Author Archives: Michael Anthony

Cybersecurity, Google and the NSA

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Yesterday’s broadcast of Fresh Air was an interesting one.  The topic was Cyberterrorism.  The guest was James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the co-author of the report “Security Cyberspace in the 44th Presidency.”  It’s quite a sensationalistic term, cyberterrorism, and I wonder what the difference is between cyber crime and cyberterrorism.  For example, China’s attempt to hack GMail, why is that not CyberTerrorism?
Now Google is working with the NSA to investigate those attacks and that is raising concerns.  The ACLU is asking people to contact Google to ask them not to do so, citing concerns about the functions of the NSA, privacy and the rights of citizens.  The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) announced on February 4 that it had

filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the National Security Agency, seeking records regarding the relationship between Google and the NSA….The EPIC FOIA request also seeks NSA communications with Google regarding Google’s failure to encrypt Gmail and cloud computing services. In March 2009, EPIC filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission urging it to investigate the adequacy of Google’s cloud computing privacy and security safeguards. Today EPIC also filed a lawsuit against the National Security Agency and the National Security Council, seeking a key document governing national cybersecurity policy.
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I have to admit that the relationship bothers me as well.  But vulnerabilities in services as widely used and as important as Google’s do have implications for national security, and they they are the best at helping Google deal with them, then perhaps they should be consulted.  What are the alternatives?  What’s the balance between privacy and security?

One Faculty Serving All Students

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Here’s an interesting article on a new statement issued by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce dealing with the working conditions of faculty at institutions of higher education.

A coalition of academic associations is today issuing a joint statement calling on colleges to recognize that they have “one faculty” and to treat those off the tenure track as professionals, with pay, benefits, professional development and participation in governance.
The joint statement, “One Faculty Serving All Students,” (pdf) calls for colleges to adopt a series of policies that would significantly improve the treatment of adjunct faculty members at many institutions. The statement was organized by the Coalition on the Academic Workforce, and has been signed by 14 disciplinary associations as well as by the American Federation of Teachers. The disciplines involved represent such major fields as anthropology, art, composition, English, foreign languages, philosophy and religion.
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The statement deals with some important questions, but does it provide the correct answers? Did the AAUP make the right decision to hold out?

The Soul of New Orleans

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The Saints Go Marching In / Counting Viewers v. TVs

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Team Logo

Last nights Super Bowl victory of the New Orleans Saints over the Indianapolis Colts was watched by more people than “any scheduled program in U.S. TV history,” topping the 1983 finale of M*A*S*H, the previous record holder, according to an article by Dave Walker in The Times-Picayune. I’m not surprised. This article lists a number of reasons, all of which came into play, I’m sure.
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Some Twitter Links From Last Week

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Here are the tweets containing the most popular links from last week, counting only those that contain links shortened with ow.ly. They are copied here as they were, embarrassing typos and all.
1. Netflix Gets A Huge Influx of Indie and Foreign Films http://ow.ly/12EQc NICE!!!
2. President Obama: ‘I’m a Big Believer in Net Neutrality’ http://ow.ly/13aqs
3. This is interesting! Free Online Courses Don’t Hurt Paid Enrollment, Study Suggests http://ow.ly/13agQ And it’s wise to remember last bit.
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Academic Freedom Media Review

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January 30 – February 5, 2010
Compiled by Scholars at Risk
Terror and academic freedom
Rizwaan Sabir, The Guardian, 2/5
China snubs U of C over Dalai Lama, Accreditation lost after honour for spiritual leader
Gwendolyn Richards, Calgary Herald, 2/4
Quebec physicians urge Charest to call for end to silence on asbestos
Rhéal Séguin, The Globe and Mail, 2/4
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What's Wrong with Canada

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When people express their fears about health care reform in this country, Canada is often spoken of as the example the kinds of system we want to avoid.  It’s nowhere near perfect.  For example, wait times to see a doctor are slightly longer in Canada than here, but they are shorter than they are in a lot of other countries with universal care.  More importantly, the overall picture is better.

Basic Statistics

U.S. Canada
Life Expectancy (Male) 74.8 77.4
Life Expectancy (Female) 80.1 82.4
Infant Mortality/1000 live births 6.8 5.3
Obesity Rate (Male) 31.1 17.0
Obesity Rate (Female) 32.2 19.0
HC spending as % of GDP (2005) 16.0% 10.4%

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We can readily see that the U.S. has worse life expectancy, infant mortality rates, and obesity rates that Canada, yet pays more for for these relatively poorer outcomes. Canada is clearly better…right?
–via Healthcare Economists

I don’t know, Canada doesn’t sound that bad to me.

The Colbert Report and Air America

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Air America is off the air, and visitors the website are greeting with text explaining the companies bankruptcy.

It is with the greatest regret, on behalf of our Board, that we must announce that Air America Media is ceasing its live programming operations as of this afternoon, and that the Company will file soon under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.

In memory of a network I never actually listened to, The Indecision Forever blog has posted some of The Colbert Report’s best Air America moments. Here’s the first clip, but the best are at this link.

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag – Midterm Elections Edition
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

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My Career in International Education, v 4.0

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Globes in Chicago, by John LeGear

In 2005 the Association of American Colleges and Universities launched the “Shared Futures: Global Learning and Social Responsibility” initiative. The mission statement for that initiative describes what should be one of the most important principles guiding higher education today. Shared Futures

is based upon the assumption that we live in an interdependent but unequal world and that higher education can help prepare students not only to thrive in such a world, but to remedy its inequities.

Higher education not only can prepare students to do those things, but it must, for their benefit, for the good of our nation, and because remedying inequalities is the right thing to do. Hence, as the statement continues, the academy

has a vital role of expanding knowledge about the world’s peoples and problems and developing individuals who will advance equity and justice both at home and abroad.

These are fine and noble ideals, but they are also solidly rooted in reality. The United States finds itself involved in two wars at the moment, and neither is with a neighbor or even a nation in this hemisphere. The largest share of our foreign debt is owned by China. America is a nation addicted to television, yet only Zenith makes television sets in the US, maintaining one factory so that it is able to claim it is an American producer. Problems like global warming can only be tackled on an international scale, and when the mortgage crisis hit the banks in the United States, many of the world’s banks also felt the impact. The engine of globalization is, of course, technology, which makes it almost as easy to conduct business between Boston and Hong Kong (8,000 miles) as it is between Boston and Cambridge (next to one another).
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