Commerce – Page 274 – Public Intelligence Blog

Anonymous unmasked: The collective's disruptive influence

By CATHERINE SOLYOM

The Gazette, 31 March 2012

Hack the planet – save the world.

That’s become the rallying cry of an army of keyboard warriors known as Anonymous, which in the last 18 months has targeted everyone from the Tunisian government to the Boston police, the Vatican to Sony, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to PayPal, blocking their websites or retrieving embarrassing files and emails for the world to see.

See and Use Interactive Map of Hacktivist Attacks

MONTREAL – The elusive “hacktivist” collective, identified only by its logo of a headless man in a suit or its Guy Fawkes masks, has hacked into the Syrian defence ministry and Bank of America. It has eavesdropped on Scotland Yard and the FBI. And it has outed alleged white supremacists across Canada, including a couple in Quebec City.

With over 15 million page views on its main news website and more than 560,000 Twitter followers, it’s clear the world is paying attention to this nascent form of politics – and for good cause.

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Overview of Hacktivism and Anonymous as Influence”

2012/04/012012/04/01

Marcus Aurelius: Your Garbage Man is Watching You – Do Not Yawn

Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Law Enforcement

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius

Sounds like good idea as long as everybody knows the rules of game.

Garbage Collectors Around the U.S. Trained to Report Suspicious Activity

Public Intelligence

Several newspapers in southern Florida are reporting that trash collectors are receiving training from their employer Waste Management to work with local law enforcement to report crimes and other suspicious activities. The training is part of a program called Waste Watch that is designed to leverage the fact that “drivers are familiar with their routes and are in the same neighborhoods every day” which “puts them in the unique position to spot unusual activity and anything out of the ordinary.” Press releases from Waste Management describe the program as a way of opening “channels of communication with the authorities to help keep them informed and alert of what’s happening in their city’s streets and alleys.”

Continue reading “Marcus Aurelius: Your Garbage Man is Watching You – Do Not Yawn”

2012/03/29

Josh Kilbourn: Irish Economist David McWiliiams on liquidity & false recovery [Video of illustrated rolling live graphic]

03 Economy, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence

Irish economist David McWiliiams talks about liquidity and false recovery while a graphic artist illustrates his presentation along the way.

2012/03/262012/03/26

Video: “Illegal Everything”

Civil Society, Commerce, Government, Law Enforcement, Policy, Videos/Movies/Documentaries

The government is out of control as well as local prosecutors trying to make a name for themselves.

Phi Beta Iota: At the federal level, “illegal everything” is directly tied to incentivizing special interests that get 6-20 return on investment for campaign contributions. At local levels it seems to represent a fragmentation of society and an end of generic citizenship.

2012/03/25

Josh Kilbourn: Breaking Faith – $1 Trillion Student Debt Bubble Bursting — Unemployment Rate in US for 18-24 is 46%

Commerce, Corruption, Government

The First Crack: $270 Billion In Student Loans Are At Least 30 Days Delinquent

Back in late 2006 and early 2007 a few (soon to be very rich) people were warning anyone who cared to listen, about what cracks in the subprime facade meant for the housing sector and the credit bubble in general. They were largely ignored as none other than the Fed chairman promised that all is fine (see here). A few months later New Century collapsed and the rest is history: tens of trillions later we are still picking up the pieces and housing continues to collapse. Yet one bubble which the Federal Government managed to blow in the meantime to staggering proportions in virtually no time, for no other reason than to give the impression of consumer releveraging, was the student debt bubble, which at last check just surpassed $1 trillion, and is growing at $40-50 billion each month. However, just like subprime, the first cracks have now appeared. In a report set to convince borrowers that Student Loan ABS are still safe – of course they are – they are backed by all taxpayers after all in the form of the Family Federal Education Program – Fitch discloses something rather troubling, namely that of the $1 trillion + in student debt outstanding, “as many as 27% of all student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due.” In other words at least $270 billion in student loans are no longer current. That this is happening with interest rates at record lows is quite stunning and a loud wake up call that it is not rates that determine affordability and sustainability: it is general economic conditions, deplorable as they may be, which have made the popping of the student loan bubble inevitable. It also means that if the rise in interest rate continues, then the student loan bubble will pop that much faster, and bring another $1 trillion in unintended consequences on the shoulders of the US taxpayer who once again will be left footing the bill.

From Fitch:

Fitch believes most student loan asset-backed securities (ABS) transactions remain well protected due to the government guarantee on Family Federal Education Program (FFELP) loans. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently reported that as many as 27% of all student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due. Recent estimates mark outstanding student loans at $900 billion- $1 trillion. Fitch believes that the recent increase in past-due and defaulted student loans presents a risk to investors in private student loan ABS, but not those in ABS trusts backed by FFELP loans.

Why is the bubble starting to pop now?

Several macroeconomic factors are putting pressure on student loan borrowers. The main ones are unemployment and underemployment. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates the current unemployment rate for people 20 to 24 years old at nearly 14% and for those 25 to 34 years old, 8.7%. Underemployment is difficult to measure for these demographics, but it is likely having a negative impact.

Actually, no: the unemployment for 18-24 year olds is 46%. Yup: 46%.

Continue reading “Josh Kilbourn: Breaking Faith – $1 Trillion Student Debt Bubble Bursting — Unemployment Rate in US for 18-24 is 46%”

2012/03/232012/03/23

Sepp Hasslberger: Biplane to break sound barrier

03 Economy, Commerce

Biplane to Break the Sound Barrier: Cheaper, Quieter and Fuel-Efficient Biplanes Could Put Supersonic Travel On the Horizon

ScienceDaily (Mar. 19, 2012) — Cheaper, quieter and fuel-efficient biplanes could put supersonic travel on the horizon.

For 27 years, the Concorde provided its passengers with a rare luxury: time saved. For a pricey fare, the sleek supersonic jet ferried its ticketholders from New York to Paris in a mere three-and-a-half hours — just enough time for a nap and an aperitif. Over the years, expensive tickets, high fuel costs, limited seating and noise disruption from the jet's sonic boom slowed interest and ticket sales. On Nov. 26, 2003, the Concorde — and commercial supersonic travel — retired from service.

Since then, a number of groups have been working on designs for the next generation of supersonic jets. Now an MIT researcher has come up with a concept that may solve many of the problems that grounded the Concorde. Qiqi Wang, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics, says the solution, in principle, is simple: Instead of flying with one wing to a side, why not two?

Wang and his colleagues Rui Hu, a postdoc in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Antony Jameson, a professor of engineering at Stanford University, have shown through a computer model that a modified biplane can, in fact, produce significantly less drag than a conventional single-wing aircraft at supersonic cruise speeds. The group will publish their results in the Journal of Aircraft.

This decreased drag, according to Wang, means the plane would require less fuel to fly. It also means the plane would produce less of a sonic boom.

Read full article.

2012/03/21

Reference: Stratfor Emails

Blog Wisdom, Commerce, Corruption, Government, IO Impotency, Officers Call

Global Intelligence Files: Stratfor Emails

On Monday February 27th, 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing The Global Intelligence Files, over five million e-mails from the Texas headquartered “global intelligence” company Stratfor. The e-mails date between July 2004 and late December 2011. They reveal the inner workings of a company that fronts as an intelligence publisher, but provides confidential intelligence services to large corporations, such as Bhopal's Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies, including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US Defence Intelligence Agency. The emails show Stratfor's web of informers, pay-off structure, payment laundering techniques and psychological methods.

View all emails sorted by year 2004-2011.