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Webistemology
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
  Apple's Mac Mini | A Mac In The House | March 4, 2005 | Network Computing
Apple's Mac Mini | A Mac In The House | March 4, 2005 | Network Computing: "Something else about the hardware: Why is it that Steve Jobs is the only man on earth whose company can design a computer that people somehow instinctively 'love'? "
 
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
  Schneier on Security: Sneaking Items Aboard Aircraft
I was once late for a flight out of Halifax. I was stopped and had to decide whether to leave my Swiss Army knife with security (i.e. have it confiscated) or miss the flight. Please note that this was the smallest product available from victorinox. If I hadn't been late, I could arranged to have the little thing mailed back to myself, but I was late so I did lose the tool. Which why I'm sympathetic with this one:


Schneier on Security: Sneaking Items Aboard Aircraft: "Security systems fail in one of two ways. They can fail to stop the bad guy, and they can mistakenly stop the good guy. The TSA likes to measure its success by looking at the forbidden items they have prevented from being carried onto aircraft, but that's wrong. Every time the TSA takes a pocketknife from an innocent person, that's a security failure. It's a false alarm. The system has prevented access where no prevention was required. This, coupled with the widespread belief that the bad guys will find a way around the system, demonstrates what a colossal waste of money it is."
 
  ChoicePoint Error Prompts Calls for Identity Theft Law - Computerworld

I would be very interested to see what a national privacy law in the U.S. would look like, especially since I think that is will only happen in response to instances like ChoicePoint error below. It's likely that we would see the following as components of such a law:

  • Offenders would not be anonymous

  • Guilt would be effectively presumed in the event of a privacy breach

  • Fines and punishments would be significant

  • Even worse, violation would provide excuse for civil litigation

  • ChoicePoint Error Prompts Calls for Identity Theft Law - Computerworld: " A variety of privacy groups and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) are renewing calls for a national privacy law in the wake of news that data collector ChoicePoint Inc. mistakenly gave private information on up to 145,000 U.S. residents to identity thieves. "
     

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