1. Food Riots Disorder in Milwaukee

Please read back to LTG #5 for more on food and how close to a crisis we are, one that will touch ordinary people. Then read this and realise that it’s already happening.

“About 3,000 people turned out for the assistance beginning at 3 a.m. Monday, creating a line that stretched several blocks around the Marcia P. Coggs Human Services Center at 1220 W. Vliet St. At least one woman said she was trampled when a crowd rushed the doors as they opened around 7:30 a.m., and dozens of Milwaukee police officers and sheriff’s deputies were called to quell the scene.

“The food crisis in Milwaukee and throughout the United States is worse than many of us have realized,” said Milwaukee Common Council President Willie Hines, who with other elected officials called on the community to support local food pantries.” ”

2. Your Cellphone As Mobile Bug

‘Back in the day’ us No Globals used to take our batteries out of phones at meetings to prevent this kind of snooping. But to be honest I always thought the premise was a bit thin. This journalist is rather well thought of though.

“The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone’s microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations.

The technique is called a “roving bug,” and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.”

3. The TV that stares back

The same place I found the link above also had this (rather thinner, but worth considering) piece on ComCast’s surveillance aspirations.

“Gerard Kunkel, Comcast’s senior VP of user experience, told me the cable company is experimenting with different camera technologies built into devices so it can know who’s in your living room. ”

4. Mortgages Are Not The Only Loans

“We are not finished with the mortgage problem, but you are starting to see increased delinquencies in other forms of consumer debt,” said Paul Kasriel, an economist at Northern Trust Securities. “We are in the eye of the hurricane. We had the first wave of the credit crisis, and it was quite damaging. But there’s another wave coming, and it’s likely to be as destructive.”

6. US Government Requires eBay, Amazon, Google, and All Credit Card Companies to Report Transactions to the Government

“Hidden deep in Senator Christopher Dodd’s 630-page Senate housing legislation is a sweeping provision that affects the privacy and operation of nearly all of America’s small businesses. The provision, which was added by the bill’s managers without debate this week, would require the nation’s payment systems to track, aggregate, and report information on nearly every electronic transaction to the federal government.”