GSA Government Okays These Drones
October 12, 2020
The General Services Administration has given five manufacturers its blessing to sell their small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) to government agencies. GCN examines the development in, “US-Made Small Drones Added to GSA Schedule.” The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and the Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance program (SRR) have been working toward this approval for 18 months. That joint effort has developed drones equipped with situational awareness tools that can be deployed quickly. A related DIU project, Blue sUAS, focused on non-DOD applications of drones, like safety inspections, rescue missions, and fighting forest fires. Writer Stephanie Kanowitz informs us:
“The five companies whose products will be available are Altavian, Parrot, Skydio, Teal and Vantage Robotics. … Recognizing a need for drones that government agencies, including the military, could use, Vantage applied to be part of Blue sUAS and tweaked its Vesper unmanned aerial vehicle for federal agency use. Vesper, developed for DIU, differs from Vantage’s first-generation drone, Snap, in that it is ‘substantially more advanced in just about every way,’ including sensors, flight capabilities, security and materials, said Vantage CEO Tobin Fisher. ‘To be specific, on the sensor side, we developed a camera that can see in the dark in 4K and integrated a thermal sensor as well as 18x zoom,’ Fisher said. Additionally, Vesper can fly for 50 minutes and features an extended radio range with an AES 256-encrypted 5-mile link. Vesper is made with components from trusted sources, which Fisher said includes Qualcomm for the onboard processor, Microhard for the radio and SigmaTron International for assembly.”
Impressive. It was crucial that any component that touched data in any way be from a non-Chinese source. For security reasons, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act prohibits government agencies from purchasing or using drones made in China. The effort goes beyond government agencies, though. Those eye-popping capabilities will soon grace commercial drones, as well. The article quotes the DIU’s Chris Bonzagni:
“These companies have been able to leverage the roughly $18 million in DOD investments to develop spinoff enterprise solutions to offer secure, domestically produced options to enterprise customers worldwide, ultimately adding a much-needed boost to the U.S. sUAS industrial base.”
Ready or not, drones are here to stay and only getting more capable and numerous. Chinese drones are interesting too, but some may phone home.
Cynthia Murrell, October 12, 2020
The Ultimate Private Public Partnership?
October 7, 2020
It looks as though the line between the US government and Silicon Valley is being blurred into oblivion. That is the message we get as we delve into Unlimited Hangout’s report, “New Pentagon-Google Partnership Suggests AI Will Soon Be Used to Diagnose Covid-19.” Writer Whitney Webb begins by examining evidence that a joint project between the Pentagon’s young Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Google Cloud is poised to expand from predicting cancer cases to also forecasting the spread of COVID-19. See the involved write-up for that evidence, but we are more interested in Webb’s further conclusion—that the US military & intelligence agencies and big tech companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others are nigh inseparable. Many of their decision makers are the same, their projects do as much for companies’ bottom lines as for the public good, and they are swimming in the same pools of (citizen’) data. We learn:
“NSCAI [National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence] unites the US intelligence community and the military, which is already collaborating on AI initiatives via the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center and Silicon Valley companies. Notably, many of those Silicon Valley companies—like Google, for instance—are not only contractors to US intelligence, the military, or both but were initially created with funding from the CIA’s In-Q-Tel, which also has a considerable presence on the NSCAI. Thus, while the line between Silicon Valley and the US national-security state has always been murky, now that line is essentially nonexistent as entities like the NSCAI, DIB [Defense Innovation Board], and DIU, among several others, clearly show. Whereas China, as Robert Work noted, has the ‘civil-military fusion’ model at its disposal, the NSCAI and the US government respond to that model by further fusing the US technology industry with the national-security state.”
Recent moves in this arena involve healthcare-related projects. They are billed as helping citizens stay healthy, and that is a welcome benefit, but there is much more to it. The key asset here, of course, is all that tasty data—real-world medical information that can be used to train and refine valuable AI algorithms. Webb writes:
“Thus, the implementation of the Predictive Health program is expected to amass troves upon troves of medical data that offer both the DIU and its partners in Silicon Valley the ‘rare opportunity’ for training new, improved AI models that can then be marketed commercially.”
Do we really want private companies generating profit from public data?
Cynthia Murrell, October 7, 2020
A Challenge for Federal Records Management
October 6, 2020
Federal agencies are facing a mandate without adequate funding. This is sure to go smoothly. GCN explains why, for these entities, “Records Management Is About to Get Harder.” The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is requiring federal agencies to completely shift to electronic recordkeeping by the end of 2022, after which the National Archives and Records Administration shall accept no new paper records. The directive presents two challenges which overlap: digitizing existing records and providing a process whereby new records are created digitally in the first place. Officials plan to begin at the intersection of those requirements, invoking a Venn diagram. They must be as efficient as they can because, we’re told, Congress is reluctant to loosen purse strings enough to sufficiently fund the project.
The article cites a recent discussion among federal records management specialists regarding the transition. Reporter Troy K. Schneider writes:
“Although agencies’ readiness levels varied widely, most participants said they were on track to meet the M-19-21 deadlines. Yet whether the available tools and resources are sufficient, however, is another matter. ‘There never are enough resources,’ one official said. ‘We’ve got great resources to the extent that we have them,’ referring to the staff and the record schedules that have been developed, but the work will outstrip them — and this year’s telework-driven embrace of collaboration tools has only increased the degree of difficulty….“Complicating that resource challenge in terms of staff and money is the rapidly growing suite of communication tools agencies use. Too often, participants said, the adoption and deployment of those tools is happening before Federal Records Act requirements are accounted for.”
SharePoint and Office 365 are but two examples of software in which agencies have invested much that may not be able to keep pace with current governance needs and a greatly increased cloud-centered user base. One suggestion is to mimic the Continuous Diagnostics and Mitigation Program now used by the Department of Homeland Security and the General Services Administration for their approved product lists, reporting requirements, and cybersecurity funding. Whatever the solution, we’re told:
“Ultimately, the group agreed, fundamentals are more important than specific technologies. ‘What I’ve seen in looking at my compatriots in other agencies is they spent incredible sums of money to deploy a technology,’ one participant said. ‘And those solutions have not been nearly as effective as they have been sold as because some of the fundamentals hadn’t been done — like understanding your record schedule and the organizational and institutional changes around processes and capabilities that really need to be in place to feed the right records.’”
Indeed, rushing to choose a solution before closely examining one’s needs is a recipe for waste and disappointment. Let us hope decision makers think things through and spend the limited funds wisely. If they do not, our nation’s records are bound to become a huge, paperless mess.
Cynthia Murrell, October 6, 2020
When Regulation Fails: A Snapshot of the Google
October 5, 2020
An entity called SEOButler published “The End of Google?” This is a good question like one of those easy ones on a mid term exam in Art History 105. The essay is longer, and it includes data about the size of the Google. Here’s a passage DarkCyber noted:
Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon have amassed wealth and power never before seen in human history. Given their almost limitless resources, the Big 4 can likely avoid, or at least delay, significant changes to the way they do business for years to come… But there’s little doubt that the impetus for governments worldwide to take meaningful action to curb the big tech monopolies is growing. Both political will and public opinion increasingly demand it.
What’s interesting is that the data have been gathered by a search engine optimization firm. These companies, despite their ubiquity, have faced an increasingly steep climb. The fiddling with text and tags in order to snooker the Google search results is a hit and miss business. If someone wants traffic, it is pay to play time; that is, buy advertising. Mother Google requires cash to pay for the almost uncontrollable costs of operating its “system.”
The answer to the question, in DarkCyber opinion, is, “No.” After decades of ineffectual regulation, Googzilla is quite happy having the world as its personal hunting ground. One can check the territory with a Google search or using Google Local.
Stephen E Arnold, October 5, 2020
TikTok Measures Mark a Sharp Turn for U.S. Policy
October 5, 2020
In a severe departure from our previous course, the United States seems to be embracing data localization laws. Nextgov declares, “On TikTok, the Trump Administration is Adopting China’s Own Vision for the Internet.” Though the Administration’s opening demands on the issue have not come to pass, the compromise does mean the data of U.S. TikTok users must be stored in this country on Oracle’s servers. Writer, and GMF Digital director, Sam duPont observes that the administration’s claim it acted out of security concerns does not hold water—the privacy risks of using TikTok, though considerable, are present with many apps. Targeting one company makes little sense. It looks more like a move to assert digital sovereignty and block the free flow of data. DuPont writes:
“On the other hand, requiring domestic data storage as a solution to the risks presented by TikTok is right out of China’s own playbook for the internet, which it has been advocating around the world. Governments in Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Vietnam and elsewhere have imposed or considered replicating data localization requirements akin to China’s own. Until recently, the United States has been a staunch opponent of these laws. And for good reason. Data localization requirements do little to improve the privacy or security of data, but they come with significant economic costs. Data storage and processing is a scale business. When a small Korean company can take advantage of cloud computing services provided by a U.S. company with servers located in Singapore, everybody wins. But where data localization laws require redundant data storage and processing facilities in every market, the economic advantages of digitalization diminish rapidly. Like all wars, the U.S.-China digital trade war has come with casualties, and chief among them is the U.S. commitment to an open, global internet.”
We’re reminded of the administration’s “Clean Network” program, an effort to sever all cyber connections between China and the U.S. This digital isolationist posture is similar to that of China itself and, if enough countries follow suit, will endanger the free-flowing internet that connects people around the world both personally and professionally.
Cynthia Murrell, October 5, 2020
Google Will Not Play Baseball with a Mere Nation State
September 29, 2020
DarkCyber spotted an interesting article called “Google Slams Arbitration System in Australia’s New Media Code.” We have heard that Googlers are fans of college basketball, specifically the NCAA tournament. And some Googlers are true fans of cricket. Baseball? Those crazy rules. No thanks.
The write up reports:
The system being proposed is called ‘binding final-offer arbitration’, referred to in the US as ‘baseball arbitration’.
DarkCyber thinks baseball arbitration works like this:
- Side A and Side B cannot agree
- Each side writes up a best and final offer
- An objective entity picks one
- The decision is binding.
Google’s view is that the system is not fair. The write up includes this passage:
Google said it is happy to negotiate fairly and, if needed, see a standard dispute resolution scheme in place. “But given the inherent problems with ‘baseball arbitration’, and the unfair rules that underpin it here, the model being proposed isn’t workable for Google”. [The Google voice is that of Mel Silva, VP, Google Australia and New Zealand.
The issue seems to be that a US company is not going to play ball with a country. Which is more important for citizens of Australia?
Google appears to adopt the position that its corporate interests override the nation state’s. The country — Australia in this case — seems to hold the old fashioned, non Silicon Valley view that its interests are more important.
DarkCyber believes that Googlers will perceive Australia’s intransigence as “not logical.” Google is logical as evidenced by this article “Alphabet Promises to No Longer Bung Tens of Millions of Dollars to Alleged Sex Pest Execs Who Quit Mid-Probe.” Logical indeed.
Stephen E Arnold, September 29, 2020
Hacking a Mere Drone? Up Your Ante
September 29, 2020
So many technology headlines are the stuff that science fiction is made of. The newest headline is a threat is something not only out of science fiction but also from the suspense genre says Los Angeles Air Force Base: “SMC Team Supports First Satellite Hacking Exercise.”
For a over the year, the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) experts in ground and satellite technology led a satellite hacking exercise. The event culminated in the Space Security Challenge 2020: Hack-A-Sat. The Special Programs Directorate and the Enterprise Corps Cross Mission Ground and Communications cyber operations team combined their forces for the exercise:
“This challenge asked security researchers, commonly known as hackers, from across the country and around the world to focus their skills and creativity in solving cybersecurity challenges on space systems. These white-hat ethical hackers are members of the research and security communities focused on legally and safely finding vulnerabilities for many different types of systems. This challenge focused on bridging the gap between space, cyber and security communities and growing these ecosystems.”
DEF CON controlled the exercise environment so the teams could practice their skills safely and securely. The competitors explored the satellite system, including the radio frequency communications, ground segments, and satellite bus. The Hack-A-Sat was basically war games with code. The purpose was to expose the experts to new systems they otherwise might not have access to.
The teams want to practice their skills in simulations and Hack-A-Sat events in preparation for real life events. The more real life scenarios the experts experience the more prepared they are to troubleshoot system errors and emergencies.
The Hack-A-Sat event is part of the future mission to the moon and defending the
United States from enemy threats. However, if the United States can undertake these exercises, bad acting countries can as well. It would be horrible if authoritarian governments discovered how to hack US satellites. The metaphor is scary but apt: could the equivalent of a 9/11 terror attack happen by satellite hacks?
Whitney Grace, September 29, 2020
China: A Digital Currency Forecast
September 27, 2020
DarkCyber noted “‘One Day Everyone Will Use China’s Digital Currency.” If you have read Beyond Search/Dark Cyber before, you may know that words like “all,” “every,” and similar categorical affirmatives are irritants. We live in an era of “black swans” and words like “never” are tough to accept as characterizing the present datasphere. Nevertheless, we have an “everyone” from the Beeb.
The main idea is that Chinese digital currency will become the big dog. Hasta la vista dollares en efectivo. The Delphic statement comes from Chandler Guo, a “pioneer in cryuptocurrency.” The Chinese DCEP is coming. DCEP is the digital currency electronic payment, and it seems destined to become the way to pay.
The write up notes:
But many question whether it will succeed and there are concerns that it will be used by Beijing to spy on citizens.
And there is the Chinese spy thing.
The article includes an anonymous source, a now standard journalistic convention:
“The Chinese government believes that if some other countries can also use the Chinese currency it can break the United States’ monetary sovereignty. The United States has built the current global financial system and the instruments,” says an anonymous Chinese crypto currency observer known as Bitfool.
Are Guo and Bitfool correct? Sure, why not. It is 2020, the Year of the Black Swan.
Stephen E Arnold, September 27, 2020
US Public Records: When Is Mail Mail?
September 25, 2020
DarkCyber operates from rural Kentucky. We do watch what other fly over states do. “Citizens Not Entitled to Receive Public Records by Email, Judge Rules” explains that in Oklahoma:
Custer County District Judge Jill Weedon ruled this summer, though, that the law does not entitle citizens to receive public records by email, upholding the county sheriff’s refusal to send a police report to a professor.
Like the song from “Oklahoma” says:
It’s a scandal, it’s an outrage!
Any farmer will tell you it’s true.
The article points out:
“The court … agrees that it would be more efficient to produce the requested documents electronically,” she said, “however [the act] does not require that the sheriff do so. The remedy … is in the Legislature, not the courts.”
The solution? Put on a mask and pick up the records in person maybe? That email stuff is progressive for Kentucky and obviously Oklahoma too.
Stephen E Arnold, September 25, 2020
Kiddie Ads: Facebook and Google Called Out
September 23, 2020
DarkCyber noted “Google and Facebook Under Pressure to Ban Children’s Ads.” The write up seems to demand more than a sleek Silicon Valley “I will have to look into that and get back to you.” The write up states:
Tech firms have been urged to stop advertising to under-18s in an open letter signed by MPs, academics and children’s-rights advocates. Behavioral advertising not only undermines privacy but puts “susceptible” youngsters under unfair marketing pressure, the letter says. It is addressed to Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. In a separate move Google-owned YouTube is accused of unlawfully mining data from five million under-13s in the UK. European data protection laws forbid the mining of data of young children.
Does advertising to young people make any difference. The messaging environment is one giant selling and motivating ecosystem.
DarkCyber believes that if the information in the ZeroHedge article “Popular Children’s App Allegedly Requests Minor To Take Naked Pictures” is accurate, more than advertising needs attention.
Government regulators have been slow to understand the knock on effects of unfettered messaging and interaction via digital services.
The write ups are interesting. The question is, “How does one undo decades of missteps?”
Stephen E Arnold, September 23, 2020
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
