Virtual worlds documentary on Cinemax
The long awaited "first-ever" documentary shot entirely in Second Life (as claimed by HBO films which bought the rights to this film) started airing last night on Cinemax.
Cinemax Reel Life presents an unusual film that tells the story of a man who doesn't really exist, at least not in the flesh-and-blood world: Molotov Alva, a virtual character that filmmaker Douglas Gayeton conceived to escape the real world. The first documentary shot entirely in a virtual online platform, Molotov Alva and His Search for the Creator: A Second Life Odyssey explores this new plane of interaction, and introduces us to its inhabitants. [Link--->]
This has been a long time coming, and to be honest, I can't understand what took so long given the simplicity of the film and short duration of the episodes (5 minute dispatches). It is also disappointing that in something that is more "art" than "entertainment" that Cinemax has taken the blended media approach of airing part of the series on TV, part on its website, and only a teaser in Second Life. I attended the teaser last night which included the first two dispatches and a Q&A with the creator hosted on a newly unveiled Cinemax Island (created by Electric Sheep).
The premise of a virtual avatar fleeing the real world into Second Life and then searching for his creator is an interesting one and the narrating is incredibly well done. In the first two episodes the avatar describes his attachment to his former self (memories, pictures, etc) that he brings with him in the virtual world, but then doesn't understand why. It also describes his struggle with the material preconceptions of living that he brings with him and then seeks to abandon. Why does an avatar need a house in a virtual world where there is no rain? Why do we re-create our first lives in Second Life complete with bathrooms for avatars that can't use and them and kitchens for those that never eat.
The remainder of the dispatches detail his encounter with a Second Life homeless person who serves as his tour guide of all things Second Life and the ultimate quest for the creator (spoiler! - there is no creator, it was all created by many people constantly changing).
Unfortunately, I can't watch the middle dispatches as I am not going to subscribe to Cinemax just to see 1/2 hour worth of content and Cinemax/HBO have really botched the delivery of this art by not allowing it to be shown in its entirety on the web or in Second Life itself. I'd give this a 4.5 stars on the content itself and 1 star on the delivery vehicle which proves again that big media just doesn't get it.
All your bots are belong to us
Good article at Wired, but even more entertaining discussion that follows it:
While most government agencies are struggling to keep their computers out of the latest Russian botnets, Col. Charles W. Williamson III is proposing that the Air Force build its own zombie network, so it can launch distributed denial of service attacks on foreign enemies.
In the most lunatic idea to come out of the military since the gay bomb, Williamson writes in the Armed Force Journal that the Air Force should deliberately install DDoS code on its unclassified computers, as well as civilian government machines. He even wants to rescue old machines from the junk bin to enlist in the .mil botnet army. [Link--->]
Coming flu epidemic
Employers should be informed of a known flu epidemic set to hit mid-week, which could significantly impact employee turn-out and/or performance. (Link--->)
Supply chain security
Great regarding a briefing the FBI gave on counterfeit Cisco equipment being sold to U.S. companies and government agencies.
Test post using MacSpeech Dictate
I am comprising this entire post using MacSpeech Dictate. I'm incredibly impressed at how well the speech recognition works. I've use the software already to send several e-mail messages and to converse with people on Instant Messenger.
This concludes this portion of our test.
Flashback to 1997 with Cyber Manhattan Project
So Chertoff is speaking at the RSA conference and we're getting more play regarding a Cyber Manhattan Project. This idea is anything but new. In 1997, Winn Schwartau established a groundswell on the same issue but couldn't secure adequate government support despite having pulled together some of the top minds in the industry. Several years ago, Richard Clarke (while still at the White House) asked several of us to do the same thing again, resulting in the Cyberconflict Studies Association (which is not rolling in government grants for our important research). It is hard to get excited over the words being thrown around again given the lack of support for other initiatives.
The federal government has launched a cyber security "Manhattan Project," U.S. homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday, because online attacks can be a form of "devastating warfare", and equivalent in damage to "physical destruction of the worst kind."
Speaking to hundreds of security professionals at the RSA security conference, Chertoff cited last year's denial-of-service attacks against Estonia, and hypothetical hack attacks on financial networks and air traffic control systems, as proof that a federal strategy was needed. [Link --->]
Second Life Terrorism - Reality Check
Some interesting factoids coming out of the hearings held last week on multiplayer games/virtual worlds like Second Life. The most insightful (in my perspective) having to do with the amount of money that flows out of SL:
To prevent money laundering or financial crimes, Second Life polices the financial activity of its members, and scrutinizes any withdrawals over $10, Rosedale said.
"We believe that the degree of scrutiny that is created by [policing methods] is quite rich and the pattern recognition of non-standard behavior … is easy enough to spot," according to Rosedale. (Link --->)
Rosedale also goes on to state that the average withdrawal from SL is $1.00 USD. Yes, that decimal point is in the right place. Obviously, SL isn't going to be that attractive to terrorist or money launderers until there is more noise to hide the signal in. Also, I'd like to see some stats about the average current holdings of Second Life players. Is the average in-game bank account balance $100 or $1,000.00.
Channeling Tanji these days
Matthew Devost, president of Total Intelligence Solutions, a risk management firm based in Arlington, Va., said for federal law enforcement agencies, the intelligence benefit of leaving such sites operating is often greater than shutting them down.
"In some cases, it may be that companies and or the government is aware of these sites, but what they post there gives us intelligence that we'd rather have," Devost said. "Sometimes there's a general concern that if you shut down these sites, while they might move to somewhere else online where they start making it password protected or otherwise harder to get access to the content." (Washington Post)
The long tail of the television industry
Laughing Squid notes that CBS is placing its back catalog of television shows online for free. Brilliant move as this will allow them to gain additional advertising revenue from older shows. I'd happily watch the old seasons of Star Trek if I can do so at my own pace and on demand. Sure, I can buy the DVDs, but I am not a big enough fan to do that and DVDs have to be stored and maintained. I'd rather have that content in the cloud. The only issue will be making sure the quality is good enough to watch. I'd love to see more archives come into the cloud, especially old historical material such as presidential debates and old newcasts which would be interesting to watch and put in today's context.