German telco/gov staff will give all to the NSA as it has always done and will do. GCHQ was very interested in Finland over its past telco brands and emerging cell phone tech exports.
A new cable is great for the local ping and bandwidth costs but offers the same security as any cable in any part of the EU - none.
The Swiss mil did a lot of mil 'swaps' and further 'education' with the US. The Swiss also had a lot of their deep bunker information sold to the Soviet Union. Would the US have been invited in to help with security after such an event and friendships formed?
Switzerland had great skills in ~cold war crypto products for export but did not seem to pose any decryption issues for the GCHQ/NSA over time.
What an Australia, UK, NZ, Canada gives to the US via generational agreement, the Swiss might give to the US out of staff friendship and ongoing gov trust?
The other aspect would be the ongoing tax issues with US citizens and the use of EU/Swiss banking products.
Swiss banking might become more open to US legal requests, would Swiss data protection laws for non Swiss end users bend the same way over time under constant US legal/gov/mil requests?
Re 'output sufficiently to gain some faith in its proper randomness".
Back when cypher machines where unique physical devices sold to gov for embassy use the US and UK had two options:
Set their own device standard with Tempest to leak the plain text. Such a unit would pass all "proper" crypto testing as it was a real crypto unit. The plain text was leaking out as entered or printed and could be collected.
The great aspect was "trust" form the end user and the message was "safe" for sending.
The other option was to get to staff or set up a front company to sell junk weakened encryption at a low price or via a trusted brand in a 'neutral' country.
The low price would make any real commercial crypto efforts fail and set international standards to what junk brands where 'trusted' 'safe' and been used.
When countries started the read leaked fragments of their encypted communications in the press - that was the time never to trust 'hardware'.
After Snowden users can think back - you can have all the crypto post-testing you want as the US branded OS or tame telco or junk hardware/software is set for collecting all your keystrokes...
The same tricks seem like crypto magic to every generation of academics. The problem is anyone could have followed the methods via the press in the ~1960-70-80-90's.
AC you seem to have forgotten the "parallel construction" aspect for use in US domestic courts and the massive domestic surveillance network that supports such efforts:)
So thanks to Snowden many more people can understand that the US legal structure has changed.
Encryption will slowly have to be corrected so that non-governmental entities and former government staff cannot just sell gov methods to anyone for cash.
The "radio waves" aspect was always sold to countries and staff as watching the Soviet Union. Now we know it was all for internal, domestic use too.
This will be very positive for regional telco prices. As more efforts like Regional African Satellite Communication Organization (RASCOM) move forward, Africa will enjoy much lower call cost and more bandwidth.
As Ethiopian jet maintenance shows, Africa will enjoy the benifits of its own space science technology advancements over time.
Cold the reason why Russia and the Soviet Union where/are so interested in 'neutral' Sweden is very simple and not a mystery.
Sweden had deals with the UK to 'swap' elint from ground bases for UK airborne efforts.
Canada as an "innocent partner in the international sphere" was the idea in the late 1940's to early 1950's.
By the early 1950's Canada was finally ready to totally sign over to the US via memoranda of understanding, letters i.e. become totally dependant on the USA.
The main fear of the US was a UK, Australia, NZ, Canada swap that would leak quality US material/methods with no way of tracking any cleared staff outside the US.
Just as Snowden showed a standardisation of junk US telco encryption spreading world wide, the USA also wanted US security standardisation within its UK, Australia, NZ, Canada teams.
Another fear of the US in the 1950-60's was that the UK and Canada would sell/use their own unique UK based crypto equipment. The US did not want such equipment on the global market. Expert staff in the UK and Canada been too smart with their own emerging crypto was also something the US wanted to avoid. Over the years US encryption, security was the set as the 'only' method for its closest partners.
The idea that any other nation did not know of the role of Canada after the 1960's in a US global signals effort is strange.
Microwave relay information gathering was exposed via the "Tryst", "Broadside" and Canadain 'Stephanie' efforts in the press in the late 1960's - early 1970's.
The UK and US may just like to watch any forming "dissent" and hope online communities will show trends before they shape into visable anti war/human rights/environmental/finance reform protests.
Web 2.0 and online gaming communities seem to offer what "peace groups", 'bars', 'clubs', "unions' and 'universities" did in the past to the intelligence services.
Then certain well funded NSA/CIA/GCHQ "front" groups can be pushed as been wonderful and protesters will be attracted to 'their' unique community forming.
Expect to see a lot of traction surround big 'name' brand protest groups and charming individuals ready to guide people into fake or totally infiltrated movements. http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_11_02/FBI-was-interested-in-selling-the-material-to-WikiLeaks-in-order-for-them-to-be-charged-with-espionage-Crabtree-3397/
What did the past look like?
"'Undercover police cleared 'to have sex with activists'" http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists
Another aspect is just for slang and keeping up with the ability to 'blend' in.
Read up on a Junta or average Banana republic or East Germany, 1970-80's South Africa way of thinking about their more important staff.
You would be part of an elite team, saving the world from "communism" or "fascism" to ensure esprit de corps (spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm).
The other aspect is a hint of knowing another "Church" report could be on the way and unlike the CIA/NSA publications of the past - best to get in front of the US press/political leaders i.e. domestic spying is more vital than ever to ensure other needed domestic data collection is protected from any legal reality of US Constitutional protections. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee
Insider trading is another way of ensuring stability - domestic spying is the only protection from later "questions".
Other options are using a positive spin on "domestic spying" - you are making a "list" of top US constitutionally protected protest groups so they can be 'removed' from automated data collection.
Telling staff not to read any foreign press or have 'words' found in foreign press reports on any of their computers can stop employee morale slipping. No more clearance, no lucrative gov contracting later in life.
If your best staff are no longer "allowed" to be interested in world politics and US Constitutional rights - Russia will have agents to 'help' talk about such events.
Employee morale was something everyone at that level in US gov understood from the 1950-70's GCHQ, MI5/6 CIA and FBI reports.
Cold thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the NSA to weaken and set junk global telco encryption standards is "absolute."
Thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the NSA to read US brands trusted 'encryption" is "absolute".
Thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the US gov to keep a 'life time' of phone records is "absolute".
Thanks to Snowden the US now knows the "power" of the US gov to use 'parallel construction" for domestic trials.
Its funny how you term cost in "minor amounts of munitions" - the real cost to the US is in ongoing projects and the contractors/mercenaries. The days of draft or gov wages for US mil support services are long gone Cold. A past era of gov cost was replaced by the private sector demanding no bid contracts to move equipment and services into regions of the world held by the US gov. Thats not "cheap" over 10 years and the US taxpayer have to 'pay' for that. So the munitions might be 'cheap' in your way of thinking but the person who transports and loads them might be on another pay grade:)
Australia has thin copper to the exchange or digital loop carrier (DLC) (RIM Remote Integrated Multiplexer).
The copper is old, has be patched up over years. The fixes are usually to get the service working again - as in data and voice - not a real repair. So a lot of copper lines are now shared and the amount of spare lines has dropped over many years.
Back at the exchange you have an adsl 2+ card via your isp or the telco (rented). Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) exists by only for the push of pay tv and internet via the telco who rolled it out.
Australia had looked at the options:
Copper to a powered, cooled node then onto optical at a cabinet in the street level. If you wanted optical to the node, you would have to pay extra and then pay more for 'rental' of the new optical line. Add too much optical to the home and the copper and the Node has to start to balance power, cooling and speed.
The other aspect is copper costs (buy or rent) and who pays for the upkeep and power given that its a telco's copper and they want 'rent' or a sale..
The other option was clean, new optical that needs less electrical power (and skilled workers for power/telco work per street). The speed of the optical can then be set well into the future.
The main points are the telco 'sale' of copper or long term 'rental' deal vs just been "another" isp/telco on optical.
Hybrid fiber-coaxial was also seen as been opened to 'other' telco/isp but the speed and congestion would not be useful over time.
Australia is not the US or UK. The average copper diameter is smaller, the number of breaks in the line until it reaches the home can be a factor, the line length, age and quality is different.
VDSL2 is great in the lab but in the real world the speed numbers up and down can drop off. http://www.zdnet.com/nbn-co-cant-guarantee-libs-50mbps-speed-promise-report-7000023901/
"....only realistically be offered two guaranteed speeds: 12Mbps (with 1Mbps uploads) and 25Mbps (with 5Mbps uploads)."
In the past you would get the OS or vendor name and hints at a fix.
Now its some " virus got onto so many personal computers" Was it a push down from the web 2.0 sites on the PC? Or some random PC virus that spread and got a lot of web 2.0 sites details?
The US gov handed out a lot of old 'mil' tech (~small tanks, weapons systems) and drones to a lot of "small" cities over the past 10 years. With FAA approval now more understood the drones will soon be watching more regional ports, truck movements, airports and main roads 24/7.
A lot of groups doing 'import/export' work are going to be spending big on counter-counter measures to ensure their shipments are not tracked:)
The NSA would be very interested in all Australia emerging mil tech issues.
"Bezaley tells of US code crack" http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/we-cracked-us-code-beazley/2007/09/20/1189881668071.html
e.g. US mil says "No" to Australia on some mil sales and upgrades - what does Australia do? Try and lobby around the US restrictions and then just work around US mil export grade equipment.. sharing with outside firms and brands..until the work is done to Australian needs.
The US also knows Australia has diverse staff with different counties of origin and faiths. 100% loyal to Australia and that other country/faith would keep the US very interested in Australians with top clearances.
The US would also be very aware that Australia has some different ideas on protected mil/industrial security systems. Its outsourced to contractors and sub contractors with "best effort" Australian security while chasing lower costs and balancing the need to bring in very advanced skills.
Australia cannot afford to "create" mil tech so it shops around the world and uses 'trusted' diverse international brands to fix up US export systems.
Re the antidote.
Think about a book, comic, stage play, cartoon, song, dance, puppets, animations, create a free video game (app, PC, PS$...), blog -
A few $ on a website, lots of useful free software, code is free, digital art no longer has a huge up front cost in terms of cash or new skills.
Govs in Eastern Europe really got upset when they saw themselves, their 'new' laws, their 'legal' orders and their actions reflected around the world.
Terms like: contractors, insider trading, drones, clearances, rendition... metadata, Australian law, national interest, supervision....
The govs and hired sock puppets then have to react to your art. More fun to write about:)
That staff in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, United States, a few other nations the US really like and cleared contractors: seem to have more faith in each other than their own elected govs, countries or their own public.
We all had a good look into the future when Eastern Europe opened gov archives in the early 1990's and we saw the huge amount of paper files, audio tape and index cards.
All backed up by a tame judiciary and mil/police that enjoyed keeping the boarders sealed.
Orwell and many other authors tried to warn people via a few different books and writing styles - 1984 been very direct.
Welcome shared domestic surveillance where other nations requests for data on one Australian individual result in very close supervision to ensure the correct anonymised data on some Australian national is sent back.
Re To the West, please wake... up
India is really the neat way to space - you get all your staff doing theoretical work and basic science for decades. When super computer cost, materials science and your own staff are ready you build on what you can do. Never outpace your own staff. No overpriced super computing, never have to over import fancy costly materials or trust expensive outside experts.
China did the same for its domestic nuclear power.
France shows what can be done out of national pride, skill based on post WW2 political reality and the hope of export/sat related sales.
Expensive at the time and great Ada skills. The export pay back is?
The UK and Australia stand out as the national warning from efforts long past. Australia hoped to trade its location for tech help into space. Australian science would be 'on site' to learn/observe all it could and get tech offered for been so 'nice' to the UK and USA. They got to track, film, move the rockets to the launch sites but never really got any space tech for all the help they offered. In the end Australia has its sats build by Asia, the USA. The Australian military has to use a communications system seen and built by "many" other countries... Very expensive, never secure and all rather comical.
The UK is the throwing cash at emerging space science and running out of cash story.
Buy in big, early, trust the USA and their own science was the costly UK space vision.
The GCHQ wanted to keep up with the US and really wanted satellites soon and at *any* price.
The UK "Skynet" in the 1970's was to provide UK voice encryption for the UK. The other option was for the NSA/GCHQ to work via US Type-777 satellite systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)
Zircon (building on Chevaline/Polaris) was the next epic UK step into space to escape the US "second party" hold on the UK. Never again would the NSA be able to turn the UK data stream off if the UK was seen as naughty.
The Falklands War also made sure the UK finally understood "why" they needed their own space tech. By 1988 the UK was back buying into US satellite systems but after a huge amount spent on Zircon.
The US seemed to want a civilian and military side in one setting. A shuttle to place and collect mil satellite systems on a wonderful civilian boondoggle backend.
Costs could have been hidden as a pure military project or kept low as a pure civilian science effort. The US seemed to mix the budgets with Soviet like budget results over time. Lots of nice jobs, great science, great flow of public funding. Until only the mil side gets needed next gen funding.
Different countries have different ideas. Funding always seems to catch up:)
LOL and the US and Soviet Union/Russia world "probably" never think of orbital weapons AC? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_weapon#Orbital_bombardment
China has a history of allowing its students to learn, bringing back a world of skills to China and then to export the same products from China at great prices.
Russia likes to get into political, press, education, mil, energy sales and aid, turning a country into been 'pro' Russia.
The US opens a trade deal, gets "invited" to share a mil 'base' and your small country is just a beholden as to a China or Russia.
Different methods, optics, trade - same national "win" for a Russia, China or USA.
Slashdot Mirror
A EU wide loop or ring can be seen from ideas like:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANTAT-3
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ODIN_(cable_system)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TAT-14 (note WikiLeaks news)
Low peering costs and wonderful bandwidth ensure all regional telcos have few options and the NSA gets every packet.
German telco/gov staff will give all to the NSA as it has always done and will do. GCHQ was very interested in Finland over its past telco brands and emerging cell phone tech exports.
A new cable is great for the local ping and bandwidth costs but offers the same security as any cable in any part of the EU - none.
The Swiss mil did a lot of mil 'swaps' and further 'education' with the US. The Swiss also had a lot of their deep bunker information sold to the Soviet Union. Would the US have been invited in to help with security after such an event and friendships formed?
Switzerland had great skills in ~cold war crypto products for export but did not seem to pose any decryption issues for the GCHQ/NSA over time.
What an Australia, UK, NZ, Canada gives to the US via generational agreement, the Swiss might give to the US out of staff friendship and ongoing gov trust?
The other aspect would be the ongoing tax issues with US citizens and the use of EU/Swiss banking products.
Swiss banking might become more open to US legal requests, would Swiss data protection laws for non Swiss end users bend the same way over time under constant US legal/gov/mil requests?
Re 'output sufficiently to gain some faith in its proper randomness".
Back when cypher machines where unique physical devices sold to gov for embassy use the US and UK had two options:
Set their own device standard with Tempest to leak the plain text. Such a unit would pass all "proper" crypto testing as it was a real crypto unit. The plain text was leaking out as entered or printed and could be collected.
The great aspect was "trust" form the end user and the message was "safe" for sending.
The other option was to get to staff or set up a front company to sell junk weakened encryption at a low price or via a trusted brand in a 'neutral' country.
The low price would make any real commercial crypto efforts fail and set international standards to what junk brands where 'trusted' 'safe' and been used.
When countries started the read leaked fragments of their encypted communications in the press - that was the time never to trust 'hardware'.
After Snowden users can think back - you can have all the crypto post-testing you want as the US branded OS or tame telco or junk hardware/software is set for collecting all your keystrokes...
The same tricks seem like crypto magic to every generation of academics. The problem is anyone could have followed the methods via the press in the ~1960-70-80-90's.
AC you seem to have forgotten the "parallel construction" aspect for use in US domestic courts and the massive domestic surveillance network that supports such efforts:)
So thanks to Snowden many more people can understand that the US legal structure has changed.
Encryption will slowly have to be corrected so that non-governmental entities and former government staff cannot just sell gov methods to anyone for cash.
The "radio waves" aspect was always sold to countries and staff as watching the Soviet Union. Now we know it was all for internal, domestic use too.
This will be very positive for regional telco prices. As more efforts like Regional African Satellite Communication Organization (RASCOM) move forward, Africa will enjoy much lower call cost and more bandwidth.
As Ethiopian jet maintenance shows, Africa will enjoy the benifits of its own space science technology advancements over time.
Again Cold the reason why the "Soviet Union and Russia have long been interested in any country adjacent to their territory" is due to the real risk of repeated invasion. :) :)
Russia lives in a very bad neighbourhood, historically surrounded by kings with faith based dreams, slavers,~ "colonialists" after Russian raw materials, fast moving fascists and a big spend military-industrial complex.
Lets go down a simple short list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Rus'
Sweden with Teutonic Knights 1240-1242
~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Ice
Poland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Muscovite_War_(1605–1618)
Sweden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Swedish_War_(1788–90)
Napoleon 1812
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
Germany WWI
UK and others in 1918
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War
Germany again in WW2
Then the overflights and spy drops in the Cold war
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Georgia–Russia_crisis
So Sweden did deals with the GCHQ over elint (bases, airborne), Russia would take an interest
Cold the reason why Russia and the Soviet Union where/are so interested in 'neutral' Sweden is very simple and not a mystery.
Sweden had deals with the UK to 'swap' elint from ground bases for UK airborne efforts.
Canada as an "innocent partner in the international sphere" was the idea in the late 1940's to early 1950's.
By the early 1950's Canada was finally ready to totally sign over to the US via memoranda of understanding, letters i.e. become totally dependant on the USA.
The main fear of the US was a UK, Australia, NZ, Canada swap that would leak quality US material/methods with no way of tracking any cleared staff outside the US.
Just as Snowden showed a standardisation of junk US telco encryption spreading world wide, the USA also wanted US security standardisation within its UK, Australia, NZ, Canada teams.
Another fear of the US in the 1950-60's was that the UK and Canada would sell/use their own unique UK based crypto equipment. The US did not want such equipment on the global market. Expert staff in the UK and Canada been too smart with their own emerging crypto was also something the US wanted to avoid.
Over the years US encryption, security was the set as the 'only' method for its closest partners.
The idea that any other nation did not know of the role of Canada after the 1960's in a US global signals effort is strange.
Microwave relay information gathering was exposed via the "Tryst", "Broadside" and Canadain 'Stephanie' efforts in the press in the late 1960's - early 1970's.
The UK and US may just like to watch any forming "dissent" and hope online communities will show trends before they shape into visable anti war/human rights/environmental/finance reform protests.
Web 2.0 and online gaming communities seem to offer what "peace groups", 'bars', 'clubs', "unions' and 'universities" did in the past to the intelligence services.
Then certain well funded NSA/CIA/GCHQ "front" groups can be pushed as been wonderful and protesters will be attracted to 'their' unique community forming.
Expect to see a lot of traction surround big 'name' brand protest groups and charming individuals ready to guide people into fake or totally infiltrated movements.
http://voiceofrussia.com/2013_11_02/FBI-was-interested-in-selling-the-material-to-WikiLeaks-in-order-for-them-to-be-charged-with-espionage-Crabtree-3397/
What did the past look like?
"'Undercover police cleared 'to have sex with activists'"
http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists
Another aspect is just for slang and keeping up with the ability to 'blend' in.
So Cold when the US and UK train "freedom fighters" for Syria its just "nationals" will go to Syria ... "return to prepare for future mischief."
The UK and US have used their "freedom fighters" in a lot of small wars. Funding, weapons, travel are all 'allowed' by the US gov.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10311007/Syria-nearly-half-rebel-fighters-are-jihadists-or-hardline-Islamists-says-IHS-Janes-report.html
Even when the US has "its" "extremists" trapped in "hot conflicts" they are allowed to fly out:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunduz_airlift
Read up on a Junta or average Banana republic or East Germany, 1970-80's South Africa way of thinking about their more important staff.
You would be part of an elite team, saving the world from "communism" or "fascism" to ensure esprit de corps (spirit of comradeship, enthusiasm).
The other aspect is a hint of knowing another "Church" report could be on the way and unlike the CIA/NSA publications of the past - best to get in front of the US press/political leaders i.e. domestic spying is more vital than ever to ensure other needed domestic data collection is protected from any legal reality of US Constitutional protections.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee
Insider trading is another way of ensuring stability - domestic spying is the only protection from later "questions".
Other options are using a positive spin on "domestic spying" - you are making a "list" of top US constitutionally protected protest groups so they can be 'removed' from automated data collection.
Telling staff not to read any foreign press or have 'words' found in foreign press reports on any of their computers can stop employee morale slipping. No more clearance, no lucrative gov contracting later in life.
If your best staff are no longer "allowed" to be interested in world politics and US Constitutional rights - Russia will have agents to 'help' talk about such events.
Employee morale was something everyone at that level in US gov understood from the 1950-70's GCHQ, MI5/6 CIA and FBI reports.
Cold thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the NSA to weaken and set junk global telco encryption standards is "absolute."
Thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the NSA to read US brands trusted 'encryption" is "absolute".
Thanks to Snowden the world now knows the "power" of the US gov to keep a 'life time' of phone records is "absolute".
Thanks to Snowden the US now knows the "power" of the US gov to use 'parallel construction" for domestic trials.
Its funny how you term cost in "minor amounts of munitions" - the real cost to the US is in ongoing projects and the contractors/mercenaries. The days of draft or gov wages for US mil support services are long gone Cold. A past era of gov cost was replaced by the private sector demanding no bid contracts to move equipment and services into regions of the world held by the US gov. Thats not "cheap" over 10 years and the US taxpayer have to 'pay' for that. So the munitions might be 'cheap' in your way of thinking but the person who transports and loads them might be on another pay grade :)
Australia has thin copper to the exchange or digital loop carrier (DLC) (RIM Remote Integrated Multiplexer).
The copper is old, has be patched up over years. The fixes are usually to get the service working again - as in data and voice - not a real repair. So a lot of copper lines are now shared and the amount of spare lines has dropped over many years.
Back at the exchange you have an adsl 2+ card via your isp or the telco (rented). Hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) exists by only for the push of pay tv and internet via the telco who rolled it out.
Australia had looked at the options:
Copper to a powered, cooled node then onto optical at a cabinet in the street level. If you wanted optical to the node, you would have to pay extra and then pay more for 'rental' of the new optical line. Add too much optical to the home and the copper and the Node has to start to balance power, cooling and speed.
The other aspect is copper costs (buy or rent) and who pays for the upkeep and power given that its a telco's copper and they want 'rent' or a sale..
The other option was clean, new optical that needs less electrical power (and skilled workers for power/telco work per street). The speed of the optical can then be set well into the future.
The main points are the telco 'sale' of copper or long term 'rental' deal vs just been "another" isp/telco on optical.
Hybrid fiber-coaxial was also seen as been opened to 'other' telco/isp but the speed and congestion would not be useful over time.
Australia is not the US or UK. The average copper diameter is smaller, the number of breaks in the line until it reaches the home can be a factor, the line length, age and quality is different.
VDSL2 is great in the lab but in the real world the speed numbers up and down can drop off.
http://www.zdnet.com/nbn-co-cant-guarantee-libs-50mbps-speed-promise-report-7000023901/
"....only realistically be offered two guaranteed speeds: 12Mbps (with 1Mbps uploads) and 25Mbps (with 5Mbps uploads)."
Yes lots of industrial units for 'thickness' of metal or other industrial uses have been lost over many years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_radiography where they end up is ?????
In the past you would get the OS or vendor name and hints at a fix.
Now its some " virus got onto so many personal computers" Was it a push down from the web 2.0 sites on the PC? Or some random PC virus that spread and got a lot of web 2.0 sites details?
The US gov handed out a lot of old 'mil' tech (~small tanks, weapons systems) and drones to a lot of "small" cities over the past 10 years. With FAA approval now more understood the drones will soon be watching more regional ports, truck movements, airports and main roads 24/7. :)
A lot of groups doing 'import/export' work are going to be spending big on counter-counter measures to ensure their shipments are not tracked
The NSA would be very interested in all Australia emerging mil tech issues.
"Bezaley tells of US code crack"
http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/we-cracked-us-code-beazley/2007/09/20/1189881668071.html
e.g. US mil says "No" to Australia on some mil sales and upgrades - what does Australia do? Try and lobby around the US restrictions and then just work around US mil export grade equipment.. sharing with outside firms and brands..until the work is done to Australian needs.
The US also knows Australia has diverse staff with different counties of origin and faiths. 100% loyal to Australia and that other country/faith would keep the US very interested in Australians with top clearances.
The US would also be very aware that Australia has some different ideas on protected mil/industrial security systems. Its outsourced to contractors and sub contractors with "best effort" Australian security while chasing lower costs and balancing the need to bring in very advanced skills.
Australia cannot afford to "create" mil tech so it shops around the world and uses 'trusted' diverse international brands to fix up US export systems.
Re the antidote. :)
Think about a book, comic, stage play, cartoon, song, dance, puppets, animations, create a free video game (app, PC, PS$...), blog -
A few $ on a website, lots of useful free software, code is free, digital art no longer has a huge up front cost in terms of cash or new skills.
Govs in Eastern Europe really got upset when they saw themselves, their 'new' laws, their 'legal' orders and their actions reflected around the world.
Terms like: contractors, insider trading, drones, clearances, rendition... metadata, Australian law, national interest, supervision....
The govs and hired sock puppets then have to react to your art. More fun to write about
That staff in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, United States, a few other nations the US really like and cleared contractors: seem to have more faith in each other than their own elected govs, countries or their own public.
We all had a good look into the future when Eastern Europe opened gov archives in the early 1990's and we saw the huge amount of paper files, audio tape and index cards.
All backed up by a tame judiciary and mil/police that enjoyed keeping the boarders sealed.
Orwell and many other authors tried to warn people via a few different books and writing styles - 1984 been very direct.
Welcome shared domestic surveillance where other nations requests for data on one Australian individual result in very close supervision to ensure the correct anonymised data on some Australian national is sent back.
At some point price customisation or "dynamic" pricing must have become very useful and widespread.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/24/ramasastry.website.prices/
Your search habits fed back into a price just for 'you' at that moment on a sales site.
Re To the West, please wake ... up :)
India is really the neat way to space - you get all your staff doing theoretical work and basic science for decades. When super computer cost, materials science and your own staff are ready you build on what you can do. Never outpace your own staff. No overpriced super computing, never have to over import fancy costly materials or trust expensive outside experts.
China did the same for its domestic nuclear power.
France shows what can be done out of national pride, skill based on post WW2 political reality and the hope of export/sat related sales.
Expensive at the time and great Ada skills. The export pay back is?
The UK and Australia stand out as the national warning from efforts long past. Australia hoped to trade its location for tech help into space. Australian science would be 'on site' to learn/observe all it could and get tech offered for been so 'nice' to the UK and USA. They got to track, film, move the rockets to the launch sites but never really got any space tech for all the help they offered. In the end Australia has its sats build by Asia, the USA. The Australian military has to use a communications system seen and built by "many" other countries...
Very expensive, never secure and all rather comical.
The UK is the throwing cash at emerging space science and running out of cash story.
Buy in big, early, trust the USA and their own science was the costly UK space vision.
The GCHQ wanted to keep up with the US and really wanted satellites soon and at *any* price.
The UK "Skynet" in the 1970's was to provide UK voice encryption for the UK. The other option was for the NSA/GCHQ to work via US Type-777 satellite systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skynet_(satellite)
Zircon (building on Chevaline/Polaris) was the next epic UK step into space to escape the US "second party" hold on the UK. Never again would the NSA be able to turn the UK data stream off if the UK was seen as naughty.
The Falklands War also made sure the UK finally understood "why" they needed their own space tech. By 1988 the UK was back buying into US satellite systems but after a huge amount spent on Zircon.
The US seemed to want a civilian and military side in one setting. A shuttle to place and collect mil satellite systems on a wonderful civilian boondoggle backend.
Costs could have been hidden as a pure military project or kept low as a pure civilian science effort. The US seemed to mix the budgets with Soviet like budget results over time. Lots of nice jobs, great science, great flow of public funding. Until only the mil side gets needed next gen funding.
Different countries have different ideas. Funding always seems to catch up
LOL and the US and Soviet Union/Russia world "probably" never think of orbital weapons AC? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_weapon#Orbital_bombardment
China has a history of allowing its students to learn, bringing back a world of skills to China and then to export the same products from China at great prices.
Russia likes to get into political, press, education, mil, energy sales and aid, turning a country into been 'pro' Russia.
The US opens a trade deal, gets "invited" to share a mil 'base' and your small country is just a beholden as to a China or Russia.
Different methods, optics, trade - same national "win" for a Russia, China or USA.