Info War Comes Home

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

[Note:  Whenever I do one of my longer pieces, it seems to drop into the
void.  Perhaps they are so well written and complete that no one can think
of any comment to make on them.  Perhaps not.  Read this one and comment.
You won't regret it.]

In honor of the Second Annual Conference on Information Warfare a few
weekends ago, here is my proposal towards a paper to be presented at next
year's conference.

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                              The Mesh in the 'Hood


If any of you have not read every word of The Economist's Survey of Defence
Technology - "Softwar" in the June 10, 1995 issue --- shame on you.  Do so
immediately.

In that report, there is the following description of the future battlefield
without platforms (ships, aircraft, armor).  AKA the Mesh.

The Mesh is a network imposed over a landscape (what used to be called a
battlefield).  The network of sensors, smart munitions, small attack
modules, and perhaps human troops, shares information and kills enemies
moving through it.  Friendly forces travel through it as if it weren't
there.  It is "flat."  Hills and valleys disappear and expensive platforms
[tanks, helicopters, etc.] have nowhere to hide since it is co-extensive
with the whole territory it covers.  It is also tough because it is hard to
destroy enough parts of it to make a difference.  Nuclear munitions might
destroy a Mesh or imposing a stronger Mesh over an existing one might work
if you didn't mind wholesale destruction but defeating it without massive
destruction is hard.

To quote from the Survey:

"The mesh has a number of advantages. It is hard to attack, because its
strength is spread widely. It is hard to damage, because there are so many
communication paths. Many small sensors can provide a better picture than a
few large ones. More sensors allow the information domain to conform more
closely to the physical terrain. At the moment line-of-sight detection by
sensors in a widespread network leaves topographical blind spots--wadis,
narrow valleys--in which platforms such as attack helicopters can lurk."

"While nets may see through the fog of war, meshes also tackle another of
the problems von Clausewitz identified; war's friction. The mesh is a
war machine with almost no moving parts, save the actual warheads of the
weapons. It is a solid-state device; its mechanisms have migrated far
into the spectral dimension of information, leaving only a thin skeleton
framework in the world of height, breadth and depth."

It certainly makes for a challenging war environment.  The Mesh is created
by warriors to effectively serve warriors' ends, I would like to suggest the
possibility that civilians might create their own Mesh to serve their ends.

A Mesh is Just a Net with Attitude

The Internet is (as we all know) a network of interconnected computers that
cooperate to exchange information in a standardized fashion.  Its purpose is
communication.  If its purpose is extended, it can become a Mesh.

Assume that the Net has grown in size and importance so that a significant
portion of the population in a given geographic area is fully wired ---
hardly a dramatic assumption.

All of those machines are cooperating to enable the various sorts of
communications that people want to use the Net for.  Some of those machines
are already connected to external cameras to do "silly" things like put
pictures of Stockholm on the WWW.

What if people connected other things to the Net?

While it is unlikely that most people will put a chain gun in the window and
interface it with the Net anytime soon, other useful connections are possible.  

[And even in the case of weaponry, specific neighborhoods might be
interested in doing creative things now.  Thus Bo Grtiz' heavily armed,
Patriot, Recreational Subdivision in Idaho might find a use for the Mesh.
And won't those Black Helicopters be surprised.]   

More peaceful civilians might deploy a Mesh to protect themselves against
bad people whether official or unofficial.  Like the existing Speedtrap website 
(http://www.nashville.net/speedtrap/) but in real time, cameras and passive
sensors could track the minions of the State as they cruise through
neighborhoods.  They could also multicast live, full color, and audio images
of arrests and less formal interactions with the authorities.  Fans of
Robert Heinlein will recall that Jubal Harshaw used a version of this
strategy in "Stranger in a Strange Land."  Cops behave better when they are
on camera (and know it.)  The Net allows everyone to play.   

END OF PART I  (More next week).