IO Impotency – Page 192 – Public Intelligence Blog

2013/06/082013/06/08

Rickard Falkvinge: NSA as Poster Child for Government & Corporate Corruption, Collusion, & Treason

03 Economy, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Civil Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Law Enforcement, Military

Told You So: If You Have Been Using A Centralized Comms Service, You Were Wiretapped

Privacy: This night, news broke that the USA’s security agencies have been wiretapping essentially every major centralized social service for private data. Photos, video conferences, text chats, and voice calls – everything. We have been saying this for years and been declared tinfoil hat and conspiracy nuts; it’s good to finally see the documents in black on white.

This night, European time, the news broke that the USA’s National Security Agency (NSA) has had direct access to pretty much every social network for the past several years, dating back to 2007, under a program named PRISM. Under the program, a number of social services voluntarily feed people’s private data to the NSA. In short, if you have been using/uploading

e-mail
video or voice chat
videos
photos
stored data
VoIP calls
file transfers
video conferencing
(and more)

…from any of…

Microsoft (incl. Hotmail et al), since Sep 11, 2007
Google, since Jan 14, 2009
Yahoo, since Mar 12, 2008
Facebook, since June 3, 2009
PalTalk, since Dec 7, 2009
YouTube, since Sep 24, 2010
Skype, since Feb 6, 2011
AOL, since Mar 31, 2011
Apple, since Oct 2012

…then you have been wiretapped, and still are.

Continue reading “Rickard Falkvinge: NSA as Poster Child for Government & Corporate Corruption, Collusion, & Treason”

2013/06/072013/06/07

Mini-Me: Obama Goes to Cyber-War, Not Realizing The Depth and Breadth of the Lies He Hears and Reads — Professional Interrogation of General Alexander and Others Recommended

04 Inter-State Conflict, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Proliferation, Corruption, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency, Military

Huh?

White House: Obama adjusting use of cyber offense in response to threats

EXTRACT:

Gen. Keith Alexander, the top officer at U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, testified March 12 before the Senate Armed Services Committee that the potential for an attack against the nation’s electric grid and other essential systems is real and that the federal government needed to take more aggressive steps.

At the time, Alexander said 13 cyber teams were being formed to guard the nation against destructive attacks in cyberspace, stressing that their role would be offensive. He also said the teams would work outside the United States, but he did not say where.

Read full article.

Continue reading “Mini-Me: Obama Goes to Cyber-War, Not Realizing The Depth and Breadth of the Lies He Hears and Reads — Professional Interrogation of General Alexander and Others Recommended”

2013/06/062013/06/06

Berto Jongman: US Attacking Iran and China — While Living in a Glass House

02 China, 05 Iran, Government, Idiocy, Ineptitude, IO Deeds of War, IO Impotency

Silent War

On the hidden battlefields of history’s first known cyber-war, the casualties are piling up. In the U.S., many banks have been hit, and the telecommunications industry seriously damaged, likely in retaliation for several major attacks on Iran. Washington and Tehran are ramping up their cyber-arsenals, built on a black-market digital arms bazaar, enmeshing such high-tech giants as Microsoft, Google, and Apple. With the help of highly placed government and private-sector sources, Michael Joseph Gross describes the outbreak of the conflict, its escalation, and its startling paradox: that America’s bid to stop nuclear proliferation may have unleashed a greater threat.

Read full article (5 screens).

Continue reading “Berto Jongman: US Attacking Iran and China — While Living in a Glass House”

2013/06/022013/06/02

2013 Army’s new mobile network to support its Afghan security mission

Ineptitude, IO Impotency, Military

Army's new mobile network to support its Afghan security mission

FORT DRUM, N.Y. (May 31, 2013) — As the U.S. mission in Afghanistan evolves from full spectrum combat operations to a support role in helping Afghan forces take hold of their country's security, unit commanders emphasize the need for network mobility.

Warfighter Information Network-Tactical, or WIN-T, Increment 2, the Army's improved tactical network communications backbone, was designed to fulfill such a mission.

“As we reduce our presence in Afghanistan, it is absolutely critical that we continue to understand what is happening around us, to understand the operational environment,” said Col. Sam Whitehurst, commander of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry), during a recent training exercise at Fort Drum, in preparation for his unit's possible deployment to Afghanistan. “My ability to take the information that I am hearing from my team leaders, and then share it with all of our Afghan partners, so they can correspondingly help confirm or deny that information and share what they are seeing, is one of the most critical elements as we go forward into Afghanistan over the next year.”

The mobile WIN-T Increment 2 network is being fielded as part of the Army's new capability sets. Capability Set 13, or CS 13, is the first of these fully-integrated fielding efforts, which are scalable and tailorable in design to support the changing requirements of current and future missions. CS 13 includes radios, satellite systems, software applications, smartphone-like devices and other network components that provide connectivity from the stationary command post to the commander on-the-move to the dismounted Soldier. WIN-T Increment 2 is the tactical communications network backbone that binds the capability sets together.

Continue reading “2013 Army's new mobile network to support its Afghan security mission”

2013/06/022013/06/02

SchwartzReport: In Govenrment We Do Not Trust….

Corruption, Culture, Design, Government, Ineptitude, IO Impotency, Politics

Here is the abstract of a research paper, that is one of the first things I ever saw that seriously considered the E-government trend, and how it is going to impact citizens. It was published two years ago and, recently a reader sent it to me, and I read it again. I want you to notice how little has changed in the three year! s since it was published. Why is that, do you suppose?

Also note this odd lacuna. There is not discussion of voting, only communications. With our existing technology it is possible to develop e-voting in such a way that each citizen could vote. You wouldn't have to have polling booths, you wouldn't have to mail things, and you wouldn't have to go anywhere. It could be done from any computer, a pad, or a smartphone. To secure it you could use social security numbers, a pre-set-up ID, and a password.

We do billions of financial transactions each day on less security. By comparison this would be 50 state websites, whose Federal totals were simultaneously sent to a Federal website. Everyone eligible could vote in a single day. It would all be completely transparent to the media and the citizens.

It would bypass voter suppression, hanging chads, and all the rest of the schemes. And it would produce a radically different Congress and serve as the counterweight to Citizens' United.

Ask yourself: Why don't we have such a system?

Misplaced Trust? Exploring the Structure of the E-Government-Citizen Trust Relationship
FORREST V. MORGESON III, DAVID VANAMBURG and SUNIL MITHAS – Journal of Public Adminstation Research and Theory

Abstract

A growing body of research focuses on the relationship between e-government, the relatively new mode of citizen-to-government contact founded in information and communications technologies, and citizen trust in government. For many, including both academics and policy makers, e-government is seen as a potentially transformational medium, a mode of contact that could dramatically improve citizen perceptions of government service delivery and possibly reverse the long-running decline in citizen trust in government. To date, however, the literature has left significant gaps in our understanding of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. This study intends to fill some of these gaps. Using a cross-sectional sample of 787 end users of US federal government services, data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index study, and structural equation modeling statistical techniques, this study explores the structure of the e-government-citizen trust relationship. Included in the! model are factors influencing the decision to adopt e-government, as well as prior expectations, overall satisfaction, and outcomes including both confidence in the particular agency experienced and trust in the federal government overall. The findings suggest that although e-government may help improve citizens’ confidence in the future performance of the agency experienced, it does not yet lead to greater satisfaction with an agency interaction nor does it correlate with greater generalized trust in the federal government overall. Explanations for these findings, including an assessment of the potential of e-government to help rebuild trust in government in the future, are offered.

2013/06/012013/06/01

Chuck Spinney: Whither the British Poodle?

Cultural Intelligence, Government, Ineptitude, IO Impotency, Military, Peace Intelligence

Could anything have checked America’s mad rush to war in Iraq in 2003, driven as it was by a cabal of neoconmen intent on cynically manipulating the trauma of 9-11 to achieve a different agenda?

Perhaps (1) if Colin Powell had the courage to resign on principle rather than allowing himself to be pressured into giving his disgraceful imitation of Adlai Stevenson's performance at the UN during the Cuban Missile Crisis, or almost certainly (2) if the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair sided with France, Germany, and Russia and the majority of Europeans in opposing the Iraq war. Of course, no one will ever know, but Powell enjoyed immense moral stature at the time, and without his cheerleading, the veneer of Bush’s and Cheney’s moral authority would certainly have been far weaker. The case of Blair, aka Bush’s poodle, is more complex: If the UK sided with Europe, Bush would have been isolated and the march to war very likely might well have been still born.

But a large number, perhaps a majority, of the English people do not see themselves as being Europeans. And the English elites, like Blair, trust instead in using the UK’s “special relationship” with the US to punch above their weight in world affairs. Viewed narrowly, the UK-US special relationship has roots in WWII, but the UK’s proud sense of separateness from Europe reaches back at least a 1000 years in history and is grounded in its island geography. The English have never resolved the question: Are they part of Europe? The UK’s tepid membership in the EU illustrates the point.

The below op-ed by Immanuel Wallerstein argues that European question is again coming to forefront of British politics and pressure to leave the EU is mounting. Moreover, the question is being complicated by the growing regional tensions in Northern Ireland, Wales, and especially Scotland.

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Whither the British Poodle?”

2013/06/012013/06/01

Stephen E. Arnold: Google as (Manipulative) Fact Deliverer

Commerce, Corruption, Government, Ineptitude, IO Impotency

Google as a Fact Deliverer

Posted: 31 May 2013 06:17 AM PDT

I read “Google Adds Nutrition Info for over 1,000 Foods to Search Results.” According to the write up, “Google is incorporating nutrition data into search; beginning today, results will include “extensive” details on calories, carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, and other relevant food info.” How significant is the fact delivery adjustment? I think it is pretty important. Google can shape content based on its numerical recipes to advance an agenda via search results. Just as Google is influencing the perception of self driving vehicles and commercially sponsored connectivity in the US and Africa, Google’s ability to push buttons and spin dials in the information world will have interesting consequences.

Stephen E Arnold, May 31, 2013