I’ve been using the U.S.-based company Cotse.net for email and proxy services for many years, ever since I learned about it from S. Cotse gives good service at a good price. I’ve been a happy customer. There’s nothing at all wrong with Cotse.
Except that it’s based in this increasingly thuggish surveillance state.
I’m seeking a back-up service. I’ll keep Cotse, but I want to be using a Plan B if the feds drive them out of business, too. So I’ve been reading articles like this one. But online reviews are no substitute for personal knowledge.
What can you tell me — from personal experience and/or knowledge of a company’s location, management, and services — about other reliable services?
Here are the requirements
* MUST BE BASED OUTSIDE THE U.S. — MUST!
* Will preferably be based in a jurisdiction where its owners feel no need to kowtow to every illegal demand of some UberGovernment.
* Provides services including email and VPN
* Has reasonable rates
* And shows no sign whatsoever of just being some phony front for the surveillance state.
I’m still working on that blog post that requires Deep Thought. But with a deadline approaching, a construction project pounding away next door, a guy tearing a derelict bathroom out of my place, and Ava having gone insane from all the people around who won’t throw tennis balls*, Deep Thought is as impossible right now as endorsing Obamacare or v*ting for Michael Bloomberg.
So for now here are some links.
Here’s one of those news stories that’s no surprise at all to us political cynics realists but is still pretty stunning considering the MSM source: the Obama administration has known all along that the line about being able to keep your current insurance was a lie. Not just the law, but their own fine-print regulations, were turning it impossible.
I don’t usually promote tourist destinations or articles about them. But OMG, what oblivious (though oh-so-accidentally-astute) fool named The National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement”? They could have lowered their sign budget by leaving off the last 17 letters.
* Ava believes that the sole purpose for strange men in the house or yard is to entertain her. If a burglar ever breaks in, I’m more likely to learn about it from the sound of a tennis ball being persistently dropped at his feet than from, you know, barking.
Dems starting to want to push back Obamacare. Hm. Could that have anything to do with 2014 being an election year? But even the non-elect of the left are seriously questioning “the most transparent administration in history.”
This has been making its way around the gunblogs. I wasn’t going to link it because I’ve never had reason to care what the head of Interpol thinks about anything. But reader L.A. tipped the balance. And really, it’s quite something when the honcho of a global police agency comes out in favor of a well-armed citizenry — and recognizes that the only alternative is making us all “safe” via a lock-down security state.
Seattle is using eminent domain to seize a valuable property from a 103-year-old lady. It’s currently a privately owned parking lot. The city feels they have a much better use for it: a government owned parking lot.
Speaking of the Great(est) Obama Fiasco … the other day in comments blogfriend MJR, citizen of the Great Frozen North, compared Obamacare with the much-despised, horrendously over-costly, and now thoroughly defunct Canadian gun registry. What I didn’t realize was the same freakin’ company was the lead contractor for … guess what? Wow.
Yes, much, much better to lose privacy altogether than to sully your Pure Progressive Soul by joining forces with libertarians. Even standing beside them at a rally might give you cooties. J.D. Tuccille delivers a well-deserved takedown.
Dogs. Shaking themselves. More entertaining than you’d imagine. (And here’s the book. Any dog lovers on your Christmas list?)
You’ve heard of Bridezilla. And the Wedding Guest from Hell. Now meet The Mad Bomber Groom. Guess you gotta give him points for creativity. Not brains. Definitely not brains. But creativity.
Death panels. Not a good thing. But yes, they’re real (Hellllooo, Canada!). And in the eyes of those who think we’re too stupid to make our own decisions, they are a good thing. (Terms like slippery slope and camel’s nose come to mind here.)
The links in this first batch were meant to go in Friday’s “Waves of History” post, but I was running out of time. So here they are — perhaps for some inspiration?
There’s now an online whistleblower support system. Originally written by Aaron Swartz. Maybe in death he’ll be able to prevent someone else from being hounded into suicide by vicious prosecutors.
“13 nutrition lies that made the world fat and sick.” It may not be instantly apparent what this one has to do with resistance to Authoritah — until you consider who promulgated the lies that are being debunked. Yes, what you eat and how you learn about what you eat has changed since gov and agribiz introduced the old pyramid and had it accepted as 1980s gospel.
Here’s another non-obvious sign of hope: IBM sales plummet in China. Because NSA is inspiring distrust in all its collaborators, or even suspected collaborators. If US tech companies want to thrive, they’ll have to prove to the world that they aren’t the UberGovernment’s sock puppets.
This 15-minute video (thanks, MJR) gives a pretty good overview of how 20,000+ spycams are used in one American city — why they’re accepted, how they succeed or fail, and why they’re still feared.
