In the wake of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, French law enforcement is considering banning public wi-fi. According to leaked documents by the French Ministry of the Interior, law enforcement wants to secure the Tor network when a state of emergency is declared by banning the use of the public wi-fi all together. The French newspaper La Monde  is said to have leaked the documents.

The city of Paris currently has over 300 locations that are serviced by public wi-fi and the Tor network. French law enforcement believes that public networks makes it harder to catch suspected terrorists who might be using the network to communicate to each other. The Tor network allows anonymity online and has also been used as a secure network for a drug marketplace. It is currently unclear if the Tor network was used during the Paris attacks and French law enforcement authorities are cautious about its possible use for ISIS communication in the future.

Blocking the Tor network completely would present a challenge for the French government. China is the only country that blocks Tor outright. To achieve this, the Chinese government has to block public entry nodes to the Tor network. In addition, China has to lookout for secret entry nodes. Unlike China, France promotes online freedom for its citizens. Therefore blocking the Tor network would infringe on the rights of French citizens. Since French law enforcement does not know if blocking Tor will have an effect on the ability for terrorist groups to communicate, it is a big risk. Encrypted social media chat apps like WhatsApp, in theory, are easier ways for terrorist groups to communicate without worrying about interference from the government.

The debate over privacy and national security seems to have just gotten started. New legislation that includes these stipulations may be presented to the French Parliament as early as January 2016. 

Article via Mashable, 8 December 2015

Photo: Paris November 2015 via Roberto Maldeno [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

On December 10th the U.S. Bureau of Land Management plans to hold an auction for parcels of land in Michigan and Arkansas. The purpose? Leasing by the federal government of publicly owned lands to private companies, often resulting in drilling for oil and gas.

According to the National Wildlife Federation, the American public collectively owns nearly 650 million acres of public land and the fossil fuels beneath it. It also owns more than 1.7 billion acres of Outer Continental Shelf lands that also contain oil and gas resources.  The government holds these auctions regularly, but the upcoming auction on December 10th conspicuously coincides with the final days of the U.N. Climate Summit in Paris.  As a result, the Keep it in the Ground movement is trying to pressure President Obama to cancel this auction.

Keep it in the Ground is a movement of environmental organizations that are aiming to slow climate change by keeping remaining fossil fuels in the ground, instead of available for burning and drilling. The participating organizations include large groups such as 350.org, CREDO, the Indigenous Environmental Network and Greenpeace USA. The movement has been successful in getting the support of seven Democratic senators, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. These senators have introduced the Keep It in the Ground Act which came after organizations associated with the movement sent signed a letter addressed to President Obama urging him to stop new federal leasing of fossil fuels.

Jason Kowalski, U.S. policy director at 350.org, has criticized the president for allowing federal leasing auctions to continue while rallying other nations to fight against climate change. “Here we are, negotiating a climate treaty in Paris, and the core point of this treaty is keeping fossil fuels in the ground,” Kowalski told Mashable. “In the midst of that, we’re holding an auction, and the government itself is selling fossil fuels to the highest bidder?”

Obama has cited the need to keep some fossil fuels unburned, and on Nov. 6, he rejected the Keystone XL oil pipeline, a landmark decision seen as a major victory for environmentalists. “They’ve been bragging about it in Paris,” Kowalski said. “…but it’s really hypocritical to be bragging about the Keystone decision in Paris and at the same time be selling fossil fuels to the highest bidder in Washington, D.C., during the final days of negotiations.”

If Obama does not cancel the Dec. 10 auction, groups associated with the Keep it in the Ground movement are planning to hold a rally and press conference outside of the auction site on that date.

 

Article via Mashable, 3 December 2015

Photo: FERC Protest via A Jones [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

The National Security Agency has been collecting metadata, which is information such as phone numbers and duration of calls, since shortly after the attacks of September 11. The collection of this metadata has ceased as of November 28th. So what changed?

There is a new law in place, known as the USA Freedom Act of 2015. This law is being seen as a victory for privacy activists and tech companies looking to protect their user data. The USA Freedom Act of 2015 came about as a response to the revelations of Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor that revealed the deep surveillance of the NSA on the American people. This new law prohibits the bulk collection of phone data previously done by the NSA. Although the agency won’t keep the bulk data, investigators will still have access to these types of records when they are investigating a particular person, or targeting specific groups. The existing metadata that has been captured during the last 5 years will be kept until next February 29th in order to ensure a smooth transition.

National Security Council spokesperson Ned Price stated that this new law, “struck a reasonable compromise which allows us to protect the country while implementing various reforms”.

Some have concerns, since the new law is going into effect so soon after the terrorist attacks in Paris. At a time when America is scaling back its surveillance, countries like England and France are considering new bills to enhance surveillance. Since American companies like Verizon would be involved, it may mean the creation of new treaties between Great Britain and the United States.  It is likely that this type of confounding circumstance will present itself more in the future due to the international nature of terrorism.

Article via ABAJournal, 30 November 2015

Photo: National Security Agency Seal via Donkey Hotey [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]

The Houston Controller Debate on Technology took place early this October at the Houston Technology Center, which was hosted by The League of Women Voters.  The topic of discussion was how technology could be used to bring the city’s controller office out of the 90’s and make spending transparent for the citizens of Houston. The city controller is similar to a chief financial officer for city government. The current city controller, Ronald Green, is not seeking re-election due to term limitations. There are currently 6 candidates running to take his place.

The room is filled with an array of people and there is a clear mix of older professionals and younger technologists. The candidates are all seated along a long table, facing outwards to the audience. This group is all male and appear to be ranging in age and experience. From left to right they start to answer questions posed from the moderator.

The first to respond is Jew Don Boney. He has a history of working on the Houston City Council and seems clear on how to integrate new technology into the system. Boney also served as mayor pro-tem under Mayor Lee Brown and represented District D, a predominantly African-American district. Currently he is an administrator at Texas Southern University.

The next candidate is Chris Brown. He is currently Deputy City Controller for Houston. Brown, the son of former City Councilman and mayoral candidate Peter Brown, has stated that his experience in the private sector working for an investment bank and his 11 years of service at the City of Houston make him the right person for the job.

Next to speak is Bill Frazer. He is a past President of the Houston CPA Society and has served on the Board of Directors of the Texas Society of CPAs for the past 20 years. Frazer is concerned with making sure that the controller’s actions are transparent and easy for the public to understand. He is interested in cleaning up the budget and making sure that the controller’s office is orderly and functioning as any accountant would.

Seated next to Frazer is MJ Khan. As a councilman, Khan proposed “Zero-Based Budgeting” for All city departments. He focused on unfunded liabilities in Houston’s Pension Systems and Retirees’ Health Benefits. Khan is also focusing on fighting for more efficiency in city government.

The next candidate to speak is Dwight Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson left his position at METRO to run for city council. He is a former district court judge with a long history of working in city government and with Metro.

The last on the panel to speak is Carroll Robinson. Mr. Robinson is an associate professor at Texas Southern University. Mr. Robinson, like many others on the panel has a long history working on the Houston City Council.

Although many issues are brought up, it always comes back to the current financial problems the city is facing, and how this can be avoided in the future. The city has a big deficit, and this has caused problems with making pension payments and beneficial spending. Several of the candidates bring up ways that the city’s website can be improved to make spending more transparent. According to the panel of candidates, the public needs an easy way to see the current status of the budget. Should the website updates an online check to allow the public to keep track of spending? Maybe the site should use a dynamic spreadsheet? Several solutions are posed by the candidates, but none are detailed enough to truly envision implementing.

This begs the question, how can the public get more involved? Houston is the not first major city that has needed to find innovative ways to bring in more technology to their processes. New York City created a new position of CTO (chief technology officer) who runs the Mayor’s Office of Technology and Innovation. The sole purpose of this office is citywide collaboration on technology issues. The city of Chicago has a Department of Innovation and Technology who looks for ways to bring in innovation to their government system. Even the White House is embracing innovation through technology. They made headlines when the nation’s first Chief Data Scientist was announced.

Jayson White from Harvard’s Kennedy School says that the focus of innovation positions in government started with education reform and sustainability. But, once the recession hit, that focus shifted to budgets, economic development, and job creation. The true benefit of having Chief Technology Officers and Chief Innovation Officers is the data driven management that they employ. One example is Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky. By incorporating innovation and information officers into the city government, problem solving starts with rounding up data. In turn, they have come up with interesting solutions, such as cutting down on 911 emergency trips by having nurses in the dispatch room to help determine if there is really a medical emergency or if the caller may need to go to the drug store. Now the city is accessing the data on non-emergency calls to determine if there is a market for private-sector transportation service to drive people who call 911 for non emergency transportation.

Starting with the Houston Hackathon, technology innovation is beginning to become a reality. The opportunity to bring innovation to city government structures gives the public a chance to get involved directly with the local government. The City of Houston has created an open hackathon to get citizens involved in creating solutions to government problems. Groups like Open Houston have been putting on hackathons to bring out developers, designers, marketers and others to get unique solutions to some of our city’s problems. Houston’s Mayor, Annise Parker, has made data more open to the public to encourage citizen innovation.

During the Q&A, the audience seemed interested in bridging the gap between citizens and government. Although all the candidates have amazing depth of experience and knowledge of local government, none are experienced technologists. This election is an opportunity for Houston voters to make technology an important issue. So far, a clear plan has not been established for the city to incorporate new technologies that will solve finance and transparency problems. This leaves a huge opportunity for citizens to come up with their own solution. Make sure that you vote for Houston Controller on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Photo via Justin Conception

Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in helping the country transition to democracy. The Nobel Committee said the quartet helped establish a political process when the country “was on the brink of civil war.” While countries like Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Yemen went back to authoritarian rule or descended into war, Tunisia managed a successful conversion.

The quartet is made up of mediators from four Tunisian organizations. These are the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. It was created two years ago when the assassination of two important politicians and clashes between Islamists and secular parts of society threatened the country’s security.

Houcine Abassi, head of Tunisia’s General Labor Union, said the award was a “tribute to martyrs of a democratic Tunisia. This effort by our youth has allowed the country to turn the page on dictatorship.”  Abdessattar Ben Moussa of the Human Right League said the award “fills us with joy” at a time when Tunisia “is going through a period marked by political tensions and terrorist threats.” Tunisia’s president Beji Caid Esebbsi said the award recognized the country’s decision to choose the “path of consensus”.

The quartet was established to calm the tension between the Islam and secular side. There was a rise of political Islam in the country that disagreed with the traditional secular politics the country had been accustomed to for decades. Tunisia is still facing border problems, but many are celebrating the win today.

Article via BBC Click October 9, 2015

Photo: Night Tunis via Angelfire & me [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs]