Security in Numbers: We need 'smart mobs' in homeland security.

TCS ^ | 02/14/2003 | W. David Stephenson

[SJackson]

TCS

It's time to turn over part of the responsibility for Homeland Security to "smart mobs."

That's the term Howard Rheingold gave, in his book by the same name (Perseus, 2002) to "groups of people who are able to act in concert even if they don't know each other. The people who make up smart mobs cooperate in ways that were never possible before because they carry devices that possess both communicating and computing capabilities."

We learned on 9/11 about the effectiveness of individuals who were empowered by personal technology.

The only effective action to avoid further carnage came not from the Air Force jets that were scrambled, but from the passengers on Flight 93 whose relatives called on their cell phones to describe what had already happened.

Similarly, some people near Ground Zero kept in touch with their families even when cell phone circuits were jammed because their BlackBerry devices transmitted data in such small packets that they were able to still get through.

The market research firm Telephia estimates that 53 percent of urban Americans now have mobile phones. However, the Homeland Security program has failed to capitalize on that private sector resource to deliver actionable information when and where people can use it, which would both lessen the demands on first responders and help people avoid panic because they feel they know what to do and have the real-time information they need.

The private sector is ahead of government in leveraging the power of wireless devices in Homeland Security:

• I have photos of the Ten Most Wanted Terrorists and information on how to contact the FBI on my SmartPhone. But I couldn't get that information in usable form from the FBI web site: I downloaded it from Town Compass, a software development and content management services company that enables businesses and organizations to publish content for delivery to handheld devices.
  
  
• I also get terrorism alerts to my cell phone, but not from the Department of Homeland Security. I get them, on a real-time basis, from upoc.com and from http://twotigersonline.com/.
  
  
• A company named City Alert Texting System (CATS) will warn Londoners via terse SMS text messages on their cell phones about where attacks are happening and tell them what to do if they can't avoid the area. The information will be localized based on the postcodes of where individuals live and work.

Leveraging the power of technology-enabled "smart mobs" is necessary both for technological and manpower reasons.

Technologically, personal communications devices can, in addition to lessening the load on commercial networks in a crisis, actually expand networks' power and range. Commercializing a solution it developed for the military to create ad hoc broadband networks on the battlefield, Mesh Networks' Wi-Fi cards are a variation on peer-to-peer networks, in which each user who logs on becomes a broadcaster as well. Instead of clogging a conventional network, an ad hoc mesh network can operate in parallel, and, because it is wireless and requires little power, may still be available even if the landlines go down.

Equally important is the human aspect of "smart mobs" in a disaster. Rheingold talks in Smart Mobs about Reed's law, named for researcher David Reed. Reed argues that a network that allows people to form groups trumps the power of a conventional network: the square of the number of nodes in the network (Metcalfe's Law). By contrast, a "group-forming network" grows exponentially as the number of users increases - because they can form groups.

In an emergency, empowered users linked in such an ad hoc network would be able to act calmly and purposefully, allowing first responders and others to concentrate their efforts on helping those who are most directly affected - and those who weren't part of such a network.

It's time for the resources that individuals have already invested in to become a cornerstone of Homeland Security strategy and services. As Steve Proctor, executive director of the Utah Communications Agency Network (UCAN), said to Federal Computer Week, "My cellular phone has more functionality and costs a lot less than our radio systems."

The power of those devices could become even greater with the proper federal regulations. If the FCC would stop giving extensions to wireless carriers and force them to start providing e911 services, which would allow precisely locating a given cell phone, it would be possible to customize evacuation plans based on your specific location at all times, as well as alerting you to, for example, a biohazard plume heading your way.

Half of us now have wireless communications, and you can bet that we'll use them in a crisis. The only question now is whether we'll use them purposefully and in tandem with official response, or in panic, simply to keep in touch.

W. David Stephenson, is principal of Stephenson Strategies, Medfield, MA,
a strategic communications consulting firm, and a senior associate with Mary Fifield Associates.

[WriteOn]

Whew. For a second I thought that was "smart mobsters"

[Uncle Jaque]

Great idea, but don't hold your breath waiting for the Government to get on board with this. I would more expect regulatory activity to discourage or even extinguish such a system should it gain any significance.

There are other "devices" some of us have been know to carry for both common and personal defence, the keeping and bearing of which by Free American People is protected by the 2nd Amemdment to the US Constitution... or is supposed to be, anyway.

And this idea of a "Smart Mob" is nothing new, either.
It used to be known as a "Well Regulated Militia" long before the idea of "National Guard" was hatched.

But you see, "We the Sheeple" are expected by our institutional "Leaders" to be passive, dependant, and compliant victims who look entirely to our Government for our sustainance and protection. Any thought or gesture towards "Independance" among the herd tends to make our keepers nervous, don't you know.

Although some obligatory lip service may paid to the heroic efforts of Civilians who when faced with an attack get actively involved, as did the Passengers of that hijacked plane or the ones who took down the "Shoe-Bomber", only those "Heroes" who take their orders from some sort of Government seem to get solid legitimacy from the press. Whenever a person or group takes spontanious action to thwart an attack, is seems to be seen as some sort of embarassing accident. Don't they know that they could be sued into beggary by some opportunistic Lawyer for such foolishness?

How many of the accounts of Civilian self-defence we read of in the American Rifleman do we actually see or hear about in the mainstream media? When the victim loses a criminal confrontation, it makes the front page in order to demonstrate to all the futility of resistance.

But when the intended victim fights back successfully and the gremlin gets whacked, it is more likely than not to be "buried" if not overlooked entirely.

The same goes for "terrorism". According to that bag-of flatulence total waste-of-space PC-before-America Beuraucrat Ridge (not that I have any particular opinion of him, of course), founder of the Crayola-Panic-Scale and the Duct-Tape Defense system, all American Sheeple are supposed to do is spy on/rat out our neighbors and co-workers, and leave the heavy lifting to the G-Men. If confronted directly, RUN AWAY!!!

Why do you suppose there was all the resistance to arming Pilots? Sure, now they are supposed to allow it after all of the public outcry, but watch them strangle that program to death with red tape once we get distracted by something else.

Of course once the Airlines are Federalized and Employees are good Government / Union workers, it might be considered appropriate to empower them.

But "Civilians" able to defend themselves? Not if our Politicos can help it!

Personally, I don't have a cell phone or a pager; I still communicate in the Field with a Fife or Bugle.

But thanks anyway.