Tag Archive for: DAWN

Field Notes: Dawn of a new millennium


For 30 years, my New Year’s resolution has been the same thing every year — to be in the woods on each New Year’s Day, the last day of deer season. So, in the predawn hours of New Year’s Day in the year 2000, I left out from our house at the foot of Pinnacle Mountain and headed up to a place near the peak of the mountain that I call the “Pretty Place.” 

It takes about an hour and 20 minutes to make the uphill trek, so I stopped for a breather about halfway up. I turned around and looked back toward Greenville and the sun was just cresting the horizon, a truly stunning site. It was, after all, the literal “dawn of a new millennium,” which only happens once every 1,000 years. Realizing that I probably would not be around to witness the monumental event next time around, I reached around to my fanny pack, pulled out my camera and snapped off a few photos, and then headed on toward my destination.

Wildlife

I spent a pleasant morning watching the daily dramas of wildlife (mostly squirrels) play out in front of me. A red fox came trotting through about mid-morning. Then several mature gobblers entered my little world for a few minutes, scratched around in the dry leaves and then drifted away out of my view. All in all, it was a perfect morning in the woods and a propitious beginning to the new year.

Dennis Chastain head shotI headed back down the mountain and recalled that this New Year’s Day was special for another reason. It was something called Y2K, shorthand for the Year Two Thousand.  The whole world was dialed in on Y2K back then. Some conjectured that it was going to be the end of the world as we knew it. Because computers had, up to this point, been programmed using only the last two digits of the year, they would not know how to deal with the four-digit numeral 2,000. The doomsayers predicted that planes would fall from the sky and the power grid would fail, plunging the world into anarchy and chaos. Preppers and conspiracy theorists were having a field day. 

Since affordable cell phones were not widely available at that point, I had to wait until I got home to find out that the whole thing was a big fat nothingburger. It was not that the problem was not real. It was that…

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Web3: A New Dawn For The Internet?



The concept of Web3 is attractive as a framework for decentralization: Data would no longer be stored on designated servers but distributed among the user base, shifting focus away from self-appointed …

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Zambia’s ‘New Dawn’ should exten…


In his inauguration speech on 24 August 2021, President Hakainde Hichilema declared a “new dawn” for Zambia. It is critical that this transformation extends to the internet sphere.

Digital rights in Zambia suffered under former president Edgar Lungu, as documented in recent research from Freedom House and Paradigm Initiative. Zambians saw this at play during the August general elections: reports spread weeks ahead of polling day that then president Lungu would cut off the internet as voting took place.

Zambian and international civil society mobilised in response, prompting the government to deny the reports. Then, on election day, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Messenger were blocked on most networks, apparently on the order of the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA). The restrictions cut off discussion about voting and day-to-day conversation alike. Access was restored only after Chapter One Foundation, a Zambian human rights organisation, sued ZICTA.

To reverse the decline in Zambia’s internet freedom, President Hichilema should ensure open access to the internet, reject a trend toward prosecutions for online speech and protect Zambians’ personal data.

A commitment to respecting online expression and privacy would ensure that the internet continues to serve as a tool for civic engagement and as an enabler of democracy in Zambia.

Ensuring access and protecting free speech

First, Hichelema and the newly created Ministry of Technology and Science should signal a break with the previous administration by announcing a commitment to ensuring access to the internet and social media. 

In previous years, network disruptions were reported in strongholds of Hichilema’s United Party for National Development in times of political sensitivity. Such blunt censorship interrupts everything from everyday communication to digital financial transactions to online learning. 

A commitment from Hichilema to refrain from ordering internet shutdowns and social media blocks would be a powerful testimony to his government’s change in approach.

The new administration should further safeguard the right of Zambians to express themselves without fear of…

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New dawn in cyber warfare could target oil and gas sites – News for the Oil and Gas Sector – Energy Voice

New dawn in cyber warfare could target oil and gas sites – News for the Oil and Gas Sector  Energy Voice

Former member of hacktivist group Anonymous, Mike ‘sting3r’ Jones discusses a new cyber threat to Big Oil and how the sector might combat it. 2017 brought a …

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