Washington Post (December 21)
“We have just witnessed the first major incident of cyber-blackmail or cyberterrorism. Sony Pictures Entertainment capitulated. This cannot be good, but it obscures a more unsettling message: Our digital dependence exposes us to catastrophic failures of basic services.”
Tags: Basic services, Capitulate, Catastrophic failure, Cyber-blackmail, Cyberterrorism, Digital dependence, Sony Pictures
Detroit Free Press (December 3, 2013)
Detroit became the biggest municipality—in fact the biggest public entity of any type—to file for bankruptcy in the U.S. after a federal judge approved the city’s application. With estimated debts of $18 billion, the city is hardly functioning. It takes nearly an hour for police to respond to calls, versus about six times longer than the national average. For many, the bankruptcy filing marks the first painful step to a comeback. Detroit’s Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr hopes to achieve improvements in basic services and the removal of 78,000 blighted homes and structures within three years. “That may sound like elementary stuff to people who are used to living in less-dysfunctional cities. In Detroit after decades of distress, however, it’s what dreams are made of.”
Tags: Bankruptcy, Basic services, Blight, Comeback, Debts, Detroit, Distress, Dreams, Dysfunction, Kevyn Orr, Police, U.S.
