An addition to the strategic calculus of war. Cut of from hard currencies? Move to virtual currencies.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/25/cryptocurrency-ukraine-russia-war-impact/
Russia-Ukraine: In the world’s first crypto war, uncertainty about who will benefit
There is the $400,000 in cryptocurrency donations raised by a Kyiv IT professional to support the Ukrainian army.
There are calls from Western cryptocurrency activists to mobilize on behalf of the Ukrainian people.
And there are fears that Russia could use cryptocurrency to avoid the effects of Western sanctions.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces mount an invasion against Ukraine, two economies that have led the way in embracing the new form of digital money are each turning to it to gain an edge in the geopolitical showdown. The first major conflict of the crypto era also means that, for the first time ever, a tool that can move billions of dollars easily across borders is available to be marshaled by both sides.
“Because there is no central controller who can impose their morals on its user, crypto can be used to crowdfund for the Ukrainian army or help Russia evade sanctions,” said Tom Robinson, chief scientist and co-founder at the crypto analytics firm Elliptic. “No one can really prevent it from being used in either way.”
(Related) Is Russia seeking another way to pressure the west?
https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/ukraine-war-flashes-neon-warning-lights-chips-2022-02-24/
Ukraine war flashes neon warning lights for chips
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea risks reverberating across the global chip industry and exacerbating current supply-chain constraints. Ukraine is a major producer of neon gas critical for lasers used in chipmaking and supplies more than 90% of U.S. semiconductor-grade neon, according to estimates from research firm Techcet.
Who are they trying to fool?
https://threatpost.com/white-house-denies-mulling-massive-cyberattacks-against-russia/178658/
White House Denies Mulling Massive Cyberattacks Against Russia
The options reportedly included tampering with trains, electric service and internet connectivity, hampering Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
The White House has denied reports that President Biden has been presented with an arsenal of ways to launch massive cyberattacks against Russia – attacks designed to disrupt the country’s ability to sustain its military operations in Ukraine.
NBC News on Thursday reported that the options included “disrupting internet connectivity across Russia, shutting off electric power, and tampering with railroad switches to hamper Russia’s ability to resupply its forces.”
(Related) Chairborn soldiers?
EXCLUSIVE Ukraine calls on hacker underground to defend against Russia
Just because…
PRIVACY HARMS, GLOBAL PRIVACY REGULATION, AND ALGORITHMIC DECISION MAKING ARE MAJOR TOPICS DURING PRIVACY PAPERS FOR POLICYMAKERS EVENT
… Click the links below to read each of the winning papers, or read the 2021 PPPM Digest, which includes summaries of the papers and more information about the authors and judges.
Hope for the domestic front?
https://www.bespacific.com/how-biden-defeated-putins-ukraine-disinformation-campaign/
How Biden defeated Putin’s Ukraine disinformation campaign
Quartz: “…As Putin and his allies have claimed, falsely, that Ukraine is committing genocide, controlled by Nazis, developing nuclear weapons, or launching attacks on pro-Russian civilians, the US has worked to “prebunk” these narratives, Harding says, arguing that “the final accounting is going to show that the strategy made Russia’s life much harder.”
Our theory has been that putting true information into the public domain, which was bearing out in real time because everybody can see what they’re actually doing, was the best way to prevent the Russians and what they always do, which is to try to control the narrative with disinformation,” an anonymous US official told the New York Times …”
Lawyers picking targets?
Military legal advisors are about to get a boost from artificial intelligence
When the U.S. military actually uses force, it does so after getting legal advice from the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps. To improve and speed up the assembly of that advice, the Air Force is looking to see if artificial intelligence can help. The Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to West Point law professor Hitoshi Nasu and Alex Heit, vice president of AI vendor VISIMO, to explain this initiative.
Interview transcript:
Tom Temin: And tell us, Professor, what it is we’re trying to solve here, what is the issue that artificial intelligence might come into play for the JAGs?
Hitoshi Nasu: So during the military operations for each targeting decision, JAG officers, the legal advisers for commanders, need to assimilate and assess a large amount of information. And sometimes they’re required to do so in a very constrained timeframe. So we are trying to develop the AI-based tool to help them so that they can focus their time on looking at the most pragmatic aspects of targeting information from this vast amount of information available to them.
Perspective. There may be hope for us yet.
https://phys.org/news/2022-02-reveals-strong-demand-open-access-science.html
Study reveals strong demand for open-access science
While a dominant narrative of American life paints a bleak picture of poorly informed internet partisans duking it out over a landscape denuded of anything resembling truth or reality, a new study from the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy offers a different take while also advancing the use of machine learning in the social sciences and an understanding of the importance of open-access, science-based information to everyday Americans.
The study, published Feb. 23, 2022, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), analyzed the reasons for 1.6 million downloads of National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) consensus reports, considered among the highest credibility science-based literature.
… They found that while nearly half of the reports were downloaded for academic purposes, even more were accessed by people outside strictly educational settings, such as veterans, chaplains, and writers. The word "edification" appeared 3,700 times in the data set, signaling a strong desire for lifelong learning among users.
"This study shows strong demand among everyday Americans for the highest quality information to help improve at their jobs, to help their relatives, neighbors, and communities, and in some cases simply to learn for learning's sake," said Hicks. "We never hear these stories because everyone is focusing on all the misinformation that goes out over social media."
Diversions.
https://www.makeuseof.com/free-video-streaming-services/
The 7 Best Free Video Streaming Services Everybody Should Use
Video streaming is a huge part of many people's lives these days, and there are plenty of free services available. Which are the best ones, though?
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