Posts
Silent Circle: NIST encryption standards untrustworthy | Security & Privacy - CNET News: "A 2007 presentation by two Microsoft researchers called into question the standard's algorithm -- Dual Elliptic Curve Deterministic Random Bit Generation, aka Dual_EC_DRBG -- and raised the possibility that it offered a back door into encrypted communications to someone who knew specific secret numbers.
"If you know the secret numbers, you can completely break any instantiation of Dual_EC_DRBG," said security researcher Bruce Schneier in a blog post about Dual_EC_DRBG at the time."
Monday, September 30, 2013
Who's still offline and why? The real reasons | Internet & Media - CNET News
Who's still offline and why? The real reasons | Internet & Media - CNET News: "The US still has a "digital divide," but it's not the one most people would imagine. According to the survey, the most significant factor is age: Nearly half of non-users are age 65 or older. Education is the second-most important factor -- more than 40 percent do not hold a high school diploma. Other factors, including sex, race, income level, and geographic location, are less significant, and continue to decrease."
"the most frequently reported reason given by Americans who do not to use the Internet is that it isn't relevant to them. Usability was the second-most cited reason. Together the two accounted for 66 percent of those who are not online. Price and availability were the least-important reasons."
"Although 4G and other networking technologies can and do deliver speeds that exceed the FCC's broadband threshold, the agency excluded mobile entirely from its statistics on access, citing a lack of "reliable" data on precisely how many of the 19 million could or even do get service from mobile broadband providers.
Rather than estimate, the FCC simply counted the entire wireless industry as zero."
"Including data on mobile broadband access provided in the FCC's report but left out of its calculations, the number of Americans without any home broadband provider falls as low as 5.5 million. That's less than 2 percent of the population.
To put that number in perspective, consider that landline telephone service never achieved more than 95 percent (PDF) adoption in American homes. Indeed, according to the US Census Bureau, more than 3.5 million Americans still lacked complete indoor plumbing as recently as 2011. Yet universal telephone service has been the policy of the US since the formation of the FCC in 1934. And public efforts to improve household sanitation predate the founding of the Republic. "
"the most frequently reported reason given by Americans who do not to use the Internet is that it isn't relevant to them. Usability was the second-most cited reason. Together the two accounted for 66 percent of those who are not online. Price and availability were the least-important reasons."
"Although 4G and other networking technologies can and do deliver speeds that exceed the FCC's broadband threshold, the agency excluded mobile entirely from its statistics on access, citing a lack of "reliable" data on precisely how many of the 19 million could or even do get service from mobile broadband providers.
Rather than estimate, the FCC simply counted the entire wireless industry as zero."
"Including data on mobile broadband access provided in the FCC's report but left out of its calculations, the number of Americans without any home broadband provider falls as low as 5.5 million. That's less than 2 percent of the population.
To put that number in perspective, consider that landline telephone service never achieved more than 95 percent (PDF) adoption in American homes. Indeed, according to the US Census Bureau, more than 3.5 million Americans still lacked complete indoor plumbing as recently as 2011. Yet universal telephone service has been the policy of the US since the formation of the FCC in 1934. And public efforts to improve household sanitation predate the founding of the Republic. "
Friday, September 27, 2013
America Can Aid Syrians without Military Intervention | Cato Institute
America Can Aid Syrians without Military Intervention | Cato Institute: "So far, neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey have taken in more than 1.7 million of the refugees. Sweden has announced that it will grant permanent residency to the 14,700 Syrian refugees already there, as well as some subsequent arrivals. Germany has also decided to take in 5,000 Syrian refugees.
In contrast, in 2011 and 2012, the U.S. allowed just 374 Syrians to gain asylum status, while only 60 refugees were approved."
"The United States used to be the world’s safety net for refugees, especially religious ones. The Pilgrims fled the Netherlands, Irish Catholics escaped English oppression, Jews from Eastern Europe escaped pogroms, and Armenians fled genocide and war to settle in California. But then America changed its immigration laws in 1921, and the government shamefully turned away German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and Chinese fleeing the Japanese invasion.
The United States could help avoid an even worse humanitarian crisis in Syria by guaranteeing TPS status to all peaceful Syrians who make it to the U.S. It’s important to note that TPS is not a green card and cannot lead toward citizenship. Furthermore, any war criminals or individuals affiliated with criminal or terrorist activity would be excluded. TPS status could be a game-changer for Syrians and it could be done just by changing a few words in the U.S. code."
In contrast, in 2011 and 2012, the U.S. allowed just 374 Syrians to gain asylum status, while only 60 refugees were approved."
"The United States used to be the world’s safety net for refugees, especially religious ones. The Pilgrims fled the Netherlands, Irish Catholics escaped English oppression, Jews from Eastern Europe escaped pogroms, and Armenians fled genocide and war to settle in California. But then America changed its immigration laws in 1921, and the government shamefully turned away German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany and Chinese fleeing the Japanese invasion.
The United States could help avoid an even worse humanitarian crisis in Syria by guaranteeing TPS status to all peaceful Syrians who make it to the U.S. It’s important to note that TPS is not a green card and cannot lead toward citizenship. Furthermore, any war criminals or individuals affiliated with criminal or terrorist activity would be excluded. TPS status could be a game-changer for Syrians and it could be done just by changing a few words in the U.S. code."
Three Defunding Myths | Cato Institute
Three Defunding Myths | Cato Institute: "In reality more of the government is likely to stay open than to close. For example, government activities that have “some reasonable and articulable connection between the function to be performed and the safety of human life or the protection of property” will continue regardless of whether Congress passes a CR. This includes not only such obvious things as military operations and homeland security, but also air-traffic control, health care at Veterans Administration hospitals, law enforcement and criminal investigations, oversight of food and drug safety, nuclear safety, and so forth. In fact, much as we might wish it otherwise, even the IRS would continue to function under such a “shutdown.” Moreover, since entitlement programs, like Social Security and Medicare, are not subject to annual appropriations, they would also continue."
Insider Trading at The Federal Reserve and Investment Giants? - Campaign for Liberty
Insider Trading at The Federal Reserve and Investment Giants? - Campaign for Liberty: "Holding 91 percent of your assets in one thing is extremely risky. Unless, you have inside knowledge that the government is going to continue pushing prices higher in perpetuity."
Thursday, September 26, 2013
The IPCC Political-Suicide Pill | Cato Institute
The IPCC Political-Suicide Pill | Cato Institute: "How does it back down from a quarter-century of predicting a quarter of a degree (Celsius) of warming every decade, when there’s been none for 17 years now?"
"the reigning suite of climate models has now officially failed, with the difference between them and reality now statistically significant at the 1-in-20 level"
"the reigning suite of climate models has now officially failed, with the difference between them and reality now statistically significant at the 1-in-20 level"
Monday, September 23, 2013
Counting the High Cost of Obama's Libya, Syria Debacles | Cato Institute
Counting the High Cost of Obama's Libya, Syria Debacles | Cato Institute: "As political scientist Alan J. Kuperman recently explained, NATO intervention “increased the duration of Libya’s civil war by about six times and its death toll by at least seven times, while also exacerbating human rights abuses, humanitarian suffering, Islamic radicalism, and weapons proliferation in Libya and its neighbors.”
In a new article in the journal International Security, Kuperman tallies up the meager benefits and considerable costs: “Human rights conditions in post-intervention Libya,” which according to Human Rights Watch include abuses “ ‘so widespread and systematic that they may amount to crimes against humanity,’ are considerably worse than in the decade preceding the war.”
The Washington Post’s recent look at Libya two years after the revolution describes a hellscape “governed” by hundreds of armed militias, where “even minor disputes escalate into frequent gun violence on the streets.”"
"thousands of portable surface-to-air missiles, useful for shooting down civilian aircraft, have been “privatized,” with some possibly in the hands of terrorists.
Outside Libya’s borders, Kuperman notes, “the most obvious negative impact has been in Mali,” where Tuareg soldiers with Moammar Gadhafi’s former security forces fled with their weapons and sparked an insurgency in the country’s north."
"hopes for outside aid encourage risk-seeking behavior by those expecting rescue.
“When NATO started bombing Libyan forces in March 2011,” Kuperman writes, “Syria’s uprising was mainly nonviolent and its government’s response — although criminally disproportionate — was relatively circumscribed.
But after Gadhafi’s fall, “in the summer of 2011, Syria’s uprising turned violent,” with “a fifteenfold increase in the killing rate” by 2013."
In a new article in the journal International Security, Kuperman tallies up the meager benefits and considerable costs: “Human rights conditions in post-intervention Libya,” which according to Human Rights Watch include abuses “ ‘so widespread and systematic that they may amount to crimes against humanity,’ are considerably worse than in the decade preceding the war.”
The Washington Post’s recent look at Libya two years after the revolution describes a hellscape “governed” by hundreds of armed militias, where “even minor disputes escalate into frequent gun violence on the streets.”"
"thousands of portable surface-to-air missiles, useful for shooting down civilian aircraft, have been “privatized,” with some possibly in the hands of terrorists.
Outside Libya’s borders, Kuperman notes, “the most obvious negative impact has been in Mali,” where Tuareg soldiers with Moammar Gadhafi’s former security forces fled with their weapons and sparked an insurgency in the country’s north."
"hopes for outside aid encourage risk-seeking behavior by those expecting rescue.
“When NATO started bombing Libyan forces in March 2011,” Kuperman writes, “Syria’s uprising was mainly nonviolent and its government’s response — although criminally disproportionate — was relatively circumscribed.
But after Gadhafi’s fall, “in the summer of 2011, Syria’s uprising turned violent,” with “a fifteenfold increase in the killing rate” by 2013."
Politics: HR 2300: Yes, there is a Republican plan to replace ObamaCare | Best of Cain
Politics: HR 2300: Yes, there is a Republican plan to replace ObamaCare | Best of Cain: "Even during the ObamaCare debate, there were any number of Republican proposals. The most significant one at the moment was recently introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Georgia), a doctor who is the lead sponsor of HR 2300. He calls it Empowering Patients First.
The basics of the bill are these:
It extends tax deductions for health insurance to those who buy as individuals, thus eliminating the perverse incentive that favored employer-purchased insurance.
It gives patients true portability by making them the owners of their insurance – not their employers.
It gives doctors the real power to make treatment decisions, not insurance companies or the government.
It reforms medical liability laws and thus saves money by reducing the practice of defensive medicine."
The basics of the bill are these:
It extends tax deductions for health insurance to those who buy as individuals, thus eliminating the perverse incentive that favored employer-purchased insurance.
It gives patients true portability by making them the owners of their insurance – not their employers.
It gives doctors the real power to make treatment decisions, not insurance companies or the government.
It reforms medical liability laws and thus saves money by reducing the practice of defensive medicine."
How Europe's Economy Is Being Devastated by Global Warming Orthodoxy | Cato Institute
How Europe's Economy Is Being Devastated by Global Warming Orthodoxy | Cato Institute: " The German government has arranged for renewable energy producers to sell the power grid their electricity at more than 6 times the wholesale electricity market rate."
"The most bizarre case involves an offshore German wind farm about nine miles from the North Sea Island of Borkum, where diesel engines make the blades spin."
“More than one third of Germany’s wind turbines are located in the eastern part of the nation where this large concentration of generating capacity regularly overloads the region’s power grid, threatening blackouts. In some extreme cases, the region produces three to four times the total amount of electricity actually being consumed, placing a strain on the eastern German grid. System engineers have to intervene every other day to maintain network stability.”
"Austria imports nuclear power from the Czech Republic to pump water uphill, then lets it flow downhill through turbines, generating hydropower for Germany"
"The most bizarre case involves an offshore German wind farm about nine miles from the North Sea Island of Borkum, where diesel engines make the blades spin."
“More than one third of Germany’s wind turbines are located in the eastern part of the nation where this large concentration of generating capacity regularly overloads the region’s power grid, threatening blackouts. In some extreme cases, the region produces three to four times the total amount of electricity actually being consumed, placing a strain on the eastern German grid. System engineers have to intervene every other day to maintain network stability.”
"Austria imports nuclear power from the Czech Republic to pump water uphill, then lets it flow downhill through turbines, generating hydropower for Germany"
Friday, September 20, 2013
Why Do Our Military Installations Remain “Gun Free Zones?” - Absolute Rights
Why Do Our Military Installations Remain “Gun Free Zones?” - Absolute Rights: "if there is any place in the United States where firearm restrictions should have worked at preventing a shooting tragedy, it is the Navy Yard -- a highly secure military installation in a city with some of the most stringent gun control laws in the nation; not to mention the most advanced security systems on the planet."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)