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Grad Student's Work Reveals National Infrastructure
CodeHog writes "The WP reports about a student working on a PhD and how it relates to national (US) security. Very interesting that he has been able to get all this information. It raises some very challenging questions, should some of this information be classified?"
I don't really know what he's driving at, anyway. This newest wave of technology is flashy, but we seem to have forgotten that recognizing and exploiting consumer attention is the key to unlocking the door of success in this cutthroat business -- not simply coming up with bigger and better, but maximizing the potential of what you've got.
Take the game industry for example; the earliest games functioned on single-sided single-density floppy disks, which didn't permit a great deal of graphics or fanciful algorithms. Games, as a standard, were terse and text-based until a programmer came up with a method of doubling the graphical storage -- and ended up making games that outperformed the standards of those on technically superior systems. Or go to the console wars, where the concept of making a dual-processor system (SNES) was outshone by the concept of vastly improving the storage space (Playstation) on a technically inferior CPU.
Same deal with this mapping stuff. Just show me how to get from Point A to the mall and I'm set -- I don't need to know the infrastructure along the way.
Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
An interesting read and "EIKA" to me seems more important that the article that was posted.
I really like the idea that this guy is projecting towards an open source international security and intelligence & knowledge agency. :)
Matrix4.net was a good read, but hey i'm still reading and it will take me a day to finish comprehending most of it LOL :)
well "matrix 4" beat the hell out of the freedom of information act. Now all I see is "what I knew was always there" in the back of my mind. Give http://www.matrix4.net a good read - it is well in-depth and thought-out :)
Well doesn't this somewhat feel like the same thing. Back then, the big car Corporations could buy the engine designs and patents and shelf them. No promises, just money. Of course for the Petroleum industry it also meant a lot of money. Now they plan to shelf this guy's work. What a surprise.
I think it even less of a surprise that I'm becoming more and more jaded by these types of stories, or maybe I'm turning out old and grouchy. At this point, I could care less, and you avid /. readers, moreso. Lessso? Anyhoo.
I wonder when people will stop making excuses for progress. In this case they say it's a question of National Security. In which case I say foo. This is utter crap. Public information is public information regardless. The guy decided to make some form of cognizant application by gathering this information together, and all of a sudden! Oh NO. Fooey. America is vulnerable! You cannot leave your home without an agent, and you use the red plunger when you flush, be careful the blue one calls in the troops and the 1st air unit division.
Here's a very real question Mr. National Security: What if a non-American citizen came up with the idea and developped it? I'm willing to bet that your so-called National Security would impede on any diplomatic privilege such candidate would have and toss it aside like it didn't matter. Like you can step on my lawn, but I can't step on yours. Why? Well cause, your the US. The tough guy in the neighborhood. Again, we're getting used to that one too. Peacekeepers the States are not, bullies on the other hand... funny they should even run that add on FOX. And without sounding overly righteous, I sympathize with anyone stuck in the US that can't do a goddamned thing about this whole f****** mess and are opposed to being cattle-proded.
In a very possible future use, this system could benefit more than one country with the information it gives out; and that organized criminal activity, still needs to be organized regardless, but because of Sept. 11, and the failiure of American security to stop what happened, Osama managed to do the one thing no other country managed to do. Show everyone that America, like every other country, is vulnerable from within. (like we didn't know that already) And now with a bruised ego, it's trying to do something that hasn't even been thought out properly. Penalize everyone, ask questions later.
Hell hath no mercy like a woman scorned
Is pretty much the only thing that pops to mind regarding America's new stand on security. Register everyone in a database, tag em, give em' some iodine solution and find out when they eat, sleep and flush. Just not the blue plunger please. That one's rather expensive.
Just don't all you baztadz and bichaz come running up to Canada after they bomb the sh** out of your country and call us friends and neighbors all of a sudden. We know how you feel about us deep inside. Think about that next time you hang up on a Canadian customer. A-holes. Pfft.
QD
This rant sponsored by Molson Canadian and the letter A, also the number 7. Peace!