CarrierIQ Responds

Posted here in the interest of fairness - Carrier IQ's official response to allegations of wiretapping and spyware.

“The software receives a huge amount of information from the operating system,” Andrew Coward, Carrier IQ’s VP of marketing, told AllThingsD. “But just because it receives it doesn’t mean that it’s being used to gather intelligence about the user or passed along to the carrier.”

“It’s the operator that determines what data is collected,” says Carrier IQ CEO Larry Lenhart. “They make that decision based on their privacy standards and their agreement with their users, and we implement it.”

The operating system makers blame the carriers. The hardware makers blame the carriers. The software company itself blames the carriers. Verizon says "not us!" This may not be a good holiday season to be a cellular company that sells smart phones.

Seeing the other side: Why one abortion doctor does her work

It is important in any debate to truly understand the other side, so that you can (1) properly defend against their arguments, and (2) truly understand if you are right. This morning I came across this article which lays out one Canadian doctor's reasons for being an abortion provider. Frankly, I find some of her justifications disturbing, but others make some sense and are worth considering and understanding. Warning, there are a few sections which those with a weak stomach may find difficult.

The first month of my internship was spent on Ward 41, the septic obstetrics ward. Yes, it's hard to believe now, but in those days, they had one ward dedicated exclusively to septic complications of pregnancy.

About 90% of the patients were there with complications of septic abortion. The ward had about 40 beds, in addition to extra beds which lined the halls. Each day we admitted between 10-30 septic abortion patients. We had about one death a month, usually from septic shock associated with hemorrhage...

Today, in Canada and the U.S., septic shock from illegal abortion is virtually never seen. Like smallpox, it is a "disappeared disease."

This article did not change my mind at all, honestly, but it gave me a window into the Pro-Abortion movement and its proponents. And it reminded me yet again that the crazies who attack abortion doctors or bomb clinics do nothing to end abortion, and usually wind up creating even more dedicated proponents of the practice.