Event: 14-16 June DC Computers, Freedom, and Privacy–the Future is Now
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The 21st annual Association for Computing Machinery's “Computers, Freedom, and Privacy” conference invites proposals for this year's conference. This year's conference theme is Computers, Freedom, and Privacy: The Future is Now. We encourage multi-stakeholder participation in the conference as speakers, proposal submitters, and attendees that represent the diverse global community of organizations and professionals who work on policy, technology and law. Proposals that focus on the information society and the future of technology, privacy, innovation and law should be submitted following the guidelines outlined below.
We seek panel proposals that take advantage of this year's location in Washington DC. Experts, the public and policy makers each have a part to play in innovation and in moving policy and technology forward, while preserving basic rights and freedoms.
Deadlines: 15 March early bird submissions to organize panel or workshop, 1 May final deadline.
An alternative event with an alternative cast of contributors, is ContactCon in NYC 20 October.
Serious (Honest) Thinking About US Budget
03 Economy, 07 Health, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Ethics, Government, Military
Dear friends,
The three articles below describe major approaches to addressing the deficit — for health care, taxes and the military — that would have a greater impact on America's budget woes than ANYTHING being currently negotiated by Congress and the Obama Administration. Even better, these three things would, if implemented, actually improve the quality of life in the U.S., instead of degrading it, as so many of the current proposals would do. They give a taste of some excellent thinking emerging from the fringes of this “budget crisis” debate.
[After I wrote this I was alerted to another very interesting “People's Budget” recently released with little coverage in the mainstream media, which I recommend to those interested in alternatives.]
When I imagine a Citizens Jury, a Citizens Assembly, or any other randomly selected body of citizens convened to deliberate about the “budget crisis”, this is the kind of information I believe they should be exposed to. We don't need to undermine public health to create affordable health care. We don't need to undermine the wealth of the nation to have a reasonable tax system. We don't need to endanger American security to have a strong, affordable military.
We just need to think a bit outside of the boxes that most mainstream media, pundits, politicians and partisan activists (intentionally) put our minds in, and ask ourselves “What's the REAL problem here — and what would ACTUALLY solve it?”
How to Save a Trillion Dollars
Taxes on the Wealthy: New Top Brackets Needed for the Have Mores
Want to improve US national security? Cut the defense budget.
Continue reading “Serious (Honest) Thinking About US Budget”
US Government Bails Out and Pardons Wall Street, Sends Barry Bonds to Jail–What’s the Difference?
03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Civil Society, Commerce, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, IO Impotency, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests
Barry Bonds Faces Jail Time While Wall Street Execs Sit Pretty
What’s the difference between Barry Bonds and Goldman Sachs executives? The later was fortunate enough to be questioned by incompetent lawmakers while Bonds ended up in a courthouse with an actual jury and prosecutors.
. . . . . .
“The Goldman guys may have worse batting average than Barry Bonds but they were better educated by their lawyers about they should shouldn’t say. They also had the benefit of being questioned by incompetent people who had no idea about the financial nomenclature at the heart of their allegations,” Singer says.
For more on why and how Wall Street has avoided criminal charges and jail time check out today’s story in the New York Times about how regulators have, in some cases, willingly protected banks and their executives.
Of course, Matt Taibbi’s Why Isn’t Wall Street In Jail? is also a must-read.
Worth a Look: Strategic News Service
Worth A Look
In their own words:
The Strategic News Service® is the most accurate predictive newsletter covering the computing and communications industries. It is read by top management and financial analysts in these industries worldwide.
This service is intended for strategic thinkers who depend upon business technology planning. The SNS charter is to provide managers with information that is not available in the press about critical computer and telecommunications issues, trends and events.
Harvard “Boys” Crash, Burn, No Apology
04 Education, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Academia, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, InfoOps (IO), IO Impotency
economicprincipals.com
March 27, 2011, David Warsh, Proprietor
A Recent Exercise in Nation-Building by Some Harvard Boys
It was worth a smile at breakfast that morning in February 2006, a scrap of social currency to take out into the world. Michael Porter, the Harvard Business School management guru, had grown famous offering competitive strategies to firms, regions, whole nations. Earlier he had taken on the problems of inner cities, health care and climate change. Now he was about to tackle perhaps the hardest problem of all (that is, after the United States’ wars in Afghanistan and Iraq).
He had become adviser to Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya.
Phi Beta Iota: Harvard is now the poster child for all that is wrong with education–no intelligence, no ethics, and grotesquely expensive. Yale can now claim the mantle in the East.
Safety copy below the line.
Seth Godin on Education Bubble & Alternative
04 Education, Academia, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence
Buying an education or buying a brand?
It's reported that student debt in the USA is approaching a trillion dollars, five times what it was ten years ago.
Are those in debt buying more education or are they seeking better branding in the form of coveted diplomas?
Does a $40,000 a year education that comes with an elite degree deliver ten times the education of a cheaper but no less rigorous self-generated approach assembled from less famous institutions and free or inexpensive resources?
If not, then the money is actually being spent on the value of the degree, on the doors it will open and the jobs it will snag. If this marketing strategy works big, it pays for itself in no time.
A marketing tactic might move the dial, but that doesn't mean it's always worth the money.
The question is whether a trillion dollars is the right amount for individuals to spend marketing themselves. What would happen if people spent it building up a work history instead? On becoming smarter, more flexible, more self-sufficient and yes, able to take more risk because they owe less money…
There's no doubt that we need smarter and more motivated people in our organizations. I'm not sure we need them to be better labeled or more accredited.
Phi Beta Iota: This is why we feel very strongly that a Vice President for Education, Intelligence, & Research is needed; the corollary of this is that Cyber/IO should be about EDUCATION, not about corporate vapor-ware pretending to do attack and defend of systems that are in the proverbial Stone Age.
