This week in CSC 448: Freedom and Security in a Digital-Divided Society

[scarfman]

Edit According to the list of midterm grading items, this entry contains both the blogging for Week 3 and for Week 4.

1.) What are some leading thoughts on cyber warfare, is a digital "pearl harbor" feasible? (I'm not certain whether we were supposed to review the PowerPoint presentations online in order to help us form our responses to this, but at the moment my student login is disabled so I must wing it.)

I've seen some national or international virus scares over the last few years - viruses that were supposed to make everyone's PCs turn into a pumpkin at a particular time and date - and all of them were bigger news before their deadlines than afterward. The closest thing there's been to a legitimate scare was Y2K. This all discourages me from believing that a "digital Pearl Harbor" is a practical goal. It seems to me, given the difficulty, anyone clever enough to pull it off must be someone clever enough to realize that doing it means, afterwards, it won't work to call 9-1-1 when the cannibal gangs start knocking in your windows and smoking you out of your home.

2.) Watch the short video clip at http://winstream.creighton.edu/bjk79676/SRP448/BergmanExercise2.wmv. Complete the exercise and post on your Blog by next week's class. (For my non-CSC 448 readers: The exercise was to review what you know about, or research, the weaponization of space and create a graphic expressing your opinion. The assignment assumed the use of photographs processed in MSPaint or Photoshop, but "non-digital" painting or drawing was also allowed. Regular readers of this journal know that I tend to do my drawing in MSPaint already, so:)

Comments

[dave-iii.livejournal.com]

As a culture, I think we're too used to seeing the robot invasion or the mad scientist's death ray in action and not enough of the actual aftermath. Heck, it's rare to see ANY kind of lasting consequences in pop fiction. Look at the characters in your cartoon:

When Kirk screws up, it's almost always resolved one way or the other within 48 minutes.

When the Doctor screws up, everybody dies. No one's left to suffer the consequences.

And Superman? He couldn't even manage to stay dead. "The Ultimate Finality" and he comes back, full of beans and ready to go.

I honestly think that the parent groups did more harm than good when trying to protect "America's Youth" from "Traumatic Images" like death and mourning, I really really do. How many kids joined the Army in 2001 thinking fighting the Al Quaeda was going to be like GI Joe fighting Cobra?

Guns kill people?

[(Anonymous)]

Good collage.

I once heard a former rebel soldier say, "People don't kill people, guns kill people." With this type of mentality it's no wonder military organizations around the world are looking for new and improved weapons to destroy the "enemy." Unfortunately, the "enemy" is always a son, daughter, mother, father, or loved one of many other people. This destructive cycle only breeds more hatred and violence.

Fa'iz Rab

[(Anonymous)]

My response to the militarization of space is a burning desire to get out in front of it.

I think those who want to pull a Von Braun and jumpstart space industry by expanding the military role (the avowed intention of the big fraction of High Frontier folks who lobbied for SDI in the '80s) are deadly wrong-headed. Make space a Matter Of National Security, and all talk of space tourism, civilian space programmes, &c. goes out the window. This is a restricted area, off-limits except for authorized military or contractors' personnel, American citizens only please, and you'll need the FBI and DoD security clearances… If you take the restrictions the "arms control" laws impose — can't export a set of SATURN V drawings! can't employ foreign-born aeronautical engineers! — and then run with them, you'll get the idea.

Time to get off this rock while we have the chance. They won't care about much beyond geosync, anyway.

--publius--