The Worldwide Computer: on efforts to take Internet distributed computing to the next level, Internet-scale operating systems. [via also not found in nature]
I believe I've fixed the IE font weirdness, but I've learned not to say anything more predictive than "watch this". So, if things are still weird, please let me know.
National Security and Infrastructural Warfare: on national security and insecurity, told from a game theory perspective.
The single most significant flaw in national security strategy is thinking in constrained games terms, particularly the polarized win/lose. Understanding any game that models real world situations requires the addition of two new strategic positions--Not Lose (NL) and Not Let Them Win (NLTW)
[via abuddhas memes]
My Forbidden Face by Latifa: a book excerpt from the story of the Taliban's arrival in Kabul, as told by a young woman. [via dangerousmeta]
Eliot at Follow Me Here has some interesting thoughts and links on defining the War on Terror.
A Safe Place for a War: on the wisdom and necessity of sending over 600 American troops to the Philippines to help combat Abu Sayyaf.
Anyone who comes here to the jungles of Basilan, home to the Abu Sayyaf movement that we're supposed to destroy, discovers pretty quickly that Abu Sayyaf isn't a militant Islamic terror group. It's simply a gang of about 60 brutal thugs.
[via Follow Me Here]
Marriage of Convenience, the U.S.-Saudi Alliance, a series in the Washington Post:
[via little green footballs]Company says it owns hyperlinks patent: on the preliminary hearing into the British Telecom hyperlink suit. It sounds like there's a clueful judge handling this cases.
The Threat to the Freedom of Information: on the Ashcroft doctrine on the Freedom of Information Act:
Ashcroft's broad edict, issued in October in the wake of the terrorist attacks, encourages government officials to find reasons to withhold information, and signals that the Justice Department will back them up. This is a significant departure from the general policy of openness adopted by former Attorney General Janet Reno, who advised officials to release records unless disclosure would result in foreseeable harm. While Ashcroft frames the issue as one of national security in a time of war, his memo also directs officials to be mindful of "institutional, commercial, and personal privacy interests" when considering FOIA requests.
[via wood s lot]
A British computer scientist, Ross Anderson, is warning that the new Export Control Bill under consideration in the U.K. goes too far in the effort to extend munition export controls to electronic transmission by giving government prepublication review and suppression powers over scientists' work and requiring licenses to be acquired for research into controlled areas when it involves foreigners.
See also:
- January 8, 2002 debate in Parliment on the bill
- Regulatory impact statement
- The Wassenaar Arrangement on export controls
