I would suggest creating a new topic; otherwise it will look like revisionism to relabel all of the older posts without the input of the people who made those posts.

That's a reasonable argument. At least a majority of the people should agree. This is re-branding a war after all.

A quick database query shows that there are 17 users who have posts under the "War on Terrorism" topic, and a large number of posts:

199 | decius
115 | nw
109 | jlm
109 | rattle
61 | elonka
53 | mairsil
36 | k
21 | rekna
19 | terratogen
18 | cyantist
15 | skullaria
5 | abaddon
5 | timball
4 | swater
4 | lclough23
2 | cogg
2 | seanhan

I don't have a problem with creating a new topic. But I am interested in feedback and general opinion about re-branding the "War on Terrorism" to "The Long War".

RE: CNN.com - Bin Laden approves of 'Long War' re-branding

Parts of an audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden aired Sunday on an Arabic-language TV network in which the al Qaeda leader attacks the West for cutting off funds to the Palestinian Hamas-led government and referred to a "crusader-Zionist war" against Islam.

Better text of the quote CNN's lead is based off can be found, via the New York Times. Maybe later in the day, a more complete transcript will be available somewhere.

"The blockade which the West is imposing on the government of Hamas proves that there is a Zionist crusader war on Islam," the speaker on the tape said.

In this quote, he is basically saying that by cutting off the flow of money to Palestine, we have proved we are waging a war against Islam. To reason through this logic, if you can call it that, keep in mind that Hamas translates roughly to "God's Party".

"I call on the mujahedeen [Islamic fighters] and their supporters, especially in Sudan and the Arabian peninsula, to prepare for a long war against the crusaders and plunderers in western Sudan. Our goal is not defending the Khartoum government but [to] defend Islam, its land and its people," the speaker said.

Looks like Bin Laden is down with re-branding the "Global War on Terrorism" as "The Long War". Furthermore, I've thought that Sudan is play significantly into things in the future for quite some time now..

Should I rename the "War on Terrorism" topic on MemeStreams to "The Long War"?

CNN.com - Bin Laden approves of 'Long War' re-branding

dc0de wrote:

For those of you who care about Computer Forensics, please see the current situation in Georgia.

There is a bill before the GA Legislature -- HB 1259

If passed, it will make it a Felony to perform and testify in a State Court about any computer forensics performed, unless you are a licensed Private Investigator.

This law will put honest, local companies out of business, unless they go and get licensed. Note, the GA requirements for a Private Investigator have NO REQUIREMENTS to have ANY computer forensics expertise, nor is there any training regarding how to collect the evidence.

Several other states already have these laws, which only allows Licensed private investigative services company to perform and testify to any computer forensics related evidence. (Note, this would also include any IT Audit records, not specifically limited in any way to performing "Encase" like hard drive forensics.)

If you live in GA, please contact the Govenor and ask that he VETO HB1259.

I have not been following this issue or had a chance to look into it in any depth.. I look forward to more information getting posted. This is something computer security professionals should pay attention to.

Update: Here is some more information. dc0de posted up an email he got from John Roberson of The Georgia Association of Professional Private Investigators, Inc. (GAPPI) (BYLAWS) (BoD) (CoE)

dc0de makes two observations which I find to be very accurate:

1. The fact that I have this email shows how little these people know about computer security and forensics.

2. The fact that they use a "secure" Yahoo Group to keep their members up to date, makes me chuckle as to what LITTLE prowess they have on the entire topic of Computer Security.

Again, I have not looked into this subject any length, so I can play the open minded guy, even though I'm pretty much positive which way this one is going to go. I see an attempted power grab taking place by some folks not worthy of that power. Locking the people who understand computer security out of the court system is not going to play over well with anyone who is has the ability to take a top down look at the situation from the perspective of global, national, state, or corporate security.

Update2: Read this about becoming a private investigator in Georgia, as compared to getting certified CISSP or EnCE. Ask yourself what is more relevant in a court situation, as it is the discourse which should be taking place.

Georgia Law to put Computer Forensics experts in Jail -- HB 1259

Congratulations to Elonka on making prime coverage in the New York Times ...

For nearly 16 years, puzzle enthusiasts have labored to decipher an 865-character coded message stenciled into a sculpture on the grounds of the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. This week, the sculptor gave them an unsettling but hopeful surprise: part of the message they thought they had deciphered years ago actually says something else.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Sanborn left a phone message for Elonka Dunin, a computer game developer who also runs an e-mail list for enthusiasts trying to solve the "Kryptos" puzzle. For the first time, Mr. Sanborn had done a line-by-line analysis of his text with what Mr. Gillogly and Mr. Stein had offered as the solution and discovered that part of the solved text was incorrect.

Within minutes, Ms. Dunin called back, and Mr. Sanborn told her that in the second section, one of the X's he had used as a separator between sentences had been omitted, altering the solution. "He was concerned that it had been widely published incorrectly," Ms. Dunin said.

Ms. Dunin excitedly started sending instant messages ...

Another CIA leak?! Can't these people keep a secret? Shesh!

Ok. So let me see if I am following correctly. I'll translate into Rummy.. As I understand it, there are known knows, known unknowns, and unknown unknowns. This was a known known intelligence, that turned out to include an unknown known error due to Sanborn. Now the full information is in the hands of hackers and terrorists everywhere, looking to break the CIA cafeteria.

Information about anything in regard to the CIA cafeteria must be heavily protected, and must not leak into the public domain.

And now, your moment of zen.

Good job Elonka. You rock.

A Break for Code Breakers on a C.I.A. Mystery

Yochai Benkler’s book, The Weath of Networks, is out. This is — by far — the most important and powerful book written in the fields that matter most to me in the last ten years. If there is one book you read this year, it should be this. The book has a wiki; it can be downloaded as a pdf for free under a Creative Commons license; or it can be bought at places like Amazon.

Read it. Understand it. You are not serious about these issues — on either side of these debates — unless you have read this book.

Downloaded and queued in my reading list..

Lessig Blog: Benkler’s book is out

Two Atlanta-area men in federal custody as part of a terrorism probe discussed possible locations for a U.S. attack, including military bases and oil refineries, according court documents unsealed Friday.

The U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta on Thursday unsealed an indictment against Georgia Tech student Syed Ahmed, 21.

Ehsanul Sadequee, 19, was arrested this week in Bangladesh and handed over to the FBI. He is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, on a charge of making false statements during an interview with an FBI agent.

The FBI affidavit also says agents found two CD-ROMs in the lining of Sadequee's suitcase when he was leaving the United States. One disc contained pornography and the other was encrypted with a code the FBI was unable to crack, according to the affidavit.

Nothing about any direct ties to Al'Q or other groups. Homegrown but influenced and inspired? Worrisome, as that's been predicted.

CNN.com - FBI: Georgia men talked of U.S. terror plan

Thomas Dichter has published an essay that is critical of "microfinance" -- the practice of making small loans to poor people in developing countries, the funds from which are intended to bootstrap entrepreneurial ventures, thus providing lasting means to move to self-reliance.

This is interesting. I've recently jumped on the microfinance bandwagon, in terms of thinking its a key piece of the puzzle needed to start making a dent in global poverty. I have not yet had the chance to read this article closely and think about it. I've only browsed over it. I'll probably have more to say later.

The first thing that comes to mind as a comment, is this seems to be looking at microfinance as a whole, and not putting the focus on its usage in a particular market. Not all the global poor are in the same situation. There are some key factors in the equation that must be in place in order for a microfinance strategy to work. A key one, is a non-corrupt government. If people can't trust the state, they are certainly not going to trust the bank. It also requires something along the lines of SHG communities in place. In the same way that everyone needs investment education and advice, any community that is going to adopt any form of modern banking or lending, needs to be taught and understand how it works.

These factors all limit the number of places such strategies can be crafted drastically. I'd like to see an India specific critique along these lines. Microfinance is not just a matter of going somewhere and giving out small loans. There is much that must come with it in order for it to have the desired affect.

Boing Boing: Does microcredit help the developing world

(_________) leaving the Bush Administration is like Jeffery Skilling leaving Enron.

A) Scott McClellan
B) Karl Rove
C) Andy Card
D) The Easter Bunny

Your answer: ___

Watergate veteran and Vanity Fair contributor calls for bipartisan hearings investigating the Bush presidency. Should Republicans on the Hill take the high road and save themselves come November?

Carl Bernstein is not pulling any punches.

I was lucky enough to attend a speech by Bernstein a few weeks ago. The topic was on the use of anonymous sources, and the audience was mostly journalism students. He went into his dissatisfaction with the current administration at points, but not in any great length or depth. You could tell he had much to say on the subject, but he did not feel it was the right time to unleash. This is Carl Bernstein unleashing. There is a reason this man is one of the great heros of journalism, and it extends far beyond the work he did with Bob Woodward.

That being said, this article notes at the bottom that he has written a biography of Hillary Clinton which will be coming out next year. If I had to venture a guess, he is going to get attacked as an ideologue pining for a Clinton run in 2008. I don't think that is a fair assessment, but its likely to be widely accepted.

Bernstein: Senate Hearings on Bush, Now

Amid talk of how the Bush Administration is risking going lame duck, let it be noted that Hu's first stops in America were Boeing and Microsoft.

In the kitchen, the counter displayed a recipe and instructions in Chinese for making foccacia bread, prompting Hu to ask if you still need a housekeeper if you have RFID tags.

Is "housekeeper" a keyword for those people who round up dissidents and stick them in prison?

"Because you, Mr. Bill Gates, are a friend of China, I'm a friend of Microsoft," he said.

Now, if Bush doesn't get such nice words in regards to China and American relations.. Get nervous.

"I'd also like to take this opportunity to assure you, Bill Gates, that we will certainly our words in protecting intellectual property rights," Hu said.

Eh? "we will certainly our words"? Lingual mistake? Either way, words and actions are two different things.

The Seattle Times: Hu calls Gates