Category: ICT

Greg Bear on Jon Stewart

~ Matt Armstrong

Greg Bear, a member of SIGMA, was on the The Daily Show with Jon Stewart last night to pitch his new book Quantico about “near-future threats”. The conversation quickly went to his advisory role to the government. He effectively explained what he and SIGMA does, how the science-fiction (not science fantasy) community helps the FBI and DHS think throw threats and threat mitigation strategies. Bear complimented new DHS Science & Technology Chief Jay Cohen who gave the contractors at the recent Department of Homeland Security S&T conference a unique request: “show me products I didn’t know I need.” Watch the interview here or below.

What Greg didn’t talk about was our conversations on blogging, robots, and politics. Maybe if the interview was longer…

Reading: mixing virtual with physical

~ Matt Armstrong

trailrunner46 One of my favorite magazine, TrailRunner, now has a digital edition. Unlike The Atlantic or Foreign Affairs that simply offers their content online, this is a real tree-less version of the pulp version with flipping pages and everything using RealRead.

It’s an interesting idea. It may simplify content management system (CMS) requirements, implementation and management costs while at the same time providing a “natural” (traditional or to the techies, Luddite) experience.

Interesting. Although I’ll keep my hard copy, I spend too much time in front of the computer as it is, it could be a valuable resource for making content accessible to developing or poor regions around the world (the former referring of course to non-US locales while the latter may refer to US domestic locales). Make this technology available through projects like the Iraqi Virtual Science Library, usable with $100 Laptops, and you’ve made content more accessible.

Liberal Wikians

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 8 Comments

The Wikipedia entry for the book Unrestricted Warfare is being “considered for deletion”. Here is the discussion by the WikiPolice:

This book appears to be somewhat controversial yet there is no sourcing given for the claims that are made in it. I see from Amazon that a translation was published by a publisher I have never heard of. I frankly question the notability of this book.–Samiharris 15:35, 19 May 2007 (UTC)

and this

This book is strange, as is this article on it. As pointed out in the PROD, there doesn’t seem to be any record of the publisher “Pan American Publishing Company” of Panama City. There is a “Pan American Publishing Company” of Los Angeles that publishes bilingual Spanish/English texts for grade schools. There doesn’t seem to be much on this from anywhere other than the book itself (btw would the Chinese authorize the publication of this? Is it a copyright violation?), and a couple of things from the “intelligence” community. In short this has propaganda, spooks, and unreliable written all over it.

I think it’s fair to say that while it does seem to be based on an authenic document, the translation and emotive cover of the book has the smell of a black propaganda effort, or at the very least, irresponsible sensationalism. This would not be inconsistent with the proto-neocon organisation Team B’s mistranslations of Russian documents in the late 1970s, and related CIA misinformation which indirectly convinced the then head of CIA William Casey into believing the agency’s own lies, lies suggesting that Russians were the masterminds behind seemingly unrelated global terrorist activities.”

I’ll suggest that any source on this seems unreliable, and that nothing should be put on Wikipedia until a RELIABLE SOURCE can be found.

PurpleSlog has been working with the sad and sorry WikiPolice to keep the article. Questioning the source of an entry isn’t new, especially if it is outside the thought realm of the WikiPolice (“I frankly question the notability of this book.”), as Kathryn Cramer documented earlier this year (scroll down to “Examples of things that didn’t fly”).

The fight PurpleSlog is in is a key reason the ConflictWiki exists: lunatic sysops and a source policy that is both too restrictive and too broad. (Note: the ConflictWiki will be undergoing an overhaul to make it easier to use.)

For real info on Unrestricted Warfare, see the website for Unrestricted Warfare Symposium earlier this year. To download, see the ConflictWiki.

UPDATE: see the “Articles for Deletion” discussion on Wikipedia if you want a good laugh. Especially humorous is this recommendation for delete:

delete – It’s not clear whether this meets the Threashold criteria from Wikipedia:Notability (books)It’s from an unknown publisher, published apparently in translation without the supposed authors consent, and claims to have been translated by the CIA. Checking notability critera beyond the threashold:

“Criteria

A book is generally notable if it verifiably meets through reliable sources, one or more of the following criteria:

1. The book has been the subject [1] of multiple, non-trivial[2] published works whose sources are independent of the book itself,…. such as newspaper articles, other books, television documentaries and reviews…. (I don’t see any evidence of this.)

2. The book has won a major literary award. (no evidence of this)

3. The book has been made or adapted with attribution into a motion picture … (no evidence of this)

4. The book is the subject of instruction at multiple grade schools, high schools, universities or post-graduate programs in any particular country. (There was ONE (not multiple) symposium at John Hopkins – but you needed a “SECRET” security clearance to attend.)

5. The book’s author is so historically significant…” (Don’t think so)
Most importantly – there is nothing reliable about any of the sources on this book, nothing verifiable. Smallbones 15:18, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Major motion picture? Correction, the symposium was two days, only the second required a clearance, but so what?

You’ll see others have joined in and noted references that “Smallbones”, a probably not-so-ironic name didn’t see.

If you want to contribute to the debate at Wikipedia, go here, or of course add your comments below.

Amazon 1 : Google 0

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

Amazon’s move into hosted environments is leaping ahead of Google’s dominance of web ownership. Overall Amazon Web Services is pretty cool stuff (the Turk, Simple Storage Service, and more), but the Amazon Elastic Computing Cloud (Amazon EC2) is really cool. I don’t know if they’re using VMWare or what SAN they’re using (StorageWorks? Content Addressed Storage?), but they’ve got game. Check it out.

I’m not happy with MediaWiki platform for the ConflictWiki, and will be exploring solutions that might be better hosted on a dedicated Amazon EC2 system, or on my very capable ISP.

DHS S&T Conference: two panels worth attending

~ Matt Armstrong

Next week MountainRunner will be chairing two panels at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Stakeholder’s Conference at the Reagan Convention Center in Washington, D.C. 

On Tuesday, May 22, at 4p is “Science as Diplomacy”. On the panel is:

The panel description:

Science and technology are ubiquitous in the modern world. S&T transcends political and cultural divides and fosters long lasting relationships based on networking and collaboration both domestically and internationally. Understanding the value of these relationships, as channels for global cooperation and democracy building, and utilizing them have effects beyond the initial contact.

Working with foreign scientists, as well as their communities, either here or abroad, not only taps into and develops additional research and development capacity, it also promotes changes in commercial, academic, infrastructure, and legal system that form the foundation of democratic institutions, creating a win-win for people and societies and S&T. Polls continue to show American science and technology are admired by countries that increasingly oppose American politics. S&T is thus a bridge to continue a connection or to establish new communication channels to policy and decision makers and their advisors.

This panel brings together a variety of perspectives to discuss science as diplomacy and its use not only as a direct source of S&T in the pursuit of national security, but also as a means of foster security beyond our borders through bottom-up pressures to democratize.

On Wednesday, May 23, at 4p is the panel “Blogging for Technology: Science and the New Media”. On this panel:

Panel Description:

Blogs are an additional forum for creating awareness of and collaboration on science and technology. Subject matter experts (and the not so expert) share and often debate new ideas, policies, and highlight items otherwise lost or ignored by the media. Forming a dynamic and informal web of information and knowledge, blogs provide both immediacy and longevity. Information located in academia, government, industry, media, and other blogs are linked together to create and facilitate informal multidisciplinary research and discussion.

This panel includes both providers and consumers of the blogosphere and will look at how bloggers change the discussion and create awareness of S&T in the context of national security.

Both panels are the real deal with heavy hitters in their fields. Each will be giving a 10min presentation and then we’ll have Q&A. My role as chair is to stay out of their way, they are the ones you want to listen to. Let me know if you plan on attending.

Where are You?

~ Matt Armstrong

Finally, after sending Statisfy to Sean and Mark (see live hits for TPM Barnett and ZenPundit), I finally inserted the code into this blog: StatisfyMountainrunner. Kind of cool… at times. Sometimes it’s just dead, but others, it’s hopping.

While on live mapping of visitors, I was looking at maps of who visited last month and thought the end of month maps for April 07 were interesting. Below are the visitor locations from Africa, Middle East (er, SE Asia), and Asia. Sometimes there are little surprises on where the hits come from… Fascinating demonstration of global communications.  

Monday’s Mash-up

~ Matt Armstrong

For Monday’s Mash-up, I offer the following for consumption.

From the British media we have:

  • ArmorGroup wins a $189 million contract to protect the US Embassy in Kabul. This, in the words of TimesOnline (and probably ArmorGroup itself), “confirms Armor as a leader in diplomat protection.”
  • An MP wants to know the Rules of Engagement (RoE) of security contractors in Iraq, as noted in a letter to the editor. Apparently 25% of UK Iraq aid goes to security (why so low? US figures are closer to 33% and up to 50%, are we getting charged too much?, if we give the UK a 5% commission, we’d still save money).

While we’re on the private military industry…

On the wiki front:

On US military readiness and breaking the force (see my posts on Readiness and Recruiting):

Public Diplomacy on the web… by Israel

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

A story on modern public diplomacy on Salon highlights the activities of the state of Israel. The state has its own MySpace page, it’s own blog, and even a bunch of YouTube videos. Apparently the Foreign Ministry will start publishing their own blog, with the personal thoughts of FM officials, soon.

Hmmm, I wonder if you asked the Foreign Ministry who is tasked with these projects, they’d say “I think four or five“? Definitely an interesting reach out.

Thanks AE for mentioning this.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Robots

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 1 Comment

Can I own a South Korean robot or am I it’s guardian? From BBCNews:

An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea.

The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007.

It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer.

The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research.

If you watch technology, you should know that SK is adept at implementing new technology, including real high speed internet connectivity, and robots are part of the natural progression.

A recent government report forecast that robots would routinely carry out surgery by 2018.

The Ministry of Information and Communication has also predicted that every South Korean household will have a robot by between 2015 and 2020.

Will PETR be the new PETA?

(Thanks Gyre.org)

Using ICT in the Gap

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 2 Comments

ZenPundit’s post on the $100 laptop (aka One Laptop Per Child initiative) ends with the excellent suggestion of minding the Gap within the US instead. It would probably get better traction than Microsoft’s interesting cell phone alternative (and its inherent focus on communication for market and other info) now that schools are trying to limit cell use.

So what type of investment would make an impact in the Gap? Personally, I think if given only $50,000, a real impact could be had with minimal risk, especially in one northern Nigerian state, with the right plan of course.

Encryption and the Terrorists

~ Matt Armstrong

Interesting stuff over at the Counterterrorism Blog:

On January 1, 2007, the pro-terrorist group, “Global Islamic Media Front” (GIMF) announced the “imminent release” of what they called “the first Islamic computer program for secure exchange on the Internet.” Some Western websites that track online terrorist activity reported on the GIMF announcement, but it has otherwise not received any serious media attention. iDefense/VeriSign has since found a copy of this program, “Mujahedine Secrets,” on a pro-terrorist Arabic language forum and has begun analyzing its capabilities and assessing what its impact will be….

The “Mujahedine Secrets” encryption program offers terrorists and their sympathizers several key features, some of which are common features of PGP programs that are currently available elsewhere as well as other features that appear to be new. Technical analysis is ongoing and will be assessed in future iDefense reporting. Most importantly, this program is an executable application that does not need to be installed onto a PC and can be used with a USB drive. According to iDefense Middle East analyst Andretta Summerville, “the program’s ‘portability’ as an application (not requiring installation) will become an increasingly desirable feature, especially considering the high use of Internet cafĂ©s worldwide by pro-terrorist Islamic extremists.” The use of the ‘Mujahedine Secrets’ on a portable USB drive will offer additional anonymity to those who use the program, which may make it increasingly difficult or even impossible for investigators to track down the source of activity further than the Internet cafĂ© itself.

Due to the strong “marketing” campaign of the program by the Global Islamic Media Front in Arabic-language forums, specifically on hacker and pro-terrorist forums, “Mujahedine Secrets” is likely to reach a broad audience of pro-terrorist supporters online and Arabic-speaking hackers….

Influencing public opinion

~ Matt Armstrong

An interesting story in the New York Times today about an Iraqi pirate satellite station, Al Zawra:

The video starts with a young American soldier patrolling an Iraqi street. His head is obscured by leaves, so a red target is digitally inserted to draw the viewer’s eye. A split second later, the soldier collapses, shot. Martial music kicks in, a jihadi answer to John Philip Sousa. The time and place of the attack scrolls at the bottom of the screen.

Continue reading “Influencing public opinion
“ →

Visualizing connectivity, civilization, readers of this blog

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 3 Comments

Wiggins @ Opposed Systems Design posted a graphic of “internet black holes” from Reporters without Borders (RSF) today. I thought it would be interesting to contrast the RSF imagery with some others, especially after I just had an email exchange with someone about connections to this blog from some surprising locations.

The RSF image, the top image below (see global image here), has a certain amount of synchronicity with the middle image (from NASA) of “civilization” around the world based on the assumption that light pollution visible from space indicates a technologically advanced society. RSF’s map ignores function in favor of media access. Regions with heavy telecommunications penetration are considered “black holes” because of government censorship with examples like Iran and China. However, RSF apparently believes Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen aren’t such backwaters, after all government censorship is absent, well so is any real substantive government in the region. Is internet connectivity in Aden really better than in China?

The bottom image is the ClustrMaps mapping of hits from Asia on MountainRunner YTD (1 Jan through 11 Jan 06). I seem to get a few hits from what the RSF calls darkness and what the NASA shows as civilization, examples: China and Iran. Interestingly, I also get hits from what I’d really call the wilderness, the Horn of Africa, but RSF says is a wonderful place of “internet connectivity”.

The title of their map is misleading. This isn’t a map of Les Trous Noirs du Web, it’s a map of government censorship, which is what the rollover text for Les Trous Noirs explain. This isn’t the first time they failed to fully contextualize the issue and go dramatic. Neat picture though, although I don’t buy it’s a real network map.

The Book ATM: recreating America’s Corners

~ Matt Armstrong

American public diplomacy has suffered as USIA libraries have shuttered around the world, replaced with anemic “America’s Corners” stuffed away and hidden. Perhaps this book ATM would be a valuable and useful augmenter of substantially reduced connections with foreign publics. This would also make it easier to provide alternative language versions of American and European texts at a substantially reduced cost, making Mark Twain & others more accessible, in Arab, Asian, African, and South American countries.

Imagine if State’s ACCESS Micro Scholarships, a program begun on a $34,000 shoestring budget in Morocco and since expanded to at least 43 countries and affecting more than 9000 people, had one of these at each of their locations? This is, in reality, an incremental cost increase, especially from the perspective of DoD budgets. 

From Fortune Small Business / CNN:

Buying a book could become as easy as buying a pack of gum. After several years in development, the Espresso – a $50,000 vending machine with a conceivably infinite library – is nearly consumer-ready and will debut in ten to 25 libraries and bookstores in 2007. The New York Public Library is scheduled to receive its machine in February.

The company behind the Espresso is called On Demand Books, founded by legendary book editor Jason Epstein, 78, and Dane Neller, 56, but the technology was developed six years ago by Jeff Marsh, who is a technology advisor for New York City-based ODB (ondemandbooks.com).

The machine can print, align, mill, glue and bind two books simultaneously in less than seven minutes, including full-color laminated covers. It prints in any language and will even accommodate right-to-left texts by putting the spine on the right. The upper page limit is 550 pages, though by tweaking the page thickness and type size, you could get a copy of War and Peace (albeit tough to read) if you wanted.

(Hat tip KurzweilAI.net)

The new book club: Shelfari

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 1 Comment

I’ve imagined book clubs as being a monthly meeting to discuss a shared book while drinking wine (or a good beer), enjoying some snacks, and catching up with friends. The modern book club is likely to take the form of Shelfari, with its ability to time-shift meetings, the opportunity to not share that bottle of wine, and have all the snacks to yourself.

An interesting idea. See ZenPundit spread the word to ComingAnarchy and Draconian Observations.

See my “shelf” here.

The Other Iraq

~ Matt Armstrong

Example of Kurdish public diplomacy or information operations, depending on what chair you’re sitting in.

Have you seen the Other Iraq?
It’s spectacular.
It’s peaceful.
Welcome to Iraqi Kurdistan.
Where democracy has been practiced for over a decade. It’s not a dream.
It’s the other Iraq.

Check it out: http://www.theotheriraq.com/

A few details about this site:

From Opinio Juris: Morse Code in Filigree?

~ Matt Armstrong

Short on time this morning after the Labor Day weekend, so I’ll just copy from the fine Opinio Juris blog an intersting (and off-topic) post:

Reuters has a short but fascinating article on Nazi techniques for disseminating coded messages during WW II, including hiding morse code in drawings of fashion models:

Nazi agents relayed sensitive military information using the dots and dashes of Morse code incorporated in the drawings.

Read the whole story at Morse Code in Filigree?

Defense Science Board to Study Impact of Google, Blogs, et al

~ Matt Armstrong

Briefly, Defense Science Board to Study Impact of Google, Blogs, et. al. (defense acquisition, defence purchasing, military procurement):

The "blogosphere" has experienced 6000% growth since 2003, played a role in both reporting and aid coordination in the wake of terror attacks and disasters, and even birthed a whole genre called "MilBlogs" that are often penned by soldiers in the field. Which may explain why the Defense Science Board will conduct a study this summer on the military implications of Internet search engines, online journals and blogs.

Kenneth Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics and a former Defense Science Board member, requested the study on "Information Management for Net-Centric Operations" to help evaluate the implications of the information network boom. "’Googling’ and ‘blogging’ are making their way into military operations at all levels," Krieg wrote. "But the full implications of this revolution are as yet unknown, and we have no clear direction and defined doctrine." Krieg called access to information and collaboration among those who play a role in these missions "the lifeblood of military and civil-military operations."

Quoting Sneakers

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 4 Comments

60031755I’m probably one of the last people to see the 1992 movie "Sneakers", but I just did and found two fascinating and prescient quotes worth repeating here.

First, Redford to the NSA: You’re the guys I hear breathing on the other end of my phone.
NSA: No, that’s the FBI. We’re not chartered for domestic surveillance.

Second and more importantly: "It’s a war out there, a world war. It’s all about information…"

This is the killer quote of the movie. The guy who said it, a computer hacker with PlayTronic as his front, was likely thinking in terms of Future Combat System awareness of the "where" in battlespace and not the real bullseye of information of the "who" and the "why".

Anyways…

Cisco Strengthens Presence in Nigeria, West Africa

~ Matt Armstrong ~ 5 Comments

Briefly, back on 27 April 2006, AllAfrica (link to LexisNexis password required) reported that Cisco was expanding into Nigeria. Formerly working the market from South Africa, its official debut includes opening a local office to "build a strong depth of technical skills in the market to serve the region".

Cisco Systems…is attempting to strengthen its presence in Nigeria and English West Africa with its launch of the Cisco Systems brand in Nigeria…

Cisco is a well known brand, but before now, operated in Nigeria, via its offices in South Africa. Cisco’s formal entry into Nigeria, said Emelife is to enable the company better support its long list of corporate customers as well as small and medium enterprises who use one form of Cisco router, switch or security solution, or another. "Our entry into Nigeria is also to enable Cisco to better penetrate the West African market as well as enable us build a stronger depth of technical skills in the market to serve the region".

The move to Nigeria, Emelife stated, "is timely as Nigerian telecom service providers continue to grow their voice services and begin to enter into mainstream data services. Cisco is the worldwide leader in building next generation networks, and so is positioning to help drive the build-out of this breed of networks in Nigeria."…

Emelife added that corporate social responsibility is core to the Cisco organization. "Our focus is three fold: providing basic human needs, enhancing access to education and responsible citizenship".

To help enhance access to education and professional opportunities across the world, the company has founded the Cisco Networking Academy Program. This program is dedicated to providing students with the education and resources they need to design, build and maintain computer networks. The Cisco Networking Academy, said Emelife, has 1,320 students in 22 academies around Nigeria. This number, he added, will grow into the future….

To celebrate the occasion of the launch of Cisco Nigeria, the company hosted over 200 guests to a banquet at Eko Hotel. Guests included the US Ambassador to Nigeria, represented by Brian Browne the Consul General, the Minister of Communications and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission. Also present was a large team of senior Cisco executives including Cisco’s Vice President for Middle East and Africa, Mark De Simone and its Managing Director for Africa, Anthony Vonsee.