Category: Tools

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Open Source Anonymous Banking….Here Now!

03 Economy, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Commerce, Commercial Intelligence, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Government, InfoOps (IO), IO Technologies, Methods & Process, Money, Banks & Concentrated Wealth, Reform, Tools
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What Happens When Anonymous Gets a Bank?

Dominic Basulto on May 18, 2011

bigthink

The same people who brought you Wikileaks are back, and this time, they've created a virtual currency called Bitcoin that could destabilize the entire global financial system. Bitcoin is an open-source virtual currency generated by a computer algorithm that is completely beyond the reach of financial intermediaries, central banks and national tax collectors. Bitcoins could be used to purchase anything, at any time, from anyone in the world, in a transaction process that it is almost completely frictionless. Yes, that's right, the hacktivists now have a virtual currency that's untraceable, unhackable, and completely Anonymous.

And that's where things start to get interesting. Veteran tech guru Jason Calacanis recently called Bitcoin the most dangerous open source project he's ever seen. TIME suggested that Bitcoin might be able to bring national governments and global financial institutions to their knees. You see, Bitcoin is as much a political statement as it is a virtual currency. If you think there's a shadow banking system now, wait a few more months. The political part is that, unlike other virtual currencies like Facebook Credits (used to buy virtual sock puppets for your friends), Bitcoins are globally transferrable across borders, making them the perfect instrument to finance any cause or any activity — even if it's banned by a sovereign government.

You don't need a banking or trading account to buy and trade Bitcoins – all you need is a laptop. They're like bearer bonds combined with the uber-privacy of a Swiss bank account, mixed together with a hacker secret sauce that stores them as 1's and 0's on your computer. They're “regulated” (to use the term lightly) by distributed computers around the world. Most significantly, Bitcoins can not be frozen or blocked or taxed or seized.

Read full article….

See Also:

Open Money
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Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption

Corruption, Tools
Patrick Meier

Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Patrick Meier

I had the distinct pleasure of being interviewed for this report on Harnessing Social Media Tools to Fight Corruption (PDF). The study was prepared by Dana Bekri, Brynne Dunn, Isik Oguzertem, Yan Su and Shivani Upreti as part of a final project for their degree from the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). The report was prepared for Transparency International (TI).

As part of this project, the authors compiled a very useful database of projects that apply social tools to create greater transparency and accountability around corruption issues. The authors recommend that TI draw on this list of projects to catalyze an active network of civil society initiatives that challenge corruption. The report also includes an interesting section on Mobilizing Volunteers and considers the role of volunteer networks as important in the fight against corruption. The authors write that,

“As an essential expression of citizenship and democracy, the past 25 years have seen rapid growth in the practice of volunteering worldwide. One study reports approximately 20.8 million volunteers in 37 countries, contributing US$ 400 billion to the world economy. The increasing enthusiasm of individuals to serve a cause while improving their own skills complements key goals of civil society organisations to build a strong volunteer force.”

This of course relates directly to the Standby Volunteer Task Force (SBTF), so I’m always keen to learn more about lessons learned and best practices in catalyzing a thriving volunteer network.

Do let me know if you’d like to get in touch with the authors, I’d be happy to provide an introduction via email.

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Cooperation Is Pledged By Nations Of the Arctic

06 Russia, 08 Wild Cards, Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Budgets & Funding, Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, History, InfoOps (IO), Intelligence (government), Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Maps, Methods & Process, Open Government, Policies, Policy, Politics of Science & Science of Politics, Real Time, Reform, Research resources, Serious Games, Standards, Strategy, Technologies, Threats, Tools
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Cooperation Is Pledged By Nations Of the Arctic

By

New York Times, May 12, 2011

NUUK, Greenland — The eight Arctic nations pledged Thursday to create international protocols to prevent and clean up offshore oil spills in areas of the region that are becoming increasingly accessible to exploration because of a changing climate.

The Arctic Council — the United States, Russia, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden — said the protocols would be modeled on a separate agreement signed here in Nuuk on Thursday to coordinate search-and-rescue operations over 13 million square miles of ocean.

Read more….

Phi Beta Iota: This is potentially world-changing, but pedestrian at this time.  Legal and logistics arrangements institutionalize old ways of doing things–slow, expensive, often inappropriate ways.  Much more exciting would be for the nations to agree to create an Arctic M4IS2 Centre, perhaps based in Copenhagen or in Oslo, with an emphasis on sustainable energy and climate change to begin with, but rapidly filling out to provide holistic analytics across all threats and helpful to the harmonization of spending across all policies.  Such a center could be innovative from the first day if it includes all eight tribes of intelligence in its organizational and outreach schema, creating a model for both the United Nations and for each of the continental political organizations.

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4 Trends Shaping the Emerging “Superfluid” Economy

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Collaboration Zones, Collective Intelligence, Communities of Practice, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Ethics, Geospatial, History, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), IO Mapping, IO Multinational, IO Sense-Making, Key Players, Maps, Methods & Process, Mobile, Policies, Real Time, Reform, Serious Games, Strategy, Technologies, Threats, Tools, Waste (materials, food, etc)
Venessa Miemis

4 Trends Shaping the Emerging “Superfluid” Economy

Venessa Miemis | May 9, 2011

This post originally appeared on CNN.com's Global Public Square.

Humanity and technology continue to co-evolve at an ever increasing pace, leaving traditional institutions (and mindsets) calcified and out of date. A new paradigm is emerging, where everything is increasingly connected and the nature of collaboration, business and work are all being reshaped. In turn, our ideas about society, culture, geographic boundaries and governance are being forced to adapt to a new reality.

While some fear the loss of control associated with these shifts, others are exhilarated by the new forms of connectivity and commerce that they imply. Transactions and interactions are growing faster and more frictionless, giving birth to what I call a “superfluid” economy.

Business will not return to usual. So let's discuss 4 key concepts to help us  better understand the shifts that are underway:

1. Quantifying and mapping everything
2. Everyone has access to the internet
3. Self-organizing expands
4. Peer-to-peer exchange changes the future of money

4 Trends discussed below the line with links

Continue reading “4 Trends Shaping the Emerging “Superfluid” Economy”

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Patrick Meier: Ushahadi Election Monitoring

11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Corruption, Counter-Oppression/Counter-Dictatorship Practices, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Geospatial, Government, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), IO Mapping, IO Sense-Making, Journalism/Free-Press/Censorship, Methods & Process, Open Government, Reform, Standards, Tools
Patrick Meier

Analyzing U-Shahid’s Election Monitoring Reports from Egypt

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Patrick Meier| Leave a comment

I’m excited to be nearing the completion of my dissertation research. As regular iRevolution readers will know, the second part of my dissertation is a qualitative and comparative analysis of the use of the Ushahidi platform in both Egypt and the Sudan. As part of this research, I am carrying out some content analysis of the reports mapped on U-Shahid and the SudanVoteMonitor. The purpose of this blog post is to share my preliminary analysis of the 2,700 election monitoring reports published on U-Shahid during Egypt’s Parliamentary Elections in November & December 2010.

Read full posting with links & graphic…

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Regional Metamorphosis & Social Architecture

Advanced Cyber/IO, Analysis, Augmented Reality, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Collective Intelligence, Commerce, Cultural Intelligence, Earth Intelligence, Ethics, info-graphics/data-visualization, InfoOps (IO), Methods & Process, Open Government, Policies, Serious Games, Standards, Strategy, Technologies, Tools

May 10th: Let the Infinite Games Begin!

svii

At our April 6 SVII gathering Bill Veltrop, co-founder of the Monterey Institute for Social Architecture (MISA), introduced Regional Metamorphosis as a pragmatic strategy for accelerating our movement into an Age of Conscious Evolution. Jesse Clark and colleagues then produced a video that does a great job of capturing the intent and spirit of that evening.

At the conclusion of the April 6 gathering Howard asserted that Silicon Valley had what it takes to be a leader in a regional metamorphosis movement. Howard invited us to explore this possibility together at a May 10th gathering at Serena Software from 4-7 PM.

Questions for you:

  1. Are you a GRIP, a game ready infinite player? Check your “symptoms” against this profile. http://www.theinfinitegames.org/e02/02.php
  1. Does the idea of playing a key role in bootstrapping a Silicon Valley regional metamorphosis initiative intrigue you? Below are some of the key roles we see needed if we are to turn this large idea into a global movement:

TEN MOST WANTED EVOLUTIONARIES

  • Angel Investors
  • Multimedia Story-tellers
  • Transformational Leaders
  • Champions of Generative Initiative
  • Leader for a Center for Regional Metamorphosis
  • Bridge-Builders from Academia
  • Online Collaboration Web Weavers
  • Developmental Mavens
  • Providers of Generative Services
  • Regional Conveners
  1. Are you willing to join with other interested GRIPs at Serena Software from 4-7 on Tuesday, May 10? At this gathering we will be —
  • Getting to know who we are — what each of us cares about, and could bring to this emerging infinite game
  • Diving more deeply into the ideas presented on April 6
  • Exploring for the best approach to getting traction in Silicon Valley — and beyond

Requests

  • If you plan to attend, please register here.
  • Register for May 10th: Let the infinite games begin! in Redwood City, CA on Eventbrite
  • The address is:
    Serena Software Inc
    1900 Seaport Boulevard,
    Redwood City, CA
  • If you can’t attend but are definitely interested, or if you have any questions, please contact Bill@MISA.ws or call at 831-462-1992
  • If you’ve a friend/colleague GRIP who is a good fit, please invite him/her to join us.
  • If you attended our April 6th gathering, you may find it helpful to refresh your memory with this video, http://vimeo.com/22894801
  • If you were not at the April 6th event it’s important that you invest the time to watch the video. The May 10th gathering will build on our April 6 work together.

Tip of the Hat to David Alan and Mark Roest.