From the Associated Press:
Reports of Internet-based crime jumped 33 percent in 2008, according to a group that monitors web-based fraud.
The Internet Crime Complaint Center said in its annual report released Monday that it received more than 275,000 complaints last year, up from about 207,000 the year before.
The total reported dollar loss from such scams was $265 million, or about $25 million more than the year before.
From the New York Times article, Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries, by John Markoff
Intelligence analysts say many governments, including those of China, Russia and the United States, and other parties use sophisticated computer programs to covertly gather information.
The electronic spy game has had at least some real-world impact, they said. For example, they said, after an e-mail invitation was sent by the Dalai Lama’s office to a foreign diplomat, the Chinese government made a call to the diplomat discouraging a visit. And a woman working for a group making Internet contacts between Tibetan exiles and Chinese citizens was stopped by Chinese intelligence officers on her way back to Tibet, shown transcripts of her online conversations and warned to stop her political activities.
“Those who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation, are people who want crops without ploughing the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning; they want the ocean without the roar of its many waters. The struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both. But it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand; it never has and it never will.”
— Frederick Douglass
“Power takes as ingratitude the writhing of its victims.”
— Rabindranath Tagore
Supplement to a doomed Agile 2009 proposal.
Learning Outcomes
So the proposal for Agile 2009 is not looking good. The open space format is being panned for being too loosely structured and open ended to compete for a 90 minute slot. I gather from the comments that the topic itself is also striking people as less than gripping.
Well, as my ship sinks I send of this waterlogged response:
The session proposed isn’t about open space it is for conversation on professional ethics in an agile context.
As described in the proposal, we would dedicate time at the outset to bring the participants into context on issues and concerns in the industry, the ethical premises of agile development, and to create a safe space in which to have this conversation.
Facilitated open space itself is a highly disciplined framework that differs from the open-ish as much as Scrum differs from Scrum butt. With all due respect, a discussion of real ethical dilemmas no longer belongs in Open Jam then a private and personal conversation belongs in a hallway.
I’ve presented on this topic at Agile and the Scrum Gathering and found the conversation surrounding the presentation more valuable to everyone involved because while the topic is esoteric, the lived reality of our personal values and crises of conscience is visceral. Something practitioners do not often have a chance to discuss with peers who share their point of view but not their co-workers and employer.
I am certainly willing to debate whether there are conflicts over values in an agile workplace, whether we do or should give a damn about the benefit and harm we indirectly propagate but do we have to engage on the premise that a lecture on ethics or role playing games about workplace dilemmas is a better fit for the topic, the Agile conference or the participants?
Reports of Internet-based crime jumped 33 percent in 2008, according to a group that monitors web-based fraud.