: Creative Commons 3.0 [SRC])

If you've been following the case of Micheal Righi, a man who refused to show his receipt at Circuit City and was soon arrested (because he wouldn't show a police officer his ID), you know that our "security society" is pushing people to take away our rights and pushing others to accept it.

Fortunately, Micheal didn't back down, even when presented with a deal where they would drop all charges in exchange for giving up more of his rights.

I was presented with an offer to have my charges dropped in exchange for signing a document which asked the following of me:

I would not file a Section 1983 civil suit against the Brooklyn police department for infringing on my civil rights.

I would not make any disparaging remarks about the police department, with financial repercussions for doing so.

I would not discuss the details of this agreement.

These conditions were completely unacceptable to me.

Unfortunately, Michael and his family could not afford the time, effort, and money involved with a legal battle with the state. He accepted a deal where he gave up his right to sue them in exchange for immediate dismissal of the charges.

Thankfully, he is not under a gag order and can tell us how this turned out, but it's a shame and a crime that the court system is such that only those with enough money get justice.

Speaking of, people have been complaining to Michael about asking for donations such that he's decided to give away all the money donated even though it's $2000 short of what he's paid in legal fees so far. He says he can afford up to $10,000 to protect his rights and wants to remove all doubts about his intentions.

Let me say it again: it's a shame and a crime that the court system is such that only those with enough money get justice.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

TransUnion becomes the first credit reporting company committed to providing U.S. consumers in all 50 states and the District of Columbia with the ability to freeze their credit files, should they feel that step is warranted.

The pricing is as follows:

-- Free to add, lift or remove for all ID theft victims -- $10 to add, lift or remove for non victims

Before, there were only certain states with freeze laws, but Transunion is making the move to allow freezes anywhere!?

That's a surprising move. With this, they've basically voluntarily shot themselves in the foot as far as selling credit monitoring services.

This is probably some kind of public relations "first strike", but as long as there aren't any scary drawbacks or fine print (and it doesn't appear there are any so far), this is awesome. Let's hope the others follow suit.

(Image used under: Fair Use doctrine)

In some slightly overblown reporting online, Microsoft has been caught downloading updates to its software without user knowledge or consent. In this case, they were just updating the Windows Updater, but the key complaint here is that the users didn't get to choose.

In the past many people delay updating (or avoid it altogether) because the updates can sometimes cause less security or add features that we don't want.

They dropped their "don't be evil" motto for a reason

(Image used under: Creative Commons 2.0 [SRC])

Google, trying to hold up their former image of being a rebel company who "doesn't do evil", has proposed a universal privacy standard that they say all companies should follow. The main idea is that there should be a minimum set of standards that everyone agrees to follow when dealing with private user data.

I sure hope it's not their standards since they hold your private data hostage for months.