Monthly Archives: February 2012

Wikileaks and STRATFOR: Mexican/Israeli/Russian/Georgian Conspiracy and Mexican Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), oh and sexual shenanigans

Posted by Martín Paredes on February 29, 2012 Comments Off

As some of you already know and for the edification of those that do not, some of the most significant things that interest me are technology, international intrigue and Mexican geopolitics. So when Anonymous accessed and Wikileaks started publishing internal emails from the private intelligence firm STRATFOR, I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on the smorgasbord of missives fast enough.

Imagine my surprise when one of the first tidbits to hit cyberspace wrapped all of my major interests into one little morsel for me to enjoy. That little morsel of digital text had me salivating from the very first word. That is, until I realized that it was nothing more than gossip wrapped in a cheesy cloak-and-dagger story plot.

This created a situation where one small blog posting would not do justice to the discussion of this disclosure. So, you will all have to bear with me as I bring you along this journey of sexual intrigue, geopolitics and the Mexican UAV’s that supposedly might have participated in the Georgian-Russian conflict of 2008. Oh, and let’s not forget that Israeli UAVs have supposedly being compromised by the Russians.

Before I get to the juicy parts I think it is important that I set the stage for those that do not necessarily follow geopolitics, intelligence agencies and cyber-activists.

The major protagonists in alphabetical order are:

Anonymous
Anonymous has been making headlines recently through the intervention, disruption and access to private and governmental computer systems and websites. Anonymous is a loose-knit community of computer hackers that sometimes, in mass or in small groups, act in concert with each other to circumvent computer security or intervene on websites. To this date they do not seem to represent a specific agenda and do not seem to espouse a specific doctrine. One of their most recent system interventions was the access and public disclosure of over 5 million internal emails from STRATFOR, an Austin-based private intelligence gathering and analysis firm operated by George Friedman.

STRATFOR
Strategic Forecasting, Inc., or more commonly known as STRATFOR, is a pioneer in information gathering and online distribution of intelligence and analysis of geo-political information, or so I was led to believe. For all intents and purposes, STRATFOR operates as a private intelligence agency, spying and analyzing information for private and governmental entities. STRATFOR was founded by George Friedman in 1996. Friedman is an author and self-described political scientist.

Friedman and his company, STRATFOR are often cited by the media in regards to the ongoing War on Drugs in Mexico. I and many others have questioned their portrayal of the dynamics of the drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) against the empirical evidence on the ground as disseminated and commented on by STRATFOR. In my opinion, STRATFOR’s intelligence briefs, the ones made publically available and those circulated by the media seem to revolve around the worst-case scenario with nothing more than dire-predicting headlines. STRATFOR briefed that Mexico was on the verge of becoming a failed-state in 2008.

With the secretive nature of STRATFOR’s access, gathering and analysis of the data they use to make their assumptions and the necessary need for Mexican and US government security over threat analysis it is difficult to determine how accurate their intelligence analysis is. The unintended access to their work product via Wikileaks should give us an insight into their methods and access to the actionable information they use to create their analysis.

Wikileaks
Wikileaks is best known as the disseminator of information surrounding the US Embassy cables and US Army Private Manning’s ongoing Court Martial in regards to those. Julian Assange is currently fighting extradition to Sweden on a sexual assault charge. Wikileaks is publishing the STRATFOR documents on its website.

The intrigue that is just starting out threatens to significantly change my, and possibly our understanding of private security and intelligence firms, government backed data collection and investigative agencies and reveal to the world a clearer picture of the geopolitics of today’s world. With that in mind and hoping that the intelligence continues to pour in, I will be creating a section on this blog about the STRATFOR morsels I expect to further soon devour. These will be interposed between my continued irreverent commentary and observations of the El Paso political drama that never ceases to amuse.

Is Mexico becoming a weapons exporter? UAVs for Chavez and Georgia?

In August of 2008, former Soviet satellite Georgia preemptively started a war against Russia by shelling a Georgian breakaway province, South Ossetia, in order to put International pressure on the Russians.

According to an email recently released by Wikileaks purporting to be from STRATFOR, from Reva Bhalla to a STRATFOR internal dissemination list, Georgian government officials were looking to purchase Mexican UAV’s in their upcoming war against Russia.

Some readers will remember that a Mexican operated Isreali UAV was lost in El Paso Texas. On December 2010, the world first became aware of Mexican operated unmanned aerial aircraft (UAV) that had been deployed against the drug cartels when a Mexican UAV inadvertently descended into the backyard of an El Paso home. The media has erroneously referred to the uncontrolled descent as a “crash”, but all indications, although unconfirmed, are that the aircraft deployed its emergency parachute when it lost contact with its operator.

On August 2010, the Latin American Herald Tribune reported that the Mexican government had purchased an unknown number of Israeli Hermes 450 unmanned aerial aircraft (UAV) to patrol the Mexican border with the United States. According to the publication, the information was attained from a response to an open records request filed with the Mexican government. The number of UAV’s deployed or purchased was not confirmed, although unconfirmed reports have speculated that at least two aircraft are currently operating. This is the UAV that is presumed to have unintentionally parachuted into the El Paso backyard.

A Mexican company, Hydra Technologies, has been developing and deploying the S4 Ehecatl, which is presumably the one being discussed by the email. The S4 Ehecatl, which according to specifications revealed during the 2007 Paris Airshow, is capable of 8-hour missions at an altitude of 15,000 feet. The Ehecatl has a wingspan of 12 feet (3.7m) and a cruising speed of 38 knots. According to public sources, the Ehecatl is being marketed to the Mexican Federal Police.

The email, disclosed by Wikileaks, goes on to describe a clandestine swap between Israel and Russia whereby Georgian operated Israeli UAVs were compromised by the Russians, therefore rendering them ineffective for the Georgians. This disclosure has many in the intelligence community either confirming their suspicions of Israeli compromised UAVs or asking if this was the case. Regardless, this is the first time the notion of Israeli compromised UAVs has entered the realm of public discussion.

As discussed below, there are many questions regarding the veracity of this information.

A first take on Friedman’s and STRATFOR’s intelligence gathering and analysis.

I am not impressed. For all the public posturing of STRATFOR as a significant private intelligence gathering firm, the initial exposure of their emails shows a company acting as an authority on international security, but in reality is nothing more than a sophisticated news gathering organization selling news. Actionable intelligence requires analysts that understand not only the information they are gathering but also the ability to needle-down into the gem hidden within the extravagant information shared by informant’s whose motives, by their nature, must be understood in order to glean the actionable intelligence from their utterances.

In the specific case of the email reference above (#64027), the author appears to be Reva Bhalla based on the email address information included in the disclosed email. According to a LinkedIn profile under the name of Reva Bhalla, she is the Director of Analysis at Stratfor. According to the profile, Bhalla is a graduate of Georgetown University and her area of expertise is the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

From her online picture she is an attractive lady.

Before anyone starts to assume anything, let me explain the relevance of the last statement. Sources of information, especially those cloak-and-dagger sources of clandestine information are usually motivated to open up via money, sex or a need to stay out of jail. This has been true since intelligence gathering became a science.

I am sure it is the same for all males in many countries, but in the case of Mexican males, and yes, I am one of those, a pretty lady creates the need to exaggerate and attempt to please the woman flirting with us. It is part of our culture, although many of us will deny it.

Intelligence analysis requires that we take the masks off and deal with information in its rawest and purest form therefore we must be honest about the information. In the case of the Mexican male I must acknowledge that we are like the peacock which must flutter our feathers to attract the lady in the room.

When I first read the email “INSIGHT – Russia/Israel/Georgia/Mexico – defense deals and swaps” I was intrigued and excited. Here was proof of Mexico’s rightful place in the geopolitical intrigue of the world and its capability. But it bothered me.

The email reads like a school girl email to a friend rather than an intelligence brief for insertion into the data repository for further analysis and integration into the other sources of data. It seemed like gossip. Of course all intelligence is gossip but this just seemed like office gossip between two colleagues rather than intelligence data. The “dude is getting shadier by the day” probably stands out the most.

The email thread makes it clear that the source for Bhalla is a former Mexican police officer who is attending a school in the United States, possibly in the Washington area who is collaborating with Jane’s, a weapons analysis publication publisher. The source is a male who most likely met a lady in a bar. Most likely he fluttered his peacock feathers in order to attract the lady’s attention. So far, this is common tradecraft.

The problem I see is that the plier of information should have the basic knowledge of the topic at hand in order to be able to pry the appropriate information from the target.  In the case of this email, and based on this email only, Ms. Bhalla has little or no knowledge of Mexican culture, the language and especially weapon systems.

Bhalla’s email clearly shows this. First, she refers to “6.22 mm rounds” and NATO standard without clearly understanding that the most likely round the source was discussing was the 7.62 mm round. Anyone, with basic understanding of ammunition would have made the point that they may have heard “6.22” but it was clearly either the 7.62, or 5.56 chambered by Mexican security forces, especially after mentioning the Chinese as the source of the ammunition that needed to be replaced.

Why is this important? In order to glean the most effective information from a talkative informant it is important to know enough of the subject matter in order to control the conversation. The information gatherer never knows if there will be another opportunity to gather more information from that source.

The other troubling aspect about the email is that, although Ms. Bhalla lists one of her areas of expertise as Latin America, she clearly does not speak Spanish. In her email, Bhalla refers to “Idra” as a private Mexican company manufacturing UAVs. A Spanish speaker and someone with a rudimentary understanding of weapons systems would have known enough to refer to “Idra” properly by its actual name: Hydra Technologies.

To me the email is clearly gossip from an overzealous analyst supplying information from pure gossip. The source is obviously trying to garner Bhalla’s attention by providing information that is unreliable at best and an outright fabrication at worst. Bhalla, on the other hand, is clearly out of her element and is unable to properly control the conversation to produce actionable intelligence. In the end, it is nothing more than gossip without a foundation from where to glean actionable data from.

For STRATFOR, the loss of 5 million emails, including customer credit card information does not give it the credibility it has created via the careful manipulation of a public persona operating in the nether world of intelligence. As the emails continue to be made public, if the information contained therein continues to show that their sources of intelligence data is nothing more than college kids playing at the spy game then the “analysis” the media relies on to report on the conflict areas of the world needs to be seriously questioned. Right now, STRATFOR looks like nothing more than a façade of intelligence want-to-be attempting to play in the big leagues.

Were Georgian’s looking to deploy Mexican UAV’s in their war against Russia? Highly unlikely. Is it likely that a former Mexican cop would have access to knowledge that Israeli UAV’s have been compromised through a Russian and Israel swap? Very unlikely. In the end, just gossip and nothing more.

Too bad, it would have been cool to be able to write a blog entry detailing Mexican UAV operations in the 2008 Georgian/Russian conflict.


El Paso is the second safest city in the nation…. Wink, wink

Posted by Martín Paredes on February 23, 2012 2 comments

Yesterday evening, current County Commissioner and candidate for State Representative, Willie Gandara Jr., was arrested by federal agents. According to media releases, the arrest and search warrants are drug related. At this point, besides the “wink, wink” government relations pronouncements, the investigation is being led by federal agencies with local police and prosecutors nowhere to be found.

I have been writing for many years that the notion that El Paso is somehow immune to the neighboring drug war is nothing more than a smoke screen designed to hide the obvious, El Paso’s participation in the drug transit of drugs into the nation. Local police forces and politicos have notoriously publicly postured that the drug war is south of the border and that drug dealers are not among us. Incredulous, some have even pronounced that drug henchmen are too afraid of the local police forces! I can’t even keep from laughing out loud as I write this.

A few days ago, the Police Chief once again pronounced the city safe after a woman was hit by a stray bullet supposedly discharged in the Mexican side. This, even before an investigation was started! It’s the standard political mantra, the violence is on the Mexican side. At this point, the bullet likely made it from Mexico but that is not conclusive and an investigation still needs to be concluded before pronouncing the case solved.

Late last year, the city’s drug testing lab, a local police run entity, was put on suspension for failing basic security protocols designed to ensure the integrity of drug prosecutions. Numerous corruption trials are ongoing or have concluded. The County government, including County prosecutors even defended, until the bitter end, the lying of a medical examiner who’s job it is to be honest in order for juries to determine the innocence of an accused.

In every case, the local county government, led by County Judge Veronica Escobar, has been nowhere to be found in either the investigations or the prosecution of wrongdoing in the community.

“It makes me very sad for his children. Obviously, he is innocent until proven guilty and he will have an opportunity to plead his case and want to assure the public this has nothing to do with the county of El Paso and county government,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar.

That statement says it all, the local County officials see no evil and hear no evil!

Not to be left behind, Police Chief Greg Allen is quoted as reiterating that El Paso remains one of the safest cities in the nation after the shooting incident downtown. Mayor John Cook reinforced that notion as well. Curiously, both Sheriff Wiles and the region’s prosecutor, Jaime Esparza have been quiet.

And now a County Commissioner is accused of drug related crimes.

It has been acknowledged publicly that current Congressional Candidate Beto O’Rourke, sitting city representative Susie Byrd and County Judge Veronica Escobar are friends and are ardent political allies.

Congressional Candidate Beto O’Rourke and Byrd recently published a book on legalizing drugs. Escobar, as the sitting County chief has not once asked the simple question, how come local law enforcement and prosecutors have not once investigated and brought charges against the corruption permeating the county? Why is it that all of the prosecutions and investigations are led by out of town agencies?

It’s not like it is one investigation or two, or that the community never whispers about the ongoing corruption in the community. It’s numerous investigations. The under-current in the community for decades has been that you “must pay to play”.

Let’s recap the three amigos; Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke. Byrd and Escobar actively support O’Rourke both personally and professionally. O’Rourke takes the position that drug legalization will solve community issues. O’Rourke’s mother plead guilty, on behalf of her company, to money laundering. Escobar, as the County leader, supports and defends a disgraced medical examiner who is a proven lier. Escobar has never publicly challenged or even asked why is it that her government entity’s law enforcement agencies have not brought a single charge in any one of the numerous criminal investigations permeating County government?

Likewise, city official Byrd proclaims government accountability, yet co-writes a book about legalizing drugs and has never once demanded accountability by the police department she governs over, even after numerous police officers are indicted for corrupt practices and numerous allegations of abuse against the police agency are levied?

George DeAngelis, a former police chief, levied corruption charges against his own police department and the department responded by harassing him instead of proving their innocence.

Throughout out all of this undercurrent, we are now witnessing the prosecution of a sitting county official for drug crimes.

Let’s examine the latest case. Willie Gandara, Jr. is a current County Commissioner and a candidate for State Representative. As of this morning he sits in County lockup. His father, former Mayor of Socorro, Willie Gandara Sr., was arrested and charged in August 2010 with committing fraud as a school board member, by federal agents. He is accused, along with 10 others, of using bribes to secure multi-million dollar contracts.

Former Socorro city councilman and politically linked to the Gandara family, Luis Varela plead guilty to drug charges. He was arrested in November 2011 in possession of 27.5 grams of cocaine and 44 pounds of Marihuana.

In January, Willie Gandara’s uncle, Jesus Gandara Sr., was arrested and charged in California on corruption charges involving the Sweetwater Union High School District. He is also charged with accepting bribes.

Willie Gandara, Jr., was quoted in the news media as stating, “My family is my family and I won’t waver. At this point,  I don’t know everything because there’s a lot of allegations. It’s a bunch of hearsay and I’m going to wait till I get together with family and figure out what’s actually going on.”, in reference to his uncle’s arrest.

Willie Gandara’s father’s case is related to the ongoing public corruption case in El Paso that was started by an investigation of Bob Jones’ tenure as CEO of one of the largest employer’s in the city at the time. Jones currently sits in federal prison a convicted felon. Bob Jones was a darling of the city’s politicos and establishment while he was doling out money.

What about the local business and non-profit community?

The local non-profits were more than happy to take the monies proffered over by Bob Jones not once publicly questioning his ethics. The Chamber of Commerce and tourism boards, then, as today, would rather continue to play dumb and see no evil and hear no evil, as long as the corrupt money continues to flow.

What is corruption?

Contrary to popular belief, corruption is not just about taking money or making quid-pro quo deals between parties. It is also about not performing the job someone is paid to do. Now, let’s examine the actions of the three amigos, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke.

City representative Susie Byrd, as one of the government officials of the city of El Paso is in a position and I would argue, has the duty to demand an explanation from the city’s police department’s actions when it comes to the expenditure of the taxpayer’s monies. For example, the city of El Paso has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle cases of numerous allegations of police brutality. The police department is currently embroiled in allegations of corruption within its ranks for ticket fixing. The police department had its drug lab suspended for protocol violations. And, allegations of drug baron influence over the police department has been levied against it by a former police chief and not once has Susie Byrd demanded answers, instead she has publicly defending the agency.

Byrd even co-wrote a book with Congressional candidate O’Rourke on the merits of drug legalization. Likewise, O’Rourke, also defended the local police force during his tenure as city representative.

Judge Escobar, on the other hand, sits in a position and I would again argue has the duty to demand accountability from the Sheriff’s department and the county prosecutors. Yet, she will defend a lying medical examiner who’s job is to tell the truth in order to determine if people should go to jail. Even at the expense of the taxpayers footing the liar’s salary.

Where are the local prosecutors and police agencies?

There are numerous local corruption investigations ongoing in the community. El Paso sits on the border with one of largest transit points of drugs entering the United States. Throughout all of this, the local prosecutors and police agencies have yet to mount a credible and successful corruption prosecution, not one. Not one day goes by where the community’s undercurrent whispers about rampant corruption. And the investigations?

None.

On the other hand, three cases of bullets crossing the international border in five years of open conflict against drug dealers on the Mexican side, with many lives lost, and the three amigos and the local law enforcement and government offices rapidly proclaim El Paso is the second safest city in the country!

Not one ever asking where do the drugs that make it over the border end up?

What about the local media?

Since 2008, there has been an ongoing open battle between Mexican law enforcement and drug dealers with thousands of Juarez citizens loosing their lives. It is universally acknowledged that the battles are about control of one of the most significant drug routes into the United States.

There have been a few reported cases of drug violence, in the form of kidnappings in El Paso with bodies turning up on the Mexican side of the border. The undercurrent commentary is that there are many more that are not documented because the local law enforcement agencies conveniently argue that it’s outside of their jurisdiction.

Throughout all of this, the local media has been noticeable absent when it comes to reporting the ongoing Drug War that has captivated the world.

Why is it that the BBC and The San Diego papers have better coverage of the ongoing battles for control of the drug corridors? And the local media just regurgitates reports from others?

Rather, the local media would rather continue to spoon feed the notion that the city is the second safest in the nation instead of asking where are the investigations? It’s as if everyone is in cahoots and no one wants to admit it.

Who benefits?

Money is the driving force behind the drug war and for someone to benefit from the huge amounts of monies that feed the drug cartels doesn’t mean that, that individual needs to be directly involved with drugs. Money juices the bureaucracy that conveniently allows shipments to go unimpeded and investigations to never get started. Money flows from the top to the bottom and eventually engulfs a community that remains oblivious to the obvious.

In the case of El Paso, no public official has ever had the courage to ask; “what happens to the drugs once they make it over the border?” A simple question and one that is not asked and much less investigated.

Those that would argue that the majority is captured by law enforcement ignore the obvious fact that if the city of El Paso was not a lucrative gateway for drug transit to the nation then the drug war in Juarez would not exist. Local law enforcement has even argued that the drugs do not stay for long in El Paso. As if that excuses the apparent lack of local law enforcement investigations.

It’s simple, if the majority of the drugs didn’t make it to the rest of nation then Juarez would not be a battle ground. If El Paso did not look the other way, then drugs would not make it out in significant quantities to feed the habits of the users.

The three amigos, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke have banded together around the notion that they are weeding out corruption and are acting in the best interest of the community, yet when in the position to ask the simple question, why aren’t those that I wield some authority over not prosecuting corruption?, the answer is…. nothing.

Like the rest of the community, Byrd, Escobar and O’Rourke see no evil and hear no evil. The conspiracy theorist in me asks, could it be that they benefit by not asking the questions that need to be asked? Corruption is also inaction when it comes to doing your job.


The El Paso Forum is Back!

Posted by Martín Paredes on February 13, 2012 1 comment

Politics makes for strange bedfellows, todays amigos are tomorrow’s enemies. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer. My enemy’s enemy is my friend. I could go on and on with clichés that all end up with the fact that politics is just about the dirtiest and grimiest endeavor anyone can get involved in. Tie that with the fact that sensational headlines sell newspapers and accepting that The El Paso Times is the slimiest newspaper in the world all leads to one indisputable fact; that El Paso’s corruption is enabled by an entrenched political machine allowed to operate by a news media that trips all over itself trying to make news rather than to report it.

With that in mind plus the frustration that is El Paso corruption I have brought back the El Paso Forum for political discussion, dissection and outright dissention. I fully expect all of the political operatives to attempt to make the El Paso Forum their own platform for their message, it is par for the course, but what I really want and what I crave is for the frustrated and disenfranchised masses to have a sounding board to quickly get their anger off their chests with quick drive-by messages to the world.

Will it solve the political crisis? No. Will it server a greater good, probably not. But it should at least give the oppressed a small outlet to work through the morass of political shenanigans in the community.

It is no secret that I believe the El Paso Times is corrupt and easily manipulated. My comments aren’t directed at the majority of the reporters because they are hampered by the corporate bureaucracy that sees El Paso as an insignificant little corner in world that generates no real revenues for the corporate owners. It also doesn’t help that print media revenues are under continuous assault by the new media that is the Internet. That is why it is no surprise that Bob Moore has once again been directed to run the El Paso operation as his shenanigans have no real impact on the corporate owners and it keeps them from having to fire him and deal with the legal ramifications of that.

It is incredulous to me that all major institutional organizations in the world, including political and security operators universally agree that the El Paso-Cd. Juárez corridor is a major transit point for the majority of illicit drugs that enter the American market, yet El Paso is a ‘safe’ city. Yet, the death merchants are waging a bloody war on the Mexican side of the border and the politicians on the American side of the border proclaim that it is one of the ‘safest’ cities in the United States. They would have us believe that once the drugs get past the border they magically disappear and no one knows how.

Of course, if that were my only argument then it would be just a crazy notion on my part. But we also have a former city representative, now running for Congress, Beto O’Rourke, who not only has publically advocated for drug legalization but has also written a book in support of it. Some of you would probably argue that it’s his opinion and he should be entitled to it. Sure, but like everything else follow the money.

O’Rourke doesn’t only advocate drug legalization but his mother pleaded guilty on behalf of her company to illegally hiding money from the government. Why would someone want to structure cash? The only people looking to structure large amounts of cash and thus hiding it from government oversight are those looking to avoid taxes or most likely, avoid having to explain to the government where the money came from. Hmmm, sounds to me like money laundering.

Let’s see, money laundering and a politician looking to take office at the federal level where drug legislation can be manipulated. Oh yea, let’s not forget that the local police department had to be put on probation because its drug laboratory failed basic standards and a police department that currently has officers being indicted for falsifying public records and the same police department that had a former high-ranking administrator accuse the department of colluding with drug dealers. Yes, that is the department that trumpets the loudest how safe the city is.

Oh, and I almost forgot, a former director of the local FBI incarcerated for hiding a friendship and receiving economic benefits from a businessman from Mexico without properly documenting it to the authorities. As if that wasn’t enough, a former County Judge, Dolores Briones, pleading guilty to corruption, a former El Paso Chamber of Commerce and non-profit darling, Bob Jones in jail for defrauding the federal government and thus the taxpayers. And the list goes on and on.

And through all this, the local political shenanigans involves an advocate of legalizing drugs, funded by big money with everything to gain and O’Rourke groupies; a sitting city representative, Susie Byrd, who co-wrote the book on drug legalization with O’Rourke, another sitting representative, Steve Ortega who has no business in Mexico documenting how long it takes to cross the border on the only day of the week that city representatives are required to meet and a married county judge who sees nothing wrong with getting drunk with Beto O’Rourke on a night out on the town and slapping him on the ass all tripping themselves trying to ingratiate themselves into O’Rourke’s friend circle.

And, we are expected to believe that drug dealers are so afraid of the local policing and government efforts of El Paso that they dare not bring their violence across the border? Please!

Or, as is more likely, the city of El Paso is so corrupt that the drug dealers don’t even have to bother to pay extortion fees on the US side, they just put the people friendly to them in office. With friendlies in government there is just no need to bring violence across the border as their drugs just mysteriously disappear into the rest of the United States. Why create a problem if there is no need to do so?

Through all this, and I’ve only mentioned a very small portion of the evidence of corruption rampant within the community, where has the El Paso Times been? When Bob Jones was the darling of the city, his corrupt money trickled down to the advertising sold in the paper and now that he’s in jail, what does the local paper need? Another benefactor to feed it. Would proper investigative journalism do the trick? Hmmm, no that might bite the hand that doles out the little money for advertising in a city where corruption rules.

Follow the money! Who’s vying for office and who’s funding campaigns? Who benefits the drug dealers? Who advocates for drug dealers? And, who does the local paper support? It can’t be plainer than that.

And what about the Diario de Juárez? The Diario is so inept that news is nothing more than skimpily dressed women gracing its pages. Its El Paso operation is a disgrace to its Juárez counterpart because the local leader is too afraid to aggravate anyone lest he’s ignored by the powers-that-be at the local country clubs. He’s too busy ingratiating himself with the PDNG that he’ll throw his own father under the bridge if it means he’ll get a smile at the club house.

For those just tired of the political diatribe but too busy to get involved to make the community better or too afraid to mess with a hornet’s nest of corruption, the El Paso Forum is for you. Enjoy and make the best of it, at worst it just becomes another gripe outlet or at best it shines a light on the cockroaches that hide in the darkness enabled by the El Paso Times. It’s your playground. Enjoy!

http://www.elpasoforum.com

 


What, my browser is too new for your website?

Posted by Martín Paredes on February 9, 2012 Comments Off

As a web developer I constantly run into situations that remind me that clients and advertising agencies do not fully comprehend the website development industry. It is as if the marketplace considers an Internet presence as nothing more than a necessary exercise designed to be able to state; “yes, we have a website”.  The Internet has revolutionized the way we interact with each other and the way we do business. Unfortunately it has a created a culture based on “free” and a haphazard approach to solving a business problem.

Other than “everything is free” or “cheap” on the Internet, the other problem I frequently encounter is the concept that websites are nothing more than marketing tools for businesses. Unfortunately this concept is driven by advertising agencies that have yet to fully understand or embrace the concept that a website is an extension of the client’s customer service process rather than a marketing gimmick. There are times that a specialized website for a promotion is appropriate and effective but for a company’s primary website the focus should be on customer service rather than on marketing the business.

I realize that this concept goes against the grain of the majority of web builders out there but it that does not make me wrong. A website is not a fancy brochure and it shouldn’t be used as such. A website should be a tool that your business uses to extend services to your customers, at their time and at their leisure.

Focusing a business website as a fancy marketing tool leads to situations where the focus is on the “bells” and “whistles” of the website and not on the technology of it. Frequently it is about making it as fancy as possible rather than as useful as it should be.

A client of ours asked us to create a link to a local hospital on the Internet for them. As is our custom, we first verified that the link was working before completing the task for the client. As I went to the link I was immediately chastised by the website with the following warning: “Attention, [w]e have determined that you are using a browser or mobile browser that is not fully compatible with this website”. The warning message goes on to let me know that certain features may not work properly for me.

I was intrigued by the message that at first seemed to be a warning about malicious activity on the Internet but, in fact, was telling me that I’m using incompatible equipment.

My browsing sin?

I was using Microsoft’s latest Internet Explorer 9, as is it has been out since last year and it is common practice to keep our software up to date. According to the website I visited, my browser did not meet its requirements that are that I use an older version of a browser to visit their site. As if that wasn’t enough of an inconvenience, I was given a very limited list of browser that I could use to visit this website.

I visited this website for a very specific thing, which is how most people land on a website, and I left it knowing only one thing about the company that this website represents; nothing.

That’s right, if it weren’t because I took the time to screen capture the messages I wouldn’t even be able to tell you who the site belongs to or what it does because I was so focused on the distraction of the warning message that everything else became secondary.

For Sierra Providence Health Network, the brand image that their website portrays is that you better come visit us with the right tools or don’t bother to visit our website. The unfortunate thing for the company is that they probably aren’t aware of this because their designer was simply too lazy to explain to management that they can have all of the bells and whistles they want but that they have to remember that technology drives the Internet so accommodations for all types of computers, Internet connections and browser types need to be made. Whether it is a website that accommodates the majority of what users are using or multiple versions of the site are required is something that the management of the hospital needs to be made aware of. That is the job of the web designer that took responsibility for designing this web page.

Whatever image Sierra Providence Health Network is trying to give visitors to its website is quickly replaced with a negative impression of the company because the person driving the website presence is stuck in a marketing mindset that has no place in today’s Internet driven consumer.


MegaUpload: A Warning to Users of Free Services

Posted by Martín Paredes on February 1, 2012 Comments Off

The potential loss of millions of user’s legitimate data is a wakeup call for those who rely on free services for business and other data protection services. The Internet has dramatically changed the way we do business but it has also created a self-serving mentality that everything is free for the taking, even for business use.

In today’s difficult economic climate, businesses are looking for ways to cut costs and many of those have resorted to free or very low-cost solutions for their Internet needs. There is nothing wrong with finding ways to cut costs but those cost cutting measures are putting many businesses in serious jeopardy. Stealing clip-art from a Google search result or using free online storage services is a dangerous business decision.

On January 26, 2012, the FBI, along with other policing agents in other countries shut down the file-sharing site MegaUpload immediately cutting off access to files stored by millions of users world-wide. According to the arrest and search warrants served on MegaUpload, it is accused of facilitating the illegal exchange of copyrighted material. Although the company is based in Hong Kong, those apprehended were arrested in New Zealand and some of the servers that hosted the files were located on United States soil, thus allowing the United States the opportunity to prosecute the operators of the service, the ultimate result is that millions of people are without access to their data today. It is very likely that the data will be lost before a final determination is made in this case.

The issue with MegaUpload for users is in the business model used by that service to provide services to its members. This business model is the same business model that drives popular sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and thousands of other websites that people have come to rely on. The business model is to bring as many eyeballs as possible to a targeted advertisement. The more traffic viewing the advertising the more successful the company is.

There are two ways to drive traffic to create the revenues that keep these massive operations going. The first is the legitimate work done by the investments of large amounts of money in traditional advertising to create awareness of the website. And, the other, is the quasi-legitimate and in many instances the illegal process of creating traffic. Thus we have the problem with SPAM and the prosecution of MegaUpload.

The times when someone could launch a website and traffic would significantly increase is long gone now that each website service is competing among millions of others. It is just not possible to promote a website without investing in advertising.

In the case of MegaUpload, the prosecution alleges that the service was used to share illegally copied movies in violation of copyright laws. For those that are wondering how can that be a criminal offense and why the FBI is involved must have missed the FBI warning that comes up right before you start watching a movie. In case you wondered if that warning served any purpose whatsoever, you now know that the FBI does, in fact, throw people in jail for illegally copying movies. Whether the US government will prevail in the prosecution of this company is still up for debate. What is not is that MegaUpload was used by millions of users.

Not all of those users committed a criminal offense and used the service to store legitimate files. Those users, nonetheless, are without access to their files today. They may never get them back.

According to the prosecution, MegaUpload had a small percentage of users who paid for the service of storing files in the cloud. The rest of the revenues for the company were made from advertising. In order for the advertising to generate sufficient revenues for the company, millions of eyeballs had to see them. And this is where the problem started for the legitimate users.

The legitimate users are not sufficient to generate the traffic needed, thus the company had to rely on the eyeballs looking for illegally copied movies to generate the necessary traffic to the site. Whether the company was complicit in this will be eventually determined by the judicial process.

The legitimate users whose files are not accessible and who may ultimately loose them have only themselves to blame for their predicament. Those businesses that continue to rely on online services for free services will eventually find themselves in the same predicament. Someone has to pay for the servers and the Internet connections to those servers. Relying on free website whose business model is to give away free service is unsustainable and will eventually collapse. How will that look to your company’s customers? Saving a few bucks today could and up costing you your business in the end.