Sit Down, Girlcotters

I was just mentioning to someone today, "If you never cross the fucking line, how the hell do you know where it is in the first place?"

It reminded me again when I just read through this story about how some girls from Allegheny County, PA are "girlcotting" (nothing like a catchy phrase to get your boycott noticed) yet another controversial Abercrombie & Fitch clothing line. This time the hubbub is based on Abercrombie's so-called "attitude tees" that have such pithy phrases like "Blondes Are Adored Brunettes Are Ignored" or my favorite "Do I Make You Look Fat?"

Granted that these are indeed offensive, but boycotting the clothing is ridiculous! My dear girlcotters, your outrage is not universal and there are many women who find these tee's humorous and empowering. Even worse your group is elevating this into a civil rights issue! Says Emma Blackman-Mathis, co-chairman of the group:

A lot of people don't see it as a civil rights infringement, they don't see it as an issue. But that's what we're trying to do -- bring it to the forefront of people's attention.

Frankly the idea that this is anything close to civil rights is offensive and misguided. This young woman's heart may be in the right place, but A&F has done nothing to impinge on anyone's civil rights. And to elevate your cause to that of discrimination against minorities (including women) devalues the fight for true equality.

Perhaps if Ms. Blackman-Mathis spent some time around a larger variety of women, she would find many who find this clothing line humorous and even empowering. Women who call themselves "bitch" wear it like a badge of honor instead of being shamed by the word. Gay men once were fearful of being called "queer" but now the word has lost its negative intimation.

Add also that these types of "offensive" tee shirts are rather commonplace in New York City among both men and women. If you cannot approach these with a sense of humor, you are obviously not A&F's intended market. Take your moral outrage, and your credit card, to the Gap instead.

This is much ado about nothing; if you are offended by the tee's, don't buy them. It does not give you the moral right to ban these goods for society at large. Instead of focusing your energy on personal choice, try contacting the National Organization for Women and perhaps try getting involved in their "Take Action" program.

SonyMusic Hacks Computers! Call Your Local Paper!

Here's an interesting account from Sysinternals detailing how Mark Russovich discovered a rootkit after a seemingly innocuous install of a Sony Music copy-protected CD. To date the music industry has attempted various schemes to limit mp3 encoding by consumers but none have been so onerous as to hijack your computer. Rootkits, in general, are popular trojan horses which can provide themselves administrative control of your machine without your detection. While this particular rootkit is not as extreme as rootkits can become, these types of trojans can lead to immeasurable damage if used for nefarious purpose.

On one hand there is honest protection of your valuable assets. But this clearly crosses that line. What common sense principle would lead your business to illegal activity? Computers are important personal property, and it's your honest customers that will be affected by this. Those who trade the non-authorized files will continue unabated. Sony Music is acknowledging that this rootkit has been used on CDs in 2005 and obviously feels no shame in hacking their customers computers with their "sterile burning" system.

Sony Music has crossed the line with this latest tactic and consumers need more exposure to these issues. While the tech community is up in arms, will the mainstream press publish these reports? If shown the potential damage Sony Music's aggressive tactics may cause, consumers may be startled and gravely upset by Sony's breach of trust. I'm sending letters to various local editors with the hope to raise awareness since I believe old fashioned paper gets better results than an Internet blog. Hopefully some folks will see this post and try to do the same in their own locales...