Peacekeeping and Security
Terrorist use of the internet and legal response
Without doubt terrorist organisations today are using the Internet for various purposes. Unlike the early debate when the focus was on potential terrorist-related network-based attacks against critical infrastructure and the use of information technology in armed conflicts (cyberwarfare) it is widely recognised that the range of activities is more complex.1 Terrorist use of the Internet includes research training propaganda and communication.2 But despite more intensive research many aspects are still uncertain as reports about concrete incidents often remain classified. The following article provides an overview of the different areas of terrorist use of the Internet and the concept of legal response.
Defending quality of life through critical infrastructure protection
Lebanese emigration: Lebanon’s loss is the rest of the world’s gain!
Are “drugs” the consequence of economic and political destabilizing factors?
Every society and culture has the stimulants and intoxicants it deserves needs and tolerates. Since hallowed antiquity alcohol has been THE intoxicant for the western culture. Alcohol is so much part of the culture that few can imagine life without it. Aside from stating this fact can the link between drugs and culture be developed further? Some examples might help to clarify the concepts and categories that would allow a closer look at the interdependence between drugs and culture.
Rethinking security governance: a new security architecture
Security risks are a constant for any human society. Human beings and human societies have always strived to create an order that secures their lives jobs properties and the future of their children. The risks that prevented the achievement of this goal have mostly been similar throughout history and include wars famine economic crisis climate change natural disasters technological catastrophes terrorism and crime.
Privacy vs. security? A dliemma of the digital era
Over the coming years a crucial issue in dealing with cybercrime will be the delicate balance that must necessarily be struck between personal data protection public order and security. If the stellar growth in e-commerce in the last decade was accompanied by increasing alarm about the attendant potential for fraud (from e-bay scams to creditcard cloning) the next ten years seem bound to be beset by the headaches of cloud computing: who knows what dormant dangers may be inadvertently aroused merely by surfing the web even without posting personal data online or using social networks (all of which are exposed to data mining)?
Albinism in Africa: interview with Stéphane Ebongue Koube
China’s commitment to the United Nations Convention against Corruption
In its 2012 survey covering 178 countries Transparency International ranked China at 3.5 in what is called the Corruption Perception Index the 80th country together with Serbia and Trinidad and Tobago. To see things from another point of view China was the fourth-lowest ranking of G20 nations with only Argentina India Indonesia and Russia scoring lower. At such levels corruption poses a threat to China’s political stability and sustainable development especially at a time when China’s ‘Gini’ coefficient a statistical measure of income inequality is at 0.47 close to that 0.5 threshold where inequality is severe and calls for immediate action. Many experts believe that this widening wealth gap is partly the result of large amounts of “illegal income” resulting from corruption.
See you in Mogadishu
It was the month of November 1991. Mohamed Aden Sheikh one of the most versatile Somali men and former representative of the Somali government was publishing his first book in a Western country. “See you in Mogadishu” a book-interview with Italian journalist Pietro Petrucci was the story of the state of Somalia since its independence (1960) told by somebody who served its country as a shepherd doctor minister and refugee. Siad Barre was the dictator who first appointed him as Minister of Health and Minister of Culture and Information in the ‘70s and then jailed him from 1982 to 1988; after Barre’s government fell in January 1991 three different self-declared “presidents” started fighting for the control of the territory and the international community was about to intervene.
Macau: The Ao Man Long corruption and money laundering case
This article summarizes the main issues underlying the case of Ao Man Long the highest profile corruption case ever occurred in the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China which attracted international attention. Ao Man Long was the first Secretary for Public Works in the Government of the Macau SAR a post equivalent to minister to which he was appointed on 20 December 1999 at age 43 and then reappointed in 2004 for a second term. Ao graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Taiwan obtained an MBA at the University of Macau and had served as a Macau civil servant since 1987.
Corruption and corruption control: An introduction
Corruption and control of corruption have become a focal concern in developed and developing countries. European countries - where corruption for a long time had been thought to present a plague strictly confined to underdeveloped countries - now are recognizing eminent dangers of corruption and an urgent need to control corrupt practices in the political administrative and economic system. The Council of Europe has declared corruption a key political issue in Europe and stresses the links between corruption on the one hand and organized and serious economic crime on the other hand. However one can say that also governments in European countries and elsewhere have (re)discovered the enormous moral emotional and symbolic value of declaring wars against corruption. This becomes evident when for instance in the LIMA declaration corruption is depicted as a cancer as something which has to be eradicated completely and as a disease like social phenomenon which threatens the social fabric at large. Other voices declare corruption to represent an attack on the “heart of the state”. In particular the view that corruption is closely linked to organized and transnational crime and that control of corruption should also be part of a medicine against organized crime at large has fueled attempts to strengthen repressive and preventive policies against corruption. This has led also to see corruption not only as a threat to proper public administration and law enforcement and effective anti-corruption policies as a precondition of good governance but as a strategic instrument used by organized crime groups to establish parallel worlds and a system of impunity. Increased media attention certainly is contributing to the growing awareness of problems of corruption and corruption control. The European Union has expressed interest in corruption control in particular with a view of protecting the system of European subsidies and the European Union’s budget. However corruption evidently exists without organized crime and without supranational opportunities to deviate funds from supranational budgets. While control of corruption and bribery for most of the 20th Century was conceived as a task entrusted to national law enforcement and national criminal justice systems in the last two decades of the 20th Century – following the discourse on transnational organized crime – corruption control became an issue with an European international and transnational dimension. Transnational corruption was raised as a problem in particular through the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act 1977 which – after an extended multilateral discourse – initiated drafting and enactment of similar legislation in industrialized countries.
Crime and policing in virtual worlds: On the ever-evolving nature of cybercrime
The rapidly changing nature of information and communications technologies suggests that as soon as new hardware software or other applications are introduced they will be exploited in some form or fashion by international criminal organisations. The speed at which criminals can exploit these technologies is truly remarkable. Unfortunately law enforcement and the criminal justice system bound by limited budgets finite training and traditional legal regimes are much slower in their abilities to respond.
Global cybersecurity agenda
ITU (International Telecommunication Union) recognizes that information and technology security are critical priorities for the international community. Cybersecurity is in everyone’s best interest and this can only be achieved through collaborative efforts. Cyber threat issues are global and therefore their solutions must be global too. It is vital that all countries arrive at a common understanding regarding cybersecurity namely by providing protection against unauthorized access manipulation and destruction of critical resources. ITU believes that in developing a solution one must identify all existing national and regional initiatives in order to foster collaboration with its multiple stakeholders and avoid duplication of efforts. With its 191 Member States and more than 700 Sector Members ITU is uniquely placed to propose a framework for international cooperation in cybersecurity and assist in tackling cybercrime.
Contemporary racism across Europe
Developments in a number of countries worldwide show that the power of racist ideas remains strong even forging movements and political parties that can result in deadly consequences. Various daily manifestations of racist hate speech and discrimination are a reminder of the persisting importance of this phenomenon as a social and political issue in the contemporary global environment for racism remains a vibrant influence on current social and political movements even on state policies. As one such timely example the virulently anti-Semitic and racist Greek political party Golden Dawn combines both legal (running for elections) and illegal action (violently assaulting migrants) with a heavy nostalgia for the Third Reich. In Hungary the Hungarian Guard which is a paramilitary militia of the Jobbik party terrorises the Roma people even murdering some forcing them to flee the country. A myriad of other examples could further be listed which is why it is essential to develop a common culture of stigmatization of racism and promote a proactive role of community actors who can not only recognise and report these phenomena but also actively contrast racism xenophobia and related forms of intolerance throughout Europe.
Hackers profiling: Who are the attackers?
Who is attacking you? “We don’t know...” When talking about attackers and hacking it often happens that I ask people working at customer’s sites “who is scaring you?” Most of the time the answer I hear is not “Well you know… I’m scared by script kids playing with those couple of unpatched machines I have” nor is it “I’m really scared about industrial spies.” Rather 98% of the time the answer is “I don’t know.”
That was then, this is now: A concise look back on the hacker subculture
There is no argument that since the Internet’s widespread commercialization roughly twenty years ago it has exponentially improved automated and streamlined much of our lifestyle with every passing year. The advantages of living in a wired (or wireless) world are apparent but not without risks: the media is rife with speculation on hackers and every week a new phishing ring is busted or a massive data breach is reported. But who are these much-maligned hackers and where do they come from?
Estimating and interpreting the prevalence of E-fraud across the world
In the spotlight. Humankind’s suffering is not something one can get used to
I decided to write a book in the summer of 2009 when the Italian government started intercepting and turning back migrants at sea. I thought it would have helped me analyse what has been going on these years and what is not happening nowadays. Despite the apparent calm that was looming over the waters of the Mediterranean in the absence of disembarkments apprehension still arose from the many stories of the men and women who had reached one after the other and throughout the years the Favarolo dock of Lampedusa and the southern coasts of Italy.
The state of cybercrimes
Your computer may be “pwned.”1 While you’re reading this article a miscreant might be virtually peering over your shoulder or worse. Then again perhaps you follow best practices for securing your computer: you patch your operating system you maintain a current anti-virus software subscription and your Web surfing habits are fastidiously cautious. Unfortunately your computer may still be pwned.