Talk about an Olympic scandal waiting to happen ... just wait until the judges' votes are submitted to the central ballot box over Wi-Fi LANs.

I think the state of Florida has some punch card machines they'd like to unload ... perhaps the IOC would be interested.

It appears the official word from IOC on Wi-Fi LANs is "they're not banned yet." Not yet? What exactly will it take?

Olympics committee to explore Wi-Fi LANs

"The nation's health, wealth, and security rely on ... critical infrastructures. ... [T]his reliance on computers and computer networks raises the vulnerability of the nation's critical infrastructures to cyber attacks. ..."

This 33 page report from the Congressional Research Service explains what the US gov't is doing in regard to infrastructure protection. It mentions HR 3394 which I blogged last week. In short, we are falling behind on the schedule laid out by Clinton & co. in PDD-63, both in terms of protection/prevention and in response capability. It also looks as though the feds may become involved in restoring commercial services after failures. Could this cause service providers to skimp on security and rely on the Feds to handle it?

Critical Infrastructures: Background and Early Implementation of PDD-63 [PDF]

Ask and ye shall receive ...

"If correct, this would be extremely significant ... However, I have serious doubts ... In general, there is an astonishing degree of innumeracy around ... study is based on "19 largest ISPS" but does not name them. ... I am skeptical ... Why would Roberts obtain a higher estimate? I don't know, since his data is not available ... I agree with him on several important points. [dominance of business traffic; no evidence of serious slowdown in growth]"

Odlyzko's comments on Roberts' claims

If you doubt him, you can listen to his talk and review his PowerPoint presentation.

I wonder what Andrew Odlyzko has to say about these numbers ...

Larry Roberts claims Internet traffic is tripling

"An effort in the Senate to revive that plan and include it in the anti-terrorism bill that was signed into law October 26 received little support and was withdrawn, and on much the same grounds -- that however powerful an intelligence tool code breaking was during its golden age, in World War II and the Cold War, the technical reality is that those days are gone. Code breaking simply cannot work the magic it once did."

Yawn. This article strikes me as yet another tired variant of the "Everything changed on September 11" lamentation. Besides, Whit Diffie already told us as much (way back in 1996!), when he spoke about the resurging importance of HUMINT.

I hope David Kahn, or at least Bruce Schneier, takes the time to draft a letter to The Atlantic about this. Use of the term "code breaking" in this context suggests that cryptanalysis is a game ... it's clear that cryptanalysis has changed a lot since WW II, but so has everything else related to technology, communications, and warfighting. To suggest that existing cryptosystems are impenetrable is to claim not only that specific mathematical conjectures, such as the discrete logarithm problem or the factoring problem, are actually NP-complete, but also that the real-world systems based on such math are implemented with abstract perfection.

The truth is that cryptanalysis has long relied on human factors. The Allies were getting nowhere with Enigma until they daringly boarded a rapidly sinking U-boat to recover an operational unit. In the absence of this chance occurrence, it's questionable the Bletchley folks could have enjoyed the same success.

Budiansky claims that PGP is "supplied with most computers." I find that hard to believe. With what package? Does Microsoft ship it with Outlook these days? The Outlook 2002 product guide doesn't even mention encryption, let alone PGP.

Most of the six messages on "Post & Riposte" support Bodiansky in general but criticize this article in particular.

The Atlantic | February 2002 | Losing the Code War | Budiansky

Advanced Training Systems; Batteries/Fuel Cells; Bioengineering/ChemBio Defense; Directed Energy Weapons; High Bandwidth/Reachback Communications; Remote Sensing; Signature Reduction; Underwater Communications; Unmanned Systems.

"Come and interact with real special operation forces including US Navy SEALS, and US Army Green Berets. Learn their equipment. Talk to their engineers."

Scientists Helping America

"Defense Storm is a service of Storming Media providing unclassified papers from the Pentagon. Most are of a scientific or policy nature."

This web site offers a large database of interesting publications. They are for sale in hardcopy form, but a quick Google search finds that many of the papers are also freely available elsewhere online. Thus, this site serves as a good jumping-off point for further research.

Storming Media: Providing Pentagon information at the speed of lightning.

From the author's description: Where the Action Is draws on recent research trends in interactive systems to explore the foundations of a new model of using and experiencing computer systems -- what I call "embodied interaction." The idea of Embodied Interaction reflects a number of recent trends that have emerged in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. ... By incorporating understandings of how social practice emerges, we can build systems that fit more easily into the ways in which we work. ... [E]mbodied interaction is based on the understanding that users create and communicate meaning through their interaction with the system (and with each other, through the system). ... On the basis of this understanding, we can set out a range of design principles that are reflected by systems exploiting embodied interaction. This principles not only reflect important issues for design practice, but they also provide a framework for analysing embodied interaction in existing systems.

Terry Winograd says: "The book is unique ... great breadth ... clear explanation ..." Phil Agre: "a clarity and thoughtfulness that make hard ideas easy." Don Norman calls it a cogent explanation of interactive computing design.

Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction

A forthcoming title from National Academy Press, now available online. 175 pages.

Most Americans know little about the world of technology, yet frequently make decisions that are technologically based, such as whether to buy genetically engineered foods or transmit personal data over the Internet. A new National Academies report calls for a broad-based effort to increase technological literacy for all Americans.

...

Technically Speaking provides a blueprint for bringing us all up to speed on the role of technology in our society, including understanding such distinctions as technology versus science and technological literacy versus technical competence. It clearly and decisively explains what it means to be a technologically-literate citizen. The book goes on to explore the context of technological literacy -- the social, historical, political, and educational environments.

This readable overview highlights specific issues of concern: the state of technological studies in K-12 schools, the reach of the Internet into our homes and lives, and the crucial role of technology in today?s economy and workforce. Three case studies of current issues -- car airbags, genetically modified foods, and the California energy crisis -- illustrate why ordinary citizens need to understand technology to make responsible decisions. This fascinating book from the National Academy of Engineering is enjoyable to read and filled with contemporary examples. It will be important to anyone interested in understanding how the world around them works.

Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology

Dan Gillmor, columnist for the Mercury News, claims that the success of Google is reducing friction over DNS-related intellectual property issues. He says that if people rely on Google for name resolution instead of strongly branded, highly memorable domain names, then no one will fight over them. I think he's missing something, but I can't quite put my finger on it. What do you think?

The flawed logic of the 'Google effect'?