I had the incredible opportunity to spend the end of last week in Washington DC with the CSIS NextGen Scholars program meeting the US policy makers who define the US policy towards the DPRK. It was fascinating to see the process has been put in place for weighing the different factors that go into these… Continue reading NextGen Korea Scholars
Tag: travel
Tibet 2018
In the second half of August, 2018, I biked from Golmud in Qinghai to Lhasa. The road, the G109, is a lifeline for Tibet, with 85% of supplies for Tibet imported along this route. It parallels the primary train line into the region, and was one of the first paved routes on the plateau. It’s… Continue reading Tibet 2018
Open Letter to the Cuba Internet Task Force
The following is a response to an invitation to participate in the recently formed Cuba Internet Task Force. Task Force Representatives: I will not be joining the Cuba Internet Task Force, or Subcommittees, because I believe the harm done by the existence of these committees outweighs any potential benefit of the recommendations that can come… Continue reading Open Letter to the Cuba Internet Task Force
A whirlwind trip to Beirut
Through a series of unlikely events, I found myself with the opportunity to visit Beirut for a week in early March of 2018. It was a great experience, and challenged many of the stereotypes I had developed about the realities of both the middle east and proximity to conflict zones. The most impressive aspect of… Continue reading A whirlwind trip to Beirut
DPRK Consumer Technology
The video from the talk I gave on how to get more public visibility into DPRK consumer technology is now online. Slides for the talk are available here.
34C3
I’m very excited to have two talks at CCC at the end of the month. The bulk of accepted talks can be seen and voted on at the CCC “halfnarp”. The first talk is on the Internet in Cuba. It expands upon the recent talk I presented at IMC last month, to provide additional color… Continue reading 34C3
China in 2017
I had the chance to visit China last week and tag along with the tail-end of a longer trip organized around various Makerspaces around the region. This is the first time in several years that I’ve spent a prolonged amount of time in the dense population areas of Beijing and Shanghai, and it was fascinating… Continue reading China in 2017
Initial Measurements of the Cuban Street Network
Internet access in Cuba is severely constrained, due to limited availability, slow speeds, and high cost. Within this isolated environment, technology enthusiasts have constructed a disconnected but vibrant IP network that has grown organically to reach tens of thousands of households across Havana. We present the first detailed characterization of this deployment, which is known… Continue reading Initial Measurements of the Cuban Street Network
PUST in the news
The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) has shown up in a recent New York Times article, and I’m mentioned at the end. A couple notes on the article: While the school may have 250 acres if the affiliated cooperative farms are included, the actual campus is much smaller, with ~10 buildings built around… Continue reading PUST in the news
Koryolink Simulator
When I was in Pyongyang a few years ago and had access to a cell phone, I recorded a bunch of the prerecorded messages that you hear when dialing or mis-dialing numbers. I found them to be an interesting glimpse into the view of technology seen in that corner of the world, and helpfully they… Continue reading Koryolink Simulator