Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet Tubes, by Andrew Blum, looks behind the scenes of our digital lives at he physical heart of the internet itself. These tubes are the real places on the map: their sounds and smells, their storied past, their physical details, and the people who live there. Sharing tales of his on-the-ground reporting, along with lucid explanations about how the role of technology in our lives.
Excerpt: "According to TeleGeography, the most heavily trafficked international Internet route is between New York and London, as if the cities were the two ends of the Internet's brightest tube of light. For the Internet, as for so much else, London is the hinge between east and west, the place where the networks reaching across the Atlantic link up with those extending from Europe, from Africa and India. A bit from Mumbai to Chicago will go through London and then New York, as will one from Madrid to Sao Paulo and Lagos to Dallas. The cities' enjoined gravity pulls in the light, as it pulls in so much else. But despite that, the Internet's physical manifestation in the two cities is completely different. I had started out with the assumption that London is the old world and New York the new. But with the Internet, the opposite turned out to be true. If in Amsterdam the Internet was hidden away in low industrial buildings on the cities' ragged edges, and in New York it colonized art deco palaces, in London it formed a single, concentrated, self-contained district - an office "estate," in the British term - just east of Canary Wharf and the City, known formally as East India Quay but by network engineers, and most else, as just "Docklands." It was a massive agglomeration, an entire Internet neighborhood. I wondered what was at its heart. And how far into its center I could go." 'Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet' by Andrew Blum Ecco, 2012 On Sun, Dec 29, 2013 at 7:08 PM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > It's almost breath taking in it's scope! > > Imagine the BIOS of your computer hacked by the feds BEFORE it even > reaches the stockroom of your local computer store. The BIOS - that's where > you want to be if you are a spy agency. Forget tracing your calls; forget > meta data warehousing; forget call monitoring; forget putting duck tape > over laptop web cam. If they already have BIOS implants in your DELL or HP > or whatever brand computer, you are doomed and the game is already over. > > Here is a simple test: Power up your laptop and leave it on; then exit the > room for a few minutes. When you come back, check to see if your weather > location is local or Arlington, VA. > > And, you think you can trick them by simply removing the battery in your > cell phone? What if you own one that doesn't have a removable battery? Why > do you think they are doing away with cell phones with removable batteries? > > "The ANT division does not just manufacture surveillance hardware. It also > develops software for special tasks. The ANT developers have a clear > preference for planting their malicious code in so-called BIOS, software > located on a computer’s motherboard that is the first thing to load when a > computer is turned on." > > Read more: > > NSA reportedly intercepting laptops purchased online to install spy > malware' > http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/29/5253226/nsa-cia-fbi-laptop-usb-plant-spy > > > On Thu, Dec 26, 2013 at 8:02 AM, Richard Williams <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: > >> Arrest him and book him! >> >> You are fired for lying to the American people. Clear out your desk and >> leave the building! Officer, arrest this man and book him for serial lying. >> Bailiff, put this man in chains and take him for the perp walk,immediately! >> Mr. Biden, get on the phone with that Snowden fellow and get his pardon >> ready,NOW! Do it! >> >> It's not easy to pick the year's most transparent lie from the >> self-styled “most transparent administration in history.” There are so many >> to choose from—such a richness of embarrassment. >> >> For my money, the biggest presidential lie of the year came on June 7, >> the week after former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden >> revealed the agency's secret collection of call records data on millions of >> Americans. “I welcome this debate,” Obama proclaimed—even as his >> administration was hunting down the whistleblower who started it and >> preparing to hit him with 30 years of Espionage Act charges." >> >> Read more: >> >> 'Obama's Epic Fib About the NSA' >> http://reason.com/archives/2013/12/24/obamas-epic-fibs-about-the-nsa >> >> >> On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 7:55 AM, Richard Williams >> <pundits...@gmail.com>wrote: >> >>> The ObamaCare disaster is not just a management failure, it's a firing >>> incident. Where I used to work, a system failure this large would be a >>> cause for instant dismissal: >>> >>> *"Clean off your desk and get out, you're fired! Officer, escort this >>> person off the premises. And, don't you ever come back! You'll never work >>> in this town again. You fuckin' idiot!"* >>> >>> [image: Inline image 1] >>> >>> 'In Defense of Kathleen Sebelius' >>> http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/<http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303680404579141473117316190> >>> >> >> >
