There is a lot of buzz going on right now about encryption boosts being implemented in Apple products. Specifically, app and text data stored on these personal devices will now be encrypted, and the user will be the only one able to decrypt it. Yes, it turns out those are two different features. At the minimum, this dramatically increases the security of the devices as a whole, and it provides more legal oversight surrounding the ownership rights and access to that content. Naturally, the investigative arms of government are flapping like chicken wings over the BETTER protection.

Today, a groundswell of Internet users became activists as the threat of censorship and government regulation quivered in the shaky paws of ill educated legislators. The blogosphere, tweets, Facebook Shares and Google +1s were all over the story. Fortunately, the Office of the President recognized the obvious mounting outrage and voiced their lack of support for such measures, which extinguished the torches of the Senate Committee, leaving them standing around with just their pitchforks.

There has been a lot of discussion going around lately about Google and Facebook cracking down on pseudonyms and requiring their users to work under their real names. Big Brother/Company paranoia aside, I have come out on their side of this issue. That is actually a little shocking for those who know my position on network privacy. Maybe I should explain.