The Illusion of Control

From Townhall.com.

"The Cloud" is convenient, but dangerous

The "Next Big Thing" in technology is "The Cloud". The idea is to keep your data on the internet - rather than on your PC, cell phone, etc. - so that you can access any information anywhere with a connected device. You're probably already in "the cloud" - NetFlix streaming, Hulu, Flickr photo sharing, even GMail are examples of "Cloud Technologies" - and if the major media companies have their way, you'll be spending more and more of your life there. After all, who wouldn't want access to every book, song, movie or TV show ever made, whenever they want it?

But it is time for us all to take note of Egypt and Libya, and to realize that putting our lives in the cloud really means putting our lives in the control of others. In these cases, hostile governments were able to eliminate "The Cloud" by flicking a switch. In other cases, companies have been able to suppress or eliminate speech by pulling media from "The Cloud". Perhaps the best example of a "Cloud Nightmare" was the T-Mobile Sidekick - a phone that stored everything "in the cloud" - whose users were horrified when a simple server migration error destroyed every photo, every e-mail, every text message, every address book in one horrible moment. It took weeks of work to bring some of that data back. And if the Sidekick had been owned a company with pockets less deep than Microsoft, who knows if it would ever have been done.

It is time to reevaluate our "cloudy" future, and consider making it a policy to return to hard copies for our most important data. Local backups are key to preserving our history, and ensuring we do not reach a point where one bad actor can deny us access to the things we need.

Truly the Internet Revolution

From Townhall.Com.

Watch your back!

Egypt's Next Choice

Mubarak says "No Mas!"

After a week of non-stop protests across the country, Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, will announce he is not running for another term. A powerful reminder that political change can happen without violent revolt.

President Obama's special envoy delivered a message to embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday about the need to prepare for an "orderly transition" of power in the country, a U.S. official said.

Word of the meeting between retired ambassador Frank Wisner and Mubarak came as Al Arabiya television reported that the longtime autocratic leader would say in a speech that he will step down at the next election but stay in office until then to meet demands of mass protests now rocking the nation.

Tunisia has been transformed. Now, Egypt. We are seeing a transformation of the Middle East. The question is, will it be for the better or for the worse, long-term? I am hopeful. But nervous.

Loyalists & Protesters unify to defend Egypt's museum

During a rebellion/revolution/riot/unrest, there are always debates over whether the crowds defying the government are thugs or heroes. And, as in the American revolution, sometimes the line between the two is a fuzzy one. For those wondering about the protesters in Egypt - and the police - there is an indication that both sides are full of men and women of conscience, as they worked together to defend the Egyptian museum from would-be looters. Even amidst societal chaos, they found common ground on true universal priorities.

When fire broke out on Friday night at the ruling party's headquarters, Khaled Youssef, an Egyptian film director who has made movies critical of government policies, issued an urgent call on the Al Arabiya television channel: "I am calling on the Egyptian army to head instantly to the Egyptian Museum. There is a fire right next to it in the party headquarters," he said in a report relayed by Reuters.

As the fire raged, would-be thieves started entering the grounds surrounding the museum, The Associated Press reported. But other young men, some armed with truncheons taken from the police, formed a protective human chain outside the museum's main gates. "I'm standing here to defend and to protect our national treasure," one of the men, a 40-year-old engineer named Farid Saad, told AP.

AP quoted 26-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim as saying that it was important to guard the museum because it has "5,000 years of our history. If they steal it, we'll never find it again."

Egypt hits their Internet Kill-Switch

The Obama administration has been trying to pass a law giving the President an "internet kill-switch" to allow him to effectively shut down the internet in the case of a national crisis. Presumably, this is to allow us to resist an attack being coordinated over the internet. But as civil liberties groups have reminded us time and time again, the most-common use of such "kill switches" has been to stifle dissent.

Now, Egypt has flipped its "internet kill switch" in an attempt to disrupt protests convulsing the nation. These protests - like the ones in Tunisia last month and Iran last year - have largely been organized over social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) which allowed protesters freedom to communicate outside of traditional means.

Before we give our government the power to shut down such a powerful communication medium, we need to decide if there are enough "good" uses for such power to offset the many, many potential "evil" uses for it.

Ancient Persian Army Found!

C.S. Lewis coined a term "chronological snobbery" to refer to moderns who laugh off most ancient historical records as "mythological" or "inventions of oral history". The fact is that more often than not ancient historians - whether Josephus, Herodatus, or Luke - tend to be remarkably accurate. We have a new example in Egypt where a Persian army who disappeared 2,500 years ago has been found.

According to Herodotus (484-425 B.C.), Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great, sent 50,000 soldiers from Thebes to attack the Oasis of Siwa and destroy the oracle at the Temple of Amun. Alexander the Great had famously sought legitimization of his rule from the oracle of Amun in 332 B.C., but according to legend, the oracle would have predicted the death of Cambyses...After walking for seven days in the desert, the army got to an "oasis," which historians believe was El-Kharga. After they left, they were never seen again.

"A wind arose from the south, strong and deadly, bringing with it vast columns of whirling sand, which entirely covered up the troops and caused them wholly to disappear," wrote Herodotus.

As no trace of the hapless warriors has ever be found, scholars began to dismiss the story as a fanciful tale...Now, two top Italian archaeologists claim to have found striking evidence that the Persian army was indeed swallowed in a sandstorm. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are already famous for their discovery 20 years ago of the ancient Egyptian "city of gold" Berenike Panchrysos.

Underestimate ancient historians at your own risk!