Ethics – Page 172 – Public Intelligence Blog

This is a pre-publication article. It is provided for researcher browsing and quick reference.The final published version of the article is available at:

‘Creative Economies and Research Universities’ in M.A. Peters
and D. Araya (eds) Education in the Creative Economy: Knowledge and Learning in the Age of Innovation (New York: Peter Lang, 2010), pp 331-358.

After the Culture Wars, now come the Economy Wars

When the world recession in 2008 began, the economy wars, which had beendormant for two decades, flared again. After thirty years of the culture wars, this came as a bit of a relief.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Peter Murphy on Creative Economies and Research Universities”

2014/01/23

Jean Lievens: Peru Providing Solar Electricity to the Poor Via National Program

01 Poverty, 05 Energy, Ethics, Government

From blog.p2pfoundation.net – January 22, 7:57 PM

Peru, where currently only some 66% of the population has access to electricity, will install solar panels in a National Photovoltaic Household Electrification Program for 500,000 of the poorest households.

The project, which was kicked off recently in Contumaza province with the installation of some 1600 solar panels, will eventually provide electricity to many Peruvians who now lack it.

It is estimated that by the end of 2016, 95% of the population will have at least basic electricity from a solar panel installed on their house.

Continue reading “Jean Lievens: Peru Providing Solar Electricity to the Poor Via National Program”

2014/01/212014/01/21

Sarah Harrison, Jacob Appelbaum & Julian Assange — YouTube Call to Resistance, SysAdmins Unite

07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Transnational Crime, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

Sysadmins of the world, unite! a call to resistance

Finally, the world is aware of the threat of mass surveillance and control, but we still have a fight on our hands, and that fight is both technical and political. Global democracy is not going to protect itself. There has never been a higher demand for a politically-engaged hackerdom. Jacob Appelbaum and Julian Assange discuss what needs to be done if we are going to win. The first part of this talk will discuss the WHAT? and the WHY?: the historical challenge we face, and how we are called to resistance. We are living in a defining historical moment.

Phi Beta Iota: Activist organizations have grown by 30% — we are at the end of the second era of national “intelligence” as covert action and sustained idiocy. We are at the beginning of ethical citizen activism empowered by digital access superior to that of the retarded industrial-era governments and corporations. Below is 31:38 – a primer on how this generation of digital literati is thinking about non-violent revolution.

More information below the line.

Continue reading “Sarah Harrison, Jacob Appelbaum & Julian Assange — YouTube Call to Resistance, SysAdmins Unite”

2014/01/212014/01/21

Stephen E. Arnold: Yale Online Course Catalog Censorship Update

Academia, Ethics, Ineptitude

Yale Online Course Catalog Update

I read “Yale Censored a Student’s Course Selection Website. So I Made an Unblockable Replacement.” The author seems to be a Yale student. Excitement will definitely ensue. Also, I am encouraged that the workaround is a Google Chrome extension. Good news for students who want to use a popular browser to respond to administrative actions. Perhaps a Googler will help out in the spring?

Here’s the passage I noted:

Banned Bluebook never stores data on any servers. It [the code] never talks to any non-Yale servers. Moreover, since my software is smarter at caching data locally than the official Yale course website, I expect that students using this extension will consume less bandwidth over time than students without it. Don’t believe me? You can read the source code. No data ever leaves Yale’s control. Trademarks, copyright infringement, and data security are non-issues. It’s 100% kosher.

Yep, kosher.

Stephen E Arnold, January 20, 2014

Previous Yale Report:

Stephen E. Arnold: Yales Censors Superior Course Catalog Made By Its Own Students

2014/01/20

4th Media: US Navy Bottoms Up

Ethics, Military

“US Naval Might is WANING,” REALLY?

On January 3 Rear Admiral Viktor Bursuk, a deputy commander of the Russian navy who oversees weapons procurement, said Russia’s Navy is expected to receive 40 new warships and auxiliary vessels in 2014.

In addition to surface ships of various classes, the Navy will also commission the third Borey-class nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, the Vladimir Monomakh, and a Varshavyanka-class diesel electric submarine.

Continue reading “4th Media: US Navy Bottoms Up”

2014/01/192014/01/19

Mongoose: Security Stupid & Security Real

Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Military

Security Stupid:

A couple months ago there was a TRIAL in DC involving an active duty officer in Afghanistan who passed a threat warning via NIPRNET – and was thrown under the bus even though the threat was valid and an attack of the site occurred.

Security Real:

Marine Corps officer hoards classified documents at home for a possible book

2014/01/19

Jean Lievens: Sharing Economy Steeped in Ethical Controversy

Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics

The Sharing Economy is Steeped in Ethical Controversy

EXTRACT:

According to Vice contributor Kelly Carlin, the term “sharing economy” has become a misnomer. By attaching the word “sharing” to a service it gives clients a warm fuzzy feeling, like attaching “green” or “all natural.” Carlin calls it ‘sharewashing.’ “Peel back the wrapper and you find that beneath its promised efficiencies and innovations, the sharing economy moniker can sometimes whitewash operations that are tax-shifting, labour-regulation-skirting and tip-stealing,” she writes.

Read full article.