Cyberspace

Working Final Draft: HUB CONTAINER MARITIME COMMERCE THE RE-EMERGENCE OF THE INDIAN OCEAN AT GLOBAL LEVEL

by Jacques Coulardeau

Since the financial crisis in mid 2008 and the subsequent downturn in international maritime commerce in 2009, recovery is slow and will take more time than expected.

This crisis and the subsequent downturn did not change the trend that was developing before, viz. the emergence of Asia led by china first and India second, of Latin America led by Brazil and of Africa without a real leader apart from South Africa. In fact this crisis and the subsequent downturn increased the trend by bringing down the USA first and then Europe. In fact apart from these two western blocks only Russia really suffered for one year or so. The other emerging countries experienced a slowdown at worst. China itself is in fact encouraged toward relying on and encouraging its national market, moving toward a consumer’s society, national consumption becoming the real economic incentive, and yet to target Asia, Africa and Latin America on the international market. The recovery after 2009 for Asian exports is up 12% for Latin America, 18% for Africa and only 5% for Northern America and Europe.

In fact the emergence of Asia has changed the world and the crisis is amplifying the change. “In recent years intra-Asian liner shipping [container shipping] has become larger than Asia-US, Asia-Europe and trans-Atlantic liner volumes.”  The direct consequence is the shift from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to the Indian Ocean, with its 20% of global sea water and its 40% of global coast line. This Indian Ocean is becoming the very centre of this vast emerging area comprising China, India and the rest of Asia, eastern Africa and South Africa and the Middle East.

We are going to study this restructuring and repositioning of the Indian Ocean and Asia in the global commerce at the beginning of the 21st century. Very few people have a distinct idea of what is happening today, and for those who like plots we could say that the financial wizards who planned the 2008 crisis had not foreseen that it was going to backfire in their hands to the point of shifting the centre of global business from them to Asia, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.

I will very fast look at the past up to 1433, and then at the colonization of the Indian Ocean and Asia by the... more I will very fast look at the past up to 1433, and then at the colonization of the Indian Ocean and Asia by the Portuguese, the Dutch, the English and the French.

I will then consider the strategic position of the Indian Ocean and in that Indian Ocean the strategic position of Sri Lanka for maritime commerce.  That will bring China into the picture as a major investor and stakeholder in that maritime development.

Considering the main problems of this maritime commerce which are congested bottlenecks and security, I will try to understand the new means container freight commerce and information technology based on satellite surveillance can bring to these problematic questions. I will incidentally consider the various regional rivalries if not conflicts or potential conflicts that may disrupt this development.

That will bring me to the conclusive hypothesis that China has more stakes in the Indian Ocean than may seem at first, and most of these stakes are economic and only subsequently some are social. The result anyway is the re-emergence of the Indian Ocean as the global maritime centre of human development and commercial enterprise.

Der Cyber-Krieg der (so) nicht kommt: Erzählte Katastrophen als (Nicht)Wissenspraxis

by Myriam Dunn Cavelty

forthcoming in: Leon Hempel, Marie Bartels (eds), Aufbruch ins Unversicherbare - Zum Katastrophendiskurs der Gegenwart (transcript 2012).

Das vorliegende Kapitel untersucht narrative Praktiken im Fall der Cyber-Apokalypse. Es geht der Frage nach, welche... more Das vorliegende Kapitel untersucht narrative Praktiken im Fall der Cyber-Apokalypse. Es geht der Frage nach, welche Methoden und Praktiken bei der Generierung von Narrationen im politischen Prozess angewandt werden, welche inhaltlichen Ausprägungen diese Narrationen im konkreten Fall aufweisen und was die Konsequenzen solcher Praktiken sind. In einem ersten Kapitel wird die Idee der erzählen Katastrophe näher erläutert und auf ihre spezifischen Merkmale eingegangen. Insbesondere wird die Rolle von Nichtwissen hervorgehoben. Im zweiten Kapitel wird konkreter auf die narrative Praxis von wissenschaftlichen und politischen Erkenntnisgemeinschaften eingegangen. Im abschließenden Kapitel werden die Konsequenzen solcher Prakti-ken diskutiert.

Cyber-security

by Myriam Dunn Cavelty

Forthcoming in: Allan Collins (ed.) Contemporary Security Studies (Oxford University Press 2012)

This chapter analyses why cyber-security is considered one of the key national security issues of our times. The first... more This chapter analyses why cyber-security is considered one of the key national security issues of our times. The first section provides the necessary technical background information. The second unravels three different, but interrelated discourses about cyber-security: discourse number one has a technical focus and is about viruses and worms. Number two looks at the interrelationship between the phenomenon of cyber-crime and cyber-espionage. Number three is a military and civil defence-driven discourse about the double-edged sword of fighting wars in the information domain and the need for critical infrastructure protection. Based on this, the third section turns to selected protection concepts from each of the three discourses. The final section sets the threat into perspective: despite heightened media attention and a general feeling of impending cyber-doom in some government circles, the level of cyber-risk is generally overstated. This has important repercussions for decision-makers and students, which are addressed in the concluding section.

Critica alla ragion Cyber

by Giovanni Nacci

Nell'ambito degli Strategic Studies e di Intelligence si osserva un serrato confronto circa la definizione formale di... more Nell'ambito degli Strategic Studies e di Intelligence si osserva un serrato confronto circa la definizione formale di alcuni concetti che, con l'espandersi del sostrato tecnologico servente alla attuale società dell'informazione, sono prepotentemente entrati a far parte del dominio della riflessione strategica.

Stiamo parlando di quei concetti che normalmente vengono evocati attraverso l'anteposizione del prefisso “cyber” a vocaboli (war, warfare, weapon, terrorism, ecc..) che rappresentano nozioni già ben definite nel dominio specifico.

L'idea è quella di provare ad indossare il “cappello nero” per identificare ed evidenziare le possibili criticità e negatività che un approccio alla "questione cyber" poco multidisciplinare e troppo sbilanciato sugli aspetti tecnomediatici può generare. Tutto questo cercando di evidenziare le motivazioni logiche e sistemiche di ciò che non va, o sembra non andare.

Ovvero il perché è necessario sostituire subito l' "info" della "sfera" al "cyber" dello "spazio".

Waging Information Warfare. Making the Connection Between Information and Power in a Transformed World.

by Mark Tempestilli

UK cyber security: Grand strategy and the state.

by Tim Stevens

In: World Defence Systems 2012(1): 21-23.

Uncovering the French-speaking jihadisphere: An exploratory analysis

by Benjamin Ducol

Terrorist groups have exploited the internet and other information technologies to advance their strategies since the... more Terrorist groups have exploited the internet and other information technologies to advance their strategies since the mid-1990s. Violent jihadi groups are no exception. They have located the internet at the core of their media strategies, which has given birth to a vibrant global jihadisphere: an online community of militants and sympathizers united by their common adherence to a global Salafi jihadi ideology. Not only do jihadi groups devote increasing energy to attempting to connect with global audiences, but jihadi sympathizers from all around the world are more involved than ever in widening the spread of jihadi online content through para-personal media. The expanding use of non-Arabic languages such as French, English, German, Russian and Dutch by jihadi groups and ideologues has not yet been adequately examined in the academic literature. This article represents a preliminary effort at delineating the nature of the French-speaking jihadisphere, including discussion of the major websites and forums composing it, the real and virtual links between these, and how forum users originally learned of the forums’ existence.

Norms, Epistemic Communities and the Global Cyber Security Assemblage

by Tim Stevens

Invited contribution to online journal e-International Relations.

As norms begin to develop in the cybersecurity field, a multitude of actors are competing to shape them according to... more As norms begin to develop in the cybersecurity field, a multitude of actors are competing to shape them according to their own interests and values. How this power struggle plays out is of great importance to the future of global cyberspace. [not my abstract btw]

A Virtual Community? SADF Veterans' Digital Memories and Dissenting Discourses

by Gary Baines

African Studies Centre (Leiden, Netherlands) Working Paper 98/2012

Where in the world: a study of user preferences as to virtual environments for information access.

by Alan MacLennan

The militarisation of cyber security as a source of global tension

by Myriam Dunn Cavelty

published in Strategic Trends 2012, edited by Daniel Möckli

Cyber security is seen as one of the most pressing national security issues of our time. Due to sophisticated and... more Cyber security is seen as one of the most pressing national security issues of our time. Due to sophisticated and highly publicised cyber attacks such as Stuxnet, it is increasingly framed as a strategic issue. The diffuse nature of the threat, coupled with a heightened sense of vulnerability, has brought about a growing militarisation of cyber security. This has resulted in too much attention on the low probability of a large scale cyber attack, a focus on the wrong policy solutions, and a detrimental atmosphere of insecurity and tension in the international system. Though cyber operations will be a significant component of future conflicts, the role of the military in cyber security will be limited and needs to be carefully defined.

Power and Security in Cyberspace: Implications for the Westphalian State System

by Andrew Liaropoulos

Panorama of Global Security Environment, Centre for European and North Atlantic Affairs, 2011.

Over the last years there is a growing body of literature over the role of states in cyberspace, over the need for the... more Over the last years there is a growing body of literature over the role of states in cyberspace, over the need for the westphalian state system to adjust in a globalised and borderless world. The purpose of this article is to examine the ways in which a transition from the westphalian state system to a cyber-westphalian one, can take place. The westphalian state system is based on state sovereignty and borders, so the question that inevitably arises is whether states can define virtual borders and eventually construct an international legal framework that determines state sovereignty in cyberspace. A closer look at recent developments like the Chinese attempt to build their own internal internet, the role of internet filters in authoritarian regimes, the creation of the US Cyber Command and the debate for a global cyber-treaty, mark that the transition is already underway.

Data Transcendence and the Real

by Colin Drumm

Call For Papers: Folklore and Literature Journal Special Issue: Cyber Culture

by Z.Nilüfer Nahya

Preview of the Cybercrime Handbook for Commuity Corrections

by Art Bowker

This is the first 23 pages of the book, which includes the Foreword (thanks Jim Tanner), the Preface, Acknowledgement... more This is the first 23 pages of the book, which includes the Foreword (thanks Jim Tanner), the Preface, Acknowledgement and about 5 pages of first chapter. For more details about the book visit  http://www.ccthomas.com/details.cfm?P_ISBN13=9780398087289#tabs

ImaginingCities

by Stephen Webb

Cities, subjectivity and cyberpsace - Chapter 14

The focus is upon the role of the territorial imaginary in the construction of space, and how the metaphor of ‘net’... more The focus is upon the role of the territorial imaginary in the construction of space, and how the metaphor of ‘net’ allows for the conflations of city/community, and virtual city/
virtual community. And furthermore, to consider how these bastard spaces are given an ‘objective’ correlate in the form of network models of urban space that visualise space as
enclosed. It is the relation of the pre-figure (the city) to the current figures of understanding space (cyberspace) that forms the basis of this chapter. We use readings of the nature and meaning of city space to interrogate and critique

Per una teoria del cyberfemminismo oggi. Dall'utopia tecnoscientifica alla critica situata del cyberspazio

by Federica Timeto

Studi Culturali, n. 3, dicembre 2009, pp. 453-478

La nozione di tecnosocialità elaborata nell’ambito dei social studies of technology (STS),  e ampiamente... more La nozione di tecnosocialità elaborata nell’ambito dei social studies of technology (STS),  e ampiamente dibattuta all’interno della riflessione tecnofemminista, porta in primo piano la costruzione sociale del genere e della tecnologia, e la necessità di considerare congiuntamente le tecnologie di genere e l’ingenerarsi delle tecnologie. Questo saggio analizza l’apporto teorico e pratico del cyberfemminismo al dibattito, analizzando la fase utopica e quella critica del cyberfemminismo per soffermarsi sull’incontro fra il cyberfemminismo, il pensiero postcoloniale e il femminismo transculturale. Ritornando alla radice politica del pensiero di Donna Haraway sul cyborg e sui saperi situati, il cyberfemminismo situato e transculturale recupera la dimensione incarnata delle nuove tecnologie, e adopera e analizza le nuove tecnologie di informazione e comunicazione considerandone gli effetti materiali e simbolici in relazione alle dinamiche della produzione e del consumo, della collocazione e della mobilità, per rivendicare un agire femminista che scaturisce dai contesti e dalle storie in cui l’intreccio fra corpi e tecnologie fa differenza.

Keywords: ICTs - cyberfemminismo - Donna Haraway - studi postcoloniali - femminismo transculturale

The G8 and the Governance of Cyberspace

by Jeffrey Hart

in Michele Fratianni, John J. Kirton, Alan M. Rugman, and Paolo Savona (eds.), New Perspectives on Global Governance: Why America Needs the G8 (Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2005).

The Return of the Author

by Avi Rosen

"published in 'newmediafix',

The article transposes the text of Roland Barthes' 'Death of the Author', (La Mort de L'auteur 1968), to the arena of... more The article transposes the text of Roland Barthes' 'Death of the Author', (La Mort de L'auteur 1968), to the arena of happenings in cyberspace, and examines the implications from the point of view of author-reader-text, active in the electronic environment.

Os motores de busca e a inteligência colectiva: um estudo exploratório com alunos do 3.º ciclo do ensino básico

by Jose Ferreira

Dissertação de mestrado em Educação (área de especialização em Tecnologia Educativa)

A Inteligência Colectiva tem acompanhado o desenvolvimento cultural da humanidade desde as suas primeiras... more A Inteligência Colectiva tem acompanhado o desenvolvimento cultural da humanidade desde as suas primeiras manifestações nas sociedades tribais, em contextos de coordenação colectiva em situações de caça, até às complexas sociedades contemporâneas, na criação de conhecimento, construção de grandes aeronaves e prolificação de redes de acesso a uma nova fronteira - o ciberespaço. Para aceder à imensa e versátil biblioteca armazenada na rede global de servidores, surgiram os motores de busca. A inteligência artificial destas ferramentas foi testada pelos cibernautas quanto à relevância e personalização das respostas obtidas. De longe o Google se destacou da concorrência. O seu segredo, apesar de escondido entre complexos algoritmos, é bem simples: a Inteligência Colectiva. Neste estudo exploratório pretendemos identificar os processos de colaboração empregados na resolução de problemas, usando como ferramenta de acesso à informação o motor de busca Google, assim como identificar padrões de utilização desta mesma ferramenta. Para isso envolvemos uma parcela de uma turma do oitavo ano de uma escola básica 2,3 do concelho da Maia. Criamos dois inquéritos por questionário que foram apresentados no início e no final da actividade, usamos um screencast para registo dos procedimentos em tempo real, feito em cada estação de trabalho e utilizámos o registo automático do Google Docs nas diferentes edições ao documento de registo da actividade de pesquisa. Os resultados obtidos no tratamento dos dados permitem-nos concluir que estes alunos pesquisam utilizando predominantemente duas ou três palavras organizadas em expressões ou frases completas. No ecrã do computador fazem uma leitura de dados localizados na zona superior seguida de uma rápida leitura vertical (leitura de padrão F). Demonstram facilidade no uso de ferramentas digitais de pesquisa e de trabalho colaborativo embora obtenham resultados pouco satisfatórios no uso das mesmas.
Collective intelligence has been following the cultural development of humanity since its first demonstrations in tribal societies, in context of collective coordination in hunting situations, to the contemporary complex societies, in the creation of knowledge, in the construction of huge aircrafts and proliferation of access networks to a new frontier – the cyberspace. To access the vast and versatile library stored in the servers‟ global network, search engines have emerged. The artificial intelligence of these tools was tested according to the obtained answers by surfers on the relevance and personalization. By far, Google stands out among the competition. Its secret, in spite of being hidden between complex algorithms, is quite simple: collective intelligence. In this exploratory study we would like to identify the processes of collective cooperation that are used in problems resolution, with Google‟s search engine as the tool to access the information, and to identify utilization patterns on this tool. In order to do so, we have involved a part of an 8th grade class in Maia. We wave created two questionnaire inquiries that were presented to them in the beginning and in the ending of the activity, a screencast in video format to record the procedures in real time, made in each work station and we wave used the automatic record of Google Docs on the different editions in the activity record document. The obtained results on the data treatment, allowed us to conclude that the students search using mainly two or three words organized in expressions or in complete sentences, reading the results placed on the superior zone of the screen and then making a vertical and fast reading (reading pattern F). They show readiness on using digital search tools and cooperative work tools, though they obtain low results using these same tools.