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	<title>Southwest Cyberport &#187; How the Net Works</title>
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		<title>Is Cyberwar the New Normal?</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2013/cyberwar-new-normal/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2013/cyberwar-new-normal/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:38:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interesting Items]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CISPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybercrime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cyberwar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[malware]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=2066</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Internet these days is often compared to the Wild West. It, too, is a wide open frontier with endless possibilities, loose rules, limited government controls and not a few rustlers and bandits lurking along its trails. But unlike other frontiers, the Net seems to steadily becoming more dangerous, not less. And there are now armies on the move. Hackers aren’t just computer whiz kids, online scam artists, or even criminal networks any more. Hacking has become a weapon of war. Stunning accusations in a recent report by Mandiant, a US online security firm, provide insights of just how persistent threats from government hackers working for certain enemy states have grown. The company has been investigating security breaches at hundreds of organizations around the world since 2004. Their tracking of threats has allowed them to identify more than 20 hacking groups within China. The largest of these, which they called APT1, for “Advanced Persistent Threat” has conducted vast hauls of information from hundreds of organizations since 2006. Madiant’s detective work on over 150 corporate victims for over 7 years paid off. They were able to identify APT1 as a unit of the People’s Liberation Army of China with a code designation of Unit 61398, precisely located its facilities in the middle of Shanghai, and even named three key developers. They watched APT1 compromise 141 companies in 20 industries, and studied in detail APT1’s sophisticated methodology – in one case, as &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2013/cyberwar-new-normal/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Right to Internet Access</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2013/internet-access-rights/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2013/internet-access-rights/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 20:33:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[broadband]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[copyright]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cybercrime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet access]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rights]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=2043</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[How essential is the Net? How vital is access to the Internet at all times? Does being cut off impair or maybe even threaten modern life? If you&#8217;re one of the many who would argue that yes, the ability to get online is absolutely basic to life, work, society, and entertainment, you&#8217;re not alone. And in a landmark ruling, the highest court in Germany agrees with you. Recently, the German Federal Supreme Court ruled that consumers can demand damages – financial compensation – for service outages. The case involved a suit by a man who lost his DSL connection for 2 months. For Germans, the decision places Internet access in the same small class of assets protected because they are necessary to survive and function in modern society. These  include homes, telephones, and automobiles. Consider that: loss of Internet access is deemed as big an inconvenience as losing a car! This means that sanctions denying access may not be applied. German Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said, &#8220;The judgment of the Federal Court shows that for an informed life, the network has become  fundamental. It is a realization that the use of the Internet is a civil right.&#8221; This is not the first time a government had declared Internet access is a basic human right. France was first to do so back in 2009. Finland went even further later that year when it declared it would provide each citizen with &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2013/internet-access-rights/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>The Internet Goes Interplanetary</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2012/interplanetary-internet/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2012/interplanetary-internet/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 Nov 2012 23:00:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Interesting Items]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[BP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DTN]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NASA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protocol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[space exploration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Star Trek]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=2001</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Future space explorers, both robotic and human, now have a new way to communicate with each other – by the Internet. While email has been used for some time from low Earth orbit, and astronauts have even posted to Facebook and Twitter, the actual connections utilize the standard radio point-to-point links that have been used all along. For modern fleets exploring space, which include far-flung satellites, spacecraft, rovers and maybe bases someday, this is insufficient, just as the traditional Internet would be. Point-to-point creates a single line of communication between two stations, such as ground control and say, a satellite circling Mars. Another such direct connection can create a line of communication between the ground and a rover on the planet. But the rover can’t communicate directly with the satellite. The network only goes through ground control. An “Internet-like” connection changes all that. Then, everything could talk with everything else – or it could except for the distance. The problem with installing the Net on such widely separated systems is that unlike communications in science fiction, radio waves move at the speed of light. The Enterprise can call Starfleet Command every time they run into the Klingons, but real spaceships anywhere beyond the Earth-Moon system will not find it so easy. While it’s only 1.25 seconds for a message to get from Earth to the Moon, to Mars it ranges from over 4 minutes to over 20. And that’s just &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2012/interplanetary-internet/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Good News that Nobody Noticed: IPv6 Launched</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2012/ipv6-launch/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2012/ipv6-launch/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:53:16 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPv4]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPv6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protocol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web publishing]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1843</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The world passed a significant milestone on June 6, and no one noticed the great sigh of relief that went up around the world. And that&#8217;s just the way it should be. On that day, World IPv6 Launch Day, the new Internet addressing system, was successfully put to work. We know that it was successful because it did not break the Internet. IPv6 is the successor to IPv4, the numerical addressing system used by the Internet up until now. But IPv4 is running out of numbers, though still being issued. But with enough addresses to cover a bit more than half the population of the planet (&#8220;only&#8221; 4.3 billion addresses), the Internet&#8217;s continued growth depends on rolling out a new system before the crunch came. However, there were some real uncertainties involved, as this turnover is historically unique. Nothing like this has never been done before nor will be again. The problem is that IPv6, while similar to IPv4 in structure and function, is not actually compatible with the older system. Like the Y2K scare, fixes involving new software had to be inserted into existing servers and gateways to make it work. Happily, that, and all the other challenges, were overcome in time. IPv6 seems to function without a hitch. Here are some of the major players who have turned on their IPv6 connections: Akamai ATT&#38;T Bing Cisco Comcast Facebook Google Limelight Time Warner Yahoo! etc. Unlike the old, the &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2012/ipv6-launch/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
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		<item>
		<title>Don&#8217;t bother backing-up your computers(unless you&#8217;ve actually tested recovery)</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2012/dont-bother-backing-up-your-computers-unless-youve-actually-tested-recovery/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2012/dont-bother-backing-up-your-computers-unless-youve-actually-tested-recovery/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:32:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>cheeks</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[backup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recovery]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategy]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1689</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This post is from guest blogger Peter H. Mantos of Albuquerque business consultancy Mantos Consulting, Inc.  (Also a long-time SWCP customer) The business community is well aware of the need to backup critical computer systems. However, very few small businesses have actually tested their backup system by performing a recovery. Business managers operate under a false assumption that they are protected from the worst. This article explains some common reasons that &#8220;successful&#8221; backups fail to meet business continuity needs. It encourages business owners to ensure that information technology (I.T.) systems can be recovered through actual testing. 1. INTRODUCTION You&#8217;re smart. You know that while wise use of computers (information technology, or &#8220;I.T.&#8221;) offers competitive advantages, they have now become a requirement, a &#8220;necessary evil&#8221; to stay in business. You also know that I.T. sometimes fails and without it, you are dead in the water. So, being smart, you do your backups; perhaps even regularly and even automatically. Perhaps you don&#8217;t back up every computer in the office every day or every week, but at least you back-up your important data; maybe even using an offsite service or by taking copies offsite. Good for you! But have you ever tried to recover using those backups? If not, don&#8217;t be smug about being backed-up! Many people have been unpleasantly surprised when the fickle finger of computer fate strikes. Some find that the backups don&#8217;t really restore the data or the functionality they &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2012/dont-bother-backing-up-your-computers-unless-youve-actually-tested-recovery/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Fight over Copyright and Net Neutrality Will Shape the Net</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2012/copyright-net-neutrality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2012/copyright-net-neutrality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Jan 2012 23:23:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DMCA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[file sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Net neutrality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peer-to-peer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protect IP Act]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SOPA]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1619</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The first battle over copyright on record was an actual physical battle. Around 560, Columba, an Irish monk, copied out a book of psalms, intending to keep it for himself. This was disputed by St. Finnian, owner of the original volume who had lent it to him to read. The saint was supported by the court which said that the reproduction rightfully belonged to him as sure as a calf does to its mother. It being the Dark Ages, there was nothing for it then but to fight it out. Columba’s side won the melee; in grief over the ensuing deaths, however, the monk left Ireland forever. During his lifelong exile, he founded the great monastery of Iona where the magnificent Book of Kells was later made, was the first known witness of the Loch Ness Monster, and ultimately became a saint, too, so it all worked out pretty well for him in the long run. A millennium and a half later, however, copyright conflicts are still being fought almost as viciously in the courts. But while modern media could not even be imagined by the scribes of old, the issues would be quite familiar. Now, as then, the greatest disagreements are often caused by the use of new technologies to do things previously impossible — be it with a goose-quill pen and parchment back then, or mouse and keyboard now. No rational person would disagree that artists should receive &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2012/copyright-net-neutrality/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Risks and Rewards of File Sharing</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2011/file-sharing-risks/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2011/file-sharing-risks/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 09 Dec 2011 22:19:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tips and Tricks]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[chat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DMCA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[file sharing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[instant messaging]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[peer-to-peer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Protect IP Act]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SOPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torrent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wi-Fi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1405</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Often when people hear the term “peer-to-peer file sharing”, they think of torrents, illegal swapping of the latest movies and music, and resulting lawsuits by the record or movie industries for piracy.  That does happen; however, file sharing encompasses much more than ripping off the latest hits. Peer-to-Peer, or P2P, is the most widely used form of file sharing. It has become a big and growing part of the Internet, already accounting for 50-70% of consumer network traffic, with millions of P2P clients downloaded and in use.  In 2004, an estimated 70 million people were busily sharing files, and doubtless many more now. But P2P is not the only means to share files over the Net. It should not be confused with file hosting, which uses the more familiar client-server architecture of the Internet to stream files to users from big, centralized Web servers. In its purest form, Peer-to-Peer is strictly that: users’ computers directly linked across the Net to their peers; that is, other users’ computers.  They join in a network of equals, each machine devoting some fraction of its computing power, bandwidth, and memory to the network, ideally without any need for a central coordinator. In fact, P2P works pretty much the way the Web was originally intended to function. Collaborative computing Civilization is the story of how ever-larger tasks can be done, and done much more efficiently, with cooperation. As a form of collaborative computing between users, &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2011/file-sharing-risks/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>IPv6: The Quiet Revolution in Internet Addresses Has Started</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2011/ipv6-revolution/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2011/ipv6-revolution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:51:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DHCP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DNS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Internet address]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPv4]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IPv6]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NAT]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1323</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Many users may not be aware that the Internet is quickly running out of an essential element. The good news is that some very smart people have been working hard behind the scenes to make sure that it does not result in a crisis that could cripple the Net. The bad news is that it will be uncertain how well they have succeeded for some time. If everything works out as planned, users should not even notice the change. Moreover, it will allow everything – yes, theoretically, every thing in the entire world to be connected online one day. Simply put, the problem is that the Internet has run out of addresses. Despite all the metaphors, information on the Net is not floating around in some sci-fi cyberspace cloud. All that data is physically embodied as ones and zeroes in the electronic memory of millions of computers. And every bit and byte of it all needs an address in order to be found and used. To do this, each and every gizmo on the Net: all those PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, routers, gateways, and servers, must have its own unique Internet address, too. They must be matched up with all the websites and locations of other services in cyberspace as well. Then, and only then, can useful information be found. The clever solutions to this intricate and daunting problem have shaped the Internet as it exists today. Unfortunately, due to &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2011/ipv6-revolution/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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		<item>
		<title>Super Speed, Internet TV, and Net Neutrality</title>
		<link>http://www.swcp.com/2011/speed-and-neutrality/</link>
		<comments>http://www.swcp.com/2011/speed-and-neutrality/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 19:52:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>jnelson</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[How the Net Works]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FCC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Net neutrality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tv]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.swcp.com/?p=1238</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[There’s a little old lady in Sweden who can surf the Internet at the astonishing speed of 40 gigabits per second. Thanks to an experimental technique developed by her son Peter, Sigbritt Lothberg has the fastest home Internet connection anywhere on the planet. She could download an entire movie in less than 2 seconds, many thousands of times faster than with most residential connections. But she only uses it to read web-based newspapers. Those who watch movies and TV programs over the Net can only be envious at this point. Someday, incredible broadband speeds like Ms. Lothberg’s may be commonly available, but not any time soon. A consortium of leading research institutions called Internet2 is developing one of the fastest networks around. It blazes along at “only” 10 gigabits along the &#8220;Abilene backbone&#8221;, a mere quarter of her speed. Like the original Internet, these links are restricted to universities and research labs for crunching vast amounts of data, for applications in fields like particle physics and imaging. However, regional telephone and Internet access providers have not yet announced any plans for increasing home DSL speeds beyond the snail-like-in-comparison 10-20 megabits per second currently offered. For super-fast links between major hubs is just part of the problem. Delivering such speeds down into the home is another matter. Effectively using such speeds is yet another issue. Speed is one of the major hurdles in using the Internet to provide seamless video content, &#8230; <a href="http://www.swcp.com/2011/speed-and-neutrality/">Continue reading <span class="meta-nav">&#8594;</span></a>]]></description>
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