Security implications for a wired India: Challenges ahead
Abstract India has earned a significant place in the global Information Technology (IT) industry and aspires to be an IT superpower in the future. With an expanding IT infrastructure, the nation is getting ‘wired’ to the ‘global village’ at a rapid pace. Ironically, the technology that empowers us also exposes us to new threats. These threats do not recognise borders and impinge on nearly every cross‐section of our society. The article covers the security implications for a ‘Wired India’ under the military, political, economic and social dimensions. While information security as a concept is gaining ground, a more holistic and integrated approach is imperative for bridging the gaps and warding off the threats successfully.
Joint development of inter‐services network and G4I2 systems
Command and control are two essential tools for managing any kind of organisation. And these become mandatory for a military organisation that is concerned with prosecution of war. Since the invention of the telegraph, exercise of command and control over military forces spread over vast distances became easier. The use of radio further enhanced the capabilities of command and control. Timely information communicated to a military leader enabled him to arrive at appropriate decisions quickly. Information When properly assessed and analysed becomes intelligence. In military context, command, control,, communications and intelligence are sine qua non for taking quick decisions at all levels of war; whether strategic, operational or tactical. Command of a military organisation covers a very wide area of activities, however it is not the intention to discuss all such issues. But command and control cannot be exercised without communications. The role of communications becomes very important especially when we consider the size and geographical spread of our armed forces. Communications also enable us to exchange, acquire and disseminate intelligence about enemy and our own forces. Thus it goes without saying that communications are an integral and vital ingredient of the art of exercising command and control over armed forces.
Horse Trading in Cyberspace: U.S. Trade Policy in the Information Age
Like a big bang, the explosion of information technology, both symbolized and realized by the Internet, has vastly multiplied opportunities for international commerce. Thanks to a digitally linked global economy, information zips across national frontiers without stopping at customs. A revolution is upon us, says IBM to its website readers; the private sector is reinventing itself to deal with the technology, but the public sector is just beginning to face the issues it raises.(1) One of those issues is the future of trade policy. Has the explosion of information technology changed the fundamental character of trade policy as it has been practiced to date? If not, what impact does or should it have? In other words, what is new? This article will make the case that information technology does not alter the nature of U.S. trade policy, but it greatly expands its scope and partially transforms the role of trade negotiators. With respect to the telecommunications industry--i.e., the highway builders or carriers of information--negotiators face a largely familiar set of topics. But fulfilling the potential of electronic commerce, the for-profit traffic on the highway, opens up an unfamiliar universe of regulatory issues. The resolution of these issues will need to be coordinated with the evolution of new multilateral rules. Increasingly, both policymakers and negotiators will find themselves not only holding talks with foreign governments, but also mediating between a variety of regulatory authorities and interest groups in their own country. But first, analyzing the implications of the new information technology for U.S. trade policymakers and negotiators requires a clear understanding of the ways that globalization and technology have shaped trade--and hence the U.S. trade policy agenda--thus far. GLOBALIZATION At the root of the globalization process are the twin technological revolutions in information and transportation. These revolutions enable companies to engage in flexible manufacturing and customized production to supply local markets around the world. A product meant for one set of consumers can easily be adapted for another. Mass production in a single location is disappearing. Few, if any, globally traded manufactured goods are produced in a single country, loaded into a crate and shipped intact to foreign customers. Instead, companies are now in a position to disperse different phases of the industrial life cycle among different countries, depending on local conditions.(2) For example, a Nike basketball shoe that Americans believe is made solely with cheap labor in Indonesia actually contains 52 different components from five different countries.(3) A similar process is going on in the burgeoning services industry as well as in certain sectors of the agricultural industry. Corresponding changes are going on with respect to the demand for goods and services. More and more governments are seeing the advantages of opening up their territories to the global market. Not only do consumers enjoy a wider range of choice; industries are also finding that imported materials, components and services can make them more productive. This is why economist Robert J. Samuelson defines globalization as "the worldwide convergence of supply and demand."(4) Nowhere is this convergence more rapid and visible than in the information industry. TECHNOLOGY People who hear the word technology tend to think immediately of computers and the vast array of products and services associated with them. But technology is best understood not as a particular type of product or service, but rather as the full range of knowledge and means by which scientific knowledge is transformed into a usable commodity or service. When a company performs research and development, it is typically taking a scientific concept and finding ways to apply it to the production of goods and services at affordable prices. …