An interview in German with English answers and dubbed into Russian:
Anything lost in translation? Some things come through loud and clear:
Unfortunately, in our country there is only one real politician. And even more unfortunately, this is Rosca
Alas, back to interpreting Greek, Italian and Spanish regulations…and I thought navigating between UNIX and Windows administrators was tough.
Wired suggests that some are troubled by the ethics involved in Iran’s Cyber Battle
[Matthew Burton, a former U.S. intelligence analyst who joined in the online assaults] — who helped bring Web 2.0 tools to the American spy community — isn’t so sure. “Giving a citizenry the ability to turn the tables on its own government is, I think, what governance is all about. The public’s ability to strike back is something that every government should be reminded of from time to time.” Yet he admits to feeling “conflicted.” about participating in the strikes, he suddenly stopped. “I don’t know why, but it just felt…creepy. I was frightened by how easy it was to sow chaos from afar, safe and sound in my apartment, where I would never have to experience–or even know–the results of my actions.”
I wonder how different is this, really, from the dilemma faced by elected officials in Washington making decisions on foreign policy? If I remember correctly Eisenhower always regretted dismissing Truman’s more cautious approach and instead went pre-emptive. His role and Britain’s hard-line policy to overthrow Mossadeq in the 1950s brings up questions like Burton’s, but more with regard to whether the overall strategy was correct for long-term aims in the region. Burton’s view sounds naive in this context, like a guy standing next to a cannon with long range after it has been armed and aimed at a foreign entity wondering if it’s right to light the fuse.
Meanwhile, San Francisco technologist Austin Heap has put together a set of instructions on how to set up “proxies” — intermediary internet protocol (IP) address — that allow activists to get through the government firewall. And the Networked Culture blog has assembled for pro-democracy sympathizers a “cyberwar guide for beginners.”
This move to virtual attack on communities is definitely tearing apart and rubbing out notions of nation-state warfare. Massive attacks can come from groups much larger than physical boundaries, held together by patchwork interests. Will the new US Cybersecurity policy take a stand on allowing attacks on foreign states to originate from within its borders? If not, what will its position be the next time cyber attacks are found to “originate” from China?
The cyber battles with Iran highlight the expanding need for security event monitoring and response even at a small company level. Many organizations, let alone telecommunications firms, may not realize how much of their resources are being used for this conflict. Although the danger of focused retaliation may still be low, there is a distinct risk of being shutdown or compromised due to rogue software and agents. Patch monitoring, malware monitoring, role monitoring, data flows and system loads all should be correlated and reviewed to stay ahead of these emerging communities of cyberwar.
The BBC says 2020 is when the country will eliminate their carbon footprint.
There is a growing consensus that, unless the world takes drastic action to slash carbon pollution, warming will tip beyond man’s control, unleashing unprecedented global catastrophe.
This is why, on 15 March this year, the Maldives announced its plans to become the world’s first carbon-neutral country in ten years. Our oil-fired power stations will be replaced with solar, wind and biomass plants; our waste will be turned into clean electricity through pyrolysis technology; and a new generation of boats will slash marine transport pollution. By 2020, the use of fossil fuels will be virtually eliminated in the Maldivian archipelago.
Wired has an interesting comment as Activists Launch Hack Attacks on Tehran Regime
Iran has one of the world’s most vibrant social media communities. That’s helping those of us outside Iran follow along as this revolution is being YouTubed, blogged, and Tweeted. But Iran’s network infrastructure there is relatively centralized. Which makes Internet access there inherently unstable. Programmer Robert Synott worries that if outside protesters pour too much DDOS traffic into Iran, carriers there “will simply pull the plug to protect the rest of their network.”
It is highly centralized, yet one of the most vibrant communities on the inside. This says to me that it is not necessarily outside communities making the majority of protests. The source of malicious traffic from compromised systems, or even just larger numbers of inexpensive systems is external, but the control is internal. In other words, perhaps it is insiders sending protests from systems they manage on the outside. This could be significantly different from the days of Mosaddeq when many on the outside (e.g. the CIA) were accused of trying to control protests on the inside.