On the Google Vs. China War
The question of if China’s attack on Google was espionage or warfare is predicated on if Skynet Google is a national US asset.
I haven’t seen any indications that it is. It largely functions independent of the nation state by:
- empowering individuals and small scale networks, (HUGE user base)
- providing independent infrastructure (you can get a business off the ground with Google easier than with your state)
- and subsuming government infrastructure or rendering it obsolete (through absorbing government operations through sales)
- operating independent of nation-state boundaries (hiring, offshoring etc)
- and taking steps to break its geographic bounds in the form of offshore floating databanks.
This is in contrast to the United Fruit Company type approach. Which leads me to argue that the Chinese attack was a state going to war with a network.
Of course, this could just be an irrelevant semantic issue, but I imagine that knowing this is war results in more appropriate response than treating it as espionage. In essence, Google has to deal with this itself rather than turning to or in cooperation with the US state – which can’t do what Google did – stop engaging the Chinese state.
Air Traffic System Darknet
The clandestine fleet has grown to include twin-engine turboprops, executive jets and retired Boeing 727s that are flying multi-ton loads of cocaine and possibly weapons to an area in Africa where factions of al Qaeda are believed to be facilitating the smuggling of drugs to Europe, the officials say.
The aircraft hopscotch across South American countries, picking up tons of cocaine and jet fuel, officials say. They then soar across the Atlantic to West Africa and the Sahel, where the drugs are funneled across the Sahara Desert and into Europe.
An examination of documents and interviews with officials in the United States and three West African nations suggest that at least 10 aircraft have been discovered using this air route since 2006. Officials warn that many of these aircraft were detected purely by chance. They warn that the real number involved in the networks is likely considerably higher.
Walk From Your Mortgage!
Roger Lowenstein covers the issue pretty well.
Futurist Who Got It Right
This guy nailed the future.
Hey. T-Mobile. + Android
Google’s Nexus One is probably my next phone. However, T-Mobile, which generally does well with customer service, is really going out of its way to screw over its best customers – family plans with unlimited data, voice, and texts. They aren’t eligible for upgrade pricing, and can’t retain their plans. Instead, they’re expected to blow up their plans into multiple individual accounts for $90 a month, each. That’s insane, terrible loyalty, and terrible business. T-Mobile fail.
Meanwhile, Android’s got a plethora of phones coming out. It needs to become a hardware market instead of something tied down to service if they want to win. Not enough consumer mobility (limited by long insane contracts) in the mobility market to make jumping between services worthwhile. Probably just a matter of time.