Information on the latest developments in Ukraine is of utmost importance for European policy makers. A crucial player in this field is the EU Intelligence Analysis Centre (INTCEN), the EU’s own intelligence hub in Brussels. Director Ilkka Salmi: ‘Our reporting helps the European External Action Service and other European institutions to formulate policies towards crisis hotspots in the world today.’
Every year since 1976, Project Censored, our nation's oldest news-monitoring group–a university-wide project at Sonoma State University founded by Carl Jensen, directed for many years by Peter Phillips, and now under the leadership of Mickey Huff–has produced a Top-25 list of underreported news stories and a book, Censored, dedicated to the stories that ought to be top features on the nightly news, but that are missing because of media bias and self-censorship.
The Internet is good for many things, especially generating tera-quads of content. News, social media content, videos, etc. pop up every second and people simply do not have the time to read it. The Verge posted the tongue-in-cheek article, “You’re Not Going To Read This” and it talks about the skyrocketing amount of content. The CEO of Chartbeat Tony Haile dropped a bomb for companies that specialize in content, “We’ve found effectively no correlation between social shares and people actually reading [an article].”
What a smack in the face!
People wear tweet and shared numbers like Girl Scout badges. If this has no value, what is the point of having a social media specialist? It’s not that generating content is bad, but people do not have the time to read every article. They usually skim the headlines and tweet without reading what they send. It really is a data overload.
In the wake of leaked documents detailing extensive, indiscriminate monitoring of the internet a number of solutions have appeared. These new alternatives to the traditional world wide web could completely alter the way we access information. But can they stop a nosy government? Is it possible to have a truly secure network that cannot be undermined by overreaching authorities?
Last Summer the name Edward Snowden went viral as we learned about the former National Security Agency contractors leak of documents related to massive spying and surveillance operations taking place in the United States and abroad. We learned that nearly all digital communications are catalogued and stored in a database. We learned that internet giants such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and others work with the government to share your personal information. These revelations have prompted a wave of internet users to begin looking for a way to safely, securely and privately share information.
Total Information Sharing
One of the latest ideas to spring forth is a bold initiative called the Outernet. The Media Development Investment Fund is planning to launch hundreds of miniature satellites around the earth to create a wireless internet that anyone can access for free. The miniature satellite, or cubesat, will receive data from ground antennas around the globe and broadcast the content in the same manner as a television broadcast.
I was a CIA spy from 1979 to 1988, leaving when invited to be a co-creator of the Marine Corps Intelligence Center from 1988 to 1993. Since 1993, I have been one of the more persistent published proponents of intelligence reform around the world.
In 2010, I was among those interviewed for the position of defense intelligence senior leader for human intelligence (HUMINT). I made two points during that interview: First, in a declining fiscal environment, the best way to pay for a defense spy program would be by cutting in half the Measurements and Signatures Analysis Intelligence program, which is under the oversight of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director. It is the most over-hyped and underperforming national collection program.
Second, micro-pockets of excellence notwithstanding, no one serving in the Pentagon (or CIA) was qualified by mindset or experience to create the Defense Clandestine Service (DCS). I was particularly pointed about the complacency and ineptitude of the entrenched civilian cadre, and the inexperience and uncertainty of their constantly changing uniformed counterparts.
Here are my observations on whether there should be a DCS, and if so, how it should be trained, equipped and organized.
The publishers Springer and IEEE are removing more than 120 papers from their subscription services after a French researcher discovered that the works were computer-generated nonsense.
Welcome to the Free Software Supporter, the Free Software Foundation's monthly news digest and action update — being read by you and 76,457 other activists. That's 809 more than last month!
