Trick or treat !?!

It's smart cards for everyone!

David S. Chu, the under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness will brief at 10:30 a.m. EST, on Nov. 1 in the DoD Briefing Studio, Pentagon 2E579, to provide a brief on the Next Generation Common Access Card.

Woo hoo!

At the Air Force Times, they say:

The Pentagon will begin issuing millions of “next generation” common access cards to every service member starting in late October in an effort to heighten the effectiveness and security of the cards, make them more interoperable and allow them to be more useful in more places.

The cards will come in different colors for different populations of people, including green and red. They’ll contain bar codes, computer chips and magnetic strips — all very high-tech.

You'll like this next part:

it is what’s under the hood that really distinguishes this card from the existing CAC, Dixon said. The new cards have been re-engineered with a “contactless” capability that will allow them to be used like a subway card in that people can wave them over card readers at a distance of up to about four inches, Dixon said.

That capability could raise concern that personal data could be removed from the card, but Dixon said the chip within the card and the card’s magnetic strip are encrypted, making the data almost impossible to remove.

Oh, okay!

If you're looking for product info, check your trusty PR News Wire:

ActivIdentity Corp., a global leader in digital identity assurance, today announced major contract wins by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. The company's smart card desktop client software ActivIdentity ActivClient 6.0 was selected to enable their move to next-generation HSPD-12 certified Common Access Cards due to be put in place by October 27, 2006.

It goes on:

The rapidly approaching October 27, 2006 deadline for HSPD-12 mandates government agencies to deploy FIPS 201-certified Personal Identity Verification (PIV) smart identification cards, which incorporate identity assurance and strong authentication practices utilizing PKI and biometric fingerprint credentials on a single cryptographic smart card for increased security of both facility and network access.

Soon you'll be able to check your voice mail and email at the turnstile.

Some of the data to be placed on the cards include an individual’s name, gender, card expiration date, blood type, government agency and branch of service, duty status, pay grade, date of birth and other information.

The chip also will include two encrypted fingerprints. The magnetic strip will include an individual’s Social Security number and "physical security information."

DoD Unveils the Next Generation Common Access Card

When the Netflix Prize was announced, it received some interest here. Have you been following it since then?

The top 5 most frequently rated titles are:

Miss Congeniality
Independence Day
The Patriot
The Day After Tomorrow
Pirates of the Caribbean

This is not a list one would expect based on either box office performance or critical acclaim. I had read that Miss Congeniality, while nothing special in its theatrical run, was a tremendous hit on DVD. Still, it is surprising to find that it is number one on the list. Some interesting and subtle issues to consider here:

1) what types of films become most popular in the DVD rental market?
2) are people more likely to rate certain types of films compared to others?

As you keep moving through the thread, you find this:

To get a look at the movies that are both universally loved, and universally hated (by different subgroups of people, of course) Let's write a query that amplifies standard deviation and de-amplifies population, pointing out the sources of contention in our dataset.

Yes, indeed. Those are the movies you either loved loved loved or hated hated hated. These are the movies you can argue with your friends about. And good old 'Miss Congeniality' is right up there in the #4 spot.

If you like data-intensive visualizations, I suggest browsing the forums.

Geeking Out on the Netflix Prize Forum

Following up on this post from earlier this year ...

Seagate Technology LLC hopes its new security system for the hard drive will become the most formidable barrier between computer data and thieves.

The world's largest hard drive maker says its DriveTrust Technology, to be announced Monday, automatically encrypts every bit of data stored on the hard drive and requires users to have a key, or password, before being able to access the disk drive.

... and on this IBM press release from last month, about their encrypting tape drive.

Seagate to encrypt data on hard drives

As we have recently learned in Iraq, it is not enough to think you have a good reason to go to war — you must also have a realistic understanding of the practical and moral costs of things going horribly wrong.

The best we can hope for in nuclear Islamic states in the near term is a rational dictator like Pervez Musharraf.

Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Age

The radio began sputtering with Taliban voices. An Afghan policeman, who went by the code name No. 5, had found their frequency. He heard them discussing our compound. They knew everything: how many Americans and Afghans, the location of the mortar, the sniper positions, the satellite and the flower (code for me, the woman in the group). Presumably one of our earlier visitors was an informant. No. 5 seemed a little dodgy, too — perhaps working only for the troops, perhaps the Taliban, perhaps both.

...

Pakistani intelligence agents are advising the Taliban about coalition plans and tactical operations and provide housing, support and security for Taliban leaders. Sturek told me that the US is well aware that the Taliban heads are in Quetta.

Taking the Fight to the Taliban

America should abandon its pretensions that it can make Iraq a functioning democracy and halt the civil war. Instead, we should focus on a minimalist definition of our interests in Iraq, which is to prevent a militant Sunni jihadist mini-state from emerging and allowing Al Qaeda to regroup.

While withdrawing a substantial number of American troops from Iraq would probably tamp down the insurgency and should be done as soon as is possible, a significant force must remain in Iraq for many years to destroy Al Qaeda in Iraq.

This is a Peter Bergen op-ed from last week.

What Osama Wants

Early last year, the standard price of a 4-by-6 print was around 29 cents. Today, they cost 19 cents at Shutterfly, 15 cents at Kodak and 12 cents at Snapfish, though volume discounts are available.

A Dot-Com Survivor’s Long Road

MOST DANGEROUS 25:

1 St. Louis, MO

St. Louis Named Most Dangerous U.S. City

Richard Haass, author of The Opportunity and president of the Council on Foreign Relations, has written the lead article for the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs.

The age of US dominance in the Middle East has ended and a new era in the modern history of the region has begun. It will be shaped by new actors and new forces competing for influence, and to master it, Washington will have to rely more on diplomacy than on military might.

Although the basic features of this fifth era of the modern Middle East are largely unattractive, this should not be a cause for fatalism. Much is a matter of degree.

It is important to recognize that there are no quick or easy solutions to the problems the new era poses. The Middle East will remain a troubled and troubling part of the world for decades to come. It is all enough to make one nostalgic for the old Middle East.

The New Middle East | Richard N. Haass | Foreign Affairs

Oh, those Tennesseans!

“Canada can take care of North Korea,” a grandfatherly farmer says. “They’re not busy.” And a sleazy looking fellow scoffs: “So he took money from porn movie producers. Who hasn’t?”

Scary, Like Funny Scary