Public Intelligence Blog – Page 3093 – The truth at any cost lowers all other costs — curated by former US spy Robert David Steele.

2011/09/082011/09/08

Chuck Spinney: Bin Laden, Perpetual War, Total Cost + Perpetual War RECAP

03 Economy, 04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 07 Other Atrocities, 09 Terrorism, 10 Security, 11 Society, Advanced Cyber/IO, Blog Wisdom, Government, Hacking, IO Deeds of War, Military, Officers Call

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Osama bin Laden repeatedly said that his strategy for defeating the US and driving it out of the Middle East was to bankrupt the US by suckering it into a string expensive of never ending small wars. Osama may be dead, but the US remains locked in a state of perpetual wars abroad and shrinking civil liberties at home.

So was Osama right?

The dismaying debt ceiling spectacle in Congress is revealing in one psychological sense: A clear majority of US politicians now believe (I think incorrectly [1]) that the US federal government is bankrupt.

On this anniversary of 9-11, in addition to remembering the dead and the sacrifices of the living, we ought to look in the mirror and ask ourselves if America was taken to the cleaners by a Saudi whack job of Yemeni extraction. One way to start is by trying to figure out what kind of cash hemorrhage was triggered by our reaction to Osama's attack. My good friend Winslow Wheeler has been grappling with this problem, and his answer below is not pretty.

Chuck Spinney
Sanary sur Mer, France

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

Five Trillion and Counting

What Has Been the Real Costs of the Post-9/11 Wars?

by WINSLOW T. WHEELER, Counterpunch

Continue reading “Chuck Spinney: Bin Laden, Perpetual War, Total Cost + Perpetual War RECAP”

2011/09/08

Jon Lebkowsky: Cyborg Bridge – Disabled Mind-Meld Robots

Advanced Cyber/IO

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True cyborgs: “disabled patients mind-meld with robots”

Disabled patients are learning to use robot extensions directed by brain activity, currently in a limited way – but tests are promising. One hope is that “locked-in” patients, those unable to communicate with the outside world, can use robots to communicate and interact. Researchers set up a modified Robotino robot with an interface that translates EEG signals into realtime navigation instructions. Initial tests were with healthy subjects, then with disabled subjects who had been confined to bed for 6-7 years.

Researchers set up a modified Robotino robot with an interface that translates EEG signals into realtime navigation instructions. Initial tests were with healthy subjects, then with disabled subjects who had been confined to bed for 6-7 years.

Researcher José del R. Millán, a biomedical engineer at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, says “says he wasn’t terribly surprised that disabled people could control the robot.” However

he was surprised how fast they learned. He is now hoping to involve more bed-bound patients, including locked-in patients in the study. He also sees future applications for the shared control brain-machine interface, such as modifying it to let a user control a prosthetic limb or a wheelchair. And the researchers may eventually add an arm to the current telepresent robot to allow it to grasp objects.

[Link]

2011/09/082011/09/08

Koko: Project Kleinrock – Mesh – Autonomous Internet

Autonomous Internet

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Koko Signs: Autonomous Internet good. Project Kleinrock good. Gorillas love liberty and scorn both the security state and the nanny state. Live free or die….

Project Kleinrock

Following are the details of a project to create a completely autonomous “second layer” of the Internet, completely free of the influence of or need for Internet Service Providers, and untouchable by the government. This plan is named after Leonard Kleinrock, inventor of the Internet Packet. It has been enacted after news of a bill entering the United States Senate which would allow a President to disable all Internet connectivity within the United States. (We later heard that this bill doesn't do quite that, but that the President has had the power to shut down any telecommunications network (as defined by the FCC) for over 70 years.)

Read full Wiki page.

Phi Beta Iota: OmergaSDG is one of many isolated wiki pages spawned by the lack of integrity at Wikipedia, where trolls and editing wars are rife. While unfortunate that Wikipedia never matured, eventually we envision a reintegration of Wikipedia using the cross-wiki naming conventions and increased access to “lock-downs” that are now abused by Wikipedia mandarins for their own pet rocks, but should be generally available to those who spend days creating content with integrity only to see it lost to a troll in seconds.

Tip of the Hat to John Robb for the link.

2011/09/07

Reference: Council of Europe on Abuse of State Secrecy — the Beginning of Global Push-Back on CIA Rendition, Torture, and Assassination–JSOG Next

07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, 09 Justice, Commissions, Cultural Intelligence, Ethics, Government

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EU-StateSecrecy — Click on Image to Enlarge

Council of Europe Draft Resolution on Abuse of State Secrecy and National Security

Tip of the Hat to Public Intelligence.Net at Twitter. In our view this represents the beginning of global push-back against crimes against humanity by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) acting “in our name” and at our expense. Similar push-back against the Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG) can be expected.

2011/09/072011/09/07

Worth a Look: Books By Hacker Kevin Mitnick

5 Star, Asymmetric, Cyber, Hacking, Odd War

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5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended!!!!! A must read for hacker and non-hacker alike, September 7, 2011

By Michael T. Gracy

One of the most humble and honest telling of a personal story. Kevin pulls no punches and does not hide behind any excuses for what he did and why he did it (I pulled the fire alarm on my first day of kindergarten to see what it would do). He fully acknowledges the consequences of his actions and atones for them by giving back in this book. This story is the true and original definition of hacker, not what the media has twisted it into. A must read for anyone wishing to understand the mindset and drive of a hacker. Thank you Kevin for bringing to the light (even though geeks tend to avoid light) what it is we strive for – knowledge.

Continue reading “Worth a Look: Books By Hacker Kevin Mitnick”

2011/09/072011/09/07

Venessa Miemis: Libraries as Hackerspaces?

04 Education, 11 Society, Academia, Advanced Cyber/IO, Blog Wisdom, Civil Society, Collective Intelligence, Cultural Intelligence, Hacking

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Are Libraries the Hackerspaces of the Future?

September 7, 2011

As I was reading through the projects coming to our upcoming Contact Summit in NYC next month, I was inspired by a few people who are reimagining what a library could be.

Library Turns Hackerspace

Perhaps you’ve heard the term hackerspace, or something along a similar vein, like makerspace, makerlab, or fab lab. Wikipedia defines it as

“a location where people with common interests, usually in computers, technology, science, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and/or collaborate. Hackerspaces can be viewed as open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things.”

Click on Image to Enlarge

Read full post.

Phi Beta Iota: Note the Weberian centralized Dewey system on the left, and the chaordic vivaciousness on the right. This is what digital freedom and cultural freedom make possible.

2011/09/07

Interview: Author of ‘Epic Win for Anonymous’

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

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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