Macroreport

2006-05-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

NSA & Phone Records

I certainly respect the position of principle that Qwest has taken in not cooperating with the Federal Government. And I applaude the reports of lawsuits against Verizon, BellSouth and AT&T for $200 Billion for allegedly violating customer privacy laws.

On the other hand, it is hard to get horribly bothered by NSA running Social Network Analysis, and phone call pattern recognition as a tool of national security. But the line must be categorically drawn rigidly, so as not to go beyond any clear and present danger relating to national security. If a radical fundamentalist organization, is under investigation, why not try to understand the topography of their network. I think it is reasonable to ask, " how many calls do they make to southern villagesin Afghanistan?"

Because the US government was so incompetent in protecting thiscountry against 9-11, the pendulum has swung the other way, and many people are willing to give the government the tools, and sacrifice privacy in order for the government not to be in the position to make any excuses in the future. (Although the incompetence surrounding 9-11 was so profound that nobody really attempted to make any excuses,which must be seen as one of the highest forms of pathetic behavior.)

Having said that, do I have no confidence whatsoever in the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) which is responsible for security at our airports. These folks don't know whether passengers should have lighters, matches, razors, or whether people are required to take their shoes off for X-ray.

I have initiated complaints in the past against the TSA with the Inspector General's office of theDepartment of Homeland Security. It is hard to believe that TSA is a federal agency. Security at each airport is run differently. It is as if they do not believe in common protocols and standards. Don't get me wrong, I am a hardcore pro-security guy, and TSA employees would not make my cut. I don't trust these people to cover my front, my back, nor my side.

So when I hear about the NSA, phone records and Social, NetworkAnalysis, a techie, part of me thinks, "cool." But another part of me thinks, "gee we haven't even learned the lessons from
9-11, which was the over-reliance on cool tech spy gadgetry in the background, while we basically ignored the role of high quality humans on the front lines of security. Until we can resolve our unsecure boarders, and until we can fix organizations like TSA, I would argue lets focus on the basics, before we get suduced by James Bond, spy gadgets.

2005-11-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

French Riots and Press Mob
Letter to the Editor Of the NYT
By Michael

It strikes me that the coverage of the French riots by the NYT, as well as the French press, is distracting because of the strenuous and elaborate intellectual efforts that are being offered to persuade readers that there are more profound and existential reason for the causes of this lawlessness.

The "old world" has an underclass, which is only a big surprise because the French are reluctant to accepted this reality, because it in turn challenges the cherished ideal of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. "

Why can't we be honest and simply describe the troublemakers as bored, disaffected youth who are simply behaving like the vandalizing thugs? Certainly, these riots have their historical roots in years of misguided French emigration and assimilation policy. Nobody suggest that these riots have been handled competently by the French government.

But, we don't have to dignify the actions of these teenagers, as most reporters and analysts are doing, by manufacturing complex political subtleties which almost romanticizes these hoodlums and imply that they are almost legitimate players in some greater struggle, or rebellious actors in a grand drama which is part of some greater cause. This is aimless, raw, mob behavior.

Describe the reality as it exists. We are tired of being mobbed by the press. Don't insult readers by suggesting some greater invisible intellectual motivations or justifications.

2005-10-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Is it Possible to be Prepared for the Big One?

By Michael

We are fatigued from hearing about natural disasters, terrorism, war, inflation, the energy crisis. Do we have the fortitude to deal with the Big One?

The influenza pandemic of 1918 has to be considered as one of the greatest scourges ever to afflict humanity, resulting in a death toll greater than all the wars of the 20th Century combined," argues Dr. David L. Katz, Director of the Prevention Research Center Yale University School of Medicine. On Tuesday October 4th it was scientifically proven that the 1918 flu was an avian flu which genetically mutated and jumped to humans.

The 1918 Flu was devastating. It whipped around the world 3 times in less than 6 months, before the advent of jet passenger liners. The world population was less than 2 billion, yet nearly 1 billion were incapacitated from the flu and somewhere between 20-40 million dying including 675,000 Americans.

Dr. David Nabarro , the U.N. coordinator for avian and human influenza, had warned that the "range of deaths could be anything between 5 and 150 million" creating a pandemic. Dr. Michael Osterholm, director for the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, has suggested a death toll upwards of 360 million. The World Health Organization believes the estimate of 2 million to 7.4 million deaths, based on a study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "is the most reasoned position." Some reports estimate less than 50,000 deaths many orders of magnitudes removed from 360 million.

Because we have a history of pandemics, which almost appears to be cyclical, many argue that preparations for a pandemic is really simply a race against the clock.

An economic analyst at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated in a 1999 article that a pandemic flu could cost the U.S. alone $71.3 billion to $165 billion.

Even if we triumph over this current race against the clock, what is required is completing the monitoring and first line health infrastructure so that as planet and as a species we are able to defend against these threats.

Will the economy dodge this bullet? Will we be able to declare a historic and remarkable health victory?

2005-10-04T13:17:00.000-07:00

Is the Net Fragile or Robust?
By Michael

Should investors have short strategy, in the event the Net takes a serious hit?

The Tech Confidential Wire pointed out a growing international and potential important commercial issue:

THE INTERNET BATTLE

"If nuclear proliferation and the bird flu weren't enough to worry about, now there's the remote possibility of fracturing the Internet. Like other perceived threats that don't affect the daily lives of Americans, (we're only now getting upset over Iraq as our gas prices rise?) it's going to be hard to get the rest of the nation to care deeply about who controls the Internet, or rather the servers that direct Internet traffic. But the tech news media has to try."

http://blogs.thedeal.com/2005/10/the_internet_ba.html

Cal Tech completed a study that aruged the opposite:

Another View Of The Internet's Fragility

The Internet may not be as vulnerable to centralized attacks as previously suggested, researchers in California reported Monday (Monday October 3, 2005)

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/internet-05zzzl.html