But Of Course It's a Pleasant Transaction

Great example of automated bots attacking Ebay's core trust establishing process- the feedbacks provided by users taking advantage of the wisdom of crowds to judge on their truthfulness :

"Again, a sharp eye may notice that feedback comments received from sellers are identical, and read almost in the same order. This is because most 1-cent-plus-no-delivery-cost sellers automate the whole transaction: should someone buy their eBooks for one cent each, some scripts email it automatically to the buyer, and leaves a standard feedback comment on the buyer’s profile. So, if we recollect everything, the following is probably happening:

1. Someone is massively creating randomly named, fake user accounts (probably in a more or less automated fashion).
2. Those fake users, powered by automated web spider software, are set to scavenge eBay for 1-cent "buy it now" items and buy them.
3. Automatically, the 1-cent item seller script is emailing the buyer with the item, and posts its standard feedback on his profile.
4. The fake user automatically responds with a standard feedback comment on the seller’s profile.

In a nutshell: Two bots are talking. And doing business."

The use of CAPTCHAs, and ensuring the bots never manage to register themselves, is as important as the automated the process of bypassing CAPTCHA authentication . Expect to see a much better random generation of pseudo users, and their feedbacks compared to these one. And since Ebay is no longer an intermediary, but a platform, bots got plenty of seed data to begin their life with, don't they?

These very same techniques apply to common networks such as the Internet Relay Chat, and the majority of instant messengers where malware tries to, either take advantage of a momentum and forward itself to a buddy, or keep the discussion going until the time for a fancy photo session exchange has come.

Things Money Cannot Buy

1. Love with tingles
2. True Friends
3. Respect, one when the results go beyond the position and size of market capitalization
4. Style
5. Childhood full of joy
6. Knowledge, diploma and insider leaks are something else
7. And obviously Innovation as you can see at this slide and compare it to the rough reality for the top tech R&D spenders. 800 pound market capitalization gorillas for sure, but not innovators. A knowledge driven society results in talent wars -- permanently attracting the walking case studies is also important.

Outspending ends up in budget allocation myopia, compared to actually prioritizing your R&D efforts. You aren't productive when you have all the cash in the world, exactly the opposite, and passion does play a crucial role when it comes to creativity. Go through a handy summary of a study on Does R&D spending deliver results? as well.

Japan's Reliance on U.S Spy Satellites and Early Warning Missile Systems

With China breathing down Japan's neck, and North Korea crying for attention by actively experimenting with symmetric and asymmetric warfare capabilities, Japan's need for better reconnaissance, and limiting of its imagery gathering dependence has been in the execution stage for years as Reliance on U.S. intelligence on missile launch shows need for improvement :

"The two spy satellites currently in operation are both polar orbiters circling the globe at altitudes of 400 to 600 kilometers. If the fourth, a SAR satellite, is launched in 2007 as planned, it will complete the four-satellite reconnaissance system, and the country will be able to monitor any point on Earth at least once a day, officials said. It will therefore become possible for Japan to monitor day-to-day changes in North Korean missile-launching sites. The problem, however, is if the system will be effective at the moment of a missile launch, which would depend on the weather and positions of the satellites at the time, officials said on condition of anonymity. In stark contrast with Japan, the United States has orbited more than 100 satellites, at least 15 of which are reportedly for intelligence-gathering purposes, they said. As experts put it, the U.S. satellites can identify objects as small as 8 to 9 centimeters in size if weather conditions are ideal. The United States has five early-warning satellites, including one for backup purposes, keeping watch over North Korea around the clock, they said."

They're definitely using open source IMINT on North Korea as well, or requesting detailed imagery on demand through commercial providers, in between further developing their early warning systems. Go through an article on Japan's Information Gathering Satellites Imagery Intelligence in case you're interested in their past efforts in this direction. However, I feel it's their neighbors' cyber warfare capabilities they should be also worried about.

Image courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

DVD of the Weekend - Path to War

As I've been busy catching up with way too many things to list them, I'd better finalize my creativity efforts and provide you with the results as they appear during the week. Meanwhile, current events being constantly streamed and brainwashed from every TV channel you try to watch -- remember how in 1984 only the party leaders had the privillege to turn off their 24/7 propaganda streams? Feel empowered nowadays -- made me think on how today's situation slightly represents the one filmed in the Path to War, especially the partisan warfare activities.You can never win a partisan war, what you'll end up with is your ego and nose bleeding, and your heroistic wings sort of broken. Feeling, or positioning yourself for powerful PSYOPS while destroying a country's infrastructure to eradicate the partisan fighters, is one of my favorite moments in the movie, especially when they realized how they've managed to destroy 140% of Vietnam's infrastructure and were still losing the war.

Even worse, having to power and diplomatic influence to make a change,while being a beauraucrat to win time as someone else's about to take care of your dirty laundry is such a bad example for the rest of the democratic world, yet a convenient one.

Great post at DefenseTech on autonomous warfare, destroy the oil resources to limit the movement of suppliers - have a dozen of grannies move them on bycicles or take it personally, destroy a bridge, and see a wooden one build within day or two, every war is an act of terrorism by itself, where the term "acceptable levels of casualties" constantly jumps from the military to the political dictionary.

Previous DVDs of the Weekend and related comments:
DVD of the Weekend - The Lone Gunmen
DVD of the Weekend - The Outer Limits - Sex And Science Fiction Collection
DVD of the Weekend - War Games
DVD of the Weekend - The Immortals
DVD of the Weekend - Lawnmower man - Beyond Cyberspace