Well the stuff I saw was on the technical side. There was a whole joint government-industry group putting together something more akin to the whole set of standards for what should be in place. I wasn’t a principal in the meetings, but myself and a bunch of others were asked to review it and comment.

In reality, the Govt, is really a facilitator of something like the standards, the real drivers are going to come from the companies that sell the security stuff and those who have to implement it. And there’s a whole other part that doesn’t get a lot of recognition, and that is, that despite the outfit for whom I toil having Mega fiber in the overall Internet mesh, there’s a real big difference between what we do on the inside with our own space,and with that which is used by others. People think networks need to be secure, but they are transport mechanisms. Most of the real bad stuff occurs on the things hanging off the network (servers, disks etc).

The whole “massive attack” kind of scenario is certainly a threat, but most of the folks who are playing in the attack space are either interested in monetizing it directly or in forms of espionage. Stealth is the weapon. Ironically, the defenses needed against stealth type attacks, aren’t so much those of prevention (since that is nigh impossible) but harken back in a lot of cases to the old big iron world, and having the basic controls in place to know when you have had visitors. Often times, the stealth folks are in place for months or longer before detected! Truthfully, if the powers that be want to ensure infrastructure access and presence, there’s a lot of work to be done in building out alternate routes and physical plant, at least some of which isn’t lit or available generally. The private infrastructure companies aren’t going to build this without subsidy.

I am always amused by the fact that the DOD folks would do things like develop “Tempest” to shield wires and computers to restrict emissions, but use the public internet for the super secret business. I guess they felt since DARPA funded the internet they should benefit from it.

As one who toils in what might be called cybersecurity for one of those large pieces of corporate infrastructure, I believe, I may have seen some of the mega-drafts of the whole master plan. Naturally it pretty much missed the point.

It is pretty damned difficult to defend against malicious attacks especially when so much of the internet is based upon mobile code (eg java) the provides an ideal vector for transmission. The mega proposals really didn’t address any of such fundamentals, instead larding layer upon layer of ultimately ineffective requirements for technology that can’t get the job done.

If this gent got the domestic cyber stuff out of NSA (would we really know?) that is a net positive. Also, the military is highly unsuited to this task, as they want to play offense and go on the attack. We might need to also consider some fancy medal for him, simply for being able to survive that many ass-numbingly stupid meetings!

Who knows though, perhaps the upside of this nonsense might be a ridiculous set of auditing standards that might provide me a means to make a living for awhile longer, in case the road runs out in the critical infrastructure.

Mary @ 8: I believe you are correct about it being the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

The foreclosure endgame is a mysterious one, as there really isn’t a whole lot of market for the current vintage of foreclosures. Investors aren’t looking to pay retail and the mortgage amounts due are large premiums to market price. So why foreclose? As best I can tell, it is all about keeping the accounting “kick the can down the road” activity alive and kicking, so the banks don’t really have to “realize” the actual loss on the property.

I had occasion to check a sheriff sale listing in New Castle County Delaware in July 2010, as there was a property nearby listed. When I went back to check the results, that foreclosure vanished along with a bunch of others. Of the approximately 70 properties that were brought to auction, only 2 sold to anyone other than the mortgage holding bank. I am guessing this circular pattern allows for some deferral of the ultimate day of reckoning.

I also am familiar of another nearby property with a “hard money” mortgage lender, where the remodeled and expanded home is incomplete, the “owner” bailed 2 months ago and is four months behind in payments. The electricity has been turned off for two months. The house doors are unlocked. The lender knows this and has done nothing.

He has two or three potential buyers for the place, but isn’t taking any action. The lender has to just be running on fumes of hope that the grifter deadbeat (male) who bailed on the house finds some lonely divorcee with a bank account and a credit rating to rescue him. (He’s tried and failed on this three or four times already)!

The shitpile along with a bunch of other things will take us to Eric Janzen’s “post catastrophe” economy.

I was pretty surprised at the quoted energy loss in long distance transmission (something like 70 percent), So I definitely see a make local, use local rationale.

Do you believe that Google and others doing deals for wind etc, are indicative of some corporate activity in TECI investment, or more a factor of hedging energy costs?

Eric – If I read correctly in the book, nuclear has to be a big part of the “E” in TECI. The pebble bed technology looks interesting, but most of what I have read since your book indicates a trail of failed projects. How far down the road do you believe it will be before we see some projects of size?

Eric, welcome. The book isn’t an altogether pleasant read, but in the vein of the new economy, I would be interested in knowing how you think some of the financing may evolve, and your view on when.

I have tried to read up a bit more on the pebble bed nuclear technology, but most of what I am finding a stories about abandoned projects. Are you still as optimistic, and how far out into the future do you believe is this technology?