Searching

I took this self-portrait last night with my old Virgin/Helio Ocean. But I was just made an offer I can’t refuse by Nokia, backed by Qik. Time to go all the way with Nokia? I do love my (sponsored) N-95 8G. Let me know what you think… I take my sponsorships (and their promotion) seriously. Also: Cybernet next weekend, ongoing monthly Sirius guest spots (OutQ) throughout the end of the year, Oprah talks scheduled for Fall, two new books coming out this Fall, all the usual writing for various mainstream (and non) outlets ongoing and in the works, quotes excerpts and features in major magazines and books coming up (like, I forgot about this one in Wired UK where I’m an expert on future sex), LeWeb is Paris in December, appearances in London throughout December as well. And a big self-relaunch about to blast out. Fun stuff going on in the background here. What I make my media with, and show it all to you via, is important. And that’s my phone.

Update: A commenter tells me, “Nokia and Siemens just got called out by Noah Shactman at Wired.com’s Danger Room for selling cell phone tracking and monitoring equipment to Iran’s secret police. Guess what they’ve been using them for this past week or so?”

Can someone point me to the link on this? Wired’s Danger Room search is borked and I’m only getting results for previous years. If this is true, no more Nokia for me.

Meanwhile, I’ve been offered an Android G2 (HTC Google Ion).

Update 2: As it happens, Nokia/Siemens were indeed working with Iran to help them track “dissidents.” The (then) minor stories ran back in April: Fed contractor, cell phone maker sold spy system to Iran and ‘German firm helps Iran monitor Israel’ (Siemens) were tweeted to me by @aaronjhoward — thank you. (washingtontimes.com, freerepublic.com)

Two European companies — a major contractor to the U.S. government and a top cell-phone equipment maker — last year installed an electronic surveillance system for Iran that human rights advocates and intelligence experts say can help Iran target dissidents.

Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), a joint venture between the Finnish cell-phone giant Nokia and German powerhouse Siemens, delivered what is known as a monitoring center to Irantelecom, Iran’s state-owned telephone company.

A spokesman for NSN said the servers were sold for “lawful intercept functionality,” a technical term used by the cell-phone industry to refer to law enforcement’s ability to tap phones, read e-mails and surveil electronic data on communications networks.

In Iran, a country that frequently jails dissidents and where regime opponents rely heavily on Web-based communication with the outside world, a monitoring center that can archive these intercepts could provide a valuable tool to intensify repression. (…read more, washingtontimes.com)

This pre-Iran election information should be getting a lot more attention in the press, especially the tech sector. A Nokia employee has commented about it on my Facebook page.