wonk
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Friday, February 4th, 2011[This weekend's Opinion column in the Daily Post] The recent decision by the Mubarak regime in Egypt to cut off all Internet access for its citizens is a textbook example of using a silver bullet to shoot oneself in the foot. The whys and wherefores of how they’ve gone about doing so provide a useful [...]
Pavlov's Light Bulb
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010In a discussion about using small frequency changes in LED light bulbs to transmit data, someone mentioned that companies are already using this technology in supermarkets and other large stores to dynamically change prices on their products. Which led me to a little though experiment: What if retailers could change the price of a product [...]
My Privacy, Your Secrecy
Monday, December 27th, 2010There is a new, defining conflict in the world. Technology’s assault on secrecy will succeed just as surely as it has on our privacy. There are only two ways to come to terms with Wikileaks and its successors: Repression or negotiation.
That Cargo Cult Lie Again
Thursday, December 23rd, 2010In an otherwise excellent defence of Mathematics as a fundamental component of a liberal education, professor Robert Lewis of Fordham University once again draws on the old South Pacific cargo cult chestnut to illustrate Bad Thinking about Mathematics: The story may seem sad, amusing, or pathetic, but what does that have to do with mathematics [...]
"Journalism"
Sunday, December 12th, 2010I’m not arguing that complete access to all information is the only true form of journalism. I’m suggesting that making a distinction between WikiLeaks and ‘journalism’ as we understand the word does not describe the process; it describes the actors.
Push and Pull
Friday, December 10th, 2010A little note about the dynamic between WikiLeaks and the 5 newspapers they’re collaborating with: Freedom of Information advocates have been commending WikiLeaks for the decision to defer the vetting and publication of individual cables to experienced, seasoned journalists. No argument there. But what about WikiLeaks’ effect on these newspapers? Surely there’s some awareness -and [...]
Culture of Secrecy
Monday, December 6th, 2010Secrecy and a scarcity of information are crucial to the continuation of the cronyism about which so many Americans complain. It astounds me how many of these same people who rail at the unhealthy, shadowy bonds between corporations, lobbyists and the government are now scandalised that an organisation like WikiLeaks is struggling to diminish the power of these linkages.
The China Market
Sunday, December 5th, 2010On Saturday, the Guardian revealed fears by US officials that China was using its privileged access to the Microsoft Windows source code in order to prepare and launch attacks against certain targets. This fear appears to be justified, in light of the tactics used in the highly publicised attacks that led to Google’s withdrawal from [...]
Open Source Diplomacy
Tuesday, November 30th, 2010The commoditisation of information proceeds apace, and although the stakes are perceived to be higher in this case, the effects will probably be similar in nature. A fractious dialectic is already emerging between those who truly believe in the benefits of information resources like those circulated to millions of US military and government staffers on SIPRNET, and those who seek to leverage proprietary knowledge for their country’s -and sometimes their own- gain.
All secrets are like kindling. Used at the right time, gossip can provide warmth, build allegiance and influence. Used rashly, well… you know where this is heading. In that sense, wikileaks may seem like a 10 year old boy with a stolen box of matches. But applied judiciously and with a sober sense of timing, the same principles of near-complete openness and sharing that are at the heart of free software development (and the Internet itself) could usefully animate international diplomacy.
False Equivalence
Sunday, November 28th, 2010Again and again over the years, I’ve listened to people excuse Microsoft’s chronic insecurity and apparent inability to escape from its virus-infected legacy. This in spite of the fact that the nearly boundless contagion of the Microsoft world has yet to spread into other, increasingly popular areas of technology. The claim typically runs like this: [...]
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