What's on your mind right now?

[reamary]

May is my least favorite month. I think it's because when I was struggling in high school, most of the big projects and/or traumatic events for me happened in May. Even though I'm not in high school anymore, my body is so used to being stressed around this time that I worry over nothing. Weather-wise, though, it's a great month!!

 

Oh Katie, I'm so sorry for that. I do understand what you mean though! But soon it's June anyway.

 

Woohoo! I made it past my first day!

 

That's great Krys!! So how was it, was it what you expected?

[sfbaysinger]

Okay guys, I'm really scared to write this...those of you who are not so big in to Celine anymore, you're welcome to pass this by as you might find it...absurd...

So the computer guy is here and he's copying files from the old one to the new unit. He was whistling so I thought I'd play some music on my portable which also serves as like an ipod or mp3 player, and jokingly said I'd spare him having to hear Celine. He said, and I quote, `you must really like her, she's all over your computer. It's like a virus`.

OMG you guys, most times I can hold it in and wait till I get somewhere else to cry/let it out, but today, I almost couldn't. I Bolted out of here so fast. I think he has no clue. All I know is I don't want to be in the same freaking room as him right now. I'm only doing it because I have to/because I need a new computer and this guy is the Best in town!

But that really hurt. I want to tear up as I write/relive this. How freaking hurtful. I can't believe he said that. Even if you don't like her, even if it is true, oh god, you just don't say that to someone.

Secondly, I'm upset that no one told me I was getting too in to her. Here I have been for a little over a year now, constantly receiving reassurance/reinforcement that my feelings are okay/normal aod that I'm not alone. And then to hear this. Why didn't someone tell me I was too in to her? Maybe my family, some friends, and just other general non fans are right. Maybe there really is NO place anywhere on Earth, not even on my own computer, not even in my own head where the critical voices still live, where it's safe to love her. Evidently it's not okay/safe. I can't even hear her, quote her, I don't even think I can use/read/hear her name right now. I hope this will pass, and I knew some people here are going to think I'm over dramatic. And although I love you all, all I have to say to that is Oh Well!!!!!!!!!! THAT Reeeeeeeeeally HURT!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who has my # call me!

(insert crying emoticon)

Edited May 2, 2012 at 09:56 PM by sfbaysinger

[*Daniel]

Okay guys, I'm really scared to write this...those of you who are not so big in to Celine anymore, you're welcome to pass this by as you might find it...absurd...

So the computer guy is here and he's copying files from the old one to the new unit. He was whistling so I thought I'd play some music on my portable which also serves as like an ipod or mp3 player, and jokingly said I'd spare him having to hear Celine. He said, and I quote, `you must really like her, she's all over your computer. It's like a virus`.

OMG you guys, most times I can hold it in and wait till I get somewhere else to cry/let it out, but today, I almost couldn't. I Bolted out of here so fast. I think he has no clue. All I know is I don't want to be in the same freaking room as him right now. I'm only doing it because I have to/because I need a new computer and this guy is the Best in town!

But that really hurt. I want to tear up as I write/relive this. How freaking hurtful. I can't believe he said that. Even if you don't like her, even if it is true, oh god, you just don't say that to someone.

Secondly, I'm upset that no one told me I was getting too in to her. Here I have been for a little over a year now, constantly receiving reassurance/reinforcement that my feelings are okay/normal aod that I'm not alone. And then to hear this. Why didn't someone tell me I was too in to her? Maybe my family, some friends, and just other general non fans are right. Maybe there really is NO place anywhere on Earth, not even on my own computer, not even in my own head where the critical voices still live, where it's safe to love her. Evidently it's not okay/safe. I can't even hear her, quote her, I don't even think I can use/read/hear her name right now. I hope this will pass, and I knew some people here are going to think I'm over dramatic. And although I love you all, all I have to say to that is Oh Well!!!!!!!!!! THAT Reeeeeeeeeally HURT!!!!!!!!!!

Anyone who has my # call me!

(insert crying emoticon)

 

 

I don't know if you would look at the same wasy as me but I would say that what he did is unprofessional and quite rude.

[caitlynceline56]

Christina, I promise you, you are NOT too into her. What you love is nobody else's business but your own. I know what it is like to be on the other side, to not be a fan of her, because not too long ago, I wasn't. I never would have judged you. I just would have thought, "Well, she really loves Celine. That's great that she has something that can fulfill her life!" People who have passions are the luckiest people in the world, in my opinion. If other people don't get that, it's their loss. Don't listen to that rude computer guy. What he thinks doesn't matter. What matters is what YOU think and feel.

 

In other news, I had a productive day today. I'm happy!

[sfbaysinger]

Hey Daniel, thanks. I never thought of it like that. I was way too emotionally invested to think of it from a business standpoint. But you're right, that was very unprofessional...thanks for another perspective...

And thanks, Katie, you're a life saver. Did you get my text?

He's still here, setting stuff up. But things between us have evened out a bit. He really is amazing at what he does. So far I'm happy.

Glad you had a good day, Katie. Hope you all have and that it continues to be so for us all...

Edited May 2, 2012 at 11:25 PM by sfbaysinger

[Alex_Incognito]

Christina,

I think you took his words out of context and put them into a negative concept. He was trying to crack a joke with you. Viruses spread, and he meant that Celine is spread all about your computer. I think he was trying to make casual conversation.

[celine-rc]

Christina, I will write to you.

 

Nico invited me to his house this week-end... I'm so nervous!

[Mrs.Goldman]

Meh

[celinedream]

Christina you will always meet people that try to sell you problems and bitterness, my advice to you is DON'T BUY them.

 

You need to be free from what other people think about you. Specially someone who is really not in your life at all

 

[Krys]

That's great Krys!! So how was it, was it what you expected?

 

Quite random actually. But most of the peeps in the office are very nice. Some of the staff seem to love meditation a lot too lol.

 

And Christina, I agree with Alex that the computer guy was prolly just joking around. I've gotten that before from a computer technician as well. I just "hehe" at him. Thing is not to take what others think so seriously. What matters most is what YOU think. I've gotten more than my fare share of crap from my family members before so yeah, couldn't care less anymore about what people think of my obsessions. If they think I'm nuts, so be it lol.

[riobeard11]

It's hard to believe that some of these students actually got into this university with the questions they ask sometimes...

[Alex_Incognito]

I just taught my last class for the semester. There was one class specifically that I really loved. It was a pleasure to teach and the students were so eager to learn more. It feels good.

 

Now I have to write TWO 25-page papers for Monday and correct 48 exams next week. Woohoo!

[reamary]

Quite random actually. But most of the peeps in the office are very nice. Some of the staff seem to love meditation a lot too lol.

 

Haha, ok. So did you join them and meditate with them?

But good that the people there are nice.

 

 

Oh yes and Christina, I too agree with Krys and Alex about that computer guy. I don't think he really meant anything bad with what he said, but was rather just making a joke/casual conversation. So I wouldn't take it too seriously.

[celine-rc]

Nico on Saturday...

 

I feel so bad for what I did to S like half an hour ago! We were walking out of school together (which NEVER happens!), I wished her good week-end and since we were at my car, I said bye and sort of left but she was still talking. Alone. My friends have done it often enough to me to understand that it's terrible. I hope she doesn't hate me... I'm such an idiot. I thought my mother saw us and would wonder why I just kept walking but it turns out that she didn't even see us which frustrates me even more! Anyway, people forget. Hope she will.... I hate myself sometimes!

Edited May 3, 2012 at 09:01 PM by c'line-rc

[ferjaacu]

Oh Chris, ok... You're too much into her, just as we are !!! I agree with Alex, I think he was only trying to have a conversation... Just take it easy, maybe there's something else happening to you right now and you're having mixed feelings...

[riobeard11]

I just taught my last class for the semester. There was one class specifically that I really loved. It was a pleasure to teach and the students were so eager to learn more. It feels good.

 

Now I have to write TWO 25-page papers for Monday and correct 48 exams next week. Woohoo!

I am going to really enjoy these last few months before I'm back to school and homework...

[Del]

Just came back from watching Cirque Du Soleil, Dralion. It was amazing. I really loved it.

[sfbaysinger]

Bobby, you're going back to school? As in, as a student? Yikes.

Fernando...you Always know what to say. Thanks. Thanks all for your ideas. There is indeed a lot going on, but that still didn't feel good.

[ferjaacu]

You're welcome Chris !!! That's what friends are for, right? Hope everything get better for you soon !!! BTW, are you using your new computer already???

[riobeard11]

My love...we are finally home. You can unbuckle your seatbelt and get out of the car.

[ferjaacu]

lol. She's amazing !!!

[dj4celine]

Bloody hot in here!

[Alex_Incognito]

Ugh! Stress!

[Krys]

Haha, ok. So did you join them and meditate with them?

But good that the people there are nice.

 

Yup they're nice but nooo I don't meditate hahahha. Not my thing.

[Del]

I enjoy going to the gym... but oh my I am some sore today

[sfbaysinger]

lol. She's amazing!!!

Awwwwww, Fernando, Yes She Is. Bobby, I loooooove that line in the movie. I know a fan who hasn't seen it yet, and she's reeeeeeeally missing out. Thanks for the smile.

And no, Fernando, I'm not using my new computer yet, too many things I still don't know how to do. But eventually...

Edited May 4, 2012 at 08:23 PM by sfbaysinger

[celine-rc]

I am satisfied with my article on Marc Lévy. I hope they're going to like it!!!! I'm so stressed for tomorrow...

[*Daniel]

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57428067-...-web-sites-now/

 

CNET learns the FBI is quietly pushing its plan to force surveillance backdoors on social networks, VoIP, and Web e-mail providers, and that the bureau is asking Internet companies not to oppose a law making those backdoors mandatory.

 

The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

 

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

 

The FBI general counsel's office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail alter their code to ensure their products are wiretap-friendly.

 

"If you create a service, product, or app that allows a user to communicate, you get the privilege of adding that extra coding," an industry representative who has reviewed the FBI's draft legislation told CNET. The requirements apply only if a threshold of a certain number of users is exceeded, according to a second industry representative briefed on it.

 

The FBI's proposal would amend a 1994 law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, that currently applies only to telecommunications providers, not Web companies. The Federal Communications Commission extended CALEA in 2004 to apply to broadband networks.

"Going Dark" timeline

 

June 2008: FBI Director Robert Mueller and his aides brief Sens. Barbara Mikulski, Richard Shelby, and Ted Stevens on "Going Dark."

 

June 2008: FBI Assistant Director Kerry Haynes holds "Going Dark" briefing for Senate appropriations subcommittee and offers a "classified version of this briefing" at Quantico.

 

August 2008: Mueller briefed on Going Dark at strategy meeting.

 

September 2008: FBI completes a "high-level explanation" of CALEA amendment package.

 

May 2009: FBI Assistant Director Rich Haley briefs Senate Intelligence committee and Mikulsi staffers on how bureau is "dealing with the 'Going Dark' issue.'" Mikulski plans to bring up "Going Dark" at a closed-door hearing the following week.

 

May 2009: Haley briefs Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, currently the top Democrat on House Intelligence, who would later co-author CISPA.

 

September 2008: FBI staff briefed by RAND, which was commissioned to "look at" Going Dark.

 

November 2008: FBI Assistant Director Marcus Thomas, who oversees the Quantico-based Operational Technology Division, prepares briefing for President-Elect Obama's transition team.

 

December 2008: FBI intelligence analyst in Communications Analysis Unit begins analysis of VoIP surveillance.

 

February 2009: FBI memo to all field offices asks for anecdotal information about cases where "investigations have been negatively impacted" by lack of data retention or Internet interception.

 

March 2009: Mueller's advisory board meets for a full-day briefing on Going Dark.

 

April 2009: FBI distributes presentation for White House meeting on Going Dark.

 

April 2009: FBI warns that the Going Dark project is "yellow," meaning limited progress, because of "new administration personnel not being in place for briefings."

 

April 2009: FBI general counsel's office reports that the bureau's Data Interception Technology Unit has "compiled a list of FISA dockets... that the FBI has been unable to fully implement." That's a reference to telecom companies that are already covered by the FCC's expansion of CALEA.

 

May 2009: FBI's internal Wikipedia-knockoff Bureaupedia entry for "National Lawful Intercept Strategy" includes section on "modernize lawful intercept laws."

 

May 2009: FBI e-mail boasts that the bureau's plan has "gotten attention" from industry, but "we need to strengthen the business case on this."

 

June 2009: FBI's Office of Congressional Affairs prepares Going Dark briefing for closed-door session of Senate Appropriations subcommittee.

 

July 2010: FBI e-mail says the "Going Dark Working Group (GDWG) continues to ask for examples from Cvber investigations where investigators have had problems" because of new technologies.

 

September 2010: FBI staff operations specialist in its Counterterrorism Division sends e-mail on difficulties in "obtaining information from Internet Service Providers and social-networking sites."

 

FBI Director Robert Mueller is not asking companies to support the bureau's CALEA expansion, but instead is "asking what can go in it to minimize impacts," one participant in the discussions says. That included a scheduled trip this month to the West Coast -- which was subsequently postponed -- to meet with Internet companies' CEOs and top lawyers.

 

A further expansion of CALEA is unlikely to be applauded by tech companies, their customers, or privacy groups. Apple (which distributes iChat and FaceTime) is currently lobbying on the topic, according to disclosure documents filed with Congress two weeks ago. Microsoft (which owns Skype and Hotmail) says its lobbyists are following the topic because it's "an area of ongoing interest to us." Google, Yahoo, and Facebook declined to comment.

 

In February 2011, CNET was the first to report that then-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni was planning to warn Congress of what the bureau calls its "Going Dark" problem, meaning that its surveillance capabilities may diminish as technology advances. Caproni singled out "Web-based e-mail, social-networking sites, and peer-to-peer communications" as problems that have left the FBI "increasingly unable" to conduct the same kind of wiretapping it could in the past.

 

In addition to the FBI's legislative proposal, there are indications that the Federal Communications Commission is considering reinterpreting CALEA to demand that products that allow video or voice chat over the Internet -- from Skype to Google Hangouts to Xbox Live -- include surveillance backdoors to help the FBI with its "Going Dark" program. CALEA applies to technologies that are a "substantial replacement" for the telephone system.

 

"We have noticed a massive uptick in the amount of FCC CALEA inquiries and enforcement proceedings within the last year, most of which are intended to address 'Going Dark' issues," says Christopher Canter, lead compliance counsel at the Marashlian and Donahue law firm, which specializes in CALEA. "This generally means that the FCC is laying the groundwork for regulatory action."

 

Subsentio, a Colorado-based company that sells CALEA compliance products and worked with the Justice Department when it asked the FCC to extend CALEA seven years ago, says the FBI's draft legislation was prepared with the compliance costs of Internet companies in mind.

 

In a statement to CNET, Subsentio President Steve Bock said that the measure provides a "safe harbor" for Internet companies as long as the interception techniques are "'good enough' solutions approved by the attorney general."

 

Another option that would be permitted, Bock said, is if companies "supply the government with proprietary information to decode information" obtained through a wiretap or other type of lawful interception, rather than "provide a complex system for converting the information into an industry standard format."

 

A representative for the FBI told CNET today that: "(There are) significant challenges posed to the FBI in the accomplishment of our diverse mission. These include those that result from the advent of rapidly changing technology. A growing gap exists between the statutory authority of law enforcement to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to intercept those communications. The FBI believes that if this gap continues to grow, there is a very real risk of the government 'going dark,' resulting in an increased risk to national security and public safety."

 

Next steps

The FBI's legislation, which has been approved by the Department of Justice, is one component of what the bureau has internally called the "National Electronic Surveillance Strategy." Documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show that since 2006, Going Dark has been a worry inside the bureau, which employed 107 full-time equivalent people on the project as of 2009, commissioned a RAND study, and sought extensive technical input from the bureau's secretive Operational Technology Division in Quantico, Va. The division boasts of developing the "latest and greatest investigative technologies to catch terrorists and criminals."

 

But the White House, perhaps less inclined than the bureau to initiate what would likely be a bruising privacy battle, has not sent the FBI's CALEA amendments to Capitol Hill, even though they were expected last year. (A representative for Sen. Patrick Leahy, head of the Judiciary committee and original author of CALEA, said today that "we have not seen any proposals from the administration.")

 

Mueller said in December that the CALEA amendments will be "coordinated through the interagency process," meaning they would need to receive administration-wide approval.

 

Stewart Baker, a partner at Steptoe and Johnson who is the former assistant secretary for policy at Homeland Security, said the FBI has "faced difficulty getting its legislative proposals through an administration staffed in large part by people who lived through the CALEA and crypto fights of the Clinton administration, and who are jaundiced about law enforcement regulation of technology -- overly jaundiced, in my view."

 

On the other hand, as a senator in the 1990s, Vice President Joe Biden introduced a bill at the FBI's behest that echoes the bureau's proposal today. Biden's bill said companies should "ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law." (Biden's legislation spurred the public release of PGP, one of the first easy-to-use encryption utilities.)

 

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment. An FCC representative referred questions to the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which declined to comment.

 

From the FBI's perspective, expanding CALEA to cover VoIP, Web e-mail, and social networks isn't expanding wiretapping law: If a court order is required today, one will be required tomorrow as well. Rather, it's making sure that a wiretap is guaranteed to produce results.

 

But that nuanced argument could prove radioactive among an Internet community already skeptical of government efforts in the wake of protests over the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, in January, and the CISPA data-sharing bill last month. And even if startups or hobbyist projects are exempted if they stay below the user threshold, it's hardly clear how open-source or free software projects such as Linphone, KPhone, and Zfone -- or Nicholas Merrill's proposal for a privacy-protective Internet provider -- will comply.

Related stories

 

FBI to announce new Net-wiretapping push

FBI: We're not demanding encryption back doors

FBI targets Net phoning

 

The FBI's CALEA amendments could be particularly troublesome for Zfone. Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP who became a privacy icon two decades ago after being threatened with criminal prosecution, announced Zfone in 2005 as a way to protect the privacy of VoIP users. Zfone scrambles the entire conversation from end to end.

 

"I worry about the government mandating backdoors into these kinds of communications," says Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has obtained documents from the FBI relating to its proposed expansion of CALEA.

 

As CNET was the first to report in 2003, representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., began quietly lobbying the FCC to force broadband providers to provide more-efficient, standardized surveillance facilities. The FCC approved that requirement a year later, sweeping in Internet phone companies that tie into the existing telecommunications system. It was upheld in 2006 by a federal appeals court.

 

But the FCC never granted the FBI's request to rewrite CALEA to cover instant messaging and VoIP programs that are not "managed"--meaning peer-to-peer programs like Apple's Facetime, iChat/AIM, Gmail's video chat, and Xbox Live's in-game chat that do not use the public telephone network.

 

If there is going to be a CALEA rewrite, "industry would like to see any new legislation include some protections against disclosure of any trade secrets or other confidential information that might be shared with law enforcement, so that they are not released, for example, during open court proceedings," says Roszel Thomsen, a partner at Thomsen and Burke who represents technology companies and is a member of an FBI study group. He suggests that such language would make it "somewhat easier" for both industry and the police to respond to new technologies.

 

But industry groups aren't necessarily going to roll over without a fight. TechAmerica, a trade association that includes representatives of HP, eBay, IBM, Qualcomm, and other tech companies on its board of directors, has been lobbying against a CALEA expansion. Such a law would "represent a sea change in government surveillance law, imposing significant compliance costs on both traditional (think local exchange carriers) and nontraditional (think social media) communications companies," TechAmerica said in e-mail today.

 

Ross Schulman, public policy and regulatory counsel at the Computer and Communications Industry Association, adds: "New methods of communication should not be subject to a government green light before they can be used."

 

Last updated at 12:30 p.m. PT

[ferjaacu]

Oh well, soon you will Chris BTW, I love that part of the movie too...

 

Not going out tonight cause I'm having some issues with my stomach... lol.

[celine-rc]

I am so stressed out for today!!! I'm going to see Nico.... I am probably going to meet his father (hope he doesn't bring the PM home with him but anyway). We're going to see Intouchable. I am so nervous!!!!