Failing a Test of the Emergency Broadcast System

Failing a Test of the Emergency Broadcast System

In the early morning hours of April 19, some residents of Watertown, Massachusetts, received an automated phone call telling them to “shelter in place” while the suspected Boston marathon bomber roamed the neighborhood. The system worked — to a degree. One...
Dancing Around the First and Fourth Amendments

Dancing Around the First and Fourth Amendments

Whether you think spying is OK or not depends on your relationship to the information being collected. If you’re on the gathering end, the invasion of someone else’s privacy doesn’t seem like a big deal. But if you’re the one whose private life...
Isolation on Both Ends of the Line

Isolation on Both Ends of the Line

When Martha Wright’s grandson went to prison more than 20 years ago, she learned a stark lesson about the cost of maintaining ties with a family member who is incarcerated. Beyond the isolation and deep wound of being separated from a loved one, there’s...
One Nation, Under Surveillance

One Nation, Under Surveillance

If on cell phones, You rely; Say hello, To the FBI. Does it matter that the federal government can track your cell phone at any moment of the day? That protesting at an event where the Secret Service is present is now a felony? That any American can be jailed...
AT&T’s Upside-Down World

AT&T’s Upside-Down World

From electricity to earmuffs, once you buy a product or service from a company, it shouldn’t be any of its business how you choose to use it. Your power company doesn’t say you can’t use the energy-saving features on your new refrigerator unless you...