Creators Syndicate – After successfully sponsoring several of the presidential debates, Facebook is spreading its wings once more, announcing today that it would become the official co-sponsor of the United States’ war on terror. In snagging the coveted anti-terrorism sponsorship, the popular networking site beat out two of its rivals, MySpace and YouTube, who had also vied to co-sponsor the global struggle against Islamic extremism.
While the announcement of the collaboration between the Defense Department and Facebook took many in diplomatic circles by surprise, some intelligence experts characterized the move as a win-win for both partners.
“For Facebook, being named co-sponsor of the war on terror adds to the prestige and luster of their brand,” said Tracy Klujian, editor-at-large for Antiterrorism Monthly. “For the Defense Department, teaming up with Facebook makes the war on terror seem hip and fun.”
At a press conference at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Robert Gates explained how the U.S. intended to use Facebook to fight terror: “Right now, we have thousands of bad guys out there who are addicted to jihad. We want to get them addicted to Facebook instead.”
Starting this week, Gates said, Facebook will roll out two new quizzes which it hopes will be popular among potential terrorists: “Are You a Jihadist?” and “What Supervillain Are You?”
Mr. Gates said that by signing up thousands of jihadists to the social networking site, Facebook is hoping to net the biggest fish of all: Osama bin Laden.
“If bin Laden starts wasting as much time on Facebook as most Americans do, al-Qaeda is finished,” he said.
Award-winning humorist, television personality and film actor Andy Borowitz is author of the book “The Republican Playbook,” published in October 2007. To find out more about Andy Borowitz and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker’s productivity, physical wellbeing and competence.
The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees’ performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer’s assessment of their physiological state.
Technology allowing constant monitoring of workers was previously limited to pilots, firefighters and Nasa astronauts. This is believed to be the first time a company has proposed developing such software for mainstream workplaces.
Microsoft submitted a patent application in the US for a “unique monitoring system” that could link workers to their computers. Wireless sensors could read “heart rate, galvanic skin response, EMG, brain signals, respiration rate, body temperature, movement facial movements, facial expressions and blood pressure”, the application states.
The system could also “automatically detect frustration or stress in the user” and “offer and provide assistance accordingly”. Physical changes to an employee would be matched to an individual psychological profile based on a worker’s weight, age and health. If the system picked up an increase in heart rate or facial expressions suggestive of stress or frustration, it would tell management that he needed help.
The Information Commissioner, civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers strongly criticised the potential of the system for “taking the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level”. Hugh Tomlinson, QC, an expert .. protection law at Matrix Chambers, told The Times: “This system involves intrusion into every single aspect of the lives of the employees. It raises very serious privacy issues.”
Peter Skyte, a national officer for the union Unite, said: “This system takes the idea of monitoring people at work to a new level with a new level of invasiveness but in a very old-fashioned way because it monitors what is going in rather than the results.” The Information Commissioner’s Office said: “Imposing this level of intrusion on employees could only be justified in exceptional circumstances.”
The US Patent Office confirmed last night that the application was published last month, 18 months after being filed. Patent lawyers said that it could be granted within a year.
Microsoft last night refused to comment on the application, but said: “We have over 7,000 patents worldwide and we are proud of the quality of these patents and the innovations they represent. As a general practice, we do not typically comment on pending patent applications because claims made in the application may be modified through the approval process.”
There were two Skynet 1 satellites; the first, launched in November 1969, failed after less than a year of operation. The apogee kick motor on the second failed, leaving it in GTO.
Skynet 2
Following the failure of one of the Skynet 1 satellites, the timetable for the launch of the Skynet 2 system was delayed. When Skynet 2A was launched on 19 January 1974, the second stage of the Delta rocket failed, placing the satellite in an unusable orbit. Despite not being in the right place, the ground stations successfully located and tracked the missing satellite, and were able to use telemetry readings from the solar panels to determine its alignment. Based on this analysis it was decided to use the alignment thrusters to deorbit the unit, and it was destroyed when it re-entered the earth’s atmosphere on 27 January.
Skynet 2B was successfully launched on 23 November 1974.
The Skynet 2 satellites were assembled and tested at the Marconi Space and Defence Systems establishment in Portsmouth, England, and were the first communication satellites built outside the US and USSR[1]. The Skynet 2 system was very successful for its time, and remained in service for several years beyond the originally planned timeframe.
Skynet 3
Skynet 3 was abandoned in favour of the more advanced Skynet 4.
Skynet 4
Skynet 4 satellites have few similarities to the earlier generations. The cylindrical body of Skynet 1 and 2 was replaced by a large square body housing antennas with deployable solar-cell arrays. This marks the technological improvement from spin-stabilisation, used in earlier cylindrical satellites, to three-axis stabilisation using momentum wheels and reaction wheels controlling the satellite gyroscopically.
Skynet 4 were the first purely British built satellites, manufacture of 4A, 4B and 4C being carried out by British Aerospace Dynamics (BAe Dynamics). NATO adapted the design for the NATO IVA and IVB communication satellites, also manufactured by BAe Dynamics.
The improved Stage 2 satellites (4D, 4E and 4F) were built by Matra Marconi Space and Astrium to replace the earlier versions. Improvements included increased power and resistance to electronic jamming.
Skynet 4 provides SHF and UHF services using earth cover, wide area and spot beam coverage.
Skynet 5
Skynet 5 is the next generation of satellites, replacing the existing Skynet 4 Stage 2 system. It has been contracted via PFI to a partnership between Paradigm Secure Communications and EADS Astrium, a European spacecraft manufacturer. EADS Astrium will be responsible for the build and delivery of Skynet 5 satellites in orbit, whilst Paradigm will be responsible for provision of service to the MoD. Paradigm have also been contracted to provide communications services to NATO using spare capacity on the satellites.
The Skynet 5 satellite weighs about 4700 kilograms, has two solar panels each about fifteen metres long, and has a power budget of five kilowatts. It has four steerable transmission dishes, and a phased-array receiver designed to allow jamming signals to be cancelled out. They will also resist attempts to disrupt them with high-powered lasers.
The first of a constellation of three Skynet 5 vehicles was launched by a Ariane 5 rocket at 22:03 GMT on 11 March 2007, in a launch shared with the Indian INSAT 4B civil communications satellite, and entered full service on 10 May 2007. The launch was delayed from 10 March due to malfunction of a launch pad deluge system. Skynet 5A successully separated from its launch vehicle and Telemetry was acquired by its dedicated Control Centre approximately 40 minutes after launch.
The second Skynet 5 UK military communications satellite was launched at 22:06 GMT on 14 November 2007, from Kourou in French Guiana, aboard an Ariane 5ECA rocket. This launch was delayed from 9 November due to problems with the electronics on one of the Solid Rocket Boosters, and 12 November due to a fueling problem with the launch pad. At time of launch the Ariane 5 ECA launcher set a new record on this mission, orbiting a total payload of more than 8,700 kg.
The programme marks a change of approach in the UK from traditional defence procurement methods to a services-based contract which also includes provision of leased ground terminals, Reacher vehicles, the Satellite Communications Onboard Terminal (SCOT) for ships, and the associated baseband equipment.
Initially two Skynet 5 satellites were to be built, with insurance covering any launch loss; the MoD later decided to have a third satellite built in advance, and later still to have the third satellite launched to serve as an on-orbit spare.
Security and safety
In 1999, the Skynet system was breached by a group of hackers
States, MySpace Agree to New Measures on Child Predators
By MICHAEL GORMLEY
Associated Press Writer
ALBANY, N.Y. Jan 14, 2008 (AP)
MySpace.com has agreed with more than 45 states to add extensive measures to combat sexual predators.
An official familiar with the multistate agreement said MySpace, the huge online social networking Web site, has agreed to include several online protections and participate in a working group to develop age-verification and other technologies.
The official said MySpace will also accept independent monitoring and changes to the structure of its site.
The agreement is scheduled to be announced today in Manhattan by attorneys general from New Jersey, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement hadn’t yet been announced.
The attorneys general have been seeking greater controls for online networking sites to prevent sexual predators from using those sites to contact children.
There was no immediate comment from MySpace, a unit of News Corp.
Investigators have increasingly examined MySpace, Facebook.com and similar social networking sites that allow people to post information and images on the Web and invite contacts from others.
Last year, New York investigators said they set up Facebook profiles as 12- to 14-year olds and were quickly contacted by other users looking for sex.
A multistate investigation of the sites announced last year was aimed at putting together measures to protect minors and remove pornographic material, but lawsuits were possible, officials said.
“We have to find the best way to make sure parents have the tools … to protect their children when they’re on social networking sites,” North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper said in September.
Nothing new, don’t be alarmed… just compiling killer robots already rolled out to commit mass murder in Iraq. The US government will never use this against its own people. Not even during Martial Law. Rest assured.
The company behind the only armed robots in Iraq is rolling out a new model of gun-toting machine, built from the start for combat. DANGER ROOM has exclusive pictures and footage.
During the early days of the Iraq war, the roboteers at Foster-Miller modified their bomb-disposal machines, to have them carry machine guns, grenade launchers, or rockets.
After years of safety testing and modifications, three of these deadly SWORDS (“special weapons observation remote reconnaissance direct action system”) robots were recently sent to Iraq.
But even now, safety concerns (among other reasons) have kept those machines from firing a shot in combat. But Foster-Miller is already rolling a new model of armed robot — one that’s comes with additional extra, built-in precautions, and has been designed from the beginning to fight.
MAARS (Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System) features new software controls, which allow the robot’s driver to select fire and no-fire zones. The idea is keep the robots from accidentally shooting a flesh-and-blood American. A mechanical range fan also keeps MAARS’ gun pointed away from friendly positions.
The robot is also equipped with a GPS transmitter, so it can be seen on — and tap into — the American battlefield mapping programs, just like tanks and Humvees. These “Blue Force Trackers” have been credited with dramatically reducing friendly-fire incidents during the Iraq war. MAARS comes with an extra fail-safe, which won’t allow it to fire directly at its own control unit.
Nor does the robot always have to carry a gun. A mechanical arm can be swapped “in a couple of minutes” for the weapon, according to MARRS program manager Charles Dean, a retired Army Lt. Colonel. Which means the robot could be used for “inspecting IEDs, opening doors, even dragging casualties.”
The tracks can also be removed, and changed out for wheels; better for urban operations, perhaps. Combined with a lower center of gravity, Dean believes the MAARS will be about 50% faster than its predecessors, which rumbled over streets at 5 miles per hour. Here’s a short of video of MAARS in action:
There’s a good piece in this month’s National Defense magazine on the deployment of the first armed ground robots in Iraq. These are tele-operated rather than autonomous machines, giving ground troops a way of extending their presence into dangerous areas without exposing themselves to fire.
The robots could prove their worth in urban areas with blind corners or curves and little intelligence of what lies beyond, he said.
One skeptic knowledgeable about military robots questioned whether this new weapon would make a long-term impact.
Insurgents will attempt to defeat them just as they have with the military’s new counter-roadside bomb technology. The three robots could last weeks rather than months in the field, said the source, who declined to be named because he is still involved in the military robot community.
James Canton, chief executive officer of the Institute for Global Futures and an expert on military technologies, said SWORDS is a relatively simple machine and just the cusp of where the military is going with robots. The coming robot army will change the military world both tactically and strategically, he predicted.
These first SWORDS ‘bots are fairly primitive, but the users seems to like them. And faster and more agile machines giving the user a better situational awareness are not far away. As with many weapons systems from biplanes to UAVs, what we see here is a machine originally meant for other purposes with a weapon bolted on. But if it works, I predict the v2.0 will have armor, additional weapon options and a whole range of other kit built into it.
There are some provocative ideas, such as the idea that instead of 2,000 soldiers and 150 robots, a future unit might have 150 soldiers and 2,000 robots. Read the full article here.
Armed robots — similar to the ones now on patrol in Iraq — are being marketed to domestic police forces, according to the machines’ manufacturer and law enforcement officers. None of the gun-toting ‘bots appear to have been deployed domestically, yet. Both cops and company officials say it’s only a matter of time, however.
“Other than some R&D with the shotgun mount, we haven’t used it operationally,” Massachusetts State Police Trooper Mike Rogowski tells DANGER ROOM. “But they’re on the way. They’re coming,”
In addition to the Massachusetts State Police, SWAT teams in Houston, San Francisco, and Lubbock, TX all have the robots, according to Foster-Miller spokesperson Cynthia Black. None of the team have armed the machines, so far. But Trooper Rogowski, for one, is extremely interested — especially in equipping the robot with a less-lethal weapon, like a three-shot Taser stun gun. “That would be phenomenal,” he says.
However, Trooper Rogowski adds, “Massachusetts is a pretty liberal state. To get management to sign off on an armed weapons platform — that’ll be pretty interesting, to see how that goes.”
(Foster-Miller competitor iRobot recently teamed up with Taser International to build a stun gun-packing ‘bot of their own.)
Like the SWORDS, the Talon SWAT/MP is based on Foster-Miller’s line of bomb-disposal robots which have seen years’ worth of action in Iraq. Rogowski says handling ordnance is his robot’s main mission, too. But the machine has also been deployed in SWAT-type situations — even before it gets armed.
Last fall, Rogowski remembers, a person in the town of Wilbraham, Massachusetts had barricaded himself into his house. But the overwhelming odor of propane fumes made police reluctant to send humans in. The robot went instead — and discovered propane tanks, as well as the man. “He had shot himself in the master bedroom,” Rogowski recalls.
Love them or hate them, TASER stun guns have become an essential and effective part of law enforcement armory. Perhaps their main drawback has been that even the long-range wireless shotgun-mounted TASER XREP puts a police officer within 30 feet of a potentially dangerous suspect before they’re in range. Now, a new partnership between TASER and iRobot will see the construction of TASER-wielding robots that can be sent in to incapacitate violent suspects without ever exposing police officers to the risk of harm. What’s more, TASER has released their Remote Area Denial (TRAD) system, an unmanned device that operates in a network to identify and incapacitate intruders in secured areas. It all points towards an interesting future with embedded moral implications; how long will it be until suspects are told “you have 15 seconds to comply?”
TASER International recently announced the forming of a strategic alliance with iRobot corporation. Under the terms of this alliance the two companies will work collaboratively to develop a new robotic capability utilizing TASER technologies. This combination of capabilities will allow law enforcement, federal, and military users to employ TASER technology from an iRobot platform at a safe distance to engage, incapacitate, and control dangerous suspects without exposing those personnel, the suspect, or bystanders to unnecessary risks.
As the first step in this alliance, the two companies have integrated a TASER X26 unit into the iRobot PackBot Explorer. The Explorer is a twin-tank-track remote-controlled robot that can relay real-time audio and video back to its operator at a remote location. This proof-of-concept integration is being shown to Law Enforcement and Military customers to explore customer needs and requirements. The result of these customer interactions will lead to the development of products that may include a full line of TASER kits for iRobot platforms or a family of fully integrated robots.
“TASER International is very excited to be entering into this alliance with a forward thinking and proactive company such as iRobot,” said Tom Smith, Chairman of TASER International. “We have been working on expanding the delivery platforms of our proven TASER Neuromuscular Incapacitation technology. Integrating our technology with the increasingly necessary capability of remotely controlled or autonomous robotic systems is a natural fit.”
In unrelated news, TASER has released their TASER Remote Area Denial (TRAD) system, a three-legged, rugged standalone device with infra-red cameras and the ability to discern friend from foe. Operating in a TASERNET network, the devices are designed to identify intruders and bring them down with TASER cartridges, keeping them incapacitated until response teams can arrive.
Were the iRobot and TRAD systems to be integrated together, the potential exists to have an autonymous, patrolling robot guard authorised to inflict incapacitating pain on those it deems “intruders.” A scary thought – is it time to look at incorporating Asmiov’s three laws of robotics into international law?
NEW YORK (Fortune Magazine) — It’s 1900 hours on Veterans Day in Fayetteville, N.C., a pistol shot from the Fort Bragg military base. Ten minutes ago a 25-year-old self-taught engineer named Adam Gettings pulled into the Waffle House parking lot, lifted the hatch of his black SUV, and unveiled what could very well be the future of urban warfare: a toy-like but gun-wielding robot designed to replace human soldiers on the battlefield.
It’s two feet tall, travels ten miles an hour, and spins on a dime. Remote-controlled over an encrypted frequency that jams nearby radios and cellphones, it’ll blow a ten-inch hole through a steel door with deadly accuracy from 400 meters.
Now Gettings is sitting calmly on the other side of a plate of fried eggs and sliced tomatoes, talking about how his company, Robotex, has teamed up with a wild-eyed Tennessee shotgun designer to rethink the development strategy for military technology. “
The idea that you can use investor money rather than [government] research money – that’s a new thing,” says Gettings, who’s in town for SpecOps, a war-fighter technology conference.
Military contractors typically get the funding to build, test, and sell new weapons systems from federal agencies. It can take forever.
Robotex, based in Palo Alto, is financed by angel investors and went from idea to product in six months. “This is the new defense, Silicon Valley-style,” says Gettings. “You build only what’s necessary, iterate quickly, and keep the price low.”
How low? Try $30,000 to $50,000. A similar bot, the Talon, which was developed by defense contractor Foster-Miller and is being tested in Iraq, costs six times that amount. “Our system does all the same things as the Talon, weighs half as much, and costs a fraction,” says Gettings.
When Izumi decided to build a better war robot in 2005, he recruited Nathan Gettings, a former PayPal software engineer and founder of Palantir Technologies, who brought in his brother Adam as well as a fourth (silent) partner who hails from both PayPal and YouTube. They had a prototype in no time. But they needed a weapon, and that’s how Jerry Baber, his revolutionary shotgun, and a pilotless mini-helicopter come into the picture.
Baber is the fast-talking, white-haired founder of Military Police Systems, an arms manufacturer and ammunition distributor based in the hills of eastern Tennessee. When his chums at Blackwater, the security contractor, told him that the Robotex guys were the real deal, he invited them for a visit.
“I called Nathan and Adam on a Monday, and on Thursday they were here,” says Baber.
With that meeting, he turned a promising little robot into something both multifunctional and truly scary. His company’s $8,000 Atchisson Assault-12 shotgun was fresh off the assembly line after a dozen years in development. It’s made of aircraft-grade stainless steel, never needs lubrication or cleaning, and won’t rust. Pour sand through it and it won’t clog. It doesn’t recoil, so it’s accurate even when it’s firing in automatic mode, which it does at a rate of 300 rounds per minute.
“It delivers the lead equivalent of 132 M16s,” says Baber. “When they start firing from every direction, it’s all over.”
Limited-range bullets are important in urban combat situations, Baber explains, because once an insurgent gets between the robot and a soldier operating it on the ground, the bot is rendered useless – unless the soldier wants to shoot at himself.
Baber has paired the AH and its smaller sibling, the MH, with a remote-control mini-helicopter called the AutoCopter, which holds two AA-12s and can carry the bots into battle. His plan is to buy the robots from Robotex and the helicopter from Neural Robotics in Huntsville, Ala. Then he’s going to arm them, resell the systems, and split the profits.
It’s a classic Silicon Valley tale of a few engineers who do what they’re best at, team up with some kindred spirits, and together build a product to take on the establishment.
The wild cards here, of course, are Beltway bureaucracy and public sentiment. Is the military really ready for low-cost killer robots? Are you?
At 72, Baber says he doesn’t have a lot of time to wait to see his system deployed. And the next step is the toughest. “It’s a bitch, let me tell you,” he says of trying to sell innovative concepts into an entrenched government procurement system. But he has a plan.
First, the entire armory will go on display in Blackwater’s lobby. That should get some attention. If not, he’s counting on a public outcry.
“If moms and dads around the country find out this system is available while their sons are off sopping up bullets in Iraq, they’re going to tear the White House down,” he says. “This will take the soldiers out of harm’s way.”
Air Force scientists are looking for robotic bombs that look — and act — like swarms of bugs and birds. In a recent presentation, Colonel Kirk Kloeppel, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s munitions directorate, announced the Lab’s interest in “bio-inspired munitions.”
These, “small, autonomous” machines would “provide close-in [surveillance] information, in addition to killing intended targets,” the Colonel noted. And they’d not only take out foes in urban canyons — the self-guided munitions would “operat[e] within buildings,” too.
Perhaps, like birds and bees, these tiny machines could maneuver by sensing “air flow.” Maybe they could be led to targets by smell, sound, or ” electrosensing.” For sure, they would flap their wings in order to stay aloft. And, naturally, they’d all have “morphing airframes.”
The military has all kinds of research efforts underway to try to bring the animal and robot worlds together — everything from slithering snake-bots to mechanical pack mules to dragonfly drones. But Col. Kloeppel’s ideas are some of the most radical I’ve seen, so far. Other long, long-term goals he and the Lab have in mind include “psycho-cultural situational awareness,” “ubiquitous swarming sensors & shooters,” and “dominant offensive cyber engagement.”
Sightings of Elvis robotic-looking insects — combined with reports that the Pentagon is working on cyborg insects — is prompting people to speculate that the government has perhaps already deployed this super-cool technology. As the Washington Post reports in an article that truly made my day:
“I heard someone say, ‘Oh my god, look at those,’ ” the college senior from New York recalled. “I look up and I’m like, ‘What the hell is that?’ They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects.”
Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too.
“I’d never seen anything like it in my life,” the Washington lawyer said. “They were large for dragonflies. I thought, ‘Is that mechanical, or is that alive?’ “
That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Of course, as the article notes, no agency admits to actually deploying Elvis insect bugs, but hey, why would they?
