Slashdot Mirror


Military Asserts Right To Respond To Cyberattacks

Hugh Pickens writes "AP reports that National Security Agency director Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander says the US should counter computer-based attacks swiftly and strongly and act to thwart or disable a threat even when the attacker's identity is unknown. 'Even with the clear understanding that we could experience damage to our infrastructure, we must be prepared to fight through in the worst case scenario,' wrote Alexander in a 32-page Senate questionnaire he answered in preparation for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination to head Cyber Command. Alexander offered a limited but rare description of offensive US cyber activities, saying the US has 'responded to threats, intrusions and even attacks against us in cyberspace,' and has conducted exercises and war games, adding that it is unclear whether or not those actions have deterred criminals, terrorists or nations."

177 comments

  1. Slippery slope... by pushing-robot · · Score: 4, Funny

    Let them respond to cyber attacks today and tomorrow they'll be asking if they can defend against physical attacks. I don't think we can afford to go down this road.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    1. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

    2. Re:Slippery slope... by joocemann · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Let them respond to cyber attacks today and tomorrow they'll be asking if they can defend against physical attacks. I don't think we can afford to go down this road.

      So your answer is apathy? Attacks range from network disruption, altering important information, and espionage of business and government information.

      Being apathetic of such a serious issue is completely ridiculous and I don't think many people realize the severity of these attacks. This isn't a geocities page getting shut down here.

      Furthermore, what do these attacks symbolize? Are they the actions of a country whose face smiles at us and hands shake with us? Are we to maintain the facade of cooperation as they quietly attempt to devalue and destroy us?

      Let me come to your house and steal your things. Will you stand there like a coward and worry about what I would do if you tried to stop me?

      Yes, its dangerous to protect yourself and your property. But if you don't, you'll get chewed up anyway. GET REAL.

    3. Re:Slippery slope... by Capsaicin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, its dangerous to protect yourself and your property. But if you don't, you'll get chewed up anyway.

      So let me get this right. You are in all seriousness proposing the the Army responds to physical attacks against the country?! Wow, just wow!

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
    4. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, it would be quite a change from what happens currently....

    5. Re:Slippery slope... by sopssa · · Score: 2, Insightful

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

      Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and bombs the house he and his sisters and parents live at. Justified?
      Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and bombs the house the proxy he used at is and the family that lives there. Justified?
      Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and shutdowns all the internet connections to the country. Justified?
      Some curious 12 year old tests a port-scanner he found from a forum and thought it was cool to be geeky and like the cool hacker kids. USA detects it as a "cyberattack" and shutdowns all the domains in the country (ICANN). Justified?

      There's so many ways it can go wrong and so little ways it can go right. It's no wonder that US tries to keep ICANN to themselves, even while EU keeps asking to give the control to UN or independent body...

    6. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's certainly an upgrade to the current partyvan...

    7. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      EU and the UN have both have shown more inclination to start actively censoring the internet. ICANN can stay where it is.

      And you really need to read that article you linked if that is this is your starting off point for a slippery slope.

    8. Re:Slippery slope... by MakinBacon · · Score: 1

      I don't see how the first two options would be possible. They'd need to actually know where he lives in order to bomb his house, at which case they'd have already contacted his ISP (you can't actually get somebody's address from their IP; the best you can do is an office building owned by it) and already know the nature of the threat, meaning that the worst thing that could happen to him is getting extradited like McKinnon.

      The other two, I will concede, actually sound plausible, but that's one of the risks you take when you rely upon a network whose creation was largely funded by another country's military.

    9. Re:Slippery slope... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      You're right. It's such a waste to be doing all that bombing. That's why I advocate putting a crowbar factory into space. No more bombs!

      Alright - serious question. Where did you read that the US was going to bomb any place, based on a cyber attack? "returning fire in cyberspace" just doesn't equate to "Nuke 'em Captain!" It doesn't even equate to "Drop a dozen crowbars on this Arizona village".

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    10. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Sir! The attacks are coming from 127.0.0.1! Permission to engage?

    11. Re:Slippery slope... by Artifakt · · Score: 1

      I really dislike apathy in the face of aggression.

      Oh, but one Republican Representitive (Michelle Bachmann) evidently thinks an appropriate response to a cyber-attack is to NUKE somebody. Crank up the Dial-A-Yield, make their cities glow, let's make Leetspeak a language only spoken in Hell.

      What the hell, apathy doesn't sound so bad, if it just keeps someone like her from starting Armageddon over some 14 year old script kiddee trying to deface Apple's website. In fact, apathy is starting to sound pretty promising. You want me to feel guilty about apathy, first you get the rabid psychopaths out of office, then I'll consider it. For now, make mine apathy! APATHY FOR THE WIN!!!

      Yes, I believe I WILL stand there like a coward. You keep telling people how serious this all could be, to obscure the fact that we have at least one certifiable homicidal maniac in high office, and her handlers want just the line you are parroting put out to help her avoid being turned out for it.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    12. Re:Slippery slope... by thesaurus · · Score: 1

      I love that you quote the link to slippery slope fallacy, proceed to make a slippery slope argument, and get modded +5 insightful.

    13. Re:Slippery slope... by kvillaca · · Score: 1

      If this computer keep connected into or via normal web, he might be invaded either, what will come back to the beginning, and if this computer it's not connected, how it will discover what is happening or who will activate it? There are more of course... usually when they discover one attack happening, it's too late, should be better have one button to switch off the backbone internet leaving millions without connection for hours and put one team to block those IP's make part of any botnet than expend years, resources and a lot of money in one solution that could be (and will be) old as soon it's released. It's waste of time, resource and money.

    14. Re:Slippery slope... by poena.dare · · Score: 4, Funny

      You know how moderating is; just one +1 insightful and then your traveling down the slippery slope to more.

    15. Re:Slippery slope... by joocemann · · Score: 1

      I disagree with nukes... Response in kind. If the damage is virtual, use virtual. If response in virtual fails, attempt to discern an equivalent physical response and carry it out. Or at least do tactical strikes on the various loci the attackers are trained in.

      These are not 14 year old script kiddies... these are organized attacks by governments. Don't downplay what is going on; or likely in your case to talk about something without actually even knowing what is going on.

    16. Re:Slippery slope... by ncgnu08 · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Okay, I agree there is much to discuss on this topic, but we really can't base any discussion on something Michelle Bachmann says. She is, and has been, completely out of relevance for quite a while. Not only does she prove she knows nothing about history, current events, or logic every time she opens her mouth, but she makes her career by saying inflammatory comments that outrage some group (political, social, or racial).

      So lets please discuss this topic. I weigh in on the side of using every electronic counter-measure we have, but let us also leave military retaliation as a viable option. If our country (especially our infrastructure) is being attacked by "hackers" based in a certain country (whether state-sanctioned or acting independently) we should be able to respond with force to stop the attacks. There are many scenarios in which a country would use a cyber-attack as the opening salvo to a military operation.

      Example: country "A" launches a massive cyber-attack against country "B". They try to shut down the power grid, the communication systems, the water and sewer systems, and the transportation networks. While country "B" is in complete chaos (such as the blackout in the northeast US a few years ago), country "A" attacks "B". Depending on the success of the cyber-attacks, country "A" might have an easy victory. However if country "B" has chosen to attack in order to defend itself against the cyber-attacks, it stands a better chance of surviving or winning. I acknowledge this scenario does not cover all situations, it is just ONE example.

      I don't think we should be dropping nukes because a 14 year old kid somewhere tries to hack into the local DMV office. It is known, however, China operates entire squads devoted to cyber-attacks. IMO, the large variance of potential sources of cyber-attacks makes having a blanket response to all threats impossible to develop. We must respond to each threat individually and uniquely. I would see this policy resembling our policy regarding terrorism. I'm not saying that is a good thing, just a potential likeness.

      --
      Member of American Sarcasm Society - Motto: "Like we need your help!"
    17. Re:Slippery slope... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      USA is pretty much the only country on earth that lets its citizens yell disgusting hate speech at each other and form vicious, violent hate groups under their first and second amendment rights. I'm all for transferring this authority to a more civilised country, if it means less hate speech and other disgusting material on the internet.

    18. Re:Slippery slope... by CarbonShell · · Score: 1

      You did read the part where they say 'even when the attacker's identity is unknown', or?
      They don't know who it is, but they want to drop bombs on them.

      Do you really think that would stop the US military?
      They won't let all them details stand in the way of bombing something ... better then letting the terrorists win.
      If someone dies, they must have been guilty.
      If all else fails, cover it up.

    19. Re:Slippery slope... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      I'm more for letting each country decide what they let people do on their segment (as long as they don't interfere with traffic that merely passes through), what one finds reprehensible another finds holy.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    20. Re:Slippery slope... by MakinBacon · · Score: 1

      Did you read the part where I pointed out that they need to know the attacker's identity in order to figure out where to drop the bombs?

    21. Re:Slippery slope... by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      I'm all for transferring this authority to a more civilised country, if it means less hate speech and other disgusting material on the internet.

      And I thought you were going to suggest that the ICANN should stay in the US after praising their free speech laws (or at least I see it as pointing out how they'd rather allow hate speech than reduce freedom of speech).

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    22. Re:Slippery slope... by hesiod · · Score: 1

      -1, Wooooooosh!!!!

    23. Re:Slippery slope... by thrawn_aj · · Score: 1

      USA is pretty much the only country on earth that lets its citizens yell disgusting hate speech at each other ...

      You're just a no-good, f ..... [lost carrier]

    24. Re:Slippery slope... by thrawn_aj · · Score: 1

      You did read the part where they say 'even when the attacker's identity is unknown', or? They don't know who it is, but they want to drop bombs on them.

      No office pranks in that department, eh?

      Lou to his cubicle-neighbor Jimmy, "I just ordered a strafing run on that sonovabitch who had me kicked from the TF2 server".
      Jimmy: Uh. I'm gonna take off early today.

    25. Re:Slippery slope... by poena.dare · · Score: 1

      I wish I could mod myself down. This was a wisecrack folks and not worthy of any mods.

      Damn crazy kids these days...

  2. Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why are essential systems connected to the internet?

    1. Re:Tell me again... by ShadowRangerRIT · · Score: 1

      Depends on your definition of essential. No, most if not all top secret stuff isn't going to be online no matter what, but for anything less critical, there's a risk/reward factor. If you use "enough" security (firewalls and multiple layers of progressively more restricted systems, good encryption and signing, etc.), the benefits derived from being able to share information quickly and easily can outweigh the risks involved. DARPA helped design the internet for a reason; we needed a communications system with enough redundancy to keep going in the face of damage. Why not use it for cases where rapid communication is an imperative?

      --
      $_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
    2. Re:Tell me again... by Capsaicin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why are essential systems connected to the internet?

      Yeah, who let the military on the internet in the first place?!

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
    3. Re:Tell me again... by couchslug · · Score: 1

      Too bad we don't have enough attacks to coerce an immune response, as we do with viruses and malware.

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    4. Re:Tell me again... by calmofthestorm · · Score: 2, Interesting

      To provide a reason to develop harsh cybersecurity laws to fight intellectual property theft and free speech.

      --
      93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
    5. Re:Tell me again... by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

      There is more than one way to be 'connected' to the internet.

      Think of it like this, you have your own secret 3 letter agency, one of your collection systems is sucking up data from a point somewhere within a communications path. It's a completely passive system, no way to detect it, it's running on a bunch of Sun blades, all it does is demodulate the signal, copy the data stream, break out the packets, then filter the result so it looks all pretty and point and click for the PHB's. These PHB's see something they like, and because this collection system is connected to the internal network, the smarter drones are able to copy man_boobs.exe to their windows PC on the other side of the building.

      You see where this is all going right? The only slightly mitigating factor is that whatever the code is capable of doing, it probably wont leak back to the outside world because you have that secure 'air gap' thing happening. Or rather, it will, but only as a newspaper report saying Spy agency XXX was infected with Trojan/YYY - The 'terrorist' or 'cyber criminal' simply needs to have their stuff out there, eventually an interesting target will get hooked.

    6. Re:Tell me again... by bitfolder · · Score: 1

      Well the military is not usual set in to protect military installation but mostly on general threads against the country

    7. Re:Tell me again... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Uhhhh - huh?

      This is probably a good place to make wise cracks about the Army and the Air Force, comparing them to the Marine Corps (part of the Department of the Navy, in case you didn't know) but I really would like to know what you're smoking.

      Tell you what. Head on over to your closest Navy base, and try to get in. Take a group of friends, if you like. For best results, pick a nuclear capable base. Post back and tell us that the Corps isn't set to defend their bases physically. For that matter, you could choose someplace with nuclear capability and no marines.

      The same year that we evacuated Beruit City, we were invited to visit Crotone, Italy. All unbeknown to us, the local communists staged a riot, protesting our nuclear presence in Italy. The plan seemed to be to storm the ship, take the nukes hostage, and embarrass the United States.

      As part of the ship's defense force, I went out on the pier with 6 other guys, armed with M-14 rifles, while the gunner's mates set up M-2 machine guns on the bridge wings. The 5 inch guns were brought to bear on the city. We, the landing party, cleared the pier of rioters, then stood nose to nose with the carabinieri (spelling?) for an hour, while a couple local officials came aboard to talk to our captain.

      Fortunately, there was no bloodshed, but we would have detonated that nuke in the harbor to prevent a bunch of rioters from getting it. People with nukes are pretty damned determined to make sure that they cannot possibly ever be used against thier own country.

      Oh yeah. Compare that to the long list of "mistakes" that the Air Force has been found guilty of.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    8. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Posting as AC because I work with this stuff... and it usually has nothing to do with essential systems being connected to the internet. It has more to do with foreign black hats trying to drop an exploit onto a particular user's PC to try to grab whatever information they can. Laptops are huge targets.

      "cyberattack" is a vague term, but it's not always about some guy trying to get into a web server somewhere. It's much bigger than that.

    9. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a sentence: They aren't.

      None of the critical infrastructure of the United States is connected to the internet. None of it. None. Secondary systems are however, and none of them are a threat to our well being if they are compromised. The secondary systems cannot reach the primary systems. This means No nuclear power plant meltdowns, or plane crashes, no ICBMs are getting launched by hackers. Its just can not happen. These systems were designed or upgraded long ago to prevent this.

      Why is the government pushing for cyber-security? Why is the army spreading Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt?

      Why it is simple! The Army is doing its part to convince the public of a terroristic threat and the politicians are trying to generate acceptance for the next round of Bills designed to gain further control of everyday ordinary American citizens ability to gather and disseminate knowledge across the internet.

      This is about controlling what you see, who you talk to and what you can teach others. Its about controlling what you know and what you learn. It is about trying to control how you think.

      It is not the first time the government has tried and it will not be the last either. It simply is of no benefit to those in the position to govern to have a populace who is capable of researching and questioning the actions of its leaders.

      I don't expect you to believe me, but if you do consider yourself educated or intelligent, I expect you to begin researching for yourself and to draw your own conclusions based on what you find. Discuss it with others.

    10. Re:Tell me again... by insufflate10mg · · Score: 1

      I tried researching more on the incident but couldn't find any material of value. You mean you and around six other Marines used your ship guns to fend off invading communist rioters who were planning to take control of your nuclear weapons, scared them so badly they froze and called their police to come speak to you, emerged victorious, and there's no trace of the incident on popular search engines? If you are telling the truth, thank you good sir for your honorable and heroic service to my country.

    11. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

      Speaking as a former Marine familiar with the guys and procedures who do guard the nuclear bases, they are often very new (green), understaffed, but fairly well trained. They have done a good job since the last one got leaked, but it's always fun reading about the last red cell (a team who thinks outside the box to test security) who got in the base and was able to touch the nuke without anyone realizing it. Maybe for your average /.er what you propose is preposterous, but to a foreign military unit with the correct training this would not be quite as hard as you make it sound (though recent advances in biometrics have improved things, but really, you don't think TLA's have the kind of training to defeat said mechanisms?) Overall, the majority of the US's security, especially CONUS, is dependent on deterrent threats, not capabilities. But I digress, the poster is actually often correct that in many installations we often hire third-party security (Ghurka's anyone?) as the first line security on OCONUS bases. Especially since the Navy (womens department) set up the master at arm's program so that they could take over many installations security procedures. As for TFA, it is one of those things that we all knew was incoming, but again, as I originally state, anyone with the proper training and motivation can accomplish major utility disruption easily. For example, I was recently talking to one of the "good ol boys" in the Texas telecom industry. He talked about how some kid knocked down a particular circuit set by crashing his mustang into it, when the officer on scene started asking for damage estimates, due to location of local oil reserves and a power plant, men in suits were claiming conservative estimates at $1mil per minute. Just because one idiot knocked down a pole in the middle of nowhere. Throw in a motivated enemy, a bunch of EMP's (a quickly maturing tech) and the right knowledge, and they could take out half of the US before anyone knew what happened to them. Insert nuke's accordingly. The world is a surprisingly fragile place, with lots of posturing, and very little substance. Anyone, not that it had much to do with anything I just felt like ranting a bit so thanks for listening. =)

    12. Re:Tell me again... by bitfolder · · Score: 1

      I am not really sure what you are trying to say with your story as I hear you you defended the nuke for the sake of your country.

      Bases of any of the armed forces do no exists for the amusement of the people and you probably wont pay the price tag that comes with making that possible.

      Though I will take your word for it that the Air Force has made to many mistakes I wonder why we expect them to be better avoiding mistakes than everybody else. One could even say that since aviation is more difficult than sailing and aviation is a much younger industry it is only naturally if there is more mistakes in the Air Force than in the Navy but this would be to logical an analysis for any news paper and would surely not increase the sale (the Navy was an arbitrary pick here the banking industry might be better)

      ----

      back to the topic I am pretty sure they intend to protect more than their own computers, I don't know if they are capable, but surely we need a better approach than the current one.

    13. Re:Tell me again... by purpledinoz · · Score: 1

      Ummm, youporn? I'm in full support of the US cyber-counterattacks!!

    14. Re:Tell me again... by auric_dude · · Score: 1

      From the NYT Crotone Journal, NATO base http://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/28/world/crotone-journal-new-us-base-city-boon-or-nato-boondoggle.html not too much talk of nukes - more talk of jobs.

    15. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh... the American military is the one responsible for the Internet to begin with.

    16. Re:Tell me again... by Lord+Pillage · · Score: 1

      Don't forget, they're also responsible for creating fighter jets too... *WOOOOOSSSHH*

      --
      try { Signature mysig = new CleverAttempt(); } catch(NonCleverSignatureException e) { postanyway(); }
    17. Re:Tell me again... by misexistentialist · · Score: 1

      Sounds more likely that the plan was to provoke you. Unarmed protesters facing a nuclear armed American warship is more dramatic than standing in front of tank. The US military was probably drawing up plans to sink you before you went crazy and blew yourselves up.

    18. Re:Tell me again... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      There's more damage an electronic attack can do than simply destroy stuff. Information is vital in war and having your enemy get intelligence on things you wanted hidden can give him a gigantic advantage in a war (e.g. if he knows where your production facilities are and how they can be best attacked or if he can gain data on your planned operations and ambushes). While the actual nukes are protected you can't expect millions of people only trained for thinking in physical attack terms to be perfect at making sure no important info ever gets on attackable systems. The user is often the weakest link and even the toughest defense can be compromised if there are idiots inside. Just takes one higher officer deciding to take some logistics data on his personal laptop to work at home and an attacker could gain access to important data that would allow their military to interrupt your supply lines.

      Hell, didn't we even hear of a case of a special ops dude being stupid enough to post about his next assignment on Facebook? For every case of extreme stupidity there's dozens of cases of mild stupidity.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    19. Re:Tell me again... by sheph · · Score: 1

      You're right. Ebay, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Oracle, IBM, and PayPal should all disconnect their essential systems from the Internet right now. What were they thinking????
      :)
      Yes I know what you meant. My point is, sometimes it's not all that cut and dried. Systems you would think should not be connected to the Internet are required to be connected by federal regulations. Sometimes it's a case of needing sensitive data in the field. It does no good to gather a bunch of critical data, and not be able to access it.

      --
      I don't believe in karma, I just call it like I see it.
    20. Re:Tell me again... by Greyfox · · Score: 1

      Because most IT people are more or less incompetent, and the ones on the good side of the bell curve can get jobs that pay a lot more than the military, with a lot less chance of having to set up systems somewhere where someone might be shooting at you. And about the only company willing to deal with all the regulations and bullshit that comes along with government contracting thinks that Citrix and Windows on essential systems is a good idea. See point 1.

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    21. Re:Tell me again... by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      Negative.

      I'm a swabbie. I was part of the ship's landing force. We, as a squad, went onto the pier to face the rioters, and to buy a few minutes so that the gunner's mates could set up their machine guns, while the rest of the gunner's mates manned the main guns. It takes about three minutes to bring the ship to combat readiness, and it was our job to buy those minutes. And, of course, to intimidate the closest rioters. It worked. It doesn't matter if you have 50, 500, or 5000 fellow rioters behind you - when you are part of a mob, and as few as a half dozen trained, uniformed, and armed men start stomp stepping at you, with bayonets fixed, you will tend to give way. It's human nature.

      The carabanieri didn't give way, though. They were better trained than the mob, and they were better armed than we were. Thompson's outshoot M-14's in any match. But, they cops weren't out to get us, they were just there to stop us from leaving the pier. We didn't realize that at the time, or at least those of us on the pier didn't realize it. All we knew was that we were nose to nose with a superior enemy, and that those damned gunner's mates had BETTER be combat ready if the shit hit the fan.

      No Marines at all. Just us sailors.

      For background on the political situation at the time, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Italy "The Socialists enter the Government"

      I find few hits on the internet - and I have no access to the most promising hits. I've searched a couple times before, out of curiosity. I've often wondered how the Italians wrote the incident up.

      Italy was rather violent in '78. I left a restaurant in Sicily, because I had a bad feeling. Didn't finish my meal, because I just felt like something was wrong. I got a couple blocks away, and heard gunfire erupt behind me. I just kept going - I was on liberty, unarmed, not even in uniform - whatever was going on was none of my business. Next day, the newspapers carried the story of some Mafia guy being killed.

      Politics were wild, to say the least.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    22. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are not the sharpest stick in the wood are you Lord Pillage?

    23. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'll actually second this.

      My uncle is a high ranking USAF officer and has had training in infiltrating bases. As part of the training they had to break into USAF bases where only the base commander knew they would be doing so. Apparently, at least in the late 90's early 00's, its surprisingly easy to slap on a "name badge" and just plug into the network of a USAF base anywhere you damned please. If you act like you belong, people will assume you do and just smile/nod at you.

    24. Re:Tell me again... by Capsaicin · · Score: 1

      You are not the sharpest stick in the wood are you Lord Pillage?

      Well he's obviously several orders of magnitude sharper than that dullard AC he was responding to.

      --
      Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
    25. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry. You would NOT have detonated a nuke to protect it. If the CO was really in fear the ship would have left.

      Please, lets have some common sense. Putting armed personnel on the pier in a foreign country was provocative. Can you imagine an Italian ship in an US port putting armed guards on the jetty? You guys would be up in arms.

    26. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's fucking hardcore, and I love it.

    27. Re:Tell me again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really doubt you "would have detonated that nuke in the harbour to prevent a bunch of rioters from getting it."

      Seriously, I hope you don't believe that. If your Commanding Officer even remotely thought there was a chance that your Weapon's Security was in doubt the ship would simply leave.

      You were a Private/Corporal at the time, and as a result you knew NOTHING what was going on on the Bridge or in the Captain's cabin.

      Just think about what you've written, your giving the Professional Military a bad name.

  3. So what's new? by Kinky+Bass+Junk · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Military flexes muscle, says they will respond with force, what's new?

    --
    Anonymous Coward
    1. Re:So what's new? by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 1

      Nothing at all. They'll trace the source to some building, blow it up, and discover bodies of women and children and men (who will be reported as insurgents or whatever).

      Only difference is that the people responsible for the attacks don't even have to be in the same building, city, or continent so it'll just be some family with a compromised computer.

    2. Re:So what's new? by blackraven14250 · · Score: 1

      If someone is shooting at you from a second story window, do you figure out who owns the house first, or do you shoot back?

    3. Re:So what's new? by Datamonstar · · Score: 1

      That question is only valid when the house's location can be spoofed. A better analogy is if the feds get a report that a sniper is shooting out of a window at an officer at a certain address. Would the best response be an air-strike, a SWAT team, or a single patrol car to investigate first before calling in back-up?

      --
      The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
    4. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NSA is the military? Yikes, I'm sure all the pasty-skinned, malnourished nerds that make up the NSA are highly amused by your comment.

    5. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If the Pentagon, the FBI, or the local cops tell you that someone was shooting at them from a 2nd story window, but the info is classified or the squad car cameras coincidentally malfunctioned, then do you trust their lying asses? /rhetorical

      Now imagine that Pentagon is going apeshit because somebody might egg their house or prank call them, when all they have to do is get in a bunker. That's what this cyberwar* bullshit is. Noone is going to die in a cyberwar*. At worst, someone might have to, !shock!, call in a CC transaction because the CC machine's no longer working.

      Oh yes, we may need to give the President authority to shut down certain domains which relate to "critical infrastructure," as defined by the President of course. But for God's sake, don't disconnect critical systems from the internet! Like drug legalization, that would eliminate our justification for more tyrannical power!

      * christ, even the word itself is a lie, and I feel bad just using it.

    6. Re:So what's new? by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Depends on the balance of power. Is he using a slingshot or a stinger missile? Am I sitting behind a 120mm cannon in a tank or am I on patrol with an assult rifle? Is there any cover available where I can assess the situation before calling in an airstrike and leveling the block?

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    7. Re:So what's new? by khchung · · Score: 1

      Military flexes muscle, says they will respond with force, what's new?

      Don't you know that when you add "cyber" or "on the Internet" to existing ideas, it automatically becomes novel and non-obvious?

      --
      Oliver.
    8. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While I don't argue against the fact that the threat of a cyberwar is overestimated, the Internet is an integral part of many important systems now and will be even more in the future. Taking out these systems is the threat of a cyberwar and just because it hasn't happened (publicly and in a large scale) yet doesn't mean countries shouldn't assess the risks and prepare for it.

      As was stated above, its stupid that so many key systems are connected to the Internet (i.e. why power stations aren't mandated to have a separate network for critical computers to their word processing/Internet browsing computers is beyond me), but that is the way it is.

    9. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you've obviously not been shot it

      air-strike

      you tried to take my life, fuck you, i *will* take yours

    10. Re:So what's new? by FelixNZ · · Score: 1

      So, I just told the FBI someone was shooting from your house. That loud noise is not the wind.

    11. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction: Military swings its dick. People bend over. What else is new?

    12. Re:So what's new? by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 4, Informative

      Military flexes muscle, says they will respond with force, what's new?

      Actually, what he said is that he'd respond to attacks in cyberspace by counterattacking in cyberspace. No suggestion at all that we'd respond to cyber attacks with bombs/missiles/guns....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    13. Re:So what's new? by Kinky+Bass+Junk · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure how that is meant to be correcting me. Force != Physical force.

      --
      Anonymous Coward
    14. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC from above

      I see your point, but if it really is such a threat, then why aren't their talking points discussing rational steps to defend against it? If it's serious enough to curtail free speech and communication, why isn't it serious enough to outlaw windows, which is responsible for most botnets that presumably could be used to do the attacking? The obvious answer is that the Pentagon, and americans in general, don't care about free speech and communication.

      Don't misunderstand, I don't support curtailing free speech or outlawing windows (although abolishing patents and copyrights is something we should do). But everything about this cyberwar propaganda points to it being extreme action used against the american people's rights, in response to an insignificant threat. Same as drugs, terrorism, kiddie porn, communism, gun crime, militia groups, etc.

      All the while, the rich are making off with the loot and we're getting closer to a military-police-state.

      The only alternative explanation is that the Pentagon is just stupid and misguided, and their braindead solution just happens to involve restricting free speech on the internet. Which I don't buy, one because of this repeated pattern in the things I listed above, and two because of the obvious power they have. They can strike within feet of your house from offshore. They have warheads that can kill hundreds of thousands in a single shot. They aren't stupid, although sometimes they play like they are on tv.

    15. Re:So what's new? by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

      Worked for my patent applications...

      --
      When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
    16. Re:So what's new? by biryokumaru · · Score: 1

      Maybe he would have preferred you'd said:

      Military flexes level 80 hunter muscle, says they will respond with force, what's new?

      You know, to make it more cyber.

      --
      When you're afraid to download music illegally in your own home, then the terrorists have won!
    17. Re:So what's new? by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 1

      I say you have bigger problems than dodging potshots if you bungled up your security so fucking bad that any house is a potential sniping point.

    18. Re:So what's new? by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 1

      As was stated above, its stupid that so many key systems are connected to the Internet (i.e. why power stations aren't mandated to have a separate network for critical computers to their word processing/Internet browsing computers is beyond me), but that is the way it is.

      Because resources aren't infinite. If they had to run their own fiber to all the control systems, it would be vastly more expensive, which means something else important wouldn't get done.

      Sure, in a perfect world, they would have a stand-alone network that used encrypted traffic and proven authentication methods. But the world isn't perfect, and companies and government agencies don't have the money to do everything the Right Way. So, they make decisions, and trade-offs, to do the best they can with what they have. Obviously, things haven't gone too bad, (so far), since we haven't encountered regular large-scale power outages or the entire Manhattan skyline being used as Blinkenlights. So they must have made some good decisions in the past.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    19. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait wait,

      Google can buy up enough fibre to create their own PRIVATE global googlenet yet the US government couldn't do the same?!

    20. Re:So what's new? by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 1

      If you run fiber between populated areas, the cost of that fiber can be split among a few million customers. If you run fiber to a remote power station, dam or pipeline - you can't split the cost since there is only one customer.

      --
      Reading code is like reading the dictionary - you have to read half of it before you can go back and understand it.
    21. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone please mod +1 Asshole.

    22. Re:So what's new? by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      Even more, many vital systems of western countries are privately owned, they may not appear as vital as military installations but look at the damage the banking bankruptcies did, imagine attackers specifically trying to cause damage to the financial institutions to wreck the country's economy and over decades effect a reduction of military strength. Boom, invasion potential.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
    23. Re:So what's new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "why power stations aren't mandated to have a separate network for critical computers..."

      They are, sort of (I am an EMS Analyst). The critical systems are required to be separated from the Internet, but then there are federal regulations that require information from those systems such as MW/h for line flows to be transmitted to our neighbors. So for us that means moving the data through multiple layers out to corporate. The problem is that any service or software running on the outside could be exploited and once a connection is established used as a means to get back into the internal network. Sure there are firewalls, IDS, monitoring, and alerting but I'd feel so much better if we could just air gap it.

    24. Re:So what's new? by Trent+Hawkins · · Score: 1

      If it's anything like their physical response to attacks I expect them to attack Poland after a Chinese student DoS attacks them with zombie computers from Russia.

    25. Re:So what's new? by blair1q · · Score: 1

      Did you read the new national nuclear defense policy that made the news last week?

      It was controversial for reducing our posture in some scenarios, which probably distracted most peopel, but through the noise I noticed that it specifically authorized the use of nukes to counter a cyberattack.

  4. Umm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Scarey... Privacy vs. Security... I take both!

    1. Re:Umm... by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      From TFA:

      In cyberspace, he said, it is difficult to deliver an effective response if the attacker's identity is not known.

      But commanders have clear rights to self-defense, he said. He added that while "this right has not been specifically established by legal precedent to apply to attacks in cyberspace, it is reasonable to assume that returning fire in cyberspace, as long as it complied with law of war principles ... would be lawful."

      Senators noted, in their questions, that police officers don't have to know the identity of a shooter in order to shoot back. In cyberspace, the U.S. may be able to counter a threat, rebuff an electronic probe or disable a malicious network without knowing who is behind the attack.

      So you can "take both", as I don't see any general threat to privacy here.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  5. When we confirm much of it is coming from China... by joocemann · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... will we realize that we should maybe consider possibly not putting nearly all of our business there?

    I realize we need china to support American materialism/consumerism. A cultural revolution could change that, though. I would much rather buy less, but of higher quality, as produced by my fellow citizens -- keeping the dollars in our own country and filling the bank accounts of people who otherwise wouldn't have had a job and would want my dollars anyway.

    Something to think about... When you buy American, you reinvest in your fellow citizens. I'm not a champion of nationalism, but we are far from world unity and the last thing our country needs is to keep sending our dollars elsewhere.

    When the one-world utopia happens, I'm all for it.

  6. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by GrumblyStuff · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... will we realize that we should maybe consider possibly not putting nearly all of our business there?

    Well, yeah, but it's more of a question if it'll hold our attention long enou- ooh, Entertainment Tonight is on!

  7. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by feuerfalke · · Score: 1

    That's how it used to be in America, back when our factories were thriving. Americans had the choice, and they chose cheaper, crappier mass-produced goods from China over higher-quality but more expensive goods produced in our own country.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for turning pizza into code.
  8. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 1

    That's how it used to be in America, back when our factories were thriving. Americans had the choice, and they chose cheaper, crappier mass-produced goods from China over higher-quality but more expensive goods produced in our own country.

    I wouldn't mind this. I would, of course, still buy goods manufactured in countries I consider our allies, such as the UK. Sadly, due to an apathetic and ignorant society, a Congress driven by campaign contributions, and short-sighted corporations, we are now somewhat dependent on China and other unfriendly nations.

    --
    'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung
  9. Preemptive strike on Adobe? by PNutts · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm concerned that Reader and Flash will facilitate making my PC part of that attack on the government. And if Joshua taught me anything it was to instead play a nice game of chess. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/

  10. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by chewthreetimes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Buying cheap was the only way a lot of people could have all the things they were told they needed by the marketing industry.

  11. We have always been at war with Cyberwar by headkase · · Score: 3, Informative

    There is an article related to this on TechDirt: Here. Basically everything from vandalism to espionage is being lumped under "Cyberwar." With vandalism being much the more prevalent. The issue of "Cyberwar" itself is mostly made for good talking points in the media, after all anything that drives readership drives advertisers and funding. Think you can actually get at a GPS satellites operating system over the internet?

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:We have always been at war with Cyberwar by __aaelyr464 · · Score: 1

      Who says all the sensitive information is connected to the internet? I work for the Army as a civilian, and I can tell you that the majority of sensitive (read: classified) information is transmitted and stored on separate, secure networks. This isn't Hollywood people: you can't go to www.army.mil and hack your way through to a super secret server in an undisclosed location, it doesn't work that way.

      No, the real threat of cyberwarfare (at least where I work), is the notion that someone will be compromised (knowingly or otherwise) that has access to sensitive information. Even then, it would be hard to use their credentials to get onto a secure network unless it was done at a terminal physically connected to said network.

  12. The Cylon war is long over.. by gzipped_tar · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...but *why* are you USAers, as a people, worth saving?

    Oh, you mean *cyber* attack. Duh.

    --
    Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    1. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by socceroos · · Score: 1

      With a sig like yours, I think the question applies more to yourself. As they say, when you point your finger at someone, you've got 3 other fingers pointing back at you.

    2. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by gzipped_tar · · Score: 1

      A post and a sig walks in a bar. The bartender said to the post, "With a companion like that one and the half-burnt, wagging finger of yours I think you'd better get the fuck out of here."

      The moral of this joke is, that both my sig and my orig. post are jokes, albeit not quite good ones.

      OK, bad joke. You're not a replicant.

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    3. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

        Like Adama, many of us American citizens ask ourselves the same question more and more lately... I suspect that Moore and Eick put that speech into the script of BSG for exactly that reason.

      SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    4. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by socceroos · · Score: 1

      I failed to put a smiley at the end of my post. I wasn't being confrontational. I actually enjoyed your comment. =) (apply smiley to comment for interpretative purposes)

    5. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by Internalist · · Score: 1

      As they say, when you point your finger at someone, you've got 3 other fingers pointing back at you

      Actually, in an archetypal "index pointing" gesture, it looks more like my non-index fingers are pointing (through my palm) somewhere off to my right...maybe around 4:00.

      --
      Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -- Wernher von Braun
    6. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by gzipped_tar · · Score: 1

      It's not just an American thing. And certainly not just a post-911 thing.

      The military fucks around and you bear the guilt, because guilt is "something small people feel when they run out of excuses for their behaviour."

      And that's sad, for whatever is happening to America is likely to happen to other parts of the world (where I am), and vice versa.

      I've ridiculed [in GP] and mourned [in this post]. Now, in the true spirit of Spinoza's "Non ridere, non lugere, neque detestari, sed intelligere", I'm going to detest, but I'll keep that to myself.

      And understanding is futile.

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    7. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by gzipped_tar · · Score: 1

      I agree. The Force is strong with meta-whooshing today.

      --
      Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
    8. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by socceroos · · Score: 1

      You have a point. But it really does depend on the way the pointing gesture is most commonly used and also (importantly) what constitutes "you". For, if you were to conclude that your hand indeed was part of the form "you" then the saying would still be valid as three fingers are still pointing directly into the palm of your hand.

      Even if it was widely accepted that your extremities were not part of the constitution of "you", there is still a large argument to be made for what constitutes accurate pointing. For, as has been evidenced in the past (see final scenes of Return of the Jedi where Darth Sidious (aka Palpatine) is zapping Luke) the finger does not necessarily need to be pointing in exactly the right area for the desired effect. This can also be evidenced in the popular way a reclusive black witch will point at objects and people.

    9. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

        I agree with most of what you said. I don't agree that understanding is futile. The knowledge of how they were being abused is what led to the formation of this country in the first place.

        Spinoza wasn't a prophet, he just realized that all this has happened before, and will happen again ;)

        In history past, corruption could not doom the whole species. Now, it can. That is the sole difference. I suspect that Spinoza would understand.

        SB

      --
      It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
    10. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a fucktard...

    11. Re:The Cylon war is long over.. by Internalist · · Score: 1

      Touché, sir. Point to you.

      --
      Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing. -- Wernher von Braun
  13. Nixon on asymmetric warfare by shoppa · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps the most wise thing Richard Nixon ever said:

    President Richard Nixon reflected this outlook when he decided in 1969 to abandon the U.S. offensive germ warfare program. "We'll never use the damn germs, so what good is biological warfare as a deterrent?" Nixon told his speechwriter William Safire. "If somebody uses germs on us, we'll nuke 'em."

    1. Re:Nixon on asymmetric warfare by phantomcircuit · · Score: 1

      We could eliminate the entire US military if we just had the balls to nuke anybody who said no.

      It's genius right, right, guys?

    2. Re:Nixon on asymmetric warfare by barzok · · Score: 1

      And who operates/maintains the facilities & platforms required to deliver the nukes? The Boy Scouts?

    3. Re:Nixon on asymmetric warfare by anarche · · Score: 1

      Dib! Dib! Dib! Nuke! Nuke! Nuke!

      --
      Wait! Whats a sig?
    4. Re:Nixon on asymmetric warfare by jecowa · · Score: 1

      We might still want a military for when Mexico/Canada/Russia/Korea invade.

      --
      my opportunity to freely express myself with the potential persecution and hangings and such
    5. Re:Nixon on asymmetric warfare by religious+freak · · Score: 1

      Nixon really was a brilliant guy. Too bad arrogance almost always comes along with genius.

      --
      If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
  14. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by socceroos · · Score: 1

    May the gods of humour smile upon you. For you have delivered a most ironically funny post.

  15. Military means physical, keep em in their boxes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The government should do "something" to ensure cyber intrusions are "dealt with" but why does the military have to have anything to do with that?

    Give the job to a new separate federal body, preferably with a lot more transparency and accountability than the military

  16. STOP TH E INSANTIY ! OR, TARGET THIS SCHWEINHUND! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Many people have addressed the inordinate amount of surveillance being employed to capture personal user behavior. The information is supposed to determine things like buying habits, so advertisers can better know what you are likely to buy. This manner of custom advertising has been a holy grail since the invention of demographic profiling.

    Demography is the study of people grouped by a commonality such as race or income. Researchers attempt to predict such commonalities based on things like where people live and what they watch on TV. If you live in the Hamptons, for example, you're likely to have certain common characteristics like the sort of car you drive. The same holds true for rural Tennessee. Advertisers use demographic information to save money, targeting ads to the areas that are most likely to be interested in their product.

    Such thinking led to the psychographic revolution. Psychographics get more into people's heads than simply where they live--though demography is (and should be) a big element of this. Psychographics determine what you might be interested in, based on your interests. How novel. In the direct marketing business, this has culminated in database marketing. Advertisers take common subscribers of various publications (e.g., Guns and Ammo, Field and Stream, and Conde Nast Traveller) to determine the type of person would subscribe to such an unlikely combination of magazines.

    There's more to it than this, but really not that much more.

    The marketing community has, all the while, imagined an even more individualist approach that could be developed using interactive TV. Various supposedly secret reports suggest that if you can follow the clicking behavior of an individual cable watcher, you can know his or her buying habits, desires, and weaknesses within minutes. Then comes the highly targeted advertising.This has evolved into things like Google AdSense--with often hilarious results. Those misfires aside, the more you know about someone, the more likely you are to sell them something. Only in America.

    The logical conclusion to all of this is scandal. This much probing and prying into people's lives always results in the discovery of something embarrassing--or worse. Privacy is at stake here, and the oblivious tech companies don't seem to understand why that is an issue.

    At some point, you've got to ask yourself where market research ends and prying begins. Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, is part of the pattern of thinking that began at Sun Microsystems, when then-CEO Scott McNeally said, "privacy is dead. Get over it." Schmidt didn't find it amusing when his personal information was published on CNet as an exercise in how much information about the executive could be extracted via Google searches.

    I wonder how McNeally would feel about having some whack job posting his phone numbers on a Website blaming him for all of Sun's woes. Whenever McNealy changed a number, it would be updated. Hey Scott, privacy is dead, right? You get the point. There's something odd about the country's richest citizens eschewing privacy protections. How dumb are these guys?

    But this is advertising's holy grail--finding out everything possible about a potential customer. It really has to stop. I don't like being inundated by endless advertisements, and I don't want ads targeted at me any more than I want to eat the same dinner every night. I like hearing about new products and services I might be interested in.

    Fact is, the concept of targeted advertising stemmed direct marketing, when sending information out cost actual money, so you wanted to target your advertising to save cash. With Internet-based advertising, the game is different. It doesn't cost a dollar, so the rationale changes.

    The whole process is mostly pointless now. The current excuse for prying is rationalized, despite the fact that the reason behind it hardly exists anymore. Marketing folks will claim that they want to pry in order to--of all things--deliver individual customized TV ads to the viewer

  17. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Buelldozer · · Score: 1

    We chose? When?

    Twenty years ago WalMart was full of American Made goods. It was even part of their advertising. It was the businessmen in search of the almighty profit dollar that moved the manufacturing overseas who left us NO choice.

  18. Hm... by Comatose51 · · Score: 2, Funny

    This kind of attack can happen really fast, too fast for a human to respond to. Perhaps a machine would respond. While we're at it, why limit ourselves to fighting them in cyberspace? Let's take out their physical infrastructure. We don't want to put human soldiers in the way so let's use robots and drones. We'll need to control it all with good sight lines. Let's control them from the sky with a network.

    --
    EvilCON - Made Famous by /.
  19. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    A lot of those clothes labelled "Made in USA" were being produced in Saipan by exploited workers who didn't even get federal minimum wage. Even when "Made in USA" was seen more often, that doesn't mean it was good for the American people.

  20. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    we are now somewhat dependent on China and other unfriendly nations

    What you say? Oh no, China vely flendly! :)

  21. Why is anything sensitive connected to the web? by the_Bionic_lemming · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The U.S. Military has extremely expensive equipment. How hard would it be to isolate their infrastructure on something not available on the World Wide Web? They Have SATELLITE NETWORKS! Put the public stuff on the world wide web, and keep the MILITARY INTRANET cord free from the web!

    --
    _ _ _ Go for the eyes Boo! GO FOR THE EYES!
    1. Re:Why is anything sensitive connected to the web? by wiredog · · Score: 1

      Since when does "networked"=="internet" and != "any other type of network"?

      The phone system is a network. Consider how much vital infrastructure is connected to that.

    2. Re:Why is anything sensitive connected to the web? by blueg3 · · Score: 1

      You mean like SIPRnet or JWICS?

    3. Re:Why is anything sensitive connected to the web? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FYI, that's exactly how it's set up. They are two separate networks.

      TFA, as well as most people, don't seem to understand that the problem is not the network, it's the users.

  22. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "I would much rather buy less, but of higher quality, as produced by my fellow citizens "

    You DO realize the above is an unAmerican mindset, don't you ?

    Now get back in line and buy everything, whether you need it or not !!!

  23. even if their identity is unknown? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    More opportunities for collateral casualties!!. :(
    Well, the Military intelligence can't be trusted.

  24. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by feuerfalke · · Score: 1

    And we choose to keep giving WalMart our money, rather than the smaller shops selling more expensive American-made goods. And then those smaller shops go out of business.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for turning pizza into code.
  25. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

    I would much rather buy less, but of higher quality, as produced by my fellow citizens -- keeping the dollars in our own country and filling the bank accounts of people who otherwise wouldn't have had a job and would want my dollars anyway.

    Don't worry, you'll be buying less from China, because China feels exactly the same way.
    In the long term, China doesn't particularly want to continue being so export heavy.
    Their goal is to convert much of that export business into domestic consumption.

    But don't think that means Americans will start buying more from the USA.
    Production has been and is still moving to South America, mainly Mexico.

    Be careful what you wish for.

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  26. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

    I realize we need china to support American materialism/consumerism.

      No, we don't.

      The desire of much of the population for ever-cheaper crap to buy at Walmart on their credit cards, and the greed of national corporate distributors keeps that particular piece of bullshit alive. There is no rational reason why we couldn't produce everything we need within our own borders.

    SB

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  27. Brilliant strategy! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander says the US should counter computer-based attacks swiftly and strongly and act to thwart or disable a threat even when the attacker's identity is unknown."

    How long do you think we'll need to wait before they nuke themselves?

  28. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    Minimum wage and worker safety laws alone would make many goods exponentially higher were they produced in the US. You'd also have to stop workers from unionizing, because that would also make prices somewhat higher, so quality of life for workers wouldn't be terribly high either.

  29. What will be left after a global cyber war? by _greg · · Score: 1

    It's difficult to attack well-designed and maintained computer systems and it's impossible to secure poorly designed systems connected to the Internet.

    When the insecure junk we call our county's critical information infrastructure gets seriously attacked, the attack comes from botnets operating in every country including our own. To "fight back" we must destroy every insecure computer on the internet!

    What will be left standing? Oh, most OpenBSD systems. Quite a number of well administered Unix and GNU/Linux systems. But will we still have electricity to run them? How much of the infrastructure of the Internet itself will still be left after the war has taken out insecure routers, switches and the DNS system?

    My critical resources run on OpenBSD servers behind ghost firewalls. My less critical resources are run under GNU/Linux with liberal use of virtualization and sandboxing. There are a few ways I can still be attacked but then, I'm only securing one geek's home office!

    There's nothing to be gained from fighting a cyber war. There's no sane alternative but to secure our infrastructure properly right away.

  30. So its hacker prizes for all? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    If the US responds to your pathetic probes with a letter to your isp?
    What if they waste your wintel box, liquidate your Linux or molest your Mac?
    Was it like a digital drone or did they send a digital version of main battle tank after you?
    Imagine the credibility jump when you log and survive a US counter attack.
    The joy of telling digital freedom fighters around the world of how to absorb, stop and roll back US cyber Blitzkrieg.
    The rush as the first time you push past the Wintel 'honeypots' of the support services and into the more real proprietary or open source side.
    Where does the US go after that?
    How many skilled 'hackers' can US "diplomatic" teams around the world actively and permanently disconnect?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  31. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by vxice · · Score: 1

    actually protectionism in general is a horrible idea. the idea is that if the Chinese can produce shirts cheaper than us they should do that while we perform the tasks we are best at. important point is that 'cheap' refers to what we can't produce while making shirts. Since Americans can produce much more in terms of designing machines that can make shirts for us with little human help ie the Chinese then we should work on that and one person working in china does not mean that is a lost job here that person whose job was outsourced now has a reason to look for other work that is not as easily outsourced. why on earth I would want to buy from a less productive source I have no idea and in fact rewards inefficiency. however the chinese are not operating on an even playing field since they play games with their currency and continue to buy our debt. what we need first is a trade BALANCE with china so that we are sending as much of value to them as they are to us remember a billion dollars worth of crap is still worth a billion dollars. we also need to make trade treaties that encourage the same working environment that we require here in the states so that any advantage is not in cutting corners in workers rights otherwise we might as well make the ghettos here so that the poor of our country can make the items and cut out the shipping costs.

    --
    every anarchist is a baffled dictator. Benito_Mussolini
  32. Do be careful when our military does this by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 1

    Trace the IPs as the source of the attacks, get a warrant for the systems doing the attacks and if they are part of a Botnet zombie virus trace the IP logs back until you find the source it originated from that are controlling the Botnets.

    You basically want to set up a Honeypot in a DMZ of the systems being targeted and take every other critical system offline and have the Honeypot act as it with dummy data on it. Then when the terrorists or crooks use the dummy data to register some where have the bank report it and get the IP address and email of the person using the dummy data and get a warrant for their arrest.

    If you counter-attack it might be someone's infected system used as part of a BotNet and then if it is a system in a foreign nation our military does a DoS or attack to they might declare war on us.

    So it is better we track down these attacks and learn the true source and not the Botnet of infected zombie PCs who don't even know they are infected but are remote controlled by terrorists.

    This is basically an Internet 911 attack that keeps happening over and over again until we learn how to stop them.

    If you are on Facebook or MySpace do not post personal information about yourself and never post that you are going to work or vacation as robbers will then know when you aren't home so they can break in and steal your Flatscreen TV set, checkbook, credit cards, computer, iPod, iPhone, whatever.

    They also pay for advertising that has pop-ups with fake error messages like "Unhandled Expection Error 0x00000000" or "Your computer is infected with 327 viruses click here to remove them" that install a remote access and keylogger trojan horse virus that can tell when you post anywhere even in email that you are going on vacation or to work, and yes they will get your home address if you type it in somewhere.

    I've had family members and friends be targeted this way. I don't know if it is just individuals doing this, or an unorganized gansta group, or a more tech savvy MAFIA, or even if it is a terrorist network trying to do this to steal the wealth from the USA on person at a time.

    Also if you get an email claiming to be from the FBI to deliver money or cars or even anything to you, do not reply and delete it or move it to your junk folder. The FBI does not deliver money and most of these con artists and scammers try to tell you that you won some foreign lottery or a BMW and the FBI will deliver it to you by giving out your personal information, bank account number, credit cards, SSN, etc. Don't fall for it as it is a modified Nigerian 419 scam. I am 100% certain that the FBI does not deliver lottery money and prizes, who here agrees with me?

    --
    Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
    1. Re:Do be careful when our military does this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your signature really annoys me, next time I have mod points, I'll use my -1 Troll option to downgrade you.

    2. Re:Do be careful when our military does this by Orion+Blastar · · Score: 1

      Nice try Lostincali. Go back to Kuro5hin where you belong.

      --
      Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
  33. Re:STOP TH E INSANTIY ! OR, TARGET THIS SCHWEINHUN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tl:dr

  34. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    >It was the businessmen in search of the almighty profit dollar that moved the manufacturing overseas who left us NO choice.

    And the bankers who needed new places to stuff dollars after Greenspan opened the spigot in the 90s.

    And the corporations who wet their pants over a world with no unions or labor laws or environmental regulations.

    And Wall Street who crushed any corporation that was a penny off quarterly expectations.

    And the politicians who were bought off by the corporations and kept the tax code such that it encouraged offshore production.

    And the economists who could never stop blathering about the benefits of "free" trade.

    And the foreign policy wienies who thought toasters and microwaves would bring democracy.

    And the venture capitalists who wouldn't even consider a business plan that didn't including moving everything possible offshore within 5 years.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed the textile industry as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed assembly work as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed light manufacturing as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed heavy manufacturing as just dirty, polluting work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed customer service and support as just dehumanizing work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed low end programming as just boring, inconsequential work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed stock analysis, paralegal and accounting as intellectual grunt work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed overseas research and development as second rate.

    And the smug professional class that went around singing about "education" and "innovation" and "dynamic economy" without ever figuring out what any of that actually meant or required.

    And the smug professional class who one day found themselves shopping at Walmart because they had to, even if they hated themselves for it.

  35. Anonymous Coward. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well DUH!

  36. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    Why would I need to 'be careful' what I wish for. What, pray tell, do you fear of the reduction of imported cheap crap from china? Did you not acknowledge the value of keeping the dollars in country?

    I have been careful. Materialism and chinese imports in general make me sick and embarrassed of my peers.

    You say 'be careful' as if you fear such a change. Are you satisfied with this way of being? If so, I don't have anything else to talk to you about as I've already stated I'm embarrassed by people like that.

  37. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    It costs more to pay americans to do the job, thus the price must go up. Thus the materials are bought in lower quantity.. consumed less.
    Think about the wages, overhead, etc, of producing in country. I'm happy with it and would gladly buy 1/3 the crap for the same cost so long as it was made by my fellow citizens and I could personally drive to the company to say "hey, this is broken" if they wont' honor the warranty.

  38. what is needed by binaryseraph · · Score: 2, Funny

    Clearly what is needed is a coordinated network of computers and physical warfare technologies that can detect these threats and determine the proper course of action. I suggest we name this network Skynet.

  39. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    It would take protectionist policy to enforce this theoretical balance. What say you now?

    Aside from that, and I know we disagree here, I would *gladly* pay more for the same product if it were made by my fellow citizens. As I said before, without them earning it that way, they will take it through social programs (for which I am very happy to support). By keeping the dollars within, we inherently produce more jobs for those without college educations (widespread) and those who got educations but chose paths that are not effective, like music and certain focuses of literature. They still need those mid-low level jobs. We're outsourcing so bad that these people, and those of lower education/skill are simply unable to find work --- thus the social programs kick in and we still pay.

    The benefit to keeping the dollar, and thus the work, in the US is not only that we get something for the dollars going out -- but they get something to. Work is valuable to people. Work gives you pride, purpose, and above all, human experience. People degrade without work or purpose. On an alternate point, I've always felt there would be much more benefit in a social welfare JOB than a social welfare CHECK. I served in the military, and even though I had been far beyond the capacity of scrubbing toilets ---when it was needed I sometimes scrubbed toilets. And I learned from it, learned to smile, and above all I had work to do.

    Work stimulus was a great idea. Much greater than handouts to the people or to banks.

  40. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    Minimum wage and worker safety laws alone would make many goods exponentially higher were they produced in the US. You'd also have to stop workers from unionizing, because that would also make prices somewhat higher, so quality of life for workers wouldn't be terribly high either.

    I'm all for it. I yearn for what you speak of. Those dollars go to my fellow citizens! Those people will have jobs and purpose and will not require tax dollars in social programs now.

    We could all use a few less things. Our focus on materials has distracted us from that which has much higher value: human interaction. Try it.

  41. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by anarche · · Score: 1

    And the smug professional class who dismissed the textile industry as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed assembly work as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed light manufacturing as just crap work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed heavy manufacturing as just dirty, polluting work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed customer service and support as just dehumanizing work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed low end programming as just boring, inconsequential work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed stock analysis, paralegal and accounting as intellectual grunt work anyway.

    And the smug professional class who dismissed overseas research and development as second rate.

    And the smug professional class that went around singing about "education" and "innovation" and "dynamic economy" without ever figuring out what any of that actually meant or required.

    Silly! You forgot the smug working class who no longer had the threat of industrial accidents, in exchange for lifting nothing heavier than a box!

    --
    Wait! Whats a sig?
  42. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    I'm all for it. I yearn for what you speak of.

    You might yearn for it, but you're just one person and statistically negligible. No major American company is going to base their business plan on you and decide to keep everything local.

    Those people will have jobs and purpose and will not require tax dollars in social programs now.

    Even highly protectionist countries have had strong social spending. Having a manufacturing base at home doesn't magically eradicate poverty. Socialism as a phenomenon arose in the 19th century after Europe became highly industrialized and millions were employed at textile mills and factories. Countries building their own stuff have had problems with poverty comparable or even worse to what the US is currently undergoing.

  43. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by anarche · · Score: 1

    Don't forget about Africa!

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7086777.stm

    now there's a place ripe for masses of underpaid, cruelly-exploited workers

    --
    Wait! Whats a sig?
  44. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    Please, your visions of ever more Americans sitting on their butts and drawing a government check to do nothing have nothing to do with the reality. Social benefits in the US are negligible compared to most other developed nations and don't amount to a real income for the vast majority of recipients. Lose your job in the US, and you're more likely to desperately scramble to find work than rest on your laurels. Many of my relatives live in a depressed area of Appalachia and face a dearth of employment, but they feel they have to find something fast, because unemployment isn't enough to live on.

    Even when you've got mothers who survive on welfare, getting them into work is going to require more social welfare programs than less, namely adequate daycare for the children. Countries that offer good daycare have no problem attracting women into the workforce over welfare.

  45. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mexico is not in South America - not by any of the alternative divisions of the continent.

  46. It came from Mars!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is an inspired concept. Posse Comitatus..what? Now when I want to put a site out of business I don't have to find a bot.net to take over.. all I need to do is send some crap to "US Military Assets" spoofing the source addresses of some packets and sit back and watch my tax dollars work for me.

  47. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by ndogg · · Score: 1

    When the one-world utopia happens, I'm all for it.

    Know what is the best hope for the "one-world utopia" is? It's economic interdependence.

    If I like the widgets you make, and buy them frequently, I'm less likely to hold a grudge against you if you do something stupid, and you probably don't want to bite the had that feeds you, so to speak.

    --
    // file: mice.h
    #include "frickin_lasers.h"
  48. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    The OP may be referring to the fact that, one China is no longer dependent on the US as an importer of its goods, it may call the US's tab and collapse the US economy in an instant. Surely you haven't missed the fact that China bought up much of America's debt.

  49. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Touched a nerve, eh?

  50. Automatic responses by Geminii · · Score: 1

    Cue attacks which appear to be coming from the home PCs of the top military commanders, business computers of captains of industry, the White House...

  51. dealing with spam, the military option by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ok now that we've decided to take serious action against spam why settle for nukes.
    Darpa's robotics program is coming along well, and i seem to remember a certain bunny that cameoed in some of John Ringo's books that would be perfect for this...
    (see the bit about Bun-bun)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characters_of_Sluggy_Freelance
    robot bunnies with flame-throwers a nasty sense of humor and a dislike of spammers; the world just got a little better

  52. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why on earth I would want to buy from a less productive source I have no idea and in fact rewards inefficiency

    Because this arrangement only works if you assume that the guy in China from whom you bought a shirt is equally willing to pay your neighbor for an oil change.

    Because you don't live in a vacuum loosely connected to manufacturers and consumers by the magic of FedEx. You live in a home somewhere, with houses and apartments nearby and neighbors that need jobs, too. It's worth your time to make an extra effort to buy something made locally - even if it might cost a little more - because it keeps another property near yours occupied and maintained and therefore keeps your property safer and more valuable, as you do to help the property of your neighbors.

    You might argue that buying something for less than the cheapest possible price is inefficiency. I see your view as shortsightedness that leads to tragedy of the commons, namely the value and security of your community, and that you'll eventually have to pay as much or more to repair that as you would have just buying more locally-made shirts.

  53. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      Exponentially? I doubt that. The use of that term smacks of corporate propaganda.

      Corporate abuse of employees by corporations is a time honored custom here with much tradition behind it ;-\

      Make workplaces safer? Perhaps that burden should fall on the manufacturers rather than the consumers. But you are right, in one sense - the rich will always pass the extra costs on to the poor, including and especially the poor bastards who work for them.

      So where in the long run does that lead to?

    SB

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  54. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You talk as though China can just say "we want our money, give it to us now" which they can't. We could just not pay them, get a bad name worldwide, and collapse the world economy.

  55. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      I wasn't saying I wouldn't pay higher prices for goods, personally. I was saying that the populace's demand for cheaper goods - which is driven by competition amongst companies outsourcing our production AND their advertising - is producing the problem.

      There isn't a person in this country who can say that they buy entirely US produced goods nowadays. When I was growing up, that wasn't the case, although it was getting much harder to.

      From a personal standpoint it has led to me buying very, very few newly produced goods, and recycling old goods much more. At this point in time nearly everything I own is second-hand purchased, save some electronic components.

    SB

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  56. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by CRCulver · · Score: 1

    Exponentially? I doubt that. The use of that term smacks of corporate propaganda.

    It's not unusual for a good made in the West to cost, say, $10 when its Chinese-made equivalent costs less than $1. The most recent example I noticed were handmade tobacco pipes, which can be had wholesale from China nowadays for less than $5, while US or European-made pipes sell for $40 or more.

  57. MK-ULTRA all over again! by RCC42 · · Score: 1

    Does the general reaction by the US government (and world governments) remind everyone of the bizarre tactics and theories thrown around about communist psychics threatening US interests?

    "We don't understand the danger exactly, or if there even is one, but we must be sure to have a counter to it!"

  58. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    You talk as though China can just say "we want our money, give it to us now" which they can't. We could just not pay them, get a bad name worldwide, and collapse the world economy.

    Matter of fact, most of the debts TO the US were solved this way... They simply didn't pay. We're still friends with Germany.

  59. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by shadowbearer · · Score: 1

      The term "corporate propaganda" includes advertising and the associated markups ;)

      I don't know for sure, but I suspect you are too young to remember when the majority of basic goods went from being locally manufactured to imported (1970s to now, pretty much, it "evolved"). You might want to go and look at the balance of trade numbers from those decades, they are rather enlightening.

      I have to go do some "local servicework" early tomorrow, so have to crash. I'll try and get back to this conversation tomorrow night.

    Cheers
    SB

    --
    It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
  60. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    You've totally gone off the point, and you've also completely ignored what all is encompassed in social welfare programs. Personally, I would like to expand ours. But that is all aside the point that spending in our own country provides more jobs and wealth *here*.

  61. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    Social protections are wonderful, and rightly so. The majority was being abused and exploited, but the majority *is* the country, and so they are making the system fairer.

    That is all beside the point, which is that it would be beneficial for us as a whole to invest more in ourselves than to shuttle dollars off to China buying cheap goods and increasing corporate profits. Yeah, no major American corporation would want to do that because to afford to pay americans they would have to drop some profit margins and sell less.... But I'm not talking about business, I'm talking about whats good for us. If you look at everything from a profit-max perspective, you're looking at it in the same way we ended up in this mess. We as a people should enforce ways that are better for all of us rather than the few.

  62. Seriously? by oljanx · · Score: 1

    Whoops, someone of unknown identity just launched a nuclear missile in our direction. "...We must be prepared to fight through in the worst case scenario...". Welcome to the club buddy.

  63. fortress USA by Max_W · · Score: 1

    What about us, who is outside the USA? There should be a serious systematic coordinated international police effort to fight cyberattacks.

    The USA is one of the main countries of origin of spam http://thegrebs.com/spam/ . What about this? The US army cannot take action inside the country.

    It is good that bureaucrats at last began to notice the net. But they should lift from chairs and do some real work on global cyber-security and order. People around the world try to run businesses in the Internet, and hiding in a fortress is not an answer. Let alone producing massive Internet disruptions in return.

    Instead of real systematic work flashes of senseless military fury. That is how I see it.

  64. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by Rogerborg · · Score: 1
    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  65. If we get ciber-attacks... by kikito · · Score: 1

    We'll invade Irak!

  66. No, the logical conclusion is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    a really long hosts file, replacing the last-mile's broken DNS server, and a VCR/DVR that skips the commercials.

  67. hi by maryastell · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    That would be the good article certainly made this segment amazing.Keep it up! Do it yourself light summer Massage

  68. hi by jennajameson15 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I'm always up for a thoughtful discussion of semantics. green planet

  69. I't sooo easy! by BlackBloq · · Score: 1

    So all you have to do to take down a huuge part of any info structure is to launch an attack from it and wait for the site to be "nuked" in retaliation, Cool!

    Disclaimer (cool said in sarcasm)

  70. Anonymous Coward by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typical military thinking, act before knowing the full issue. It is hoped that thinking will be over ruled by others. For if that was done back in the cold war time we would all be dead now.

    A simple blimp on a Russians defense systems may have killed billions, but one single person said wait lets see what it is rather then the standing order to launch.

    fyi - caused by then unknown cosmic rays.

    *()*

  71. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

    Unless you connect all people to a hivemind (or use force to subordinate them all to a single mind) they will prefer short term benefits over long term advantages, that's just how human nature works. Given the choice between a significantly reduced standard of living (we're talking about wages for the production of these goods going up tenfold so people cannot afford as many) or being tied to other nations that may THEORETICALLY some day invade the US most prefer the higher standard of living.

    --
    Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  72. death wears bunny slippers by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/dangerroom/images/2007/12/04/patch_bunny_slippers.jpg

    at least the guys manning the nukes have a sense of humor (that's a military patch)

    personally, i like to envision them with a stack of dvds and a popcorn machine in their missile silos, watching dr. strangelove and red dawn, playing missile command on a 1980s atari hooked up to a 52" lcd

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  73. Not one but three by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When the one-world utopia happens, I'm all for it.

    One world, you mean three right?
    Eurasia, Oceana, Eastasia

  74. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by joocemann · · Score: 1

    Tenfold my ass. If you're going to say that I want to see figures.

  75. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by slick7 · · Score: 1

    The only true response is to violate the Great Firewall of china with the truth. Flood them with American Labor History. Send over a bunch of Teamsters to organize labor unions and let the adventure begin. Maybe a couple of Jimmy Hoffas, Jackie Pressors and 100 business agents will bring sanity to this labor issue...ya think?

    --
    The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
  76. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by SleazyRidr · · Score: 1

    You would choose the more expensive option, but sadly not enough of your fellow citizens would join you to make it profitable enough for the manufacturers. Hence the current situation. Look at airlines for a similar problem.

    Don't blame the government for all you problems.

  77. Re:When we confirm much of it is coming from China by OrwellianLurker · · Score: 1

    Don't blame the government for all you problems.

    Um, what?

    due to an apathetic and ignorant society, a Congress driven by campaign contributions, and short-sighted corporations

    --
    'Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.' - Mao Tse-tung