When Lawyers & Financiers attack

Ellis says the city is hoping it won’t have to pull fiber optic cable out of the ground to return the property to leaseholder CitiCapital. Instead, the city hopes to be able to find the same kind of cable and that it can then turn over to CitiCapital.

via Vermont state board hears from Burlington Telecom | The Burlington Free Press | Burlington, Vermont.

Pull fiber from the ground to recoup debt? WTF? Last time I checked recovered fiber wasn’t worth anything. And most of the money spent was in installation.  And it cost a ton to remove it in the first place.

And if you can find the “same kind” of cable, why don’t you just give them cash? Or does BT has a secret stockpile of cable.

I’ve always figured that CitiCapital would be pulling equipment from the core. Say some routers & switches? Or something from the IPTV head end. At least there is a resale market for that stuff.

More on Assange Criminal Case

A sharp critique about the “political” motivations of the Assange case.

The fact is, we just don’t know anything right now. Assange may be a rapist, or he may not. His accuser may be a spy or a liar or the heir to Valerie Solanas, or she might be a sexual assault victim who now also gets to enjoy having her name dragged through the mud, or all of the above. The charges against Assange may be retaliation for Cablegate or (cough) they may not.

Public evidence, as The Times noted, is scarce. So, it’s heartening to see that in the absence of same, my fellow liberal bloggers are so eager to abandon any pretense of healthy skepticism and rush to discredit an alleged rape victim based on some tabloid articles and a feverish post by someone who is perhaps not the most trustworthy source. Well done, friends! What a fantastic show of research, critical thinking and, as always, respect for women.

Whatever the Julian Assange arrest is about, it’s not about how much women suck – Boing Boing.

Remember boys and girls, if your going to play super spy games keep it in your pants.

Damballa 2011 Threat Predictions

It’s that time of year for predictions of what will be coming our way in 2011. In many cases the security predictions you’ll read have a certain flamboyant air to them as they drop a clangor or two about how the world will be a better or more miserable place – from past experience those clangors are either completely off piste, or are an obscure spin on some well studied trend that’s been underway for a couple of years already.

So, with that cynicism behind us, instead of a bunch of “predictions”, I’m going to offer up a nice round number of 10 threat “expectations” for 2011:

2011 Threat Predictions « The Day Before Zero.

Gunter what I’m hearing is that I’m going to need more of your services