Australia plans to dump nuclear waste on Aboriginal land after bribing one of the many concerned groups to "give permission".

The NTSB proposes to require cars to have wireless communication systems.

There are two dangers here. First, we already know that many car systems have bad security, and many wireless systems have bad security. Anything like WiFi in a car could enable someone to cause a crash.

Even if the car does not turn out to have this problem, it could prove to be an excuse to deny car owners control over any of the software in their cars -- even the software in the entertainment systems.

Second, if a car can be identified from its transmissions, this will become another surveillance system for tracking everyone.

We must insist that the design be such as to avoid both of these sorts of problems.

Raif Badawi, the founder of the Free Saudi Liberals website, has been convicted of "insulting Islam".

The evil regime also threatened to kill Badawi if he stopped being a Muslim. Human rights include, for any person, the right not to be a Muslim. Or not to be a Christian. Or not to be a Buddhist. Or not to be an Atheist.

If you feel in the mood to insult Islam, you don't need to say anything yourself. Just spread the word about these events, and behold! Islam insults itself.

Russia will move away from using foreign-made electronic components in sensitive activities, fearing they may have spy features or back doors.

This is a wise policy; several years ago I read that the Pentagon was concerned about possible malicious features in Chinese chips.

Oakland's planned surveillance system has generated substantial local opposition.

Don't listen to defeatist propaganda saying "It's too late, privacy is dead" on the one hand, and "This is just an upgrade" on the other. We can defeat surveillance, if we recognize it as tyranny and demand "Whatever change is necessary".