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NSA morale down
by coderman 08 Dec '13

08 Dec '13

the portrayals from the brass and insiders is, "the administration is not showing enough support!". i have to wonder: how many rank and file are feeling betrayed by the NSA administration instead? they're now getting a look into all the SCI bits they were compartmented from before; able to see a bigger picture full of invasive technical excesses and legal abuses... """ A second former official said NSA workers are polishing up their résumés and asking that they be cleared — removing any material linked to classified programs — so they can be sent out to potential employers. He noted that one employee who processes the résumés said, “I’ve never seen so many résumés that people want to have cleared in my life.” """ it remains to be seen if they simply jump to private sector who are just as bad, or pursue less offensive careers entirely. --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-morale-down-after… NSA morale down after Edward Snowden revelations, former U.S. officials say By Ellen Nakashima, Published: December 7 Morale has taken a hit at the National Security Agency in the wake of controversy over the agency’s surveillance activities, according to former officials who say they are dismayed that President Obama has not visited the agency to show his support. A White House spokeswoman, Caitlin Hayden, noted that top White House officials have been to the agency to “express the president’s support and appreciation for all that NSA does to keep us safe.” It is not clear whether or when Obama might travel the 23 miles up the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to visit Fort Meade, the NSA’s headquarters in Maryland, but agency employees are privately voicing frustration at what they perceive as White House ambivalence amid the pounding the agency has taken from critics. An NSA spokeswoman had no comment. Obama in June defended the NSA’s surveillance as lawful and said he welcomed the public debate prompted by revelations from former contractor Edward Snowden beginning that month. Though Obama has asserted, for instance, that the NSA’s collection of virtually all Americans’ phone records is lawful and has saved lives, the administration has not endorsed legislation that would codify it. And his recent statements suggest he thinks some of the NSA’s activities should be constrained. A senior administration official who was not authorized to speak on the record said that the White House would normally not endorse legislation so early in the process but that “it’s been clear . . . that we prefer legislation” that preserves the phone records program “while making some changes . . . to potentially strengthen oversight and transparency.” Said Hayden: “The president has the highest respect for and pride in the men and women of the intelligence community who work tirelessly to protect our nation. He’s expressed that directly to NSA’s leadership and has praised their work in public. As he said: ‘The men and women of our intelligence community work every single day to keep us safe because they love this country and believe in our values. They’re patriots.’ ” She noted that in recent weeks, Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, and Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff, visited Fort Meade “to express the president’s support and appreciation for all that NSA does to keep us safe.”’ Supporters of the NSA say staffers are not feeling the love. “The agency, from top to bottom, leadership to rank and file, feels that it is had no support from the White House even though it’s been carrying out publicly approved intelligence missions,” said Joel Brenner, NSA inspector general from 2002 to 2006. “They feel they’ve been hung out to dry, and they’re right.” A former U.S. official — who like several other former officials interviewed for this story requested anonymity because he still has dealings with the agency — said: “The president has multiple constituencies — I get it. But he must agree that the signals intelligence NSA is providing is one of the most important sources of intelligence today. “So if that’s the case, why isn’t the president taking care of one of the most important elements of the national security apparatus?” The White House, observers say, is caught between competing desires to preserve what it has said are valuable national security programs and to shield the president from criticism from allies abroad and civil-liberties advocates at home. Some observers said it is not surprising that Obama would not travel to Fort Meade before internal and external reviews of surveillance activities have been completed. The reviews are expected to be done soon. The NSA’s director, Gen. Keith Alexander, who is retiring in the spring after 81 / 2 years, has been the most vocal defender of the agency’s 35,000 employees. In speeches he has noted that more than 6,000 of them went to Iraq and Afghanistan to support the military. He has spoken of how 22 cryptologists were killed. “They’re the heroes — not the media leaker,” he said in a September speech, in a reference to Snowden. NSA counterterrorism analysts have worked “every weekend for eight years since I’ve been here. . . . Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, they’re there to defend us,” he said then. On Thursday, Obama said on MSNBC that he would be proposing “some self-restraint on the NSA” and “some reforms that can give people more confidence.” In an interview with NBC last month, he said: “In some ways, the technology and the budgets and the capacity [at NSA] have outstripped the constraints. And we’ve got to rebuild those in the same way that we’re having to do on a whole series of capacities . . . [such as] drone operations.” Civil-liberties advocates generally agree with that sentiment, but they would go further and say that the NSA’s bulk collection of domestic phone records is unlawful and ought to be ended. Former officials note how President George W. Bush paid a visit to the NSA in January 2006, in the wake of revelations by the New York Times that the agency engaged in a counterterrorism program of warrantless surveillance on U.S. soil beginning after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “Bush came out and spoke to the workforce, and the effect on morale was tremendous,” Brenner said. “There’s been nothing like that from this White House.” A second former official said NSA workers are polishing up their résumés and asking that they be cleared — removing any material linked to classified programs — so they can be sent out to potential employers. He noted that one employee who processes the résumés said, “I’ve never seen so many résumés that people want to have cleared in my life.” Morale is “bad overall,” a third former official said. “The news — the Snowden disclosures — it questions the integrity of the NSA workforce,” he said. “It’s become very public and very personal. Literally, neighbors are asking people, ‘Why are you spying on Grandma?’ And we aren’t. People are feeling bad, beaten down.”

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infra-org (urls)
by brian carroll 08 Dec '13

08 Dec '13

'Spooky action' builds a wormhole between 'entangled' quantum particles http://phys.org/news/2013-12-spooky-action-wormhole-entangled-quantum.html note: i must have it all wrong because would it not be possible to modify the spin of an entangled pair and have it influence the remote particle likewise. and thus, what need of wires or fiber to connect events, if a hybrid remote and on-site quatum processing were to take place. an ecological or ecosystem context of connectivity in & out of various structures via different forms of entanglement. what if 1,000 circuit boards shared a split particle and were sent to remote areas, yet one calculation effected the others and likewise, or perhaps 1,000 remotely-connected processing functions embedded in 100,000 onsite. in other words what if the processor were not discrete nor connected by means other than resonance or vibration (perhaps decibels indicates this as an acoustic measurement for light even). of course i have no idea what i am saying, though as list fool i must speak such nonsense. // feeling exhausted? sun magnetic poles may have reversed... [videos] Sun Reversal of its Magnetic Poles // via hh http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0PbL-ErVas SUN ABOUT TO FLIP MAGNETIC POLES (description) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-haqLMAPEE8 MASSIVE Solar Burst./Sun's Pole Reversal. (esoteric) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrGtK2W72_o note: gravity bringing you down more than normal? feeling strange polarization in your day? perhaps it is the solar magnetic pole reversal! as with symptoms of daylight savings time on peoples routines and schedules, perhaps solar events effect the magnetic compass within the human body in some fundamental way. anecdote: once had an MRI, tone-based buzzing with intense Tesla electromagnets that map out the brain via spinning particles in brain for imaging, so a particular tone will occur and this shifting of direction within molecules or by particles themselves can be discerned, via polarization. cannot drink caffiene without now having similar effect, as if a remote satellite locked onto noggin, the molecular directionality discerned, like wearing an electromagnetic helmet with invisible wires into the noosphere. perhaps it is only feeling the wi-fi, though caffeine makes whatever that is apprehendable. now have a particular method of decaf coffee intake with controlled micro-caffeine dose as option for a controlled burn into slightly less out-of-focus tunnel vision. thus when realizing total exhaustion recently beyond normal levels, and feeling this drag on entire body as if having walked 1,000 miles tired, it was wondered if that too could be related to a magnetic reversal impacting nervous system subsystem, some perhaps more sensitive to these effects. such as the electrically sensitive who can tell when a new satellite is switched on in orbit, or for those who tend to short-out streetlights when walking by. electromagnetism for thought. // what if dyslexia has something to teach about language structures // logical reasoning as tuning into truth, its harmonization vs. distonia Dyslexia's roots traced to bad brain connections http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24705-dyslexias-roots-traced-to-bad-b… [quote] The authors claim these findings add to the growing recognition of dyslexia as a "disconnection syndrome". "What we're learning from functional imaging is that it's not enough to talk about brain areas; you're always dealing with a network, and when you've got a network you've got patterns of connectivity," says Scott. "So is there some way you could restructure that network that might be beneficial?" [unquote] proposed water tap turnoff @ NSA Utah Data Center // via drudgereport http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/03/some-nsa-opponents-want-to-n… Signalers vs. strong silent types: Sparrows exude personalities during fights http://phys.org/news/2013-12-strong-silent-sparrows-exude-personalities.html [quote] "There is a growing realization in the field that factoring in personality variables will help solve many thorny problems in animal behavior, such as do animals signal honestly," said Michael Beecher, co-author and a UW professor of psychology and biology. In other words, if a bird knew the personality of its opponent, it would have a better understanding of when to expect an attack..." [unquote] Resident Visitor: Laurie Spiegel's Machine Music The experimental pioneer's groundbreaking work with computers in the 70s and 80s helped lay the foundation for many of today's electronic noise makers. http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/9002-laurie-spiegel/ HUMAN BODY RESONANCE FREQUENCIES... // via helenhall.net http://listentothisnoise.com/post/59772917907/whats-the-resonant-frequency-… (note the external link to 'Power Standards Lab' titling this as fun stuff compared to shooting bullets into ballistic gelatin. another dimension to electronic warfare not yet discussed, how celltowers and other infrastructure can be used to deliver pain and agony via remote control) -- linked from Listen To This Noise... [audio] Seen but not Heard: contact microphones reveal hidden worlds http://soundslikenoise.org/2013/08/25/seen-but-not-heard-contact-microphone… >> contact_microphones to record i n f r a s o u n d . . . Contact microphones (overview) http://www.recording-microphones.co.uk/Contact-microphones.shtml [quote] The Contact microphone comes in a variety of guises and is also known as a transducer, a pickup or a piezo, and is a form of microphone specifically designed to pick up audio vibrations in solid objects. Normal studio mics are all built around the principle of detecting vibrations in the air but Contact mics are different in that they are designed to pickup surface vibrations. This means that if you taped one to a wooden board and then stood infront of it and sang. the chances are it wouldn’t pick anything up. But tap, scrape, or in some way touch the board and even the softest vibrations will be picked up by the contact mic. [unquote] The first rule of CONTACT MIC club // ~practical info; matched preamp option http://www.musicofsound.co.nz/blog/the-first-rule-of-contact-mic-club Get Better Sound from Piezo Mics & Pickups http://suite101.com/a/get-better-sound-from-piezo-mics-and-pickups-a72764 A Comprehensive Guide To Contact Microphones/Piezos http://enhanced-reality.net/music/a-comprehensive-guide-to-contact-micropho… [quote] PVDF don’t have self-resonance because they don’t have a metal disc, and they’re flexible, so you can attach them to a curved surface (use epoxy or silicone), and they’re more robust, piezo discs are rather brittle. [unquote] ex. rubber coated piezo (missing image link above) http://www.amazon.com/Ridgeview-Audio-MDK-H-Harp-Pickup/dp/images/B006ZF6W24 [audio] ex. doors, pipes & sinks, hard drives, wind, small servos http://gamesounddesign.com/Contact-Microphones.html note: i have a drum trigger for a MIDI connection though the traditional piezo is held within a plastic case separating it from the external surface so only a significant force will trigger it. in contrast, a device such as the Korg CM-200 Clip-On contact microphone (below) is in more direct contact with the surface, thus more likely to sense the resonating/vibrating surface, in this case on a music instrument though presumably could be used elsewise. Korg CM-200 http://www.korg.com/cm200 note: thus, either with a mixer preamp and-or-else a digital recorder the contact mic could be used in lieu of an acoustic cardoid/etc microphone registering signal out of air pressure. this is a piezo disk transducer, whereas the following is an example of shielded PVDF options... ex: Fluoropolymer Piezo Film Tab Contact Microphone (PVDF) http://contactmicrophones.com/index.html http://contactmicrophones.com/products-lft.html Hertzian Tales Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, and Critical Design Anthony Dunne, The MIT Press (PDF link. 1999/2005 edition) http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=… 1 the electronic as post-optimal object 1 2 (in)human factors 21 3 para-functionality: the aesthetics of use 43 4 psychosocial narratives 69 5 real fiction 83 6 hertzian space 101 7 hertzian tales and sublime gadgets 123 conclusion 147 notes 149 bibliography 155 illustration credits 165 index 171 RF-Safe Stop electromagnetic pulse to stop vehicles // via drudgereport http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2518177/End-high-speed-car-c… --- on organization --- in earlier days thought the computer OS would help organize life, yet the filing cabinet approach remains a junk drawer approach scaled up to the internet worldwide, existing as a global networked junk drawer. attempts to develop a system have been delayed (AMS) though as part of this, an organizational approach to offline data (paper and things) was realized via a consistent, modular approach to storage, such that everything now has its place and is manageable, contained as it were, as part of a ecosystem-like relation between stuff. my interest in organizing information (concepts,ideas) also exists in environment, feel much better when everything is put away or space maximized and storable versus cluttered. so space-savings, maximizing use of space, easy or improved maintenance, easier to find, etc. {my computer just crashed again due to a hack from cypherpunks thus lost paragraph written} though this particular approach to storage via Really Useful Boxes has transformed my life via organizing what would otherwise be in chaos, allowing stackable and nestable storage (boxes in boxes, boxes made for certain dimensional items, such as CDs or file folders) and also the unique foldable crates/containers that expand/contract as needed. also, tamper proof pins available. others may prefer other containers or other brands or approaches, though in my situation the Really Useful Boxes solved the organization and management situation and allow continual tweaking over time. manufacturer website... Really Useful Boxes Inc. http://www.reallyusefulproducts.co.uk/usa/index.php now if only storage could be connected with barcode inventories or bluetooth stickers and managed via the OS as part of an ecosystem approach (i.e. Asperger Management System). must note: a favorite organizational, stuff management & transport device is the gigantic Ikea foldable bags. they can help carry a large box or vast clothes, gear, or supplies and fold down to a small format that fits in a backpack or bag. excellent if needing to move lots of stuff fast. ^(quasi: offline organization influences approach to computer, online) other than this, right now, in analog mode with index cards and post-it notes instead of digital tools, still in paper realm of organization day to day, the role of the paper shredder still seems vital to any organizational approach, present to future, say managing scanned documents that are stored digitally and then either filed or shredded, given priority. such systems in contrast to doing nothing, tendency to have data collect as if layers of new dust, and paper multiplies week by week until unmanageable chaos, unless managing it. figuring it out via a systematic approach. and that is where offline/computer/online are mismatched, a huge gap between chaos of offline filing cabinet and computer and online cloud junk drawers and data model that has no empirical basis for knowledge or information. no 'shared truth' that is a relational structure. instead, urls and search. hunt and peck. where's that copy of the hospital bill again? maybe the great synchrony is the gap that requires and relies upon the junk drawer and hoarding approach online, at OS level, and offline, due to the gap with ideas, the loss of concepts altogether within computing: "tools for thinking" absent as a worldview. --- on heartbreak and hope --- e-ink has been for me the great potential for a more 'idea-based' approach to display, such that larger format interfaces such as calendars or maps could feasibly become updateable and readable in a non-projected-light or blaring screen approach that scorches the eyeballs or loses readability in the sun or forces extreme fatigue in high-contrast viewing (screens when read at night in low light or for long periods of time, hours to days and weeks of interaction). an upgraded version of the Kindle DX was in my estimate the best change of finally having a tool or platform for sharing ideas, beyond the failure zone of email lists and blogs and social media sites, that 'ideas' and conceptualization both in a realm of scholarship and thinking, as this relates to discussion and feedback and debate, could be opened up by a tool that meets this realm of *advanced literacy* -- and yet instead, when the next-gen Paperwhite Kindle was announced, the large format DX had no such update and then was said by some Amazon representative to not be in further development, thus the only viable PDF reader at size of actual documents was left in an unlit condition, eventually removed from their website. this basically killed off my remaining hope in technological innovation because it forced any such publishing platform that could develop for ideas into a constricted zone of haikus only and penguin classics small-book formats, great for reading on a bus, bad for complex ideas and diagrams and visual and written communication combined, at a readable type size where formatting does not need to be pinched & zoomed repeatedly to move through information, and thus issues of formatting as it relates to standards, the web deteriorated into various formatting approaches, canned 'big box' solutions, monoculture, deafening sameness that adds up to nothing more than the part. when i considered the Kindle DX as a platform it seems ideal for fishing and topo maps, for documents yet also calendar like scheduling, day planning, etc. though in years of thinking about it (and never yet using the device), one day it dawned on me the missing functionality was the very attribute that originally seemed the greatest feature: free 3G connectivity to Wikipedia. this is one of those issues for a person like myself who grew up without an encyclopedia within the home, yet had a yearning fascination with information yet no access. as it remains today in many ways, sans cellphone, though having ready access to an online reference work could then open up questioning and the imagination to further considerations instead of stopping or limiting next steps in thinking. this is equivalent to the advice 'if you do know what a word means look it up in the dictionary' as a life practice, to improving literacy, yet at the larger connected realm of ideas in their expanded explanation and description, integral conceptualization. and thus in reverse, the idea arose that wouldn't it be ideal if the Kindle DX was a _writing platform as well as just reading. not simply writing a computer, but also, at the e-ink device via touchscreen or other interface (handwriting, diagramming). a related concept i have described as 'fractal reading/writing' is in some ways connected to this ability to write in categories versus long-strings of conventional descriptive language, more like programming or code for structures of concepts, as if molecular entities. going into a concept, not just across it, via language. modeling the ideas, concepts, structural 'forms', where scaffolding may exist as substructures hidden or not in given views (xml, tags, etc) the realization then that if every Kindle shipped with wiki software that would allow people to write these structures and link them together in a new public zone of the internet that is based upon ideas and concepts and their organization. a public realm like cafe society where debates and discussions could occur, conceptualization beyond boundaries of websites or separated blogs, and into the structures themselves, that would move from individual POVs in relativistic frames, grounded or not, into a larger empirical structure, if mediated this way, organized, managed, maintained, say by public discourse, debate, challenging of hypotheses. this, tools for thinking and tools for developing literacy, to battle the engrained ignorance that one-way media and vested opinions together establish, especially when separated and left unchallenged or untested beyond a comfortable isolation. what if tools could reestablish or allow a public zone or square or environment where today none actually exists. and what if it is wiki and e-readers and those who use these for scholarship and exchanging ideas, and thus various platforms and vendors could exist and participate, allow access and interface, yet also it would involve those with knowledge of particular domains to develop and model them, and potentially transform existing conceptions of what a field or discipline actually is, in contrast to the outdated or detached academic models that may limit what is approved. being someone who is intrigued by innovative technological tools with purpose, it was completely devastating when Amazon dropped support for the larger format DX. i lost faith in Bezos vision because it at once manages a future of books while removing the larger purpose of ideas and concept development they involve, making it a read-only scenario with Kindles versus a read-and-write platform for those developing ideas, the people who are creating the documents, so they can review their own work at scale, away from the PC screen and read others ideas likewise, beyond its domination over context and interpretation, via distraction and requirement of multitasking with an OS or other device with demands. thus the [concept] + [concept] = [concept] / [concept] approach that wikis allow could be a new way of 'writing' that is non-linear and fractal, going into other networked data structures or particular versions, to create various models of ideas and concepts and new organizations or a worldview, new interface to online information that could be developed that is integrated into a single model, and data could be attached to this, instead of having individual branded websites reinventing the wheel, they could be data structures instead with basic facts and details. certainly would deal with information anxiety issues at every level, from finding out info in a Wolfram-like computational approach, to the phone-book aspect of just wanting the facts without the 1mb download of advertising banner ads and all the tracking data to locate an address, etc. and then it could be visualized atop that via the various approaches, instead of tied down into static rendered css/xml sites as UI/display. there is no reason this wiki-approach could not exist on tablets and cellphones likewise, (in the sense of 'tools for thinking') though it is this issue related to readability adn those who are writers or thinkers or scholars or communicator/conveyors, debaters of ideas, etc, that in reading or considering ideas, the issues of the screen and its biasing does influence what is read, how it is read, and within what parameters (in browser, often with animations running or OS notifications, or various errors) versus a device purpose-made for easy readability and reading, the pleasure of textual communication, even into embedded visuals/diagrams, versus the hassle that is email or all the formatted bureaucracy blogs require to upkeep while limiting reference or url-rot or whatever. versus having data stored as documents in a library within a device -or- accessible as a structure, as with a wiki-structure of networked data models, that could become a new realm of the internet, expanding further than wikipedia yet still accessible. another variant like gopher or mailing lists, yet more permanent, like earlier days of (lynx-like) Yahoo categorization yet public, developed as areas of integrated knowledge and areas of debate and discussion, not limited to the outdated worldviews held within and requiring censorship to control and discourage feedback, within institutions. thus, the opportunity for Galilean/Copernicun remodeling and working-through such conditions rather than avoiding or voiding such thinking, makign the internet read-only for ideas in terms of public discourse, debate, ideas, "books", knowledge, "culture", thinking, etc. i.e. beyond overly-limiting corporate or institutional or private control over shared reality. so Amazon dropped out, and Sony went conceptual and introduced a fascinating upgrade to their e-ink future with a prototype now deploying for testing in Japan. see the video: 13.3-inch Sony tablet // the future... http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57585367-1/13.3-inch-sony-tablet-is-lik… so this is not just an e-reader, it is described as a 'digital notepad' and 'digital paper', perhaps tending toward the concept of a clipboard functionality for this kind of device, where it could be used for formwork, charting, census, notes and writing, scheduling, etc. and likely would be much more usable than a tablet (including large sized) due to weight, battery life, readability, and better functionality with dedicated or programmable task buttons that are not needing to relate to MP3 and videos, other non-relevant apps or adds-on (everything!) it is also mentioned is focused on Universities, so it has an inherent educational purpose, (potentially: tool for thinking) and is currently in trials in Japan from what i last read. and a price of approximately 1k USD was recently mentioned, which is also interesting, in that it makes it impracticle for most citizens unless a niche or supported project. this must have freaked out Amazon and reawoken their Kindle DX program because the device has since reappeared on their website, and for a heavily discounted price (169 USD, when previously in the 379 USD range). it was a closeout special before, yet reintroduced, it is a reactivation of a forfeited category, something that was said officially a dead-end, and to me was a betrayal of ideas and the Kindle as a publishing platform, thus the heartbreak that the soul of books have become only about the money made from them, not the continuance of ideas they contain and culture they develop and sustain. yet, along with quadrocopters, suddenly Amazon and Bezos are back in the realm of critical relevance in this same context by what is potentially a vital reversal, hopefully and likely indicating a renewed interest in the large-format e-ink reader as future data management, organization, communication devices. it was difficult for a person like me, heavily vested in strange ideas requiring a platform for their public exchange, to be removed as a possibility. it was preface to extinction for the very relevance of thought within networked media, to have the literacy device disappear, taken over by more jukeboxes with electronic money-slots required for each & every interaction. it is potentially heartening that Amazon is responding to innovation from Sony, realizes the potential and need, and will bring paperwhite-like illumination to a large format e-reader, a next generation Kindle DX, hopefully others like Sony will also. presumably there was not a viable enough market or need or the timing was not right for such a next stage, in terms of corporate-interest, before now. yet i think it always existing though is not voiced, yet it is the vital core of the culture and internet that would use such devices, especially those who think and organize and share and debate their thoughts. perhaps a next generation larger format DX device would have been too expensive with older e-ink screens, until the Sony approach. and thus would not sell enough to justify the investment needed. whatever the case, the latest ongoing pricepoint for the existing DX indicates a next generation Kindle DX could be in the works if not using the same E Ink Mobius screen as the Sony digital notepad, potentially or eventually. thus it would not suprise if the next DX is somewhere between the existing and last launched pricepoint, instead of further towards the 1K USD that is breaking new ground for a prefered display for written, diagrammatic, textual, modeled information, organization, and management that tends more towards the library than file cabinet turning into a data junk drawer approach. likewise, another such device for construction documents.... (logistics, networked data management) PocketBook CAD Reader // Fina screen http://archinect.com/news/article/87978707/e-ink-introduces-display-and-new… [video] Pocketbook CAD Reader Debuts in New Commercial http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/pocketbook-cad-reader-debuts… note on kindle dx, autocad device, sony large-format!!, killer-app missing: wikis. new www space (structured info) could be created using it and other software as shared web-platform. ii.e. writing as wiki, wiki as approach to writing, not serial strings, deep structural concepts. [concept] [concept] + [concept] diagrammatic approach to communication (fractal r/w) {educational fair-use of copyright, 2013} Caligula, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Spartacus

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Perhaps related? ABIS protocol Re: [Full-disclosure] Secure whistleblowing feedback / reporting systems in the content of compartmented information, endpoint security [was: [NSA bitching] [formerly Re: PRISM][]]
by Odinn Cyberguerrilla 08 Dec '13

08 Dec '13

Perhaps this is related to what is being discussed here: https://github.com/ABISprotocol/ABIS - if you find it interesting please drop your comments / thoughts, and if interested in being a collaborator, please advise. On Fri, 2013-10-18 at 08:18 -0700, coderman wrote: > On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 4:40 AM, <dan(a)geer.org> wrote: > >... > > http://geer.tinho.net/geer.uncc.9x13.txt > > > an interesting discussion :) > > "This is perhaps our last fundamental tradeoff before the Singularity > occurs: Do we, as a society, want the comfort and convenience of > increasingly technologic, invisible digital integration enough to pay > for those benefits with the liberties that must be given up to be > protected from the downsides of that integration?" -- dan > > > i would argue that there is an alternative in design and architecture, > mainly those which decentralize and protect end-to-end. however, there > is a cost attached to these efforts as well, which so far most opt-out > of paying... > > > best regards, > And I would reply that only those who commit to those efforts can see it more clearly that there are no credit, financing or bitcoin scheme that can side-step the payment. Great article dan! -- 010 001 111

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Re: infra-org (urls)
by John Young 07 Dec '13

07 Dec '13

Contact mics for acquiring vibration and resonance emanations are among the still classified TEMPEST offensive and defensive activities, along with other multi-sensory and -physical acquisition and transmission technologies. The celebrated EM components of TEMPEST are commonly used as subterfuges, ruses and ploys to divert attention from the non-EM -- which an almost limitless number of animals and other creatures use for SIGINT and COMINT, and a few like Brian, unfettered by industry conceits, use for full-spectrum HUMINT. TSCM pros have made much of the EM threat and little of the other, or pretend to do so. The US Embassy Moscow cavity resonance bug, and a few others, are highlighted for the same diversion from the slew of others inadvertently ignored. Thanks again to Brian for broadening the discussion from narrow focus on crypto prowess and simple-minded EM and TSCM, a narrowness which might be considered a long running ploy not so different from the Snowden gush generating reams of Chicken Little narrative beloved by the comsec industry guided by its nose toward cash and ignoring its tell-taling stench.

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Re: [Full-disclosure] Secure whistleblowing feedback / reporting systems in the content of compartmented information, endpoint security [was: [NSA bitching] [formerly Re: PRISM][]]
by coderman 07 Dec '13

07 Dec '13

On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 4:40 AM, <dan(a)geer.org> wrote: >... > http://geer.tinho.net/geer.uncc.9x13.txt an interesting discussion :) "This is perhaps our last fundamental tradeoff before the Singularity occurs: Do we, as a society, want the comfort and convenience of increasingly technologic, invisible digital integration enough to pay for those benefits with the liberties that must be given up to be protected from the downsides of that integration?" -- dan i would argue that there is an alternative in design and architecture, mainly those which decentralize and protect end-to-end. however, there is a cost attached to these efforts as well, which so far most opt-out of paying... best regards,

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audiovisual (urls)
by brian carroll 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

MIT's Peter Shor explains why he devised an algorithm for a quantum computer that could unravel our online data encryption http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029445.100-my-quantum-algorithm-won… // not worth saying this may be relevant to landspeeder development... 'Electromagnon' effect couples electricity and magnetism in materials http://phys.org/news/2013-11-electromagnon-effect-couples-electricity-magne… "It has been well known for a long time that electricity and magnetism are two sides of the same coin. Waves in free space, such as visible light or mobile phone radiation, always consist of both an electric and a magnetic component. When it comes to material properties, however, electricity and magnetism have been viewed as separate topics." To Settle Infinity Dispute, a New Law of Logic // not _really https://www.simonsfoundation.org/quanta/20131126-to-settle-infinity-questio… note: enormous problems with this. mathematics as if short-fiction. what if concept/cosmology is being influenced by language framework (q: is truth bounded or infinite). hierarchical nesting core of set theory, numberline in this context, why assumed 1d/2d versus N-dimensional. issues of bounded infinity everywhere (particle ladder, consciousness), perhaps zero is issue (empty set?) -- metaphysics seem completely off, being and nothingess as set relations not grounded in reality it seems. (note: why three zeroes allowed to diagram infinity as a first question, what if number line is hiearchical, zero different dimension than 1...N) Your Next Phone Will Be The Ultimate Surveillance Machine // via digg http://www.buzzfeed.com/charliewarzel/your-next-phone-will-be-the-ultimate-… The internet mystery that has the world baffled // via digg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/10468112/The-int… // consider consolidating many credit cards into one card with bluetooth, // how if that signal is hacked, access to eight cards combined the bounty... Soon, You Might Pay for Everything With a Coin // via digg http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/ideas/2013/11/soon-you-might-pay-for-everyt… [correlation between money and desire. what happens when truth is separated from exchange, kept outside or removed from it. what is the guarantee: in <blank> we trust?] Watch The Idea, the First Animated Film to Deal with Big, Philosophical Ideas (1932) http://www.openculture.com/2013/11/the-idea-1932.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MplLxhyzWSg Australia's Using Pop Radio to Track Space Junk http://gizmodo.com/australias-using-pop-radio-to-track-space-junk-1474126810 [quote] 4 Great Tech Ideas That Flopped // via digg http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=pogue-4-great-tech-ideas-t… "The plug-and-play gadget: A spinoff of the PalmPilot called The Handspring Visor held much of the same attraction as the PhoneBloks. It was a handheld organizer with a big cartridge slot on the back. Into it you could snap a range of accessories: more storage, a GPS receiver, a camera, a cellular transmitter, a remote control, a Bluetooth module, an MP3 module or a voice recorder. The Visors were on the market for about four years (1999 to 2003) and have fans to this day. But clearly, the concept of interchangeable gadget parts alone isn’t enough to start a revolution." (note: the above article mentions something repeatedly endlessly about PDA development, that it no longer exists, especially in the context of the Handspring which preceded and was probably a trial for the modularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch (a PDA or networked digital assistant). the Handspring was certainly limited unlike the Apple ecosystem approach which could expand exponentially and had wide software integration, and thus the concept lives on in another product line and its development yet is consistently not attributed this way.) in-article url: Why Snap-Together Cell Phones Will Never Work http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-snap-together-cell-pho… rel. [video] PhoneBLocks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDAw7vW7H0c tuning of active exhaust systems (kaaaars) http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-tips/chamber-music-of-a-diff… [video] Siberian Ice Drummers http://www.snowaddiction.org/2013/11/the-coolest-music-in-the-world-listen-… Hüsker Dü - Hare Krsna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3iXCEhHdUM Hüsker Dü - Eight Miles High http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBKyBlJ_JN8 Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND3haD-c0lw --- ring as platform --- emfs-cellphone/linear hall-effect sensor, gyro-mapping bt as datalogger pole-mounted sensor+computer spatio-temp (freq) excavation/stratigraphy 2 axis or 3 axis, nfc/bt, archeo-GRID SENSOR RINGS - ZigBee comms/authentication - potential follow on box/device, monitor signal spacetime within map framework TSCM monitoring of area (radiation, signals, frequencies, etc) integrated in visual real-time data model LED carpet turns the floor into a screen (with video) http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029455.300-led-carpet-turns-the-flo… (note: consider possibility of tempoary maze or labyrinth, especially crypto or security applications, otherwise invisible) [image] ex. electromagnetic aesthetics as context http://lostvhs.com/2013/11/17/point-blank/ How Braille Was Invented http://gizmodo.com/how-braille-was-invented-1471756840 (invention, innovation, resistance, tragedy, victory) Dead Kennedys - California Über Alles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW8UlY8eXCk Kitsch Palace : Das Model https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J031_IrO24M This New Polymer Regenerates Large Parts of Itself, Like Lizards Do http://gizmodo.com/this-new-polymer-regenerates-large-parts-of-itself-lik-1… Researchers discover roots of superfluorescent bursts from quantum wells http://phys.org/news/2013-11-roots-superfluorescent-quantum-wells.html [quote] ...mysteries remained, especially in results obtained at low or zero magnetic fields. Kono said the team didn't understand at the time why the wavelength of the burst changed over its 100-picosecond span. Now they do. //... Kono said superfluorescence is a well-known many-body, or cooperative, phenomenon in atomic physics. Many-body theory gives physicists a way to understand how large numbers of interacting particles like molecules, atoms and electrons behave collectively. Superfluorescence is one example of how atoms under tight controls collaborate when triggered by an external source of energy. //... "The quantum well, as before, consisted of stacked blocks of an indium gallium arsenide compound separated by barriers of gallium arsenide. "It's a unique, solid-state environment where many-body effects completely dominate the dynamics of the system," Kono said. "When a strong magnetic field is applied, electrons and holes are fully quantized – that is, constrained in their range of motion—just like electrons in atoms," he said. "So the essential physics in the presence of a high magnetic field is quite similar to that in atomic gases. But as we decrease and eventually eliminate the magnetic field, we're entering a regime atomic physics cannot access, where continua of electronic states, or bands, exist." [unquote] {educational fair-use of copyright, 2013} ∎ ♕ ♞

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NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide
by coderman 06 Dec '13

06 Dec '13

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-tracking-cellphon… """ NSA tracking cellphone locations worldwide, Snowden documents show By Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani, Wednesday, December 4, 12:18 PM The National Security Agency is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world, according to top-secret documents and interviews with U.S. intelligence officials, enabling the agency to track the movements of individuals — and map their relationships — in ways that would have been previously unimaginable. The records feed a vast database that stores information about the locations of at least hundreds of millions of devices, according to the officials and the documents, which were provided by former NSA contractorEdward Snowden. New projects created to analyze that data have provided the intelligence community with what amounts to a mass surveillance tool. (Video: How the NSA uses cellphone tracking to find and ‘develop’ targets) The NSA does not target Americans’ location data by design, but the agency acquires a substantial amount of information on the whereabouts of domestic cellphones “incidentally,” a legal term that connotes a foreseeable but not deliberate result. One senior collection manager, speaking on condition of anonymity but with permission from the NSA, said “we are getting vast volumes” of location data from around the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. Additionally, data is often collected from the tens of millions of Americans who travel abroad with their cellphones every year. In scale, scope and potential impact on privacy, the efforts to collect and analyze location data may be unsurpassed among the NSA surveillance programsthat have been disclosed since June. Analysts can find cellphones anywhere in the world, retrace their movements and expose hidden relationships among individuals using them. (Graphic: How the NSA is tracking people right now) U.S. officials said the programs that collect and analyze location data are lawful and intended strictly to develop intelligence about foreign targets. Robert Litt, general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees the NSA, said “there is no element of the intelligence community that under any authority is intentionally collecting bulk cellphone location information about cellphones in the United States.” The NSA has no reason to suspect that the movements of the overwhelming majority of cellphone users would be relevant to national security. Rather, it collects locations in bulk because its most powerful analytic tools — known collectively as CO-TRAVELER — allow it to look for unknown associates of known intelligence targets by tracking people whose movements intersect. Still, location data, especially when aggregated over time, is widely regarded among privacy advocates as uniquely sensitive. Sophisticated mathematical techniques enable NSA analysts to map cellphone owners’ relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with thousands or millions of other phone users who cross their paths. Cellphones broadcast their locations even when they are not being used to place a call or send a text. (Video: Reporter Ashkan Soltani explains NSA collection of cellphone data) CO-TRAVELER and related tools require the methodical collection and storage of location data on what amounts to a planetary scale. The government is tracking people from afar into confidential business meetings or personal visits to medical facilities, hotel rooms, private homes and other traditionally protected spaces. “One of the key components of location data, and why it’s so sensitive, is that the laws of physics don’t let you keep it private,” said Chris Soghoian, principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union. People who value their privacy can encrypt their e-mails and disguise their online identities, but “the only way to hide your location is to disconnect from our modern communication system and live in a cave.” The NSA cannot know in advance which tiny fraction of 1 percent of the records it may need, so it collects and keeps as many as it can — 27 terabytes, by one account, or more than double the text content of the Library of Congress’s print collection. The location programs have brought in such volumes of information, according to a May 2012 internal NSA briefing, that they are “outpacing our ability to ingest, process and store” data. In the ensuing year and a half, the NSA has been transitioning to a processing system that provided it with greater capacity. The possibility that the intelligence community has been collecting location data, particularly of Americans, has long concerned privacy advocates and some lawmakers. Three Democratic senators — Ron Wyden (Ore.), Mark Udall (Colo.) and Barbara Mikulski (Md.) — have introduced an amendment to the 2014 defense spending bill that would require U.S. intelligence agencies to say whether they have ever collected or made plans to collect location data for “a large number of United States persons with no known connection to suspicious activity.” NSA Director Keith Alexander disclosed in Senate testimony in October that the NSA had run a pilot project in 2010 and 2011 to collect “samples” of U.S. cellphone location data. The data collected were never available for intelligence analysis purposes, and the project was discontinued because it had no “operational value,” he said. Alexander allowed that a broader collection of such data “may be something that is a future requirement for the country, but it is not right now.” The number of Americans whose locations are tracked as part of the NSA’s collection of data overseas is impossible to determine from the Snowden documents alone, and senior intelligence officials declined to offer an estimate. “It’s awkward for us to try to provide any specific numbers,” one intelligence official said in a telephone interview. An NSA spokeswoman who took part in the call cut in to say the agency has no way to calculate such a figure. An intelligence lawyer, speaking with his agency’s permission, said location data are obtained by methods “tuned to be looking outside the United States,” a formulation he repeated three times. When U.S. cellphone data are collected, he said, the data are not covered by the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures. According to top-secret briefing slides, the NSA pulls in location data around the world from 10 major “sigads,” or signals intelligence activity designators. A sigad known as STORMBREW, for example, relies on two unnamed corporate partners described only as ARTIFICE and WOLFPOINT. According to an NSA site inventory, the companies administer the NSA’s “physical systems,” or interception equipment, and “NSA asks nicely for tasking/updates.” STORMBREW collects data from 27 telephone links known as OPC/DPC pairs, which refer to originating and destination points and which typically transfer traffic from one provider’s internal network to another’s. That data include cell tower identifiers, which can be used to locate a phone’s location. The agency’s access to carriers’ networks appears to be vast. “Many shared databases, such as those used for roaming, are available in their complete form to any carrier who requires access to any part of it,” said Matt Blaze, an associate professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. “This ‘flat’ trust model means that a surprisingly large number of entities have access to data about customers that they never actually do business with, and an intelligence agency — hostile or friendly — can get ‘one stop shopping’ to an expansive range of subscriber data just by compromising a few carriers.” Some documents in the Snowden archive suggest that acquisition of U.S. location data is routine enough to be cited as an example in training materials. In an October 2012 white paper on analytic techniques, for example, the NSA’s counterterrorism analysis unit cites two U.S.-based carriers to illustrate the challenge of correlating the travels of phone users on different mobile networks. Asked about that, a U.S. intelligence official said the example was poorly chosen and did not represent the program’s foreign focus. The NSA’s capabilities to track location are staggering, based on the Snowden documents, and indicate that the agency is able to render most efforts at communications security effectively futile. Like encryption and anonymity tools online, which are used by dissidents, journalists and terrorists alike, security-minded behavior — using disposable cellphones and switching them on only long enough to make brief calls — marks a user for special scrutiny. CO-TRAVELER takes note, for example, when a new telephone connects to a cell tower soon after another nearby device is used for the last time. Side-by-side security efforts — when nearby devices power off and on together over time — “assist in determining whether co-travelers are associated … through behaviorally relevant relationships,” according to the 24-page white paper, which was developed by the NSA in partnership with the National Geospatial Agency, the Australian Signals Directorate and private contractors. A central feature of each of these tools is that they do not rely on knowing a particular target in advance, or even suspecting one. They operate on the full universe of data in the NSA’s FASCIA repository, which stores trillions of metadata records, of which a large but unknown fraction include locations. The most basic analytic tools map the date, time, and location of cellphones to look for patterns or significant moments of overlap. Other tools compute speed and trajectory for large numbers of mobile devices, overlaying the electronic data on transportation maps to compute the likely travel time and determine which devices might have intersected. To solve the problem of undetectable surveillance against CIA officers stationed overseas, one contractor designed an analytic model that would carefully record the case officer’s path and look for other mobile devices in steady proximity. “Results have not been validated by operational analysts,” the report said. Julie Tate contributed to this report. Soltani is an independent security researcher and consultant. """

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Snowden Civil War
by John Young 05 Dec '13

05 Dec '13

Snowden Civil War: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/snowden-civil-war.htm

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Fwd: [cryptography] A new approach to steganography
by coderman 04 Dec '13

04 Dec '13

---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bram Cohen <bram(a)bittorrent.com> Date: Tue, Dec 3, 2013 at 11:27 AM Subject: [cryptography] A new approach to steganography I came up with a new approach to steganography. There's an implementation and writeup of it here - https://github.com/bramcohen/DissidentX

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Willis Ware Dies
by John Young 03 Dec '13

03 Dec '13

Willis Ware dies, early computer engineer: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/02/technology/willis-ware-who-helped-build-b… Seminal computer security paper 1979: http://cryptome.org/sccs.htm

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