Jul 28

Jul 28 Perspectives on the NSA and PRISM: What Dyson Missed

Accountability, Analytics, Data, Data Access, Democracy, Media, Memory, NSA, PRISM, Privacy, Semantic Web, Snowden, Transparency, Cold War

In NSA: The Decision Problem George Dyson lays out a credible historical view on why he thinks what Snowden revealed about the NSA and PRISM was inevitable. While it’s certainly a pleasure to read a discussion of these issues that is so thoughtful, I think he misses one major theme that helps us understand our current predicament over what to do about Snowden.

Apr 12

Apr 12 When the Cold War Was Winding Down, Could the Soviet Military Have Maintained Secrecy Had Social Media Existed?

Dennis D. McDonald

Collaboration, Media, Politics, Security, , Telecommunications, eGovernment, Cold War, Secrecy

“Would the Soviet Union have been able to maintain the secrecy of its nuclear and biological warfare development efforts had modern social media like Facebook and Twitter been available?”

Jun 30

Jun 30 Comparing Eras of Innovation: 1950's Aerospace Advances and Today's Web

Dennis D. McDonald

History, Innovation, Media, Web 2.0, Cold War, Bestech23

We are now in the midst of a very innovative period of social and technological change that is being partly driven by the increasing availability of web based tools that support the development of relationships, the sharing of information and experiences of all kinds, and the manipulation of information on a scale that was difficult to contemplate just a few years ago. The experiences we have online are taking on increasingly important roles in terms of individual emotions, financial consequences, and personal relationships. There have been other periods of intense social and technological innovation. One of my favorite ones for study is the post Word War II aerospace industry.