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Posts tagged "security"
Chauncey's War Story: Secrets, Security and Contextual Inquiry
UX architect Chauncey Wilson shares a rather scary story about permissions gone missing.
In the 1980s, I worked for about 7 years at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as a usability engineer. My group was led by John Whiteside, who pushed to make usability a serious discipline informed by metrics, fieldwork, and lab studies. The method of contextual inquiry was developed in our group by John, Karen Holtzblatt, Sandy Jones and Dennis Wixon. We did a lot of fieldwork to refine our methods and inform product teams about how to improve their products.
During my tenure at DEC, I set up a set of interviews with a major client who must still go unnamed. The client did military research and used some of our products. I got clearance to interview people at the site with the caveat that all videos, tapes, and notes would be surrendered when I left. I would analyze the data at their site and do a presentation about my findings, leave all data, and not discuss any details of my interviews. I got to the site early in the morning and signed in at the front desk. In those days, we had 8mm video cameras as our primary tool for field interviews. I had permission from the senior security chief to videotape the screens and record sound for 5 different users of our DEC products. I started setting up my equipment for the first interview and about the time I got to mounting the video camera on a tripod, three really large security guards with weapons blocked the exit to the office and asked me what I was doing ("I'm here doing some research for DEC"), then they grabbed my equipment and took me to a holding area and proceeded to interrogate me. I said that I had sought permission and had an agreement with the chief security officer – but that agreement was not to be found.
My name had been on the visitor list and the people I was interviewing vouched that I had set things up with them, but there was no clear approval for videotaping. I asked if they could contact their security chief, but he was on a vacation in the Virgin Islands. While they called and left messages for him, I spent a few hours in the holding area (you might call it a "cell") concerned that I might go to prison. Though it took a while, they did catch up with the security chief and took me back to the cube where I had started my set-up and let me continue.
I spent a week at this site and noticed that the guards walked by and checked in on me a lot. Every night when I left during the week, they had me empty my pockets and remove every item from my briefcase. On Friday, I put together a report and presented to an audience of very serious people who asked no questions. I left all the data, submitted to my final contraband search and left the most bizarre field visit of my entire career.
chauncey wilson, search, security, war stories
Flavor Combination
The Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Pint Lock is a simple enough product – a locking mechanism for a standard pint of ice cream. But along with its functionality comes a measure of social performance that's worth a brief closer look.
The idea is humorous (one side of the lock has the slogan "I'm terribly sorry, but there's no 'u' in 'my pint'") – but in that humor is a gentle reminder to everyone that Ben & Jerry's is precious stuff, worth protecting.
As far as security goes (the ice cream is in cardboard, after all), I'm reminded of what a research participant told me once. When walking around the perimeter of his fast-food franchise, he said "A lock only stops an honest person." His point was that any security can be broken with some amount of force, and the role of the lock is to make it clear that you aren't welcome. Social norms keep most of us from bypassing that lock. So while we might pop open the ice cream and take a spoonful or two of our coworker or roommate or partner's Chunky Monkey, we're probably not going to cut through the package and make it obvious. So while this lock won't stop a ravenous freezer rodent, it will protect your ice cream from most of your regular dessert-craving cohabitants.
It's great design in that it considers the functionality in its cultural context. If they built this by spec-sheet (as one might with a bike lock, say) they would miss the point entirely.
Thanks, Mom!
culture, ice cream, lock, norms, pint, protection, security, society
Greg's War Story: Taking notes, getting detained (sort of)
Anthropologist Greg Cabrera spent 17 months in Afghanistan as an embedded academic with the military, supporting social science research and analysis as part of the Human Terrain System. In this story, his best practices bring some unwanted attention.
In the summer of 2010, when I first arrived to Kandahar Air Field, Afghanistan, I was unsure about how I would fit into a military culture. Just being from California created a cognitive barrier for most my military colleagues. Simply put, there were a lot of "don't ask, don't tell" jokes.
In any case, the first couple of weeks involved me playing catch up and learning everything I could about the assigned area and region. I took copious notes all the time to help jog my memory and capture information that would come in handy later on. My hope was to refer back to these notes and re-create the picture people were creating themselves based on scanty information.
In a war environment, you hear stories all the time and you never know what is real or not. The jargon further complicates the situation and makes it difficult for one to navigate people, places, and things, all of which tend to be obscured in military code.
One evening, I was hanging around the base waiting to link up with my liaison, Mike. He was facilitating an introduction to a detachment commander who I would work for over the next 12 months. Depending on how the meeting went, the commander would decide to bring me on board as a social scientist to work with him and his unit. I had tried to meet the commander earlier, but it was unclear where he was. His men told me he was busy in the port-a-john, but I think those guys were testing my wits. Long story short (and bathroom humor aside), we coordinated a meeting that night.
While I was hanging around the base waiting to link up with the commander, I noticed a large gathering of soldiers and civilians in an open area. In my curiosity, I wondered if there was something I needed to be in the know about. There was approximately 50 or so people gathering around a projector to watch a PowerPoint presentation projected on the side of a wall. I assumed the crowd was too large to accommodate on this small base where work areas were tight. Doing this outside made no sense because fighter jets flew and were so loud it could cause permanent hearing damage. I thought to myself, "Well, since they are doing this presentation out in the open, the information can't be that sensitive. Surely taking a few notes or jottings couldn't hurt?"
This presentation took place right before I would be heading out into the field. As it started and I began writing things down, I started to feel more than a bit uneasy about what I was hearing. The gentleman started off by explaining this fighting season was the bloodiest since 2007 A chart detailed the number of significant events (SIGACTS) and quantitative information about those killed in action, enemies killed in action, those wounded in action, improvised explosive devices found, indirect fire attacks, etcetera. Cough, ahem. I stopped myself at this point for a couple reasons:
First, I did not want to walk around with this in my notebook in case I lost it and the enemy had eyes on this information. Second, I was sure this could come back a bite me somehow. I immediately became nervous because of what I already had written down. I started thinking to myself as well: I don't really need to be here.
As I started moving back, my actions caught the attention of a very attentive Sergeant Major. Sergeant Majors feed off opportunities to explode and make examples of others to reinforce the nature of their authority and rank. A strange civilian was the perfect feeding opportunity. Indeed, when I caught a glance at others in this crowd, no one else was taking notes or writing down information. "I'm dead," I thought to myself.
Before I knew it, this dude's eyes were piercing through me and he pointed at me to stop moving as he came over to me. He yanked me out of the crowd, and starting barking questions at me, hands on his hips and head leaning forward: "What are you doing?! What were you writing?! Who do you work for?!" Frozen, I muttered something to the effect of "Uh, I, I'm just an analyst."
He took away my notebook and identification card and told me to follow him. The fact I did not have a security badge did not help my case and only contributed to the uneasy feeling sitting in the pit of my stomach.
He sat me down in the operations center near the legal officer. He pointed at me and explained to others that he had caught me taking notes. He assigned a soldier to guard me while he figured out how to handle the situation. As I sat on the couch with another soldier staring coldly at me, I gazed around the operations center. There was a white board with a funny quote about strippers, an empty office with a blow-up doll in it (oddly enough!), and some metallic signs on the walls demonstrating football fan territory.
These guys were pretty laid back, but I had broken the social contract and had no idea what the repercussions would be. At this point, I wished I had just stayed in my sleeping quarters. A phone call to my liaison Mike was my get-out-of-jail-free card. The Sergeant Major explained the situation to him and the JAG (legal) officer.
The JAG officer called me into his office and explained to me the nature of note-taking in a sensitive environment. Even though the presentation was out in the open, my act of taking notes classified my entire notebook. He handed the notebook back to me and I was on my way. I never saw the guy who detained me again. I wanted to simply get out, lick my wounds, and meet the commander who was waiting for me. The commander, who was not terribly impressed with my antics, laughed about my story. He decided to bring me on board on the spot despite my initial casting as a troublemaker. I like to think this gave me an edge or maybe he saw value in having me around to take notes (ironically) and provide insight into the strange cultural environment he was about to encounter.
I shook off the embarrassment, but it was a story that got a few laughs in my organization: "Human terrain guy detained for taking notes." For me, it set the tone for the abrasiveness of military culture and reinforced my status as an outsider. I learned to be cautious about what I would capture in field notes and the sensitivity of collecting information in a war environment.
afghanistan, classified, Greg Cabrera, Human Terrain System, military, notes, security, war, war stories
ChittahChattah Quickies
Chick Beer | America's Beer for Women – Products that claim to be designed especially for women cloak themselves in empowerment and equality. Yet they easily ring false. Beyond issues of feminism, I see this as any type of design failure: not offering a specific understandable benefit that makes your promised experience tangible. In other words, why is this beer for "chicks?" Even if it was made by chicks, that'd be more than what they're telling us here.
We brew Chick at America's second-oldest brewery, located in beautiful southern Wisconsin. With over 160 years of experience, we know how to brew great beer. For centuries, beer has been created, produced and marketed by and to men. At Chick, we think that it's time for a new choice. Chick Beer celebrates women: independent, smart, fun-loving and self-assured women who love life and embrace all of the possibilities that it has to offer. Above all, we think that beer is supposed to be fun! So enjoy! Grab a cool Chick and Witness the Chickness!"
The crayola-fication of the world: How we gave colors names, and it messed with our brains [Empirical Zeal] – Words are a culturally unique approach to categorizations. But some science folks have looked into identifying a universal, cross-culture map of colors.
There are plenty of other languages that blur the lines between what we call blue and green. Many languages don't distinguish between the two colors at all. In the Thai language, khiaw means green except if it refers to the sky or the sea, in which case it's blue. The Korean word purueda could refer to either blue or green, and the same goes for the Chinese word qƒ´ng. It's not just East Asian languages either, this is something you see across language families. I find this fascinating, because it highlights a powerful idea about how we might see the world. After all, what really is a color? Just like the crayons, we're taking something that has no natural boundaries – the frequencies of visible light – and dividing into convenient packages that we give a name.
Joel Hodgson on 'Mystery Science Theater' and Riffs – [NYT] – I love the insight into the process they used. As well, I am sick with jealousy over the folks that got to participate in a class, called RiffCamp2012, led by Hodgson. What could be more fun than that?
If "Mystery Science Theater" was part insult comedy aimed at movies, there was also something congenial in the show's tone. (Perhaps it was the puppet robots, or that it was all being produced in Minneapolis.) Six writers had to deliver a 90-minute episode every week, Mr. Hodgson said, with 600 to 800 riffs per movie, "when all the pistons were firing." In devising the lines, no reference (Bella Abzug, Roy Lichtenstein) was too outré or rejected initially, Mr. Hodgson said. As he tried to convey to the students at Bucks, it's best to brainstorm nonjudgmentally first and figure out what's funny later.
The Science of 'Gaydar' [NYT] – Gaydar is provably real, and the framework used by these scientists describes a couple of different ways that we cognitively process what we see as faces.
It's widely accepted in cognitive science that when viewing faces right side up, we process them in two different ways: we engage in featural face processing (registering individual facial features like an eye or lip) as well as configural face processing (registering spatial relationships among facial features, like the distance between the eyes or the facial width-to-height ratio). When we view faces upside down, however, we engage primarily in featural face processing; configural face processing is strongly disrupted. Thus our finding clarifies how people distinguish between gay and straight faces. Research by Professor Rule and his colleagues has implicated certain areas of the face (like the mouth area) in gaydar judgments. Our discovery – that accuracy was substantially greater for right side up faces than for upside-down faces – indicates that configural face processing contributes to gaydar accuracy. Specific facial features will not tell the whole story. Differences in spatial relationships among facial features matter, too.
A Peek Inside The CIA, As It Tries To Assess Iran [NPR] – A cultural and process overhaul to help intelligence analysts see beyond the obvious conclusions. Applies to the analysis process in design research as well.
The post-Iraq changes at the CIA also involve new analytic techniques, highlighted in a "tradecraft primer" in use at the agency since 2009. The manual is now used at the Sherman Kent School, the agency's in-house training institute for new analysts. The manual opens with a section on the "mind-set" challenge. "If you're only looking at [an issue] through one narrow view of the world, you're not looking at the whole picture," says John, who teaches at the Kent School. revealed. "Your biases will get you things like a confirmation bias: 'I've seen it before, so it must be happening again.' Or an anchoring bias: 'We've come up with that conclusion, and I think it's true, and it's not going to change.'" One exercise now in use at the CIA is called "Analysis of Competing Hypotheses." Analysts who may be inclined toward one explanation for some notable development are forced to consider alternative explanations and to tally up all the evidence that is inconsistent with their favored hypothesis. "You're looking for the hypothesis with the least inconsistencies," says John, who's been at the CIA for 34 years. "We call it the Last Man Standing approach." Such exercises are employed throughout the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence. Each office now includes a "tradecraft cell," staffed by specialists whose mission it is to make sure their colleagues are using all the latest analytic techniques and challenging their own judgments.
To Profile or Not to Profile? : A Debate between Sam Harris and Bruce Schneier [Sam Harris] – Bruce Schneier's stuff is pretty amazing. His command of logic and skills in debate make his essays and other appearances mandatory for thinking about design, systems, and of course the post-9-11 security- and attendant cultural-issues.
When implementing any human-based system, the interests of the people operating the system often don't precisely coincide with the interests of those designing it. This is the principal-agent problem, and it manifests itself in your profiling system as the TSA agent who thinks "If I wave this person through without checking out the anomaly and he turns out to be a terrorist, it's my ass on the line." Because the cost to the agent of a false positive is zero but the cost of missing a real attacker is his entire career, screeners will naturally tend towards ignoring the profile and instead fully checking everyone. And the screener's supervisor is unlikely to tell him, "Hey you need to ignore the next old lady that beeps," because if he's wrong then it's his ass on the line. The phenomenon is more general than security; discretionary systems tend to gravitate towards zero-tolerance systems because "following procedure" is a reasonable defense against being blamed for failure.
A Simple Tool You Need to Manage Innovation [HBR] – You may have seen Ansoff's Product Market Matrix (perhaps like me, without knowing its name); this is a nice evolution of that model.
In the lower left of the matrix are core innovation initiatives – efforts to make incremental changes to existing products and incremental inroads into new markets. Whether in the form of new packaging, or slight reformulations, such innovations draw on assets the company already has in place. At the opposite corner are transformational initiatives, designed to create new offers – if not whole new businesses – to serve new markets and customer needs. These sorts of innovations, also called breakthrough, disruptive, or game changing, generally require that the company call on unfamiliar assets and to develop markets that aren't yet mature. In the middle are adjacent innovations. An adjacent innovation involves leveraging something the company does well into a new space. Adjacent innovations allow a company to draw on existing capabilities but necessitate putting those capabilities to new uses. They require fresh, proprietary insight into customer needs, demand trends, market structure, competitive dynamics, technology trends, and other market variables.
beer, bias, Bruce Schneier, chicks, cia, colors, culture, debate, faces, female, gaydar, innovation, joel hodgson, language, marketing, matrix, mst3k, quickies, rhetoric, riff, security, women
Forty Useless yet Creepy Security Questions
Inspired by the passionate critiques I read at Authentical, here's mine. Today, a horrific experience establishing an online account with a State of California website. Although creating a new account is almost an automatic activity at this point, I had to try 5 times to create both a username (which had to have letters and a number, and be between 8 and 12 characters) and a password (which had to have letters both capital and lowercase and a number, etc.) that would work. I'm not sure how that ended up being hard for me, but it did.
But the hysterical part was the security questions. This site required me to set up answers to four security questions. My use case for the security questions is for those situations where I can't remember which particular configuration of password I used and I need to get a reminder or reset it. Isn't that everyone's case? So we need the reminders to be unambiguous. Fact-y type things like the standby Mother's Maiden Name, or first pet's name, etc. are pretty common. Obviously, if they are unambiguous, they can be broken. Somewhere someone can find out your first pet's name. It won't change. It's objective.
These questions are much more personal and I suppose thus are less easily divined by an intruder. But the answers are far from immutable. I had absolutely no confidence I could come up with four questions that I would answer the same way 100% of the time. Even if I could fake out my future password-forgetting self by agreeing with him that I would say the Rolling Stones are my favorite band despite regardless of any wavering in my fandom, I couldn't successfully negotiate the dialog. What was my dream job as a kid? Well, at one point it was stuntman, then actor, then writer, and I think even director (let's leave the armchair shrink out of this for now, shall we?). If I put stuntman now, what will I remember when I forget my password?
The Four Questions
Taking those sets of questions away from the context of the registration process, I find them quite creepy, evoking some intimacy that doesn't exist between me and the government website, or those Facebook memes cum virii where your friends exhort you to answer a random set of personal questions and then get other people to do the same.
Note: there are some wonderful satirical examples of bad security questions on Twitter under #BankSecurityQuestionsIdLikeToSee.
citizen experience, invasive, login, password, personal, questions, reminder, security, usable
[from julienorvaisas] A Badge That Tells Consumers, 'Trust This App' [NYTimes.com] – [Privacy concerns on the web have spawned a certification system. Does this really address the problem, curb the practice, or provide enough assurance/information to consumers? Or is it really more just a band-aid for providers to feel like they're doing enough to address mounting consumer concerns?] The certification process is a little bit different for mobile sites, said Chris Babel, chief executive of TRUSTe. People are worried about sites and apps using information that identifies them, like name, address and birth date. They also worry about geolocation services, whether Web companies can track where they are and whether they share that information with others, he said. And because many apps pull information from the phone, like calendar entries, people do not know exactly what information apps can access. "When it's sitting on your mobile device, which has your contacts and calendar, what is it accessing? What's it doing?" Mr. Babel said he hears customers ask.
apps, data, privacy, quickies, security, truste
[from steve_portigal] On the Road – Complaints of Poor Attitude in Airport Body Scans [NYTimes.com] – [Why does a change in process and design generate such a dramatic change in behavior?] By far, most readers wrote to complain about screeners who were rude. Helaine Fendelman said she felt as if she were in a cage as a screener "yelled at me about why I wasn't paying attention to those who had proceeded me" through the machine. Elizabeth Wiley wrote of the "generally bullying air of the experience." Melissa Hickey said a screener "barked orders at me as if I were a common criminal." Bob Michelet agreed with my view that being ordered around was a "boot camp-like experience," as he put it. Mary P. Koss said she didn't like being "yelled at" after a screener decided her fingers were not forming a triangle as instructed while she held her hands over her head. "When I exited the machine, I was yelled at again to stand in place," she said.
[from steve_portigal] Starbucks "Olive Way" test store aggregates Starbucks concepts [The Associated Press] – [While I applaud Starbucks for focusing on the quality of their core product – the coffee – I'm not sure that their secondary product – the experience- will benefit from closeness to the baristas. They need to makeover the staff brand before customers will seek them out] What succeeds at Olive Way will most likely be spread to other Starbucks stores around the country. With muted, earthy colors, an indoor-outdoor fireplace, cushy chairs, and a menu with wine from the Pacific Northwest's vineyards and beer from local craft brewers, this 2,500-square-foot shop in the Capitol Hill neighborhood will reopen in the fall with espresso machines in the middle. The machines at Olive Way will be part of what executives call a coffee theater. Counters will be narrower — a slim as a foot in some places — to bring customers closer to baristas; the machines will brew one cup at a time to extract deeper flavor from beans. The store will be the chain's only location that sells beer and wine in the U.S
[from steve_portigal] Introducing New Core77 Columnist Steve Portigal! [Core77] – [I'll be writing something monthly for our friends at Core77]
behavior, coffee, column, core77, design, experience, influence, process, quickies, retail, security, starbucks, store, technology, theater, TSA, writing
How's that for a long-lasting brand/product? After 72 years, TV's `Guiding Light' switching off – It began as a 15-minute serial on NBC Radio in January 1937 and debuted on CBS television in 1952, focusing on the Bauer family of Springfield.
April 2009 – Iraqis Snap Up Hummers as Icons of Power – "Iraqis love them because they're really a symbol of power," said Mr. Hilli, a chubby 37-year-old who could not stop chuckling. Nonetheless, he spoke with authority, since he was his own first customer. Hummers in Baghdad are symbols of much more besides: increasing security, returning normality and a yearning for the trappings of sovereignty. Mr. Hilli allowed that there was something else, too, a little more indefinable, which in Arabic is "hasad thukuri," [penis envy]
April 2003 – Americans induce patriotism through Hummer purchase – "When I turn on the TV, I see wall-to-wall Humvees, and I'm proud," said Sam Bernstein, a 51-year-old antiquities dealer who lives in Marin County, Calif., and drives a Hummer H2, an S.U.V. sibling of the military Humvee. "They're not out there in Audi A4's," he said of the troops. "I'm proud of my country, and I'm proud to be driving a product that is making a significant contribution."
America, authority, car, change, decline, drama, entertainment, history, hummer, humvee, iraq, legacy, longevity, meaning, melodrama, military, participation, power, product, radio, ratings, security, soap, symbol, tv, vehicle, vicarious, virtual, war
Sleeping Dogs Lie
Today's Doonesbury reminded me of a curious incident during my recent trip to L.A.
Getting off the freeway in Gardena, on the way to our appointment, I passed by this place:
Guard dog rental? Amazing heroic mural? I had to stop and take a picture. I did a few U-turns, stuck my camera out the window, took some shots (even from across the street I could hear that kennel sound of a million dogs barking), and headed the last mile to my appointment. Parked in front of our participant's building and getting our gear ready, I was surprised when a Hummer pulled up beside us. The window rolled down and the uniformed driver, presumably the guy in the mural, said to me "You were taking pictures of my building?"
I really was confused; it was already a few minutes ago and a mile away; I was on to the next thing and it took about 15 seconds to realize that i) he had seen me across the street taking pictures and ii) he had got into his vehicle and followed me for a mile to check into it. Once I realized that he was not asking about the building I was currently standing in front of, but something from a few minutes ago, I explained that he had a beautiful mural. And this was a perfectly satisfactory answer. He told me that some of his puppies had been taken, and then introduced himself and gave me his business card. We wished each other a good day, and he drove off.
I thought about what had just transpired and how it could have been so different. There was nothing threatening about this man or his manner, just his context (a large and physically present individual who runs a security firm in a Hummer); given that he embodied a potential threat, he gave off a pleasing calmness, with no undertone of intimidation. I was not scared or uncomfortable; but I realized very quickly that the scenario was one where those feelings would be typical, and I attribute this guy's serious coolness for keeping it that way.
See more of Steve's L.A. photos here.
dogs, doonesbury, gardena, hummer, photography, security
On the Trail of an Annoying Announcement – Travel writer Joe Sharkey on the irritation and ineffectiveness of repeated airport announcements
Advertising in context – HBO is putting audio-enabled billboards in NY and LA to promote the season premier of "Big Love." I liked this localization detail: "HBO representatives at the sites will answer questions and, in Los Angeles, offer disposable headphones. The company assumed that New York commuters would bring their own."
Curious study on persuasion in cautioning teens about their online profies – "Many teenagers cleaned up their MySpace profiles, deleting mentions of sex and booze and boosting privacy settings, if they got a single cautionary e-mail from a busybody named "Dr. Meg." The e-mail was sent by Dr. Megan Moreno, lead researcher of a study of lower-income kids that she says shows how parents and other adults can encourage safer Internet use."
advertising, airport, announcement, biglove, HBO, headphones, la, losangeles, myspace, newyork, ny, safe, security, sociology, travel, warning
Classic Inspiration
Trust Your Senses, security poster, London Underground, 2008
Eye Bee M, Paul Rand, 1970
See more of my London and Sheffield pictures here.
classic, ear, eye, ibm, icon, lips, logo, london, mouth, paul rand, poster, security, senses, UK, underground
The casual expert
The NYT has a story about self-selecting airport security lines.
…a black diamond line for expert travelers, defined as those who fly more than twice a month and are skilled at security procedures, always ready with items removed; a blue square for casual travelers, who are familiar with the screening process; and a green circle for families and those needing assistance or more time.
I think this is an exciting idea, although it doesn't appear to be working perfectly. It seems that people are overestimating their own expert-ness (or perhaps fudging their self-analysis in favor of a perceived "express line") although families feel relief from the pressure of other travelers.
This seems like a classic web design problem, with different types of users (who have very different abilities, needs, and expectations) coming in the same front door. And when there's a choice, people will obviously act in their own perceived self-interest.
I think separating "normal" from "expert" is going to be a tough thing to figure out in any situation; unless "expert" carries with it an intimidation factor, I suspect most people will escalate their capability. Otherwise "normal" starts shifting to "stupid."
Again, an interesting approach to a problem, and as with most prototyping efforts, lots of learning about how the proposed solution is and isn't working, yet.
airport, line, queue, security, segmentation, travel, TSA, types, users
Japan pictures – part 2 of 3
I've uploaded nearly 1300 of my Japan pictures to Flickr. For reasons I'm sure you'll understand, I haven't added titles or tags or descriptions proactively, but please add comments or questions on flickr and I'll gladly offer a story or explanation.
Meanwhile, I'm including some of my faves here, as well as part 1 and part 3.
atm, bowing, bread, cafe, comfort, custom, display, dog, doraemon, eyes, face, fish, flickr, ginza, harajuku, interface, japan, kawaii, kyoto, locker, mask, monitoring, new year, panda, photos, red bean, safety, saw, security, shinkansen, sign, social design, taiyaki, tanuki, toast, toilet, tokyo, train, tsukiji, tuna, van, vehicle, waffle, zoff
A couple of weeks ago there was some concern over the SF Indian Consulate getting rid of old visa applications in a very insecure manner:
Thousands of visa applications and other sensitive documents, including paperwork submitted by top executives and political figures, sat for more than a month in the open yard of a San Francisco recycling center after they were dumped there by the city's Indian Consulate.
The documents, which security experts say represented a potential treasure trove for identity thieves or terrorists, finally were hauled away Wednesday after The Chronicle inspected the site and questioned officials at the consulate and the recycling facility.
The article goes on to detail what data about what types of people they found in their examination of the site and the expected quotes from security experts about what type of risk this creates.
Having gone through the visa application process ourselves for our trip to India last January, it's a little disturbing to read that
a sampling of documents obtained by The Chronicle indicate that the boxes contained confidential paperwork for virtually everyone in California and other Western states who applied for visas to travel to India between 2002 and 2005.
But I was sadly amused by the response from the consulate
Consul General Prakash said there may be a cultural dimension to the level of outrage related to the incident among Western visa applicants.
"In India, I would not be alarmed," he said. "We have grown up giving such information in many, many places. We would not be so worried if someone had our passport number."
Deputy Consul General Sircar said that in other countries, Indian officials are able to go to the roofs of their offices and burn documents they're no longer able to store.
"In America, you cannot do that," he said.
You can just hear the bristling bureaucratic response, colored with that cliched "no-problem"!
data, india, passport, San Francisco, security, travel, visa
The Issue is Security
Staples ladders up to a higher-order benefit, from commodity office supplies to a sense of well-being. Selling security without using fear; nicely done. Seems empowering, rather than manipulative.
benefit, fud, ladder, privacy, retail, security, staples
All This ChittahChattah is the Portigal blog, bringing you observations of daily life, disdainful snark over bad design, updates on my activities, and info about user research since 2001.
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Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights
27. Colin MacArthur of the Canadian Digital Service


text:
Q: Nginx upload_module Привет!Сразу оговорюсь, что я не очень силен в администрирование, но установка данного модуля мне крайне необходима. Буду благодарен за помощь, а также отсутствие постов типа "читай мат часть" и т.д.Я почитал документацию.cd <path to nginx sources> (не совсем понял где соурс нгингса у centos) ./configure --add-module=<path to upload module sources> (ну это понятно, это куда я распаковал скачанный архив)makemake installЯ nginx устанавливал через yum install (ОС centos), не через бинарники и ./configure выдает "no such file or directory". Подскажите, пожалуйста, что делать?
A: Ну вот тут есть пакет Nginx и в нем уже собран данный модуль. Можно кик старыи и поставить новый, если еще не до конца свой nginx наcтроил.Просто лучше сразу ставить собранный пакет с нужными модулями. потому что потом их отдельно искать и ставить бывает проблематично, т.к. не на всех репозиториях они есть, и приходится искать нужные репы.
A: Команду ./configure нужно вызывать из директории с исходниками nginx. Сами исходники можно скачать отсюда. А nginx, установленный через yum, лучше предварительно удалить.Либо можете поискать пакет nginx'а уже собранного с upload модулем. Такие пакеты как правило называются nginx-full или nginx-extras.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
USSA - United Socialist States of America - September, 2009 part two
The plan is to post one video at the end of each month while President Obama is in The White House, and them thar Democrats control both houses of Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives). The United Socialist States of America (USSA) emerged after the election of November, 2008, from the ashes of the United States of America (USA).
This is part two of two. Part one was posted in about three ago.
The September part one accomplishments of President Obama and them thar Democrats:
1---Obama has traveled more in his first 8 months in office than any other president, yet when Bush went to Crawford TX, the media and Democrats screamed.
2---The White House is collecting and storing comments and videos placed on its social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube without notifying or asking the consent of the site users, a failure that appears to run counter to President Obama's promise of a transparent government and his pledge to protect privacy on the Internet
3---Defenders of Obama's Czars use Bush's Czars as an example. Meaning what Bush did was correct, so where is the "change?"
4---Candidate Obama said we should commit to Afghanistan. Now the military request more troops and Obama hesitates.
5---Anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan followed President Bush to Crawford TX when he vacationed and it made the news for weeks. President Obama vacations on Martha's Vineyard and Cindy Sheehan follows, and the news media is silent.
6---General McChrystal request 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan, Obama refuses to decide even though he campaigned to concentrate on the war in Afghanistan.
7---Senate Democrats rejected a Republican resolution to have their healthcare plan posted on line for 72 hours before voting on it.
8---At the UN (United Nations) President Obama threw Israel under the bus and 70% US Jews voted for him
9---Obama rejected 5 request from the UK to meet with PM Brown at UN or G20 - allies be warned.
10---President Obama is going to reduce 384 border agents from our Southern border where last year 3 persons linked to terrorism and 530 aliens from special interest countries were intercepted.
Save a suicidal whale? Why?
Soon the whaling season will be upon us with the Japanese whaling fleet setting out in their hunt. In pursuit will be Sea Shepherd to terrorize and create once again hazardous conditions in the open frigid seas.
Sea Shepherd and their types claim this form of terrorism is necessary to save the whales from being hunted. They claim whales are important to the eco system. They claim the whales are intelligent thus should be spared from being hunted and slaughtered.
Intelligent? How about stupid? Whales are notorious for committing suicide by beaching themselves. Some argue they do that to escape the underwater SONAR placed by the Navy. Really? 70% of the earths surface is water, so why not swim in other parts of the ocean to escape the SONAR rather than jump on the 30% land committing suicide? See these intelligence whales behave stupid.
SONAR became popular in the 1940's. So how is it 500 years ago whales were committing suicide by beaching themselves? The common denominator is stupid whales as that remains a constant from 500 years ago to today.
If Sea Shepherd and their types are concerned about saving intelligent animals perhaps they should look to PETA People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA the group who dressed up as the KKK Ku Klux Klan in Manhattan (NYC New York City) to protest the Westminster Kennel Club dog show and perhaps promote the KKK. Between the years 1998 and 2005 PETA murdered, slaughtered, killed, and euthanized 14,000 dogs and cats.
Whereas the Japanese use the carcass of the whale for food and fertilizer, PETA dumped the murdered dogs in dumpsters. No one would argue which are smarter: dogs or whales who are noted for committing suicide. It is well known how dogs find the sound of a vacuum cleaner as irritating. Many dogs attack vacuums rather that commit suicide. How many dogs have been know to purposely drown themselves in the ocean, pool, ponds, lakes, etc?
The money spent on Sea Shepherd to terrorize the Japanese whalers would be better spent in protecting and saving known intelligent animals, our canine friends and companions, dogs.
Democrats abusing the race card - again!
The inappropriate use of the charge of racism is the official barometer of Democratic Party failures.
During a recent address by President Barack Obama (Democrat) to a joint session of Congress, Representative Joe Wilson (Republican) from South Carolina yelled at to the President, "you lie." This resulted in the Democratic leadership accusing Representative Joe Wilson of being a racist. To the leadership of the Democratic Party if anyone disagrees with President Obama is could only be due to racism. Afterwards Mr. Wilson apologized for his outburst and President Obama accepted.
Representative Joe Wilson from the 2nd Congressional district in South Carolina comes from a patriotic / military family. Mr. Wilson and his four sons are or served in the military. His father served in World War Two a fighter pilot with the Flying Tigers in the China Theater of the war.
Racist? Concerned about the color of President Obama's skin? During the 2008 Democratic Primaries, it was the Democrats who continually referenced then candidate Senator Obamas heritage. It was the Clintons who attempted to make race an issue. Please make note, it is former President Bill Clinton (Democrat) who was popularly referred to as "the first black president."
The Rev. Al Sharpton (Democrat) said Obama was not black enough nor was he "down for the struggle." Columnist for The Los Angeles Times wrote a column titled, "Obama the magic negro." It was former President Carter (Democrat) who referred to President Obama as, "this black boy." It was Carter who recently said the criticism of President Obama is based in racism.
Senator Robert Byrd (Democrat) was once an official in the Ku Klux Klan - KKK. He was elected Exalted Cyclopes of his local KKK chapter. Granted Mr. Byrd has repudiated his involvement in the KKK. However currently out of both political parties currently serving in Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives), it is the Democrats with the only former member of the K.K.K.
When Justice Clarence Thomas was in front of a Senate committee in reference to his nomination to the Supreme Court, he was viciously attacked by Democrat Ted Kennedy and the other Democrats on the committee. Were they racist when they criticized Clarence Thomas? Nope, because Democratic racist behavior is never racist.
Where were the screams of racism when there were numerous articles, jokes, and photos all negative and racist in content about Condoleezza Rice?
President Obama dumps Poland and Czechoslovakia, who is next?
September 17th was the 70th anniversary of the Soviet (commie) invasion of Poland, 17 days after the Nazi invasion of the same country. To commemorate this horrific President Obama decided to announce the United States is abandoning an agreement with Poland and Czechoslovakia to provide land base anti missile defense in those two nations. This resulted in the abandonment of Eastern Europe to another round of belligerent and hostile behavior by the bear in the East.
The Obama administration said instead the protection will be provided via ship based anti missile system. A system not as thorough as the land base system. The land base system was an irritant to the Russians. Why would the Russians object to an anti-missile system if they have not hostile intend towards the nations to their West, Eastern Europe? For this abandonment the Obama administration got nothing in return from the Russians. Well at least at the time of this writing none has surfaced.
Now that Europe has been abandoned by the USA, it should serve as a warning to our allies in other parts of the world. Such as New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Australia. They may want to consider establishing a stronger military to fill in the gap left by the Democratic administration in Washington, DC. See the Democrats loathe military (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Boy Scouts [added as a joke as the Boys Scouts are not military]). The Democrats are weak on defense, and national security. The Democrats are strong on socialism, love of commies and taxes.
The Obama administration refused to allow Honduran president Roberto Micheletti a visa to enter the USA for a United Nations (UN) event. While approving visas for noted communist, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and disposed president of Honduras, commie Manuel Zelaya. If the Obama team could, bet is they would resurrect Che Guevara and Ho Chi Minh to grant them visas.
ACORN exposed - again
ACORN an organization which received millions of Federal tax money is widely know for accusations of voter fraud has recently been the subject of an undercover videographer.
Activist filmmaker James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles posing as a pimp and a prostitute entered and secretly filmed inside ACORN offices in Baltimore, Maryland, Washington, DC, Brooklyn, New York (NYC), and San Bernardino, California.
The two sought help in purchasing a home, tax evasion, and providing cover for underage prostitutes from Central America. All of which met with no condemnation by the ACORN worker, but advice.
Soon after this exposé the United States Senate voted in favor for a resolution (S.Amdt.2355 to H.R.3288) to withhold millions in Federal tax money from ACORN. The Senate voted 83 to withhold the funds, 10 did not vote, 7 voted not to withhold the funds. Six of the seven are Democrats, one is an Independent, here are the Senate villains:
Roland Burris D-Illinois
Robert Casey D-Pennsylvania
Richard Dick Durban D-Illinois
Kirsten Gillbrand D-New York
Bernard Sanders I-Vermont
Sheldon Whitehouse D-Rhode Island
Patrick Leahy D-Vermont
Of course and as expected the majority of the news media are ignoring this story.
The ACONR story has been reported by Briebart TV and Glenn Beck. Here are the links:
Brietbart TV:
http://www.breitbart.tv/caught-on-tap...
Brietbart website:
http://www.breitbart.com/
Glenn Beck:
http://www.glennbeck.com/
Glenn Beck TV:
http://www.foxnews.com/glennbeck/
Glenn Becks YouTube page:
http://www.youtube.com/user/GlennBeck...
Website: Big Government:
http://biggovernment.com/
09 12 2009 the people spoke in Washington, DC
September 12th, 2009 anywhere from one to two million people from across the United States of America (USA), gathered in Washington, DC. They did not come as Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, conservative, liberal, independent, moderate, black, white, red, brown, yellow or purple. They came as Americans, we the people, red, white, and blue.
The mission, the message to our unresponsive elected representatives: enough! Stop the spending, stop the healthcare; stop ignoring our Constitution, stop ignoring the people!
Forewarned is forearmed, so to the bums in Congress be warned: 2010 is the new 1776.
The Congressional elections of 2010, God willing will result in 435 members of Congress packing to go home. There are not enough ACORN members or voting dead bodies in Chicago to stem this tide. Congress acted, we the people re-acted.
O'Reilly vs. the city of Amsterdam
Recently the Dutch Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima visited New York City and state in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson River. Articles of this event appeared in many newspapers and The Dallas Morning News.
This happens around the time The Netherlands (and their Dutch city of Amsterdam) are rather upset over Bill O'Reilly. Mr. O'Reilly to illustrate the excess of liberalism pointed to the liberal sex and drug laws/policies of Amsterdam, claiming it caused a cultural rot and increase crime in that jewel of a European city.
The people of Amsterdam and The Netherlands took offense to this reference. Below are video references provided by Dutch YouTuber:
Initial O'Reilly Factor show;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLJ56B...
Reaction from Amsterdam;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTPsFI...
Response by the O'Reilly Factor;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucJwh0...
Latest reaction by Amsterdam;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpU0Nx...
Mr. O'Reilly did not have to offend our friends in The Netherlands to locate a city with high crime and a cultural rot due to the excess of liberalism. All he had to do was look in his own country, the United States of America. Specifically, the city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Pre-Katrina (Hurricane Katrina 2005), New Orleans had the highest unsolved murder rate in the United States (USA). Today New Orleans enjoys the highest crime rate of any American city. Thank you liberals for this city and it's distinction.
To the people of The Netherlands please accept an apology for Mr. O'Reilly's reference to Amsterdam. Also a heart-full apology for the Dutch Royals having to be greeted by United States Secretary of State, that bellowing Hillary Rodham Clinton. Can you ever forgive the USA for that?
U.S.A. news media loathe the USA military, another example
In the early part of 2009 in Afghanistan a reporter for The New York Times, David Rohde, with an Afghanistan reporter, Tahir Ludin, and an Afghan driver Asaduliah Mangal went to conduct an interview with a Taliban leader.
The Taliban leader instead of granting the pre-arranged interview conducted a kidnapping of the three. The New York Times (NYT) made a request to the U.S. news media and the news media throughout the world not to report the story. They claimed security reasons. The world news media respected the request and did not report the kidnapping for seven months. After seven months when the reporter escaped his Taliban captors, that is when the world media released the story.
Rather nice the media respected the wishes and sensitivity of The New York Times. Think perhaps they would afford the same respect to others? Really?
Recently in Afghanistan a photographer with the Associated Press (AP) witness a United States Marine (USMC) named Lance Corporal Joshua Bernard (21 years old) being mortally wounded. As soon as the Marine was wounded through the process of his Marine buddies tending to his wounds, the photographer kept taking rather graphic and gruesome photographs. The Marine died from his wounds.
The Associated Press took the graphic photographs and showed them to the Marine's family. The family of Marine Joshua Bernard asked the Associated Press NOT to release or publish the photographs. Once again a sensitivity was being asked to be respected.
The Associated Press ignored the request of the family and released the photographs for publication. Resulting in the photos being published in newspapers around the USA and the world.
Further proof the American news media has absolutely no respect for the military of the United States of America. It is because these sick news agencies see themselves as not being citizens of the USA, but citizens of the world, thus no loyalties to the USA the very nation which protects their rights to publish their bias, slanted, hateful garbage.
Stick drawing of Afghan driver Asaduliah Mangal was used to illustrate the total disregard of this man by the news media as no photos of him could be located.
President Obama to address the students
Presidents Reagan and Bush (the first one) both conducted televised addresses aired directly in public school classrooms with no controversy.
President Barack Obama will do the same come September 8th, 2009; however this televised address stirred much controversy. Parents all across the United States (USA) are upset over this planned intrusion by the President into the classrooms, as they see it. The cause to this controversy can be traced to the President's associations both in Chicago, and in Washington, DC, plus his support of Nancy Pelosi's disastrous plan to insert the Federal government further into the nation's healthcare system.
While in Chicago the President associated with Bill Ayers, and admitted domestic terrorist. Plus attended for over 20 years the church of Rev. Wright who repeatedly expressed his hate of the United States.
Now as president he appoints people of dubious leanings to the extreme left. He appointed as his Health Czar, the brother of his chief of staff Rohm Emanuel, a doctor named Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel.
Doctor Emanuel favored the rationing of healthcare for the elderly. Why after all why spend valuable health care dollars on the old who are about to exit? The money is best spent on the young who have many years left to contribute to society. Can you say Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele?
The president appointed his Science Czar to be John Holdren. Mr. Holdren advocated tainting drinking water with infertility drugs. He favored forcing unwed teen mothers to have either an abortion or giving the child up for adoption. Can you say Nazi Heinrich Himmler?
Obama appointed for his Energy Czar a member of Socialist International, Carol M. Browner.
With appointees like these, this gives cause to the parent's fears and concerns. History has demonstrated that once fascist and communist gain control they first attempt to win over the youth. With the extreme leftist in the Obama administration one can only wonder? Hitler Youth or the commie Young Pioneers? Where did the commie come from?
The president appointed as his Green Energy Czar Van Jones. Mr. Jones is a self admitted communist and 9/11 truther. Labor Day weekend Mr. Jones resigned his position citing a smear campaign. Van Jones resigns.
How can any president of the United States of America appoint any communist to his staff? A man who admitted and claimed to be a communist and made no attempt to hide his commie affiliation.
President Obama needs the Republicans
In 1964 Democratic President Lyndon Johnson needed Republican help for pass the Civil Rights legislation. Due to Republican support, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed into law. Incidentally the Democrats were the majority party in Congress.
In the early 1970's the Democrat controlled Congress stop the funding of USA troops in Vietnam. Thus causing the USA to withdraw from Vietnam. The South Vietnamese Army continued the battle against the communist (Vietcong and North Vietnamese). They were able to continue the fight with the aid from the USA. Then the Democrat control Congress stop the funding of the supplies to the South Vietnamese Army, causing their collapse and the complete take over by the communist. Also caused Laos and Cambodia to fall to the communist. This resulted in the Killing Fields in Cambodia with Pol Pot and his commie murderous thugs.
During the height of the war in Iraq Democrat Senator (Dick Durbin from Illinois), on the floor of the United States Senate refereed to American troops in Iraq as being Nazi like in their behavior.
Commander of U.S. troops in Iraq General Petraeus was in front of a Senate Committee to report on the war. Before the General even opened up his mouth, some Democratic Senators on the committee called the General a liar.
In the last 30 years the Democratic Party leadership has expressed their hate and distrust of the American military. The Democratic Party of today is not the Democrats of President Kennedy's day (JFK). The Democratic leadership of today their loyalty is to their political party way before the nation, if they have any loyalty to this nation.
Now that President Obama is focusing on the war on terror in Afghanistan once again the Democrats are lacking in their support. This is causing President Obama to turn to Republicans to help protect the security of the nation, the United States of America USA.
When the nation's security is an issue, how can anyone vote for a Democrat?
Taiji, Japan, a victim of foreign anti-capitalist groups
Bloomberg reported about the dolphin hunts in a town in western Japan, named Taiji. The town has historically earned it's living from the sea. They traditionally on September 1st, herd dolphins into an area known as the cove. The dolphins once corralled are then slaughtered creating a gruesome scene with their blood turning the water red. What animal slaughter is not gruesome? However most are necessary for people to eat.
This past September 1st, the hunt was called off due to outside intrusion. Many foreigners descended upon the town with two Japanese film crews to view and video the hunt to use as propaganda in an attempt to halt this annual event.
Per Bloomberg this town has been hunting dolphins for 9,000 years! For the past 9,000 years this town has been slaughtering dolphins, yet the dolphins are not extinct. Are they cockroaches? Apparently the hunt from this town has not caused a decline in the dolphin population.
These environmentalist, animal rights groups, and Sea Shepherd types are in essence anti-capitalist and cowards. Need proof?
On t he Yangtze River in China where the Three Gorges Dam was built it will result in the extinction of the Baiji dolphin and the Yangtze sturgeon. Where are Sea Shepherd and their minions? How come the garbage scow belonging to Sea Shepherd and assorted animal right groups have not sailed up the Yangtze River to bring world attention to this issue? Simple: they are anti-capitalist and cowards. They know the Chinese authorities would not treat them kindly. These anti-capitalist groups masquerading as animal rights groups go to Japan to protest, to exploit the politeness of Japanese culture and because they are just plain cowards.
USSA United Socialist States of America August, 2009
The plan is to post one video at the end of each month while President Obama is in The White House, and them thar Democrats control both houses of Congress (the Senate and House of Representatives). The United Socialist States of America emerged after the election of November, 2008, from the ashes of the United States of America (USA).
The August accomplishments of President Obama and them thar Democrats:
1---Congress berated businesses for using private jets, yet they ordered 5 private jets for their use at $550 million.
2---where are the complaints about Obama still using the Patriot Act?
3---What is the exit strategy for our troops in Afghanistan?
4---Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow on the Senate Energy Committee said she feels global warming when she is flying. Now is that on a plane or a broom?
5---2 to 10 billion given to Brazilian state run oil company to drill, coincidently George Soros who bankrolls MoveOn and the Democrats happens to own around 5.8 million in Petrobras (Brazilian state run oil co).
6---VA "Your Life Your Choices" pg 21 - drooped by Bush, resurrected by Obama
VA "Your Life Your Choices," here is the link:
http://www.rihlp.org/pubs/Your_life_y...
7---FCC Diversity Chief (CZAR) Mark Lloyd from Center for American Progress is out to destroy conservative talk radio via regional boards and excess tax
FCC Diversity Chief Mark Lloyd:
http://www.rightsidenews.com/20090831...
8---In Denver Democratic operative Maurice Schwenkler smashed the windows of the Democratic Party headquarters to make it look like it was done by Republicans, conservatives, anti-healthcare forces - news media silent.
9---D-LA Diane Watson praised Fidel Castro
Democrat Congressional Representative Diane Watson:
http://www.examiner.com/x-6356-Wichit...
10--Republicans introduced an amendment to the healthcare plan requiring Congress to be part of it. All attending Democrats voting against it. House Resolution 615.
http://fleming.house.gov/images/FLEMI...
USSA - United Socialist States of America - Septem...
President Obama dumps Poland and Czechoslovakia, w...
U.S.A. news media loathe the USA military, another...
Taiji, Japan, a victim of foreign anti-capitalist ...
USSA United Socialist States of America August, ...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Well, after a long discussion with my wife and digging further into the pocket than I wanted to, these showed up today for my next mod. The 8K axles are due any day now.
Approx - materials package value?
It's about half of what a friend just had his XLR tandem axle done for at around $5900..
8k is with disc brakes is 6000 plus.
You are going to be a happy camper once you get them installed. It will make the your lighter pockets not so burdensome.
I'm hoping so. Several near misses in the past 6 months and just feels like the right thing to do as I carry my family with me. Been using a dashcam for two years now, but all that will do is determine fault. Won't help repair or heal.


Mentioning data breaches usually ends up by people referring to the recent Facebook scandal, which is obvious because it is the latest and one of the biggest data-breach scandals in recent times. The Facebook scandal however isn't one-of-its kind, because behind-the-scenes a lot of 'renowned' companies are using the same tactics to earn some money on the side, from unsuspecting customers. In 2017, ride-sharing company Uber, supposedly paid hackers a large sum of money to destroy the personal data of 57 million of its users, that the hackers maliciously retrieved from the Uber databases.
The GDPR mainly focusses to give control to citizens and residents over their personal data and to simplify the regulatory environment for international business by unifying the regulation within the EU.
Penalties for breaching the GDPR rules can reach up to 20 million USD of the company's global annual turnover of the previous financial year.
Luckily there are projects that give back the power to the consumers and let them decide IF and what kind of personal data they want to share, with whom and at what price.
With an estimated total market capitalization of 120 Billion USD in 2023, at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15%, the Data Protection industry is a potentially profitable market for new players that have an innovative business model. Datum Network is a relatively new player in the field that offers an innovative approach to data protection.
Datum Network is a decentralized storage network and personal data platform, in which users can secure and monetize their digital lives. Rewards for processing, storing and sharing data are powered by Datum's native Data Access Token (DAT).
In the Datum ecosystem users can safely store their data. The data is sent through the Datum network in an encrypted and anonymized way. Users pay a small fee for submitting and storing their data on the network. After the data is safely stored, users can decide if and with whom they want to share their data. In exchange for DAT tokens, data can be sold to reputable businesses ONLY with the agreement of the data owners. Data owners are rewarded for sharing their data in DAT tokens.
Datum Network's mobile application has various, simple, easy-to-use features, like a wallet, a personal data marketplace to share or sell your personal data and a storage facility. All data is processed, stored and transferred in a secure and private way.
On the website: https://dashboard.datum.org/ you can check all the DAT transactions, the number of users in the previous 24 hours, incoming data and sales volume. You can also search by address or transaction hash.
A nice feature on their website is the Datum Network data calculator that determines the amount of money a specific type of data is worth for a specific company.
Also check out Datum's blog about the amount of information that is available to Google in your Google account.
To fund its operations, Datum Network launched an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in October of last year. In their token sale they planned to sell 1,530,000,000 DAT tokens out of the total token supply of 3,000,000,000 DAT. The ICO ran from the 27th of October 2017 until the 29th of November 2017, in which they raised a total amount of 7,500,000 USD in exchange for 13% of the total amount of DAT tokens. They initially planned on selling 51% of the total DAT token supply, but they didn't hit their ICO hard cap. The total market cap or project valuation is 12,500,000 USD, at the time of writing and based on the total circulating token supply. Considering the bearish market conditions from the last 7 months that is a pretty nice accomplishment.
➡ After its ICO, Datum has been able to tick a lot of the Roadmap's boxes. Currently Datum's mobile app and Datum's marketplace are in test mode. The mobile app is already being used by more than 90,000 people globally. During the test-phase users can get rewarded in DAT tokens for receiving targeted marketing messages by pre-screened Datum Partners. The app can be downloaded as an Android, iOS or web version.
➡ According to a recent message in their Telegram channel and an article on Medium, Datum has missed its main net launch in June, but is aiming for a launch in August/ September 2018. Currently it is in its final testing phase.
➡ The Datum team has grown to a team of over 24 people and they are still looking for new additions. At the moment, job offering website AngelList shows 7 open vacancies at Datum Network, some jobs require on-site presence while others can be filled remotely.
➡ In a relative short amount of time the team has managed to get DAT listed on more than 13 different exchanges, including some of the top-volume exchanges like Huobi Global and OKEx.
➡ Datum announced its partnership with non-profit self-governed identity network Sovrin, to establish a reputable public identity system.
It has been over 10 months since Datum's ICO has concluded and in which they raised 7,500,000 USD. As of now their total market capitalization based on the circulating supply is 12,500,000 USD. Despite the fact they didn't reach their hard cap and had to fund their business operations with 75% less money than they had anticipated, I must say they are doing a good job at expanding and reaching their initial roadmap goals. They added team members, they are informing their community members on a regular basis, they are announcing partnerships with other industry professionals, they are attending conferences to promote the project and most importantly, they are continuously developing and building their project to create the decentralized storage network and personal data marketplace they envisioned.
Full disclosure: I do not own DAT tokens and I have not participated in the Datum ICO. This article is not intended as investment advice. It is just my personal opinion about Datum Network. You should always do your own research. This article was created in exchange for a potential token reward from Bounty0x and it is written by LindaCrypto.
Subscribe to my channels Steemit, Medium and Twitter if you like my articles and would like to be informed about blockchain and cryptocurrency projects. You can also read my articles on LinkedIn.
If you have any questions about this article, please comment in the comment section below.
Datum Network, the Decentralized Storage Network and Personal Data marketplace was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


Two Goleta mayoral hopefuls faced off for the first time Friday, discussing issues such as workforce housing, Old Town and the city's economic vitality during a debate hosted by the Goleta Chamber of Commerce.
The November election will represent the first time that Goleta residents will vote for a directly elected mayor to serve a two-year term.
Incumbent Mayor Paula Perotte and Councilman Michael Bennett shared their perspectives on a wide range of city issues and policies at the forum and luncheon held at Glen Annie Golf Course. The candidates had two minutes to respond to each question.
Perotte began her term as mayor in December 2016. She was first elected to the council in 2010, and she was re-elected without opposition in 2014. She served three years as the mayor appointed by the City Council.
A 35-year Goleta resident, Perotte serves on a number of committees and boards spanning housing, transportation and social services. Her experience includes working as a piemaker and bus driver, serving 15 years with the parent-teacher association, working at her family's high-tech business and advocating for children through the Community Action Commission.
Bennett was elected to the City Council in 2006 and re-elected in 2010 and 2014. He served as mayor in 2013 and 2008.
For 36 years, Bennett served as a firefighter and battalion chief. He has led efforts for a new fire station, peak-hour train service and a multimodal transit center.
Bennett said he would balance development, protect the environment and strengthen the economy.
Businesses in Goleta cite the lack of housing for their workforce in the top three barriers to business, according to Trevor Large, the event's moderator and Goleta Chamber of Commerce board member, and there isn't much more housing in the pipeline.
He spoke of housing development that would benefit the whole community.
She said she believes there's a need for housing that "serves a certain population," such as the workforce, while maintaining the character of Goleta. She noted the city's efforts, such as Goleta's ADU (or average unit density zoning) ordinance.
"Hopefully, that will help some folks that want to live and work here," Perotte said.
She also suggested encouraging employers "to provide housing for their workers," as well as the city partnering with private, nonprofit and government agencies to support affordable housing projects.
Goleta residents cited in a recent survey conducted by the city that Old Town is one of their top priorities, Large said. The city seems divided on whether to improve the area at the direction for residents of Old Town or for all Goleta residents who want to enjoy that area as a downtown, he said.
The mayoral candidates discussed their priorities for moving forward on the Goleta Chamber of Commerce's vision of "placemaking" in Old Town.
Perotte said she's happy listening to both sides of the discussion, in addition to the opinions of business leaders.
"I think there's more that the city can do, and I look forward to working with the Chamber (of Commerce)," Perotte said, noting Old Town's roadway, bicycle and sidewalk projects in the works.
Bennett said the San Jose Creek project was an "instrumental improvement" to the Old Town community. The project constructed capacity improvements to the creek channel that increased the design from a 25-year to a 100-year storm event.
Bennett said the replacement of the Hollister Avenue Bridge over San Jose Creek reduces flooding and related impacts within Old Town. Construction is expected to begin next year.
"I've been supportive of the activities in Old Town," Bennett said, noting the Old Town Goleta Christmas Parade.
Many cities invest in economic development to sustain or improve their revenue from transient occupancy tax, commercial retail sales tax and general business vitality, Large said. Goleta recently signaled the departure from economic development with its contract with the Goleta Chamber of Commerce, and then restored it to previous levels.
Bennett and Perotte described how they see themselves championing to increase the city's economic vitality and their working relationship with the business community through the Chamber of Commerce.
"Since first elected, I worked with all people within our community," listening to all residents and trying the best to balance the community needs, Bennett said.
He spoke proudly of Goleta's Hilton Garden Inn rooftop deck, calling it "something special" in the city.
He said he supports the 118-suite Residence Inn by Marriott along Hollister Avenue.
"Those new hotels provided the transient occupancy tax, which will ultimately allow us to do the kinds of things that people think are important in our community," Bennett said.
He said he also supports residents and UC Santa Barbara graduates along the path of entrepreneurship, he said. He mentioned his supportive record of the city's 965,000-square-foot Cabrillo Business Park office spaces.
Perotte said the city's role in encouraging economic development includes partnering with the Chamber of Commerce, adding that she recently read the organization's mission statement and "fully agrees" with it. She said the mission of the chamber is to enhance the vibrant quality of life where businesses, residents and visitors can thrive.
Regarding hotels in Goleta, Perotte said: "I support some of the hotels." She didn't specify the hotel projects that she supports.
"Goleta is a great city, and I want to keep it that way," she continued.
The event also included brief remarks from Councilman Roger Aceves, who automatically will be re-elected as he has run unopposed, and James Kyriaco, a newcomer who will take a council seat in December as a result of running unopposed.
The four candidates in the Nov. 6 race for the two open seats on the Goleta Water District board of directors also participated in Friday's discussion, including Thomas Evans, a water resources engineer; Matias Eusterbrock, an environmental analyst; Bobbi McGinnis, a real estate agent; and Kathleen Werner, a retired water chemist. All shared their plans of leadership if elected to the board.
Meg West and Jack Cunningham are not running for re-election on the board.
The district, which serves about 87,000 people in the Goleta Valley, has five governing board members who serve four-year terms.


HASOUB has four main service centers covering the main regions of the Kingdom.
The service centers can be reached through one unified Toll-free number (800-244-4357).
These information allow the tracking of full history of clients and provide them with services that satisfy their expectations.
The CRM system is connected with the company website (www.HASOUB.com) which allow customers to obtain online updates on their CRM cases, and to allows HASOUB management to monitor the supplied services and ensures client needs are met.


text:
Q: Datalist options in child component won't update when props are changed through parent component's setState The parent component updates its state with retrieved list from database using setState.The state is passed to its child component via props. When the parent's state is updated, the datalist in the child component is still empty list.
Parent component:
export default class Major extends Component {
        constructor(props) {
            super(props)
            this.state = {
                uni: []
            }
        }
        componentDidMount() {

            axios.get('http://localhost:3001/uni').then((res) => {
                this.setState({uni: res.data})
            }).catch((e) => {
                console.log('something wrong occured: ' + e)
            })
        }
        render(){
            return (

                    <Datalsit_ list={this.state.uni} list_id='abc' />

            )
        }
    }

Childe component:
export default function Datalist({list_id, list}){
    return(

            <input type="text" list={list_id} />
            <datalist id={list_id} >
            { list.map((each) => {
                <option value={each} />
            })}
            </datalist>

    )
}

What part goes wrong?

A: There are typos in your code (in your parent Datalist is spelled as Datalsit_ )... Having said that... Here is your parent component:
export default class Major extends Component {
  state = { uni: [] };

  componentDidMount() {
    axios
      .get('http://localhost:3001/uni')
      .then(res => {
        this.setState({ uni: res.data });
      })
      .catch(e => {
        console.log('something wrong occured: ' + e);
      });
  }
  render() {
    return (

        <DataList list={this.state.uni} list_id="abc" />

    );
  }
}

I have no idea why you're passing the list_id prop as the string 'abc' but that's beside the point...
Here is your Child component:
export default function Datalist({ list_id, list }) {
  return (

      <input type="text" list={list_id} />
      <datalist id={list_id}>
        {list.map((each, i) => {
          return <option key={i} value={each} />;
        })}
      </datalist>

  );
}

Note the return before the <option />... And I'm assuming the value is probably an object so in the datalist you're going to see [object, Object] It needs to be value={each.something} (I have no idea what as I can't see the structure of the data coming from the API at http://localhost:3001/uni)
Again, I have no idea why you would put a list prop on your input... but in any case, this should fix it...


Crafting Confessions: Hooray! It's release day!
I'm back today with my final card of the sneak peeks of the Clearly Besotted release. All of the fabulous new goodies showcased over the past few days are available to purchase from 10pm GMT tonight!
I added a touch more dimension to my paper-pieced balloon cutie by using alcohol makers to add a touch of shading and a fine-line black pen and white gel pen to highlight his features. The addition of twine means you don't have to worry about fussy-cutting a stamped balloon string. Bonus!
Want to see the full reveal of the CB release and make your shopping list? Then pop across to Stephanie! You'll also find links the rest of the Design Team sharing their final project today too. It's the perfect place to visit to find some mojo-boosting inspiration!


I have a couple of race recaps to get up on here as I ran a half marathon both last Sunday and yesterday, but this isn't one quite yet.
I have to be honest though, I think being on my own for a week with the boys was tougher than the whole running races thing. Being a full-time working parent is hard, but man I have a whole new appreciation for those of you who have to do it all on your own.
The hubby was out of the country and we were all anxiously awaiting his return last night. I attempted to pass the last few hours by offering to pay the boys to use The Stick on my legs, but that didn't go over so well.
Less than 2 minutes later.
So we all got in pajamas, put in an online Papa John's order and busted this out instead.
Things are all good that Daddy's back home. Even the cats celebrated this morning by actually all being in close proximity for the first time EVER.
It actually makes me laugh because Daddy is NOT a fan of the cats (that's saying it nicely).
It's been a lazy Sunday and I'm really loving it. It was much needed after this crazy week and we have the entire week off now from work and school so we're pretty darn excited. We're also pretty darn excited about our clever snack idea today.
I saw these in the store last week and had to buy them.
There were okay. I'm not a huge Popchip fan, but since these were spicy and all I just had to. Ha.
I was a fan of this awesome homemade candy my friend from work gave me though.
She warned me it was hot and holy heck it was. I loved it.
My running this past week was very limited. I was on the treadmill every morning and got to run outside once on Tuesday, but that was about it. I tried to fit in two strength training sessions, but they were less than 30 minutes each.
I was totally that mom at soccer practice jogging around the super small soccer field and doing planks.
When I'm doing my strength workout at home I always use a resistance band to do back work. Usually I do rows and lat pulls and a few others.
If you don't have weights, you can still get a full body workout with a simple resistance band.
My one run outside was glorious. Not because it necessarily felt that great, but I had some solo time to myself to clear my head. Those runs are the best ones.
I rediscovered the 120 calorie dark chocolate muffin.
It wasn't as fabulous as I remember. Maybe it's because it really looked like a poop emoji this time. Oh well, it did the trick and the huge glob of chocolate Nuttzo helped.
Jamba Juice sent us a gift card to try out their new almond milk smoothies.
We were all about that. We intended on going to the mall mainly to stop at Target for napkins and cat food. That didn't quite happen so Jamba Juice really came to the rescue.
The pumpkin almond milk smoothie was delicious.
It's a good thing we had a gift card for our drinks because we sure spent a lot of unplanned money at Target.
Yep. New sweatshirts that were not on the list.
They're pretty cool though, huh? It's finally sweatshirt weather here in Southern California so we're living it up.
Over the past week there were a lot of rough moments. One night though I had this by my bed.
I love these kinds of notes.
Dinners were super simple. I ate a lot of roasted spaghetti squash and broccoli topped with guacamole and nutritional yeast with some homemade Flatout crisps.
It was our niece's birthday who we carpool with so one day we even managed to get out of the house early with just enough time for a Starbucks stop.
We probably won't be able to ever pull that off again so I had to document it.
Now onto other random life happenings that went on the other week and never made it on the blog.
We had the day off the other week for Veteran's Day and I subbed a class at the gym since I miss my old daytime classes.
I try to always end class with a couple planks and a smile.
Funny how the people in classes seem to enjoy the planks more than my middle school PE students. Ha ha.
I got a little emotional taking the boys with me as that used to be what we did every day. I was teaching classes and taking the boys with me to the gym when they were just 4 months old. So crazy.
I'm still doing roasted kabocha often and if it's a good day it's with some protein ice cream.
I took my car in to get serviced and when the guy asked if I was going to stay and wait for it or run around I told him I was literally going to run around. I got in 6 miles before it was dark and my swagger wagon was done. I thought I was pretty cool.
Seriously though, you've got to do what you can when you can.
Nala (our one cat that actually has hair) hates all people and the other cats, but for some reason she was begging me to take her picture one morning after I got off the treadmill.
I thought about showing you a really gross picture of that burn on my ankle, but I'll spare you the oozing picture and give you this updated one as it's finally starting to heal up well.
I ordered some cool protein doughnuts from The Dough Bar.
They're pricy, but nice to have in the freezer for when the doughnut craving hits. I had their awesome red velvet one after the race last weekend and it did not disappoint.
I even tried really hard to make it look all pretty since everything comes individually packed.
The other Friday was World Kindness Day and Kind (the awesome company behind the Kind Bar) had this cool #kindawesome campaign.
We got little cards to give out to people we saw being kind or who are special to us. The boys and I had fun giving the cards and I just love the idea of telling someone that they're just kind and awesome. I think we should make it a daily thing.
Not only are there a lot of kind and awesome people out there, but being in pajamas on a Friday night before 7 pm and sipping sleepy tea is all kinds of awesome.
So, we have the entire week off and I couldn't be more excited. I need a week to regroup and get some goal things figured out and spend some extra time with family and friends.
I'll have a race recap tomorrow, but for now we're working on making some big life changes as far as priorities. We've already made some, but it's time to make even more.
Carlsbad Marathon and Surf City Marathon are going to be here before I know it (code SCMSTEHLY10 for 10% off registration for Surf City) and I really want to focus on doing well in Boston. This came in the mail and it was a little reminder.
My days of being able to run the Boston Marathon might be limited so I want to be able to go all out and do it the right way in 2016.
You know, you can hope to get somewhere and hope to get better, but unless you're really ready to try and go all out and make changes it's just not going to happen.
You have to be ready, make sacrifices and put in the work.
That work is always behind being a better mom for me.
But I'm ready to move it right behind that instead of WAY behind it.
These guys already asked if I could try to run faster at the Big Sur Marathon next time because I took way too long last time and I was like the last one to finish. Talk about putting the pressure on right?
If we had those frozen doughnuts in our freezer they would be gone in days….I hate to admit it but my children have my impulse and sweet tooth, thus if its in the house it will be eaten.
Once again we need to do some big changes around here too….always talking the talk and it only lasts a week and then I am usually back to the same sad routines….time to make the big changes before I feel that much older and weaker in this body. And that's not right!!!
Now keep running so you aren't last ~ ha! ha! ~ those boys are motivating and funny!!
Enjoy your vacation week. Hope you get to do some great things together.
Congrats on the Boston confirm. Do you have your reservations all set? It was a sad day when I gave up my hotel reservation for April (I missed the cutoff by 17 seconds). Oh well, I'm hopefully in for 2017 (7:17 faster than minimum qualifier with the new age group).
BTW, your back is amazing! The definition is incredible!
Congrats on Boston!! I am looking forward to hearing how training goes. I know you won't be slogging through snow, but hope you have some good winter training weather. Good luck!
Congrats on making it through a week sans husband. Sometimes I think that times like those make me appreciate my husband much more, so they are good in the end. Can't wait to hear about your races. You are such a motivator to me being a full time working mom 🙂 Good work lady!!!
Yes! They definitely make us appreciate the hubby more. You are so right! Now he must never leave again. Ha ha.
I was excited to get a blog post email today from you! They're always fun to read. We have a lot in common with working full-time and having two little boys and most of all trying to find balance! Your motivation is motivating to me. Anxious to read the race recaps!


Provide comfort for the family of John Hitchcock with a meaningful gesture of sympathy.
After a life rich with stories, travel, the love and support of his wife Ann, and many, many years of sports and vigorous outdoor activities, John Cleveland Hitchcock, 93, of Williamstown, died peacefully in his sleep early the morning of March 8, 2019 at the Williamstown Commons.
Born in Pittsfield on December 6, 1925 to Wilfred M. Hitchcock, Jr. and Mary (Leslie) Hitchcock, he was youngest of five children. His family relocated to Windsor when he was two years old. At age 10, he moved down the road to live with his widowed grandfather J. Frank Leslie. Active in farm work and the 4-H club, he attended the former Crane Windsor Community School in Windsor, graduating from Dalton High School in 1943.
The day after his high school graduation, at age 17, he enlisted in the Army, and was assigned to the Army Reserves Specialized Training Program at the University of Maine until he was 18. After further training in Army engineer school and advanced infantry, he saw active combat in the final months of WW II in Europe, serving in the 42nd (Rainbow) Division as a Scout for the 232rd Battalion as it moved through Germany.
Wounded in one of the last major battles in Germany, he was awarded the Purple Heart, Silver Star for Gallantry, and Combat Infantryman's Badge. The remainder of his military service was in occupied Austria, where he also expanded his skiing experiences. Upon his discharge from the military in 1946, he entered Williams College.
As part of the worldview-altering experiences of his late adolescence and early 20s, he found his beloved life partner in Ann Virginia Milne, of Pittsfield. Married in September 1948, they recently shared their 70th anniversary. Upon John's graduation with a B.A. degree in English in 1950, they set off for several years of cross-country travel to Idaho, Colorado, Oklahoma, and New Hampshire, then settling back in Berkshire County, primarily in Williamstown, and John in a career in journalism.
He was employed as a writer by the Portsmouth [NH] Herald, the Berkshire Eagle, Williams College news office, and, then, for 29 years, by The Springfield Republican, until his retirement in 1990 as chief of its Pittsfield Bureau. Upon his retirement, up through his mid-80s, he continued writing a weekly column, first for Springfield Republican, and then on outdoor life and recreation for The Advocate.
Working for a morning paper freed up early day-time hours for John to pursue his love of outdoor activities and sports, notably skiing, tennis, hiking, and golf; as well as to write and take photographs about sports and travel on a free-lance basis for numerous magazines and newspapers, including Sports Illustrated, Ski, Skiing, and Ski America. He co-authored a book with Charles K. Fox, Making It: A Guide to Cross Country Skiing Snowshoeing and Winter Survival.
He had diverse roles in the founding and early years of several local ski areas, and taught downhill and cross-country skiing at Dutch Hill, Bousquet, Brodie Mountain, Jiminy Peak, and Petersburg Pass. He operated local cross-country ski centers and organized and administered ski racing training camps in Montana and Switzerland. In addition, he was active in local sports events promotion and consulted on PR for tennis and golf facilities, including Waubeeka Golf Links.
He loved to travel – especially if there were ski areas involved – and did so regularly through his activities as a sports writer, and with his wife and daughters. When on trips together or at home, he was always encouraging his daughters' engagement with sports and outdoor activities.
John could relate to and enjoyed conversation and friendships with people from an extraordinary range of backgrounds, at the same time maintaining a philosophic – and reporter's – stance towards human nature and our foibles. He also had a very soft spot for animals.
Besides his wife Ann, of Williamstown, he is survived by three daughters, Jan Hitchcock and husband Ron Poitras, of Surry Maine; Sally Kimball and husband Howard, of Hinesburg Vermont; and Amy Hitchcock and husband Glen Hawkins, of Jamaica Plain Massachusetts; three grandchildren, Colin and Lindsay Kimball, and Helen May Hawkins; and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents; his brothers M. James and Franklyn; and his sisters, Elizabeth McLaughlin and Anita O'Brien.
A gathering of family and friends will be held at the family home in Williamstown at a later date, where we will share, in his own tradition, our stories about John.
To send flowers in memory of John C. Hitchcock, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.
Provide comfort for the family of John C. Hitchcock by sending flowers.
I sit here, on a cold, dark Sunday afternoon and the thing I remember most about my Uncle John was his laugh. We were a large herd of children, his girls and my enormous family, and Rosemary and Bills kids....passing through Williamstown during the summer with various destinations on our plates. All of us kids would be in the back yard of the big house in Williamstown, the adults inside,, sharing stories and laughing....so much laughing. Wonderful times, never to be forgotten. My Uncle John introduced me to tennis which resulted in my life long love of the sport...I remember stopping in Williamstown on my way home from a music camp in upstate NY, and he gave me a tennis lesson in the dining room....I will never forget that the almost wacked me in the head by demonstrating how to serve....I ducked just in time. He had this amazing spirit and love of life, his family and his dear Ann.....never to be forgotten. What a very special man....I hope he, my Dad and my Uncle Bill are now together, skiing somewhere in the Berkshires.
May the family of John C. Hitchcock please accept my sincere condolences hoping you find comfort in God's words at Acts 24 : 15 and Psalm 37 : 29.


Analysis: Israel had better pay attention to the emerging reality on its Syria border in the Golan Heights, where the Lebanese terror group is attempting to get a foothold; the Iranian-backed organization is up to its neck in problems at home and finds the Syrian frontier to be a more comfortable location from which to take on the Jewish state.
While Hamas attempts to incrementally turn up the heat in the riots among Israel's Gaza border, the "Palestinian night squads" have resumed their evening protests along the security fence, disrupting the Israel Defense Forces' routine activity. But Israel had better pay attention to the emerging reality on its Syria border in the Golan Heights where Hezbollah has been attempting to tighten its grip exactly as it did four years ago.
According to Syrian reports, IDF tanks on Monday evening fired artillery rounds at "a demolished hospital" in Syria's southern Quneitra province near the border with Israel, causing material damage. It was also reported that Israel hit a military observation post in the border village of Jabta Elhashab. Some reports say the post belonged to "local activists," but it more likely belonged to Hezbollah, which is trying to regain its hold in the Syrian Golan Heights.
While the IDF maintained a policy of ambiguity over Monday's strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did confirm that Israel had attacked Iranian targets in Syria, just he assumed responsibility for previous attacks over the few past weeks.
Hezbollah is trying to entrench itself in Syria, after Syrian President Bashar Assad has reclaimed the Syrian side of the Golan Heights, precisely as it did between 2014-2015. This was when one of the terror organization's more prominent members, Jihad Mughniyeh, was appointed by Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force to be in charge of the Golan Heights area and planning terror attacks against Israeli civilians.
But Jihad was killed in a 2015 airstrike attributed to Israel. His father, Hezbollah military and intelligence chief Imad Mughniyeh, was who also killed in an alleged Israeli operation in 2008.
In retribution for Jihad's death, Hezbollah staged an ambush of an IDF convoy near the Har Dov area, in close proximity to the Lebanese border, firing Kornet anti-tank missiles at the passing troops. The strike was followed by mortar fire coming in from Lebanon onto Mount Hermon after the IDF responded to the attack. Giva'ati Company Commander Major Yohai Kalangel and Sergeant Dor Nini were killed and seven others were injured in the incident.
Hezbollah has recently announced it intends to release footage of that incident, which is considered the gravest since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.
The IDF has yet to comment on the terrorist group's announcement, however, the army has confirmed Hezbollah's attempts to base itself across Syrian villages over the past few months, operating against Israel in an area that is not bound by UN resolutions, unlike the Israel-Lebanon border.
In addition, an increase in the number of incidents along the Syrian border was noted over the past two months, with the Israeli strikes in Syria for which no one assumed responsibility meant to signal the enemy that it is best not cross any red lines. This is similar to the message Jerusalem conveyed to Iran when it attempted to entrench itself in Syria and was pushed out of there after a series of Israeli airstrikes.
Unlike the situation of four years ago, Iran has a rare presence along the Syrian border, while Hezbollah is working to resume its confrontations with Israel. But since the organization is up to its neck in domestic problems and cannot allow itself to face Israel on the Lebanese front, it finds Syria to be a more comfortable staging ground from which to take on the Jewish state.
Israel must therefore act with the same determination it demonstrated in 2015, which ultimately ruined Hezbollah's plans.