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 Thursday, May 5, 2005
Pentagon publicists "don't know how to handle bloggers". Xeni Jardin:
Noah Schachtman at defensetech says, "Armchair Generalist went foraging through the University of Bradford non-lethal weapons report I mentioned yesterday, and found himself a little chestnut from the Pentagon's PR department."
Over lunch on the first day of the conference a representative from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defence for Public Affairs discussed strategies to counteract critical viewpoints of the non-lethal weapons programme in the media. She encouraged those present to keep repeating a positive message particularly when there was a negative story published, and not to shy away from commenting.
If there was negative coverage about an important programme that could be derailed by the general public or congress then they would 'really go after them', she said. She indicated that officials would give increased information access to 'bread and butter military journalists' as opposed to the '60 minutes type journalists' in return for more positive coverage. She also advocated a strategy of targeting military analysts working for various news media and getting them on message.
She admitted, however, that they still don't know how to handle the bloggers.
Link [Boing Boing]
Lovely to hear how the Pentagon's PR department works as it tries to figure out how to 'handle' bloggers. Since spin is always more important that truth. 10:38:18 AM 
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The Problem of Identity, Authentication and Control. The creation of authentication systems is a major industry. Stephen Downes argues in his paper on 'Authentication and Identification' that we we don't need authentication, that authentication won't work, and that people don't want it.
Though the development of authentication systems will no doubt continue to be a source of considerable churn and considerable investment in the near future, Downes states that it should be evident that authentication is (a) not necessary, (b) won't work, and (c) is not desired and raises the questions What will work? What do people want? Stephen pleads for 'the need of a mechanism for self-identification, where clear and unambiguous control is placed in the user's hands, a mechanism that enables the user to declare to every site (or none, if that's their choice), "I am me!" And a way to do this automatically, unambiguously, with as little effort as possible'.
Authentication won't work because no system of authentication provides any more security than a system of self-identification. Authentication will not work at all unless it is tied to a proxy, the identity of which can be established online, which means that the security of the authentication is no greater than the value of the proxy to the user. With cheap computation, computers on a USB (reference is out there somewhere), disposable telephones, e-paper, and more just beyond the horizon, it seems clear than the value of the physical asset to which authentication is being tied will continue to decline, at which point authentication will provide no disincentive against misrepresentation of identity whatsoever. Authentication is useless if not tied to the person, and can be tied to the person only with the compliance of the person, which in effect reduces it to self-identification.
And it is not desired because authentication essentially involves the transfer of control over one's own identity from oneself to a service provider or identity broker, and as a consequence, enables the breach of the user's security and privacy whenever it is in the interests of that service provider or broker to do so. It moreover undermines the individual's fundamental right to determine and express who they are. [Smart Mobs]
A good explanation fror why RFID tages (see below) and other approaches will not work. 'Authentication won't work because no system of authentication provides any more security than a system of self-identification.' An insecure system is a horrendous one. 10:17:01 AM
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RFID employee monitoring. Omron's new production management system exploits RFID tags, video cameras, access/security control systems, etc. to monitor how much employees' contribute to the production.
Employees carry mandatory RFID tags so that the system can monitor their whereabouts but also their work performance.
Based on the previous steps, employee allocation is optimized
and quality of products is improved.
The company had been testing the system at their sensor factory in Kyoto since last October. They say that the return was about $2M (for the initial investment of about $1M.)
Via RFID in Japan. [Smart Mobs]
How long before the government requires everyone to wear one of these so they can be tracked anywhere, in order to prevent terrorists from bombing things. Makes as much sense as requiring proof of ID to travel. 10:14:32 AM
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It's America, learn some Spanish. Pseudonymous Kid: Mama, why am I an American?
Me: Because you were born in America.
Pseudonymous Kid: Then why don't I speak any Spanish?
Me: Well, you speak some. And you're learning more in Spanish language school.
Pseudonymous Kid: But I should have learned it when I was a baby! Before!
Me: Well, sweetie, your papa and I speak English. I didn't learn Spanish until I was six. You're learning it much younger than I did!
Pseudonymous Kid (getting really upset): No! I should already know it, because I am an American!
Me: Sweetie, people learn languages two ways. They either learn them at home, or they learn them at school. Your parents speak English at home, so you learned English as a baby. And now you are learning Spanish in school. That's okay!
Pseudonymous Kid (crying): No, it's not. The teacher told me I was wrong.
Me: She said what? Sweetie, your teacher really likes you. She thinks you are very smart. What happened?
Pseudonymous Kid: She said "vamanos" doesn't mean hurry up. And I couldn't remember how to say "jump" in Spanish.
Me: "Andale" means hurry up. "Vamanos" means let's go. Jump is. . . I forget how to say jump.
Pseudonymous Kid: Salta.
Me: Salta! That's right. See? You're very smart. You remember Spanish words I can't remember.
Pseudonymous Kid: I should already know Spanish! I should have learned it before!
Me: Sweetie, everyone makes mistakes! It's okay!
Pseudonymous Kid breaks down sobbing.
Me: Honey, what happened? Can you tell me?
Pseudonymous Kid: No.... I am very tired. I need to sleep. I don't want to talk about it. Can we just leave it alone?
Me: Okay....
Of course, we'll take this up tomorrow. I don't know what it could possibly be--his teacher adores him, and he loves Spanish school (which meets just one morning a week). I suspect he made a mistake the other day and was overtired tonight and his mistake suddenly seemed overwhelming, but... god. Academic neurosis in pre-school. Great.
On the other hand, I TOTALLY LOVE that he thinks that, as an American, he should know Spanish.
By noemail@noemail.org (bitchphd). [Bitch. Ph.D.]
This is oh-so-true. Abd it does not necessarily get better when they are older. Driven to tears by what a teacher says can happen at any age. 10:11:57 AM
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Polls open in.... Polls open in the UK in a couple of hours, but at the end of the last day of campaigning, a friend in the Labour boiler room sent me their compendium of all the latest public polls. They averaged the... [Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall]
From the state that invented sexy cheerleaders. Glad to see that the state is taking care of such important things instead of trivial things like education, health care, or its regressive tax structure. Read about this in a column in the Plainview Daily Herald or download the pamphlet itself. It makes the second largest state by population and by size sound like a third world country. First in executions, first in traffic fatalities, 47th in the number of eligible voters that actually vote, 45th in number of homeowners, 39th in adult Internet accessibility, 2nd highest teenage birthrate, 50th in fully immunized 2 year olds, 1st in uninsured children, 1st in toxic emissions, 49th in park spending, 9th highest disease rate, number 1 in uninsured citizens, and it goes on.
When I was living in Texas, one of the things I heard was that if Texas seceded from the Union, it would be the tenth largest economic power (or some such twaddle). I know how statistics can be manipulated but these numbers seem to indicate that if it was a separate country it would not be doing much for its citizens. Even as a state it could be problematic since many of the new technologies need large pools of well-educated people (46th in people who graduate High School, 47th in SAT scores). But it is stopping that terrible sexy cheerleading thing. 10:08:58 AM
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