Global War on Terror or Not?
NYT – This article by Scott Shane portrays the discussion as to whether the label GWOT is appropriate – when in fact the various terror groups have little commonality or cross pollination in terms of people and ideology. But those two aren’t important, the source code being transmitted along the illicit economy’s network is focused on execution. Tactics, weaponry, potential target lists etc.
True, there is no cohesive global network of terrorists, but an ad-hoc network is being pieced together by the sharing of knowledge, both along black and white networks.
Pork Barrel Security
Schneier discusses the new DHS targets of interest list – chalk filled with low priority symbolic targets.
Micro Energy Grids
Roland Piquepaille is onto the military piecing together the technology for local level electricity grids –
Instead on relying on today’s grid electricity system, this microgrid system will use small power generation units close to where people live and work. And it will use renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. The goal is to reach a 99.999% availability level for buildings without backup (5 minutes out/year) at the lowest possible cost.
Great stuff, exactly the kind of stuff that is going to be needed in the future. Private security firms should overtake this effort and get it out to the public (and the military) asap.
Demonoid
Demonoid.com registration is now open. Great resource.
Phone System Resiliency
Techdirt- In regards to phone systems overloading and collapsing during emergencies –
…former telco exec Tom Evslin and VoIP pioneer Jeff Pulver started talking about a simple way to at least minimize this problem. They suggested to the FCC that telcos should simply set up free voicemail accounts for those whose phone lines were impacted by the disaster. It’s a relatively simple plan. Basically, phone numbers that are unreachable will automatically go to a voicemail account. If the person associated with the phone number can access a phone somewhere, he or she can leave a message letting everyone know how they are. Family and friends can then easily leave messages, rather than repeatedly trying to contact a phone number that is unreachable.
This plan would cut down on the overload, and allow for faster reinstitution of the system in question while still providing the services required of it. Naturally this was idea was ignored at the federal level, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see local governments (starting with New Orleans) start pushing for implementation.