The Saudi Attack; Lies Are Quicker; Berkeley and Surveillance

Iran Tries to Blow Up Saudi Company. The New York Times is reporting the attempt. It is a chilling episode that should give eveyrone pause. "In August, a petrochemical company with a plant in Saudi Arabia was hit by a new kind of cyberassault. The attack was not designed to simply destroy data or shut down the plant, investigators believe. It was meant to sabotage the firm’s operations and trigger an explosion."

Lies Travel More Quickly than the Truth. Confirming what we have known, instinctively,. "Mark Twain is said to have remarked that a lie can travel around the world and back while the truth is still lacing up its boots. In these modern times, of course, a lie can spread just about as fast as a human finger can click “retweet.” And scientists, who can record all of those finger-twitches in real-time, can finally test Twain’s proposition: Do lies really spread faster than truth?"

Surveillance and Transparency. "Berkeley's police and other city departments hoping to acquire new surveillance technologies will now have to disclose publicly the equipment or software they're seeking to acquire and justify the acquisition before gaining approval." HT: Cyrus Farivar.