Category Archives: Security

History, Security

US Apology for Syphilis in Guatemala

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Reuters points to research done by Susan Reverby, professor of women’s studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She contacted the US Government and notified them, which led to a formal statement on the syphilis infection in Guatemala that she uncovered.

The United States apologized on Friday for an experiment conducted in the 1940s in which U.S. government researchers deliberately infected Guatemalan prison inmates, women and mental patients with syphilis.

In the experiment, aimed at testing the then-new drug penicillin, inmates were infected by prostitutes and later treated with the antibiotic.

They sent prostitutes into the prison?

I am reminded of an elderly man I met many years ago who said he was a pacifist and conscientious objector in New York City during WWII. He told me being opposed to war at that time meant he was arrested and put in jail; on an island just outside the city. While in jail he was regularly injected with what he thought were “experimental” drugs. Actually, the really scary part of the story is that security was so lax he and other prisoners would sneak out at night and go party all night in the city. Whatever he was injected with was not isolated. Perhaps that was not by accident.

Security

Canada Cloud Privacy

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Canada Cloud blog asks Would you trust a Canadian, with your Cloud Data?

Aside an image of the Mounted Police and a sled dog they speak of “global expansion”

..it is a very, very fertile area for new business start-up development, and is a key focus area for us as part of this Canadian Cloud initiative.

Canada also actually does have significant assets in the Cloud computing field, especially within this critical area of Cloud Data Privacy, and these provide a foundation for global expansion. Our primary activity to launch the network is to begin building an innovation portfolio around this cluster, aligning it to key markets like the USA and Europe.

For example on 19-Aug 2010, the Web 2.0/Cloud Computing Subcommittee of the American CIO.gov team published ‘USA’s Government Cloud Outsourcing Guide (11-page PDF), explaining how agencies can safely outsource to Cloud providers, focusing particularly on the aspect of privacy and how it can be protected through implementation of various best practices, like the NIST series, and it concludes with the recommendation:

“Private cloud vendors should be aware of these publicly published controls and should offer them as enhancements.”

Food, Security

French Vineyard Goes Missing

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The entire Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard has disappeared.

Thieves in France have broken into a vineyard and stolen an entire crop of Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, say police.

They struck in Villeneuve-les-Beziers on Sunday night, taking advantage of a full moon and using a harvesting machine to seize 30 tonnes of the crop.

I see. No one noticed a harvesting machine working through 30 tons under the full moon.

Energy, Security

Clean Taxis

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When I traveled around Kathmandu the city was filled with diesel carts that poured black acrid-smelling pollution into the streets. Polluting taxis were banned in 2000.

Kathmandu is one of the most polluted cities in Asia, vehicular emissions accounting for a big share.

Besides posing a health hazard to the public, the growing pollution is also seen as a threat to the tourism industry.

Save the tourists.

I just read about a similar trend finally catching on in other cities such as New York, London and San Francisco. According to the Automotive Insider major innovation in urban taxi technology is just around the corner.

London suffers from severe pollution. Taxis account for 12% of NOX and 24% of particulate matter in central London. In June 2008, Mercedes unveiled the London EVito, a six-seater electric vehicle that is taking the market by storm. Running on a 35w lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery, the EVito runs for 75 miles on a single charge and takes 6 hours to recharge using the UK standard 240v input. It sports anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control and onboard diagnostics. In order to swerve around Blue Bell “kerbs” (curbs), the front-wheel drive EVito utilizes partial rear-wheel drive to achieve its tiny 25-foot turn radius.

That was two years ago and many more are on their way.

In 2013, Volkswagen plans to release its Milano taxi. Using advanced lithium ion (Li-Ion) batteries, the demure, charming Milano has a single broad side-door swerving open to reveal its four spacious seats. It has an electronically-limited speed of 75 mph and 67 continuous horsepower. Nissan plans to unveil its avant-garde Nissan Leaf in 2011, with a 100 mile driving range, while Mitsubishi, Renault, Toyota, Honda, Ford, Chevy and other companies are currently or planning on offering ecological vehicles.

This Milano sounds like the ideal shared commuter car. Hopefully by 2013 some of the usual risks of batteries will be sorted out…or a diesel-hybrid option will be available.