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1941. Authentication Report

Author:
James A. Lewis
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
How does a machine know you are who you say you are and what you are allowed to do? A car 'knows' you are authorized to drive it when you insert a metal key. An automatic teller knows who you are and how much is in your account when you insert a magnetic card and enter a Personal Identification Number. The machine isn't actually confirming your identity; it is accepting a token issued to you by someone else, who may have taken steps to confirm at the time of issuance that you are who you say you are.
Topic:
Security, Government, and Science and Technology

1942. Cyber Attacks: Missing in Action

Author:
James A. Lewis
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Abstract:
The first warnings of an “electronic Pearl Harbor” appeared in 1995. 1 They have appeared regularly since then. Before the conflict with Iraq that began in March 2003, there was speculation that the U.S. would experience cyber attacks in retaliation. Since the onset of the war, however, there have been no reported attacks that damaged U.S. infrastructure or affected U.S. military operations in Iraq. Nor have there been any reports of cyber attacks that damaged U.S. infrastructure or affected U.S. military operations since 1996.
Topic:
Security, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Iraq

1943. Electricity Restructuring

Author:
John A. Riggs and Paul Runci
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
Over the July 4th weekend, seventy current and former government officials and experts from industry, academia, and consumer and environmental public interest groups met to discuss the state of the U.S. electricity industry. The lack of progress in addressing critical electricity issues will increase costs and reduce performance in the electricity sector over the next several years. The long-term future of electricity supply and demand is also clouded by the absence of clear and stable government policies.
Topic:
Energy Policy, Government, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States and Europe

1944. Media Convergence, Diversity, and Democracy

Author:
Neil Shister
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
The complexity of democracy is both its defect and its virtue. As an idealized conception, democracy promotes equitable social order through the counter play of interests while the rule of law protects individual citizens from the arbitrariness of the state. In practice, matters are considerably more ambiguous. Contradictions exist between theory and action; the power and privileges of some people invariably make them "more equal" than hers—social equity being a relative term. Even so, belief that democracy renders "the greatest good for the greatest number" constitutes the orthodox faith of contemporary civil religion. "No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise," noted Winston Churchill in his oft-quoted observation. "Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried from time to time."
Topic:
Politics and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
United States

1945. Biological Security Public Health: In Search of a Global Treatment

Author:
Kurt M. Campbell and Philip Zelikow
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
This summary is drawn from discussions held from August 4 to August 8, 2002 in Aspen, Colorado, building on the background research prepared for the participants. For four consecutive days, the Aspen Strategy Group and its guests examined the nexus of bio-logical security and global public health, focusing on national preparedness for biological attack and for new naturally occurring biological dangers, as well as global preparedness to address extreme biological dangers faced by much of humanity. The ensuing summary draws out the pol-icy recommendations from this dialogue, thereby omitting much of the detail and factual exchanges that were also extremely beneficial to all the participants. The participants were a distinguished group, and a list of them follows. They benefited from a thought-provoking and insightful set of papers, to be found in the subsequent sections of this publication.
Topic:
Security, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology

1946. The Rise of Netpolitik: How the Internet Is Changing International Politics and Diplomacy

Author:
David Bollier
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In the midst of her travels as Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright decided to venture off the standard diplomatic tour and visit the local market in Bakhara, Uzbekistan. “For all intents and purposes it could have been in the fifteenth century,” she recalled. “It was a big camel market, with rugs that looked liked they had been hanging there for a long time. Dust and all that.”
Topic:
Diplomacy, Government, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

1947. Balancing Policy Options in a Turbulent Telecommunications Market

Author:
Robert M. Entman and Dale N. Hatfield
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Aspen Institute
Abstract:
In 2002, the Aspen Institute Conference on Telecommunications Policy deviated from its traditional single annual gathering in Aspen by holding two meetings—one on spectrum policy and the other on broader telecommunications issues. The first convening, held last spring at the Aspen Wye River campus, focused on reforming spectrum policy; a subsequent meeting was held in the usual August time slot. This summer meeting went beyond the issue of spectrum policy to delve into more pressing issues surrounding an industry experiencing more than its of share of troubles. This report is a synthesis of both convenings, with an emphasis on the larger context provided by the summer colloquy.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Government, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology

1948. The Politics of the Environment

Author:
Karlyn H. Bowman
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Democrats lead Republicans by a substantial margin nationally as the party best able to handle environmental issues, as the first table in this collection shows. The second table looks at the power of the issue on Election Day. In 2000, for example, 9 percent of voters nationwide told exit pollsters from the Los Angeles Times that the environment was one of the top two issues for them in casting their vote. These voters pulled the lever for Gore over Bush, by 76 to 12 percent. As in elections past, other issues were more important to larger numbers of voters. In the 2000 Los Angeles Times exit poll, almost four times as many voters (35 percent) checked morals/ethical values as the top issue for them on the exit poll ballot.
Topic:
Environment, Government, Science and Technology, and Treaties and Agreements
Political Geography:
Los Angeles

1949. CERI: Le voleur et la matrice: Les enjeux du "cybernationalisme" et du "hacktivisme"

Author:
Laurent Gayer
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI)
Abstract:
Cyberspace, of which the Internet is a major but not the exclusive component, is more than an informational or an economic network: it is also a political space, which deserves to be analysed as such, through the collective mobilisations, the imaginary and the surveillance practices that it conveys. Rather than looking at the internet's world politics, this paper focuses on transnational political solidarities that are now emerging on and through the Internet. This differentiation suggests that the Internet is both the vector of social struggles focused on the "real" world, and the cradle of new identifications and new modes of protest that remain and will remain primarily virtual. Activists operating through transnational "advocacy networks" may use the Internet to receive or spread information, but their use of the Information Technologies (IT) remains purely instrumental and does not imply any paradigmatic shift in the tactical uses of the media by protest groups. "Hacktivism" and "cybernationalism" appear far more promising, as far as the invention of new repertoires of collective action is concerned. "Hacktivism", which refers to the use of hacking techniques for political ends, emerged during the 1990s, at the crossroads between activism, play and art. The emergence of "hacktivism" was made possible by the meeting of two social actors that epitomize our late modernity: new social movements and the "digital underground". "Cybernationalism", for its part, was given shape in the last decade by ethnic entrepreneurs who rely on the IT to challenge the political authorities of their home states and to materialise, through words and images, the communities they are (re)inventing beyond borders.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Politics, and Science and Technology

1950. On the Frontline of an Epidemic: The Need for Urgency in Russia's Fight Against AIDS

Author:
John E. Tedstrom
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
AIDS is a global threat that affects us all. Its destructive reach extends far beyond the sphere of public health, threatening social stability, economic performance, and national security. The United States has struggled with HIV/AIDS for over 20 years. At least 440,000 Americans have died from AIDS -related conditions, many more than would have if American political leaders had acted early in the 1980s to confront the epidemic in its initial stages. Over time, however, the commitment of the U.S. government to prevent the spread of HIV and treat people living with HIV/AIDS produced remarkable results. New infections have dropped from 150,000 per year to 40,000 per year, and AIDS -related deaths have been cut in half.
Topic:
Security, Human Welfare, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Russia, United States, America, Europe, and Asia