US Military Capable Of Restoring Internet Access

If a government intent on thwarting a social uprising of it's populous choses to cut communications, such as Egypt's early response to the recent demonstrations, the U.S. military could conceivably restore services in order to maintain internet access an inviolable human right. 

John Arquilla, a leading military futurist tells Wired that while it might not be that difficult of a challenge technically for the U.S. military which "has a great deal of expertise on rebuilding communications network, but that's ... very different when the government is interested in resisting," Arquilla says. "This is far less an engineering problem and far more a political one." 

It makes total sense that a country facing internal strife might consider such an action as a hostile act, especially if perpetrated by a foreign power. I guess it really should not surprise anyone that the technology already exists, and as an average citizen I am finding some comfort in the fact that does. 

Border Crossing Wait Times Tweeted By Canadian Border Services Agency

The Canadian Border Services Agency is now trying to assist travelers to the US via Twitter, at least through this busy summer season. "The CBSA is committed to applying low-cost technologies like Twitter to keep service delivery standards high without increasing costs to the taxpayer," Stephen Rigby, the president of CBSA says in a news release on the agency's website. This page will take you to the agency's instructions for it's feed in this 3 month pilot project. It works like this:

You can simply follow @cbsa_bwt or use the hashtags below to select your desired crossing and search for tweets on the estimated wait times in effect.

St. Stephen, NB / Calais, ME #CBSA_STS
Belleville, NB / Houlton, ME #CBSA_WSR
Stanstead, QC / Derby Line, VT #CBSA_STD
St. Armand, QC / Highgate Springs, VT #CBSA_SAP
Lacolle, QC / Champlain, NY #CBSA_SBL
Cornwall, ON / Rooseveltown, NY #CBSA_CWL
Lansdowne, ON / Alexandria Bay, NY #CBSA_TIB
Queenston, ON / Lewiston, NY #CBSA_QLB
Niagara Falls, ON / Niagara Falls, NY #CBSA_RBB
Fort Erie, ON / Buffalo, NY #CBSA_PBR
Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI #CBSA_ABB
Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI #CBSA_DCT
Sarnia, ON / Port Huron, MI #CBSA_BWB
Sault Ste. Marie, ON / Sault Ste. Marie, MI #CBSA_SSM
Fort Frances, ON / International Falls, MN #CBSA_FFB
Emerson, MB / Pembina, ND #CBSA_EMR
North Portal, SK / Portal, ND #CBSA_NPL
Coutts, AB / Sweet Grass, MT #CBSA_CTS
Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA #CBSA_PCH
Surrey, BC / Blaine, WA #CBSA_DPA
Delta, BC / Point Roberts, WA #CBSA_BBY
Huntingdon, BC / Sumas, WA #CBSA_HTD

If you are travelling to Detroit this morning you'll be happy to know that:

#CBSA_ABB Commercial Flow: No delay, Travellers Flow: No delay

North Suspected In South Korea / US Denial Of Service Attacks

The South Korean government is warning that about 20,000 computers infected by a virus as part of an alleged denial of service (DOS) attack are expected to have their data destroyed by the vicious code, starting today. The DOS affected high profile sites in both South Korea and the United States including the South Korean Spy Agency, a bank and a top newspaper as well as the US Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and the Transportation Department.

According to the CBC "Hong Hyun-ik, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think-tank, said the attack could have been done by either North Korea or China, adding that he "heard North Korea has been working hard to hack into" South Korean networks."

US Congressman Claims Computers Hacked By Chinese

Representative Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia, said Wednesday that the FBI found that four of his government computers have been hacked by sources working in China. Wolf is a long-time critic of China's human rights record and a spokesman for the congressman said the four computers were being used by staff members working on human rights issues. “I think this is very bad because you have the Chinese compromising and gaining access to computers of any number of members of the House and a major committee of the House,” Wolf told The Associated Press. “We don't know how many others.”

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no immediate comment. Last week, China denied accusations that it's officials had secretly copied the contents of a US government laptop during a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and used the information to try to hack into Commerce Department computers.

Globe and Mail story here.

China Now The Biggest Web Market... According to Chinese Research Firm

A Chinese research firm puts China's Internet user base at 210 million at the end of 2007, and anticipates that at it's rate of growth the Chinese web market will surpass the 216 million US web population this year. “Based on these sources and the assumption that these markets have continued to grow in 2008 to date at the same rates that they grew in 2007, we can conclude that China has by now comfortably surpassed the United States as the world's largest Internet population,” analyst Bin Liu said in a statement. Globe and Mail story here.

China believed to be behind high level hacks of German and US government sites

The Financial Times is reporting that "a senior US official" is quoted as saying the Pentagon had pinpointed the China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) as responsible for a computer infiltration at the US Defence Department. This on the heals of German accusations that China had hacked it's systems... seems China and the US exchange these probes all the time but this time “The PLA has demonstrated the ability to conduct attacks that disable our system...and the ability in a conflict situation to re-enter and disrupt on a very large scale,”

Russia dives for oil, gas at the North Pole

A Russian scientific expedition to the north pole also has political and economic goals, with the Russians planning to deposit a flag at the bottom of the sea. The team hopes to prove that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 1,240-mile underwater mountain range that crosses the polar region, is a geologic extension of Russia, and therefore can be claimed under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Denmark also believes the ridge is an extension of their territory, while Canada seeks to maintain sovereignty over the region and is planning to invest $7 billion in a fleet of patrol vessels. The American government is also contemplating an investment in the Coast Guard's ice breaking fleet in order to protect it's interests. Looks like more than global warming is heating things up at the pole... let's hope that Megatron isn't disturbed by all the activity! CNN story here.