] "As the demand for voice over WLAN increases, more and
] larger vendors are expected to enter the market, bringing
] handset prices down, and pushing VoWLAN handsets out to
] the more mainstream business environments," says Gemma
] Paulo, an analyst with In-Stat/MDR.

Those 802.11 voice handsets I mentioned in a previous article are already on sale.

Americas Network - 2007 or Sooner

These folks are linking me right now. I read this site every day, and I often recommend articles from it. However, I have never bothered to link it directly.

This is one of the best web logs on the internet. Much cooler then Slashdot. I highly recommend it.

Its an outcropping from a strange Austin cyberpunk zine that was around in the early 90's. A good source of art, technology, and futurism.

Boing Boing :: A Directory of Wonderful Things

OK, time to replace news paper sensationalism with a
little down to earth fact.

First off, the author of the story everyone is forwarding
around is John Markoff. This is the guy who brought you
the Kevin Mitnick fiasco. Just keep that in mind and don't
forget to bring along a few grains of salt.

I'm linking here the September version of the document.

On the whole, this document is excellent. As a computer
security professional I would strongly support this set
of proposals. In fact, the general outline reminds me of
the set of recommendations I gave South Korea's "Cyber
Terror" Response Center two years ago. Of course, its much
more detailed and far better. I only had a 45 minute talk
given through translators. However, I strongly agree that
this is the correct direction for us to be moving in.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the need to protect
personal privacy and liberty are specifically underlined
through out the document. These concerns form a much more
significant part of the document then the text in question,
and the government correctly observes that often privacy,
liberty, and infrastructural security can be improved
simultaneously, and that improvements in one area often
assist the other.

This is the specific text in question:

] ISPs, hardware and software vendors, IT
] security-related companies, computer emergency
] response teams, and the ISACs, together, should
] consider establishing a Cyberspace Network
] Operations Center (Cyberspace NOC), physical or
] virtual, to share information and ensure
] coordination to support the health and reliability
] of Internet operations in the United States.
] Although it would not be a government entity and
] would be managed by a private board, the Federal
] government should explore the ways in which it
] could cooperate with the Cyberspace NOC.

My answer is a resounding YES. I've been responsible for
security for a large ISP. Almost every attack occurs
across multiple networks, and it is very important to
be able to rapidly coordinate between different networks.
However, in the past, efforts to build such organizations
have failed. ISPs do a good job of sharing ideas about
technical problems and up to date information on outages
through forums like nanog, but for various reasons, attempts
to get REAL TIME access to engineers at other ISPs for
security emergencies have failed. I suspect that this is
because providing real time assistance to a competitor in
an emergency is not something most ISPs feel highly
motivated to do.

Currently, if you track a security problem into another ISP's
network, you are left sitting on hold at their customer
service department. You get a level one tech who d... [ Read More (0.4k in body) ]

RE: Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet

] If Lott didn't see the storm coming, it was in part
] because it was so slow in building. The papers did not
] make note of his comments until days after he had made
] them. But the stillness was broken by the hum of Internet
] "bloggers" who were posting their outrage and compiling
] rap sheets of Lott's earlier comments. It took a few
] more days before Democrats denounced Lott and demanded a
] censure.

Time credits bloggers in Lott's fall from grace.

TIME Magazine credits bloggers in Lott controversy.

] But what of the future of books? The narrator argues
] that Gutenberg's invention will soon disappear. Reading
] causes lassitude and wearies us tremendously. Words through
] the speaking tube, however, give us a special vibrancy. The
] gramophone will destroy printed works. Our eyes are easily
] damaged, but our ears are strong.
]
] But, his listeners object, gramophones are heavy and the
] cylinders easily damaged. This will be taken care of; new
] models will be built which will fit in the pocket; the
] precision of watchmaking will be applied to them. Devices
] will collect electricity from the movements of the
] individual, which will power the gramophones.

This is from the *LATE 1800's.* Its in french, but there is an english abstract. WOW....

La Fin des Livres

The search engine should now provide more accurate results. When you do an "OR" search it will rank the results that you would have gotten for an "AND" search above those for an "OR" search.

] "Dr. Poindexter has said publicly that he has begun
] discussions with the National Academy of Science to
] finance a long-range study of the privacy implications of
] new surveillance technologies."

The DOD released a study they did on technological measures that can protect individual privacy in systems like TIA. IP has a link to that paper. They also have this story about it. This pre-dates the IAO controversy. It means that there are at least SOME people up there who are actually thinking about the implications of the things they are doing. To what extent seems very unclear after reading this article.

DOD, Poindexter Study Seeks Technology Safeguards for Privacy

] "The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring
] Internet service providers to help build a centralized
] system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and,
] potentially, surveillance of its users."

This is the big story of the day. This is the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act 2.0... Unlike the streets, where people seem to be meek, on the net this sort of thing never flies. They have people howling all over the place and the report hasn't even been released yet! :)

Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet

] "I have long maintained that we are headed to a future of
] completely transparency, where both personal privacy and
] institutional secrecy would vanish and we would be
] forced, as are people in small, gossip-y towns, to create
] societies tolerant enough to accept an certain amount of
] personally eccentric behavior and even private, though
] widely-known, scandals. Instead, we know seem headed into
] a future where The All-Seeing Eye can know everything
] about us and we can know - or say - nothing about It. I
] can't imagine leaving a less promising future to my
] descendents. Nor can I imagine why the American people
] are so willing to inflict such a future on their kids
] that driving a few blocks to vote against it was too much
] trouble."

Attached to this article is another article about the intelligence establishment that has been memed before.

Eric Fromm said that FEAR is what created Nazi Germany. People don't want to stand on their own two feet in a world where men destroy great buildings in dramatic suicide attacks. They want to cower under someone who will keep them safe. They raise up people like Hitler. Radicals who will defend their interests no matter what the human cost.

"The only thing you have to fear is, fear itself." We were once the kind of society that was not afraid. Just a few generations back. Are we going to find that strength of heart, or are we going to continue to cower? Thats what I want to know.

Another Barlow Rant about TIA

Information Awarness Office removes freaky pyramid logo!

Hey kids, activism works, at least superficially. :)

IAO drops freaky pyramid logo