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Fiber-Optic Map: A Classified Dissertation?
An anonymous reader writes "So you spent all that time researching, compiling and formatting your dissertation ... now what if it became classified information? That's exactly what may end up happening to Sean Gorman's dissertation.
He's compiled a detailed map of American companies and the networks that bind it all together, right down to the very last fibre connection.
The government wants it classified in the interest of national security. Large financial institutions want it classified/destroyed in the interest of economic security. But terrorists would love for this to be published ... it would make their job so much easier." If Gorman can map the fiber network though, doesn't that mean someone else could do the same? Update: 07/09 13:06 GMT by T : Sorry, I blinked past the story as posted yesterday.
Well - why dont you go somewhere else since you dont like us posting here ? As long as I can post ANYTHING here without any constrains - why wouldnt I?
For the mods out there, this isnt ment to be a troll or flamebait.
Dan
Spurious premise. If you're hiring people to do your dirty work, you're a government. Saddam's mistake was in trying to do it in house. Once he'd stopped buying American, he was struck off of the Christmas card list, and it was all down hill from there. Heck, even North Korea could still get themselves back in the game by employing Haliburton to improve their "dissident processing installations"
Relevant to this debate, Mr Gorman's mistake was in doing this as an academic project on a shoe-string budget. If he'd enlisted a Senator to swing a billion dollar pork barrel contract for him, he'd have become a pillar of society.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Secrecy is a double-edged sword. If it's public knowledge that a certain building contains critical infrastructure, then the public will be watchful of it. Maybe what we should do is keep the sensitive info away from the military so guys like Tim McVeigh can't get ahold of it.
The thing that really gets my goat is the Bush administration's extreme knee-jerk reaction to anything they see as even a slight risk. And they do it in the name of post-9/11 security (and all that is holy) when the fact of the matter is that if they had just taken care of the basic stuff (student visas, closed cockpit doors, air patrols, etc.), the WTC would probably still be standing.
Bush has hijacked this country and he's on a mission from God (and Exxon). But watch his popularity numbers plummet just like Senior's did as the public discovers the lies he has been feeding them.
The real reason they want this classified is so they DON'T have to protect it
Agreed. The current administration has little or no real interest in improving our security infrastructure. The "first responders" have never gotten the funds promised by President DUmBAssYEs.
Information breeds accountability. This administration has been the WORST EVER regarding being open with information. They always want the ability to say, we didn't know and couldn't know. I find it hard to believe any administration that dismisses intelligence for internal consumption (9/11 clues) and then fabricates intelligence for public consumption (Iraq).
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Agreed, Bush is ALL 'Bread & Circuses'. Their entire security policy is just PR. Very little substance.
Attacking a poor Doctorate student for compiling public information is just up Bush's ally. We should be FAR more concerned about the level of military outsourcing that our country is doing. We are putting more and more military operations into the hands of greedy international corporations instead of training poor enlisted kids to do these jobs. By the time their done, the only skill that servicemen will learn in the military is how to take a bullet.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
Agreed.
Though, if historical trends hold, the next "Great Depression" may be forthcoming. This administration (like the Republicans of the 1920s) is doing every thing in their power to set it in motion by putting 95% of the wealth in the hands of 10% (or less) of the population.
Both parties are now only shells of respectable pasts. We are becoming a nation goverened by corporate boards via campaign contributions (no longer considered BRIBES). The WTO is the WORST offense as they are trying to give up US sovereignty in terms of trade policy. Americans cannot exercise wage competition against foreign oppressed people who will work for $.10 a day and no bathroom breaks while being supervised by thugs with sub-machine guns.
Yes, America does NEED another party that is RADICALLY different then Republicans and Democrats who are now owned by corporate CEOs. Furthermore our media is becoming ever-more consolidate (just like the Hearst days) into the hands of a very few companies. The recent FCC decision by Powell Jr only worsens the situation.
Perot and Nader may have seemed and appeared as crazy election throwing maniacs at the time. However, in retrospect they were dead right. Both Democrats AND Republicans MUST GO!!!!! They are collectively bankrupting the working classes of this nation through globalization and corporatization. Our government must rested from the hands of CEOs and returned to the hands of the people.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!