Technologies – Page 4 – Public Intelligence Blog

2011/09/252011/09/25

Robert Steele: Ignored 1994, Ignored 2011–Deja Vu

07 Other Atrocities, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, DHS, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), DoD, Government, Hill Letters & Testimony, IO Impotency, Legislation, Military, Policies, Standards, Technologies

steele smiling final — Robert David STEELE Vivas

One of our contributors passed this to me and asked me to comment in relation to the alarm that Winn Schwartau, Bill Caeli, Jim Anderson, and I sounded in 1994, in writing, to Marty Harris, then head of the National Information Infrastructure (NII).

First, the item.

From the man who discovered Stuxnet, dire warnings one year later

Mark Clayton

Christian Science Monitor, 22 September 2011

Stuxnet, the cyberweapon that attacked and damaged an Iranian nuclear facility, has opened a Pandora's box of cyberwar, says the man who uncovered it. A Q&A about the potential threats.

EXTRACT:

CSM: How would you characterize the year since Stuxnet – the response by nations, industry and government?

LANGNER: Last year, after Stuxnet was identified as a weapon, we recommended to every asset owner in America – owners of power plants, chemical plants, refineries and others – to make it a top priority to protect their systems…. That wakeup call lasted only about a week. Thereafter, everybody fell back into coma. The most bizarre thing is that even the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Siemens [maker of the industrial control system targeted by Stuxnet] talked about Stuxnet being a wakeup call, but never got into the specifics of what needed to be done.

Continue reading “Robert Steele: Ignored 1994, Ignored 2011–Deja Vu”

2011/09/07

Interview: Author of ‘Epic Win for Anonymous’

Civil Society, Computer/online security, Ethics, Hacking, Technologies

One on One: Cole Stryker, Author of ‘Epic Win for Anonymous’

By JENNA WORTHAM

Cole Stryker, a freelance writer and media consultant living in New York, spent years digging into Internet culture and communities, both as a participant and as a blogger covering viral phenomena. He’s the author of a new book called “Epic Win for Anonymous: How 4chan’s Army Conquered the Web.” He discussed with me what it’s like exploring the seedy underbelly of the Internet, the rise of Anonymous, and why it and 4chan, widely considered one of the darkest and most subversive corners of the Internet, may be one of the most important and influential creations to emerge from the modern Web.

Also see:
Autonomous Internet: 4chan and anonymnity

AnonOps

2011/09/052011/09/05

Seth Godin: Back to (the wrong) school — inspires a plan to retrain 44% of the US workforce in one year

03 Economy, 04 Education, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Collaboration Zones, Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Ethics, InfoOps (IO), IO Deeds of Peace, Methods & Process, Open Government, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Serious Games, Standards, Strategy, Technologies, Threats

Back to (the wrong) school

A hundred and fifty years ago, adults were incensed about child labor. Low-wage kids were taking jobs away from hard-working adults.

Sure, there was some moral outrage at seven-year olds losing fingers and being abused at work, but the economic rationale was paramount. Factory owners insisted that losing child workers would be catastrophic to their industries and fought hard to keep the kids at work–they said they couldn't afford to hire adults. It wasn't until 1918 that nationwide compulsory education was in place.

Part of the rationale to sell this major transformation to industrialists was that educated kids would actually become more compliant and productive workers. Our current system of teaching kids to sit in straight rows and obey instructions isn't a coincidence–it was an investment in our economic future. The plan: trade short-term child labor wages for longer-term productivity by giving kids a head start in doing what they're told.

Large-scale education was never about teaching kids or creating scholars. It was invented to churn out adults who worked well within the system.

Of course, it worked. Several generations of productive, fully employed workers followed. But now?

Continue reading “Seth Godin: Back to (the wrong) school — inspires a plan to retrain 44% of the US workforce in one year”

2011/09/022011/09/02

Worth a Look: Box.Net Takes the Cloud to Next Level

Technologies, Tools, Worth A Look

This 26-Year Old Founder Is Raising $100 Million To Take On Giants Like Microsoft

Why companies are flocking to HTML5

HP TouchPad Buyers Still Get 50GB of Box.net Cloud Storage

TC Cribs: A Magical Journey Through Box.net (In The Cloud)

Box.net ramps up HTML5 app development

Box.net Leads the Way to Embracing Mobile Diversity

Quoted: Inside the Box.net CEO’s thoughts on the cloud

Box.Net Home

2011/08/29

DefDog: Mystery Drone in Pakistan–And No HUMINT

InfoOps (IO), IO Impotency, Technologies

We use technology because we don't have anyone trained to do the “on the ground” job. DIA says no to anyone staying in place for five years (they might go native) so we never develop the level of expertise the Brits had…..native would answer General Flynn's questions…..

Weird, Birdlike Mystery Drone Crashes in Pakistan

Spencer Ackerman

WIRED, 29 August 2011

It looks a bit like silver bird. It probably was used to spy on insurgents. And now it’s in the hands of the Pakistanis.

WIRED editor-in-chief Chris Anderson flags pictures of an unusual, unfamiliar drone that reportedly crashed crashed over southwestern Pakistan late last week. It’s a surveillance drone, with a camera attached — recovered from the crash but not apparently visible in this photo — rather than the larger, deathly flying robots that shoot missiles. This one looks tiny, with a wingspan not much longer than a man’s outstretched arms, and clearly light enough for a grown man to carry.