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latest from US EMBASSY TRIPOLI LIBYA Evacuate!
Feb 23rd
U.S. Government Chartered Ferry Evacuation
February 22, 2011
A U.S. Government chartered ferry will depart Tripoli from the As-shahab Port in central Tripoli, located on the sea road across from the Radisson Blu Mahari Hotel, for Valletta, Malta on Wednesday, February 23. Processing of passengers will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. local time. U.S. citizen travelers wishing to depart should proceed as soon as possible after 9:00 a.m. to the pier and arrive no later than 10:00 a.m. U.S. citizens will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to persons with medical emergencies or severe medical conditions. The ferry will depart no later than 3:00 p.m.
February 22, 2011
A U.S. Government chartered ferry will depart Tripoli from the As-shahab Port in central Tripoli, located on the sea road across from the Radisson Blu Mahari Hotel, for Valletta, Malta on Wednesday, February 23. Processing of passengers will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. local time. U.S. citizen travelers wishing to depart should proceed as soon as possible after 9:00 a.m. to the pier and arrive no later than 10:00 a.m. U.S. citizens will be processed on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to persons with medical emergencies or severe medical conditions. The ferry will depart no later than 3:00 p.m.
Travelers should bring valid travel documents and any necessary medications.
Each traveler may bring one suitcase and a small personal carry-on item. Although pets are allowed on the ferry, any pets transported to Malta must meet stringent European Union requirements, which can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/food/animal/liveanimals/pets/ list_third_en.htm. The U.S. Embassies in Tripoli and Valletta are unable to assist U.S. citizens in obtaining the necessary documents and/or meeting other EU requirements for pet travel. Please note it is routine for pets to be rigorously examined and quarantined for six weeks upon entering Malta. Kenneling to meet Maltese pet requirements will be at the expense of the owner.
U.S. citizens seeking evacuation should be prepared to wait several hours. Travelers are advised to bring food, water, diapers and other necessary toiletries with them to the pier.
U.S. citizens requesting evacuation on U.S. Government-chartered transport must sign paperwork promising to reimburse the U.S. Government for transportation costs at a later date. Exact transportation costs are not yet available, but will be comparable to a one-way commercial ferry trip of a comparable distance on the date of travel. U.S. citizens who travel on U.S. Government–chartered transport will be expected to make their own onward travel plans from Malta.
Immediate family members (spouses and children) who are not U.S. citizens must be documented for entry into the safe haven country and/or the United States, if that is your final destination. A U.S. citizen child may be escorted by one adult, preferably a parent, who has appropriate travel documents. If a family has more than one U.S. citizen child, the one-adult rule still applies. All U.S. citizen travelers and their spouses and children, are required to have valid travel documents. The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli will assist U.S. citizens with travel documents. U.S. citizens who do not hold a valid U.S. passport or visa and are interested in departing Libya via U.S. Government-chartered transportation should contact the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Embassy Tripoli by sending an email to LibyaEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by calling 1-202-501-4444 .
interweb cops: National Internet Web ID proposed by white house: 1984 Boulder #boulder
Jan 11th
from Read Write Web
Obama’s Internet Plan Sounds an Awful Lot Like a National Internet ID
Obama’s Internet Plan Sounds an Awful Lot Like a National Internet ID
White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt announced to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research on Friday that President Obama intended to turn over development of a national Internet ID to the Commerce Department.
Pursuant to the Orwellian-sounding National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace, which the administration is currently writing, Commerce will create a program to provide and administer an allegedly voluntary interoperable verified online IDs.
An early draft makes the case for such an ID.
“(A) secure cyberspace is critical to the health of our economy and to the security of our Nation. In particular, the Federal Government must address the recent and alarming rise in online fraud, identity theft, and misuse of information online. One key step in reducing online fraud and identity theft is to increase the level of trust associated with identities in cyberspace. While this Strategy recognizes the value of anonymity for many online transactions (e.g., blog postings), for other types of transactions (e.g., online banking or accessing electronic health records) it is important that the parties to that transaction have a high degree of trust that they are interacting with known entities.”
According to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, as reported by CNET:
“We are not talking about a national ID card. We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities.”
We are talking about a government-controlled system. That is exactly what we are talking about. In fact, the presentation of what few facts exist is vague enough as to be good for nothing but worry.
Here are the few facts on the program that are available.
- The government will enable the creation of verified identities
- The government will create an “Identity Ecosystem”
- Getting a verified identity will be elective
- Verizon, Google, PayPal, Symantec and AT&T support the program
- A user would be able to use one login to sign in to all of their sites
So, a user would have one, “verified” ID, which would be known by the government, and a set of large corporations. Given the periodic outbreak of governmental and corporate shenanigans, we fail to see the benefit of such a system.
Further, the “Identity Ecosystem” sounds strangely like the national intranet the Chinese government has been working on, as an alternative to the Internet as a whole, and more controllable.
“The Identity Ecosystem is the embodiment of the vision. It is an online environment where individuals, organizations, services, and devices can trust each other because authoritative sources establish and authenticate their digital identities.”
We write frequently here about Facebook’s efforts to become the source of a universal verified online ID system, but a campaign by the US government to do something similar is another matter. It would be niave to assume that either party is motivated by nothing more than convenience on the part of users.
Deadline approaching for public input to Community Wildfire Protection Plan
Jan 6th
Boulder County, Colo. – Boulder County is in the process of developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan to help mitigate the impact of future wildfires. The county and its partners are seeking input from residents in the form of policy and programmatic recommendations to be included in the plan and volunteers to serve on the plan’s Advisory Team.
The deadline for submitting recommendations and signing up for the Advisory Team is Wednesday, Jan. 12. Guidelines and submission forms are available at www.BoulderCountyCWPP.org.
“We have already received many important recommendations from residents on our website,” said Jim Webster, Community Wildfire Protection Planner in the Boulder County Land Use Department. “However, we know there are others who have come up with noteworthy ideas during this past year that have not yet shared their recommendations.”
Topics of the recommendations received to date include improving communication, planning evacuation and access routes, educating the public on wildfire mitigation, installing fire danger signs, collecting slash, funding fire suppression, and declaring and enforcing county fire bans.
“After this past year, not many initiatives are of equal importance,” Advisory Team member Kitty Stevenson said. “It is really exciting to see a community plan being developed on a larger countywide scale. It is important that people from all parts of Boulder County participate.”
