It's summertime, and the living is easy. Or, in the case of this week's podcast, the living dead, who are not, as they say, resting easy. Instead, in the latest example of "give-them-some-money-and-scientists-will-study-ANYTHING," we have a paper from a team at the University of Ottawa entitled: "When Zombies Attack!: Mathematical Modelling of an Outbreak of Zombie Infection." Fair enough. Now, before you roll your eyes (into the back of your head), know this: the Ottawa crew really does feel that this research can teach us something about the spread of infectious diseases. And maybe about eating brains. Who knows? One thing I do know -- a lot of you out there in WTP land love zombies, so there was no way I was going to leave it out of episode 255.
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And now, back to your regularly scheduled podcast. On the more serious side, this week we take a look at botnets, those nasty groups of computers that are co-opted by criminals, and then spew out viruses and worms and spam. Yuck. Cyrus Farivar reports on some new research into how to stop botnets.
Unfortunately, the solution might require creating, essentially, "good guy" botnets. And that, I'm afraid, creates all kinds of ethical and legal challenges.
Then, since Cyrus is across all this stuff, we keep him around to talk about some new research from a Vermont-based outfit called The U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit. Cyrus checks in with Scott Borg, chief economist there at USCCU, on a report that's just come out looking at last year's cyber-spat between Russia and Georgia. Sorry, I can't actually give you a copy of the report. Visit the website for details.
Next up, the British steam-powered car that's out to break the land speed record. We hear from driver Donald Wales. they're hoping to get this sweet ride (powered by 12 boilers, mind you) up to 130MPH and beyond. Wow. Right now, the team is at Edwards Air Force Base here in the United States, fighting the heat, broken boilers and punctured tires. Get the latest on the effort here.
What makes for a beautiful mix? Flamenco, hip-hop, and Creative Commons of course. Cody Canyon and Gnotes lay some Gnawledge on you. You have to love it when the Internet helps a plan, and a free album, come together. Did I mention the album is free? Download it here.
As promised, this week's Technology Podcast is devoid of any news, or non-news as the case may be, related to Michael Jackson. Instead, WTP 250 (Right click here to download and take it with you) has a heavenly host of stories we hope you'll find intriguing. At right is a picture of a page from one of the oldest Christian bibles in the world. It's called the Codex Sinaiticus, and it was written in the 4th century AD. After it was found in a monastery in the Sinai, it's various pages and fragments were scattered to collections across the world. Now, those fragments and pages have been reunited online. I blogged about this a while back, but now, we'll hear an update. It's an interview with the British Library's Head of Collection Care, Helen Shenton. The British Library is one of the partner institutions involved in putting the Codex online. We'll also have updates on two stories we've been following closely in recent weeks. First, the violence in post-election Iran continues, and technology continues to play a critical role. Reporter Cyrus Farivar will update us on the global geeks who are trying to keep the information flowing into and out of the country. We follow that with a look at the violence that has flared in western China, and assess the ways and means that the Chinese government is using to control the way that violence is portrayed. We speak with Xiao Qiang, founder and co-editor of the China Digitial Times. And then we end the podcast with a lovely little story of musical collaboration. The members of Hal and the Big 5 have never actually jammed together. Instead, they've traded music tracks in cyberspace, and then mixed it all together. Too cool.
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The World's Technology Podcast (WTP 249) starts off with updates on two stories we've been following closely in recent weeks, Iran and China. First, an update on the use of social media tools in the wake of post-election violence in Iran. Twitter might be enabling the flow on information into and out of the country, but can you trust what you're reading? Cyrus Farivar explores that question. Also, the Chinese delay a plan to require every PC sold in China to come loaded with a piece of Internet-filtering software called Green Dam, Youth Escort. Human rights groups have criticized the software, and so too have security experts who say it's so full of holes that hackers could turn China into one huge zombie computer network.
Oh, that cute little cuddly bunny! Surely he or she wouldn't want to control what you're allowed to see online, right? Well, this is a screenshot from a little piece of Windows software called Green Dam Youth Escort. As of July 1, everyWindows PC sold in China will have to have this piece of software installed on it. According to Chinese officials, the software is designed to protect Chinese youth from "pornography and violent content" online. In the past, that's generally been a smokescreen for a major new push to curtail Internet freedom in China. As China web-watcher Rebecca McKinnon notes in this week's Technology Podcast (WTP 246): "[Green Dam Youth Escort] takes censorship down to the level of the individual computer." But already there are reports that the software is vulnerable to hack attacks.
A bit of theme runs through this week's Technology Podcast from PRI's The World. That theme is surveillance. In fact, we take a hard look at all manner of technologies and entities that are, in fact, looking at you. The most interesting of the bunch is this man, Canadian Rob Spence. Spence lost one eye to a shotgun accident when we was a kid. Now, he's a one-eyed filmmaker who is about to implant a special camera in his prosthetic eye. You can probably already see where this is going. He's going to use the camera to make a film. And yes, it raises all kinds of interesting questions about technology and privacy. And that's why for WTP 235 we get Rob on the line to answer those questions. He's calling his project EYEborg...
But along the way to Spence, we make some interesting stops. First, we head to Great Britain, where closed-circuit television cameras are, well, everywhere. It seems like you can't make a move in the UK without your image being captured. It's made for intense debate, as you might imagine. Some feel it is a clear intrusion on privacy. Others say it is necessary to deter crime and terrorism. Recently, Britain's House of Lords released a report questioning whether Britain was turning into a "surveillance state." You'll be shocked to learn the word "Orwellian" is being thrown around. Did anyone else hear the clocks strike 13? Anyway, we have a report from the streets of London, and then a discussion between Gus Hosein of Privacy International and the London School of Economics, and John Dwyer, a former constable and now Managing Director of Zeon Business Protection Services.
We also make a stop in Germany, where the government is mulling over "anti-snooping" legislation after some major German businesses, including the rail operator Deutsche Bahn, were caught spying on their employees electronically. We have a report from Berlin on the scandals, and the legislation.
And is spying potentially all that bad? Well, not if you're the parent of one of those reckless teen drivers. Actually, road accidents account for a huge percentage of teen deaths in the United States. And so, we have a report from Maryland on the trial of something called DriveCam. Yep, it's a little camera attached to one of the rearview mirrors. It allows parents to keep an eye on their teenagers driving habits. The idea, of course, is to encourage better teenage driving. If the camera detects an "infraction," the footage is reviewed, and an email is sent to the parents. Dude, that sucks.
A reminder that you can always peek in on what WTP is up to. We're on Twitter and Facebook. You can always check out any of our other 234 episodes via the archive.
Yep, it's Friday, and that means it's time for the latest edition (WTP 205) of The World's Technology Podcast, courtesy of the BBC World Service, PRI, and WGBH Boston. This week's podcast even comes complete with an audio slideshow, but more on that below.
We lead this week with the news that the US Department of Justice busted a global cyber-crime ring. Eleven suspects were arrested, three of them American. The others were from Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, and China. The scary part is how easy it was for them to do it. They just went wardriving, found open wireless networks at big retail stores, and hacked into their systems. The haul -- a reported 40 million or so debit and credit card numbers. We have a report on the arrests, along with a primer on global credit card fraud from Jim Lewis, Director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in DC.
But for my money, the best part is our correspondent's unused interview with Bruce Schneier, Chief Technology Security Officer at BT Global Services. Schneier, who regularly blogs on computer security issues, started the interview by saying, "I'm not sure why you're doing this story. There's nothing new here. I'm not even blogging it." Fair enough, if you listen to the points he makes in the interview.
Then, we go to Ghana to hear about the problem with electronic waste, or e-waste as it's called. Discovery looked at the problem here in the US in this video. But the real dumping ground for this stuff is quickly becoming the developing world. For background, listen to how we covered the subject in Tech Podcast 179.
This week, we also have a funny look at some new research into boredom. Specifically, that yawning might only be contagious between humans, but contagious between humans...and dogs.
And, my personal highlight for the week...
I do a regular audio check-in with a blogging outfit called AfriGadget for the Tech Podcast. This time, though, AfriGadget founder Erik Hersman came back with some amazing photographs from his recent trip to Nairobi, Kenya. The best bit is to see just how easy it is for Hersman to get his cell phone fixed.
In closing, I'll mention that you can follow all of The World's technology coverage via Twitter, or Facebook. You can also place the widget below on your own website, and get automatic updates.
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