Cyber Combat: Act of War

If you shut down our power grid, maybe we will put a missile down one of your smokestacks...

Read the WSJ article here.

POTUS' Role in Cyber Defense

If the Internet is considered a vital U.S. asset, what powers does the president have in the event of a potentially catastrophic cyberattack?

Read the article here.

Make Out Online

A "kiss transmission device"  is being developed in Japan to enable simulated french kissing via the internet.

"If you take one device in your mouth and turn it with your tongue, the other device turns in the same way," says the device's inventor in a YouTube video. "If you turn it back the other way, then your partner's turns back the same way, so your partner's device turns whichever way your own device turns."

Read the article here.

From Guantanamo to Abbottabad

Emerging details about the investigation that culminated in the killing of Osama bin Laden have re-ignited debate over the practice and effectiveness of torture. John Yoo, former Justice Depaertment official in the Bush administration, cites the interrogation program he helped define as responsible for producing the actionable intelligence that led to bin Laden:

Sunday's success also vindicates the Bush administration, whose intelligence architecture marked the path to bin Laden's door. According to current and former administration officials, CIA interrogators gathered the initial information that ultimately led to bin Laden's death. The United States located al Qaeda's leader by learning the identity of a trusted courier from the tough interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks, and his successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi.

In response, editors at the NYT claim the technique played a small role in finding bin Laden and cost the nation far more in terms of harming our reputation abroad:

There are many arguments against torture. It is immoral and illegal and counterproductive. The Bush administration’s abuses — and ends justify the means arguments — did huge damage to this country’s standing and gave its enemies succor and comfort. If that isn’t enough, there is also the pragmatic argument that most experienced interrogators think that the same information, or better, can be obtained through legal and humane means.

Read the editorials here: WSJ; NYT