The Army has just updated its counterinsurgency manual; it includes an appendix on "Social Network Analysis and Other Analytical Tools".

FM 3-24: Counterinsurgency

When James Worley paid a visit to Disney World in Florida his portly frame and white beard soon had kids asking: "Are you Santa Claus?"

Not wanting to disappoint, Mr Worley, 60, played along with some "ho-ho-hos".

But Disney officials descended, telling him to stop the impersonation or get out of the park. They said they wanted to preserve the magic of Santa.

Even after bowing to the request to alter his appearance, Mr Worley, from Tampa, said children continued to ask if he was Santa.

"How do you tell a little kid, 'No, go away, little kid'," Mr Worley told local television.

He said Disney had told him "Santa was considered a Disney character".

Well, there you go.. Santa is Disney property...

BBC NEWS | Americas | Disney tells Santa clone ho-ho no

If you are wondering who these criminal sex offenders that legislators are jumping up and down to defend you from are, you might look no further than this case:

Accordingly, while I am very sympathetic to Wilson's argument regarding the injustice of sentencing this promising young man with good grades and no criminal history to ten years in prison without parole and a lifetime registration as a sexual offender because he engaged in consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old victim only two years his junior, this Court is bound by the Legislature's determination that young persons in Wilson's situation are not entitled to the misdemeanor treatment now accorded to identical behavior under OCGA � 16-6-4 (d) (2).

Yes, thats Georgia. And, God forbid this person might use a website when finally released from prison! Won't somebody please save us from these people!!@

The Volokh Conspiracy - Ten Years in Prison for 17-Year-Old Who Had Consensual Oral Sex with 15-Year-Old:

The Sunday NYT features a story on the Christopher Soghoian case [2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

For theater on a grand scale, you can’t do better than the audience-participation dramas performed at airports, under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration.

Of course, we never see the actual heart of the security system: the government’s computerized no-fly list, to which our names are compared when we check in for departure. The T.S.A. is much more talented, however, in the theater arts than in the design of secure systems. This becomes all too clear when we see that the agency’s security procedures are unable to withstand the playful testing of a bored computer-science student.

I guess Matt Blaze hasn't had much occasion to be impressed with his charges since he left industry for academia:

"If a grad student can figure it out," he said, "we can assume agents of Al Qaeda can do the same."

Blaze does offer a nod to the FBI, who gave the green light to his paper, Signaling Vulnerabilities in Wiretapping Systems.

Theater of the Absurd at the TSA

Defense Tech relays this email from a poor fellow who is being targeted by the US Government's Orbital Mind Control Lasers (OMCL). Either that, or he is just nuts. There is also a slight possibility he just has a great sense of humor.

Dear Sir,

Satellite Technology could be used on terrorist. If a terrorist is caught the "lasered" with Satellite technology then let go. That individual can be monitored 24/7/365 with out ever knowing that it is being done to him. Follow the rat back to the nest. If the "laser" that can shock the nervous system is also applied then that individual can be controlled to a certain extent. Sleep deprivation can be used and the shocking of the nervous system takes allot out of the individual. I know it is being used on me.

I am sending you this because I do not know who else to turn to. Satellite technology is being used on me. The only proof I have is other people hearing these people. My dentist, people at a coffee shop, barber, suppermarket, everywhere I go ect... I hoped that I was just mentally ill but when other people can hear them then it's not me. Me I am having sleep deprivation, shocking to my nervous system and other disruptive things being done to me utilizing this technology.

Remember the MIT paper on prevention of mind control rays? Also on DefenseTech, there is an interesting post about the Air Force's satellite hackers. Orbital mind control systems are highly vulnerable.

Yet another reason why The Industrial Memetics Institute will have the upper hand in the blooming mind control industry. The Industrial Memetics MemeRay Mind Influence Platform (MRMIP) is purely terrestrial, leading to lower implementation costs and higher ROI. Furthermore, our system is designed specifically for commercial application. There will be no curve in adapting military technology for use in the private sector, and no problems with declassification of technology specifications. We care only about our patent royalties, and your business!

MRMIP will be able to create levels of brand identification that normally takes a decade to achieve, in just a few minutes. No longer will it be necessary to wage series after series of nationwide marketing campaigns in order to make your brand a household name! After we turn MRMIP on your target market, consumers will be unable to get your brand out of their daily thoughts for years to come.

Defense Tech: We Get Letters: 'Sats Attacking My Brain'

A Russian anti-terror hit team raided the offices of the oppositional "United Civil Front" in Moscow. It's founder, Garry Kasparov, was removed from a German TV news discussion, at the behest of Russian authorities. Things are looking dangerous for the former world chess champion, who will participate in a "March of the Dissidents" on Saturday. Spiegel Online.

Hopefully Kasparov doesn't need to worry about someone giving him a polonium sushi roll...

Garry Kasparov vs. Russian establishisment

Stefan Esser, PHP security specialist and member of the official PHP Security Response Team has, he says, had enough - in his blog he has announced his immediate resignation from the PHP Security Response Team. He states that he has various reasons for doing so, the most important of which is that his attempt to make PHP safer "from the inside" is futile. According to Esser, as soon as you try to criticise PHP security, you become persona-non-grata in the security team. In addition many of his suggestions were ignored because the developers considered Esser's choice of words, too abrasive. He says that he had stopped counting the number of times he was called a traitor when he published a bug report on a vulnerability in PHP.

According to Esser, he is going to drastically up the number of security advisories for PHP. Some of them will come without fixes. PHP site administrators are going to need to be on their toes.

PHP has more than it's fair share of security problems.. Problems caused by the language, users, and ubiquity. The slant of all the articles I've seen on it suggests there is a see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil approach being taken.

heise Security - News - Security specialist leaves PHP security team

Columbus, Ohio police just spent about $120,000 in federal homeland security grant money to buy 40 cellular-enabled fingerprint scanners which will allow officers to run a fingerprint of a suspect against 250,000 prints in the city's fingerprint database, according to the Associated Press. The department says the Rapid Identification Terminal (wi-fi enabled!) will cut down on crime since officers will no longer have to route a suspected criminal to the central office, where fingerprinting can take up to an hour. This doesn't replace that procedure but let's officers find out if the person they've stopped has outstanding warrants or may be lying about his or her identity.

Of course, the temptation is going to be for the police to use this at every opportunity. And they might have gotten a hand from a recent Supreme Court case which upheld a Nevada law that requires someone to provide identification or identify themselves verbally during a Terry stop.

Terror begets terror? I'm terrified of what "law enforcement" is going to look like another 20 years into the War on^Hf Terror.

27B Stroke 6 | Cops Use Anti-Terror Funds to Buy Portable Fingerprint Scanners

What can possibly be said about this? Russian Intelligence uses Batman's symbol on their logo. They have a giant mural of it on their lobby floor, no less.

No wonder some people have such a hard time keeping a firm grip on reality. Reality doesn't have a firm grip on reality. Reality is pretty damn deranged all by itself.

So what kind of signals do FSB operatives use to communicate with each other? Do they include giant spotlights? If you start shining the Batman signal over Foggy Bottom, will people start freaking out and locking down buildings?

Boing Boing: Russia spy HQ has giant batman mural in floor

Ladies and Gentlemen.. 2006's Quote of the Year is ... [ drum roll ]

"The Lexus has collided with the olive tree, and its crumpled hulk spins in a ditch as the orchard smolders." -- Bruce Sterling

This one doesn't need a context if you understand the reference. This quote would fit in editorials on a number of subjects.

And the runner-up:

"I'm an artillery officer, and I can't fire cannons at the internet." -- Brig Gen Mark Kimmitt US Central Command

2006 Quote of the Year