Knowledge is Power

FORWARD to Teh Futchah!

Here are some thoughts from Jared Cohen, 31 [Director of Google Ideas, an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, previously a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff and a close advisor to both Condoleezza Rice and later Hillary Clinton; According to New York Times Magazine, Cohen was one of the principal architects of what became known as "21st century statecraft"*]

and Eric Schmidt, 57 [executive chairman of Google, member of the Bilderberg Group, net worth: $6.9 billion, The Eric Schmidt Family Foundation addresses issues of sustainability and the responsible use of natural resources, worked for Byzromotti Design, Bell Labs, Zilog and Xerox PARC, a campaign advisor and major donor to Barack Obama, at the forefront of Google’s government relations team, considered for Commerce Secretary, member of President Obama's transition advisory board, proposed that the easiest way to solve all of the problems of the United States at once, at least in the domestic policy, is by a stimulus program that rewards renewable energy and, over time, attempts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, current chairman of the board of directors New America Foundation [Public-policy think tank focused on building a New Deal for the 21st century*]*

I include those bios before discussing their article because I think it matters from whom this Nudge Balloon suggestion comes.

We know that technology can be used more potently for good. As more people around the globe become connected, they see, read and hear more. Greater access leads to stronger demands for accountability. We believe the spread of modern devices and access for those most threatened will create a virtual, albeit nascent, counterweight against the world’s worst criminals. Even stubborn governments will one day have to meet their citizens’ rising expectations.

Yet connectivity will not, on its own, disrupt illicit networks. People tend to assume that “name and shame” will fix things — as though, once a video of wrongdoing is uploaded, the world will pressure the bad guys. It’s clear that external pressure seldom fixes weak or corrupt institutions. As we watch violence unfold in Syria, more than video is clearly needed. The pressure has to be internal, from those who are directly affected and have the incentives and mechanisms to fundamentally reshape the world they live in.

In the example of Syria, the incentives are clearly there and have been for decades. It’s the “mechanisms to fundamentally reshape the world they live in” that have been lacking. And I still haven’t figured out where these mechanisms came from at this particular time. BTNIN.

The focus of Mssrs. Schmidt and Cohen today is Juarez Mexico.

A couple of months ago we visited Juarez, Mexico, a city right across our border — yet so far away.

The scene was almost surreal: We got off the plane and were met on the tarmac by a convoy of armored cars and open-back trucks swarming with police. The officers were “policía federal.” Like the ones you hear about, they carried machine guns and wore masks to hide their identities. They hung off the backs of their trucks, alert, constantly swiveling as they surveyed the landscape.

Juarez seems to be a border insanity focal point.

Consider an all-too-familiar situation in Juarez: A man cooperates with law enforcement — or is believed to have cooperated — and his wife is subsequently targeted. Many people are aware of such occurrences but do not report it, thinking: Why take the risk when the chance of meaningful change is so low?

Their solution? Technology. Given “our packet-switching mind-set” they suggest that “crowdsourcing” information could be sent in encrypted, disbursed packets to authorities who would then be enabled effectively address the problem at hand, thus preserving the anonymity of The Good Guyz.

…so what’s this bit all about?

The trick is that anonymity is provided to everyone, although such a system would know a unique ID for every user to maintain records and provide rewards.

So the “reward” of cutting down on insane sociopaths running your town in terror is not enough? No — this fella wants to “maintain records.” Which destroy all potential for anonymity. For some reason…

At the Techonomy conference on August 4, 2010, Schmidt expressed that technology is good, but he said that the only way to manage the challenges is “much greater transparency and no anonymity.” Schmidt also stated that in an era of asymmetric threats, “true anonymity is too dangerous.”

But since this is “21st Century Statecraft” wherein brilliant prodigies like these fellas craft The World for us we might expect more hard-hitting clear-thinking solutions like this applied to our little neighborhoods.