Notes from the Electronic Cottage 6/7/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
The news of drone attacks that seem to occur weekly in places thousands of miles from our shores bring up questions about how technology is changing the definition of war, and even of what it means to be a warrior. An 1984 movie seemed to presage our current world of video game warfare – but the movie was fantasy, but these days people actually die. How should we think about the technology of war in our world today?

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 5/17/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

The FCC is asking for comments on whether and/or under what circumstances government agencies should be able to shut down cellphone service to protect public safety. That’s a big question. Here’s some context. If you’d like to make a comment, you can do so at apps.fcc.gov/ecfs by May 30, 2012. You can read the comments already made there by others as well.

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Notes from the Electronic Cottage 4/12/12

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell

We’ve been following the deployment of so-called smart meters which, as has been pointed out, are not particularly secure, giving rise to privacy concerns for consumers. Now there is a problem for the utilities themselves according to this report about an FBI document: hacking of smart meters to steal electricity.

krebsonsecurity.com/2012/04/fbi-smart-meter-hacks-likely-to-spread/

There are lots of free college courses available online. Here are some sites where you can find out more:

ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

mitx.mit.edu/

www.ocwconsortium.org/

oyc.yale.edu/courses

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www.open-of-course.org/courses/

www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative

opencontent.org/ocwfinder/

www.ocwsearch.com/

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