…. there is a growing belief among engineers and security experts that Internet security and privacy have become so maddeningly elusive that the only way to fix the problem is to start over.
What a new Internet might look like is still widely debated, but one alternative would, in effect, create a “gated community” where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety.
At the library
The Internet’s current design virtually guarantees anonymity to its users. But that anonymity is now the most vexing challenge for law enforcement. An Internet attacker can route a connection through many countries to hide his location, which may be from an account in an Internet cafe purchased with a stolen credit card.
Or they could be at the library.
Interesting
There is software freely available for doing that which was created by the US Navy initially. The package is called The Onion Router. Combined with proper encryption, the scenario you describe is in fact possible. The average user does not know how to go that far in protecting their systems, alas.
________________________
Stephen Michael Kellat, Host, LISTen
PGP KeyID: 899C131F
Gated
>create a “gated community” where users would give up their anonymity and certain freedoms in return for safety.
Isn’t that called AOL?
Those who would give
Those who would give essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. A very intelligent man said that over 200 years ago and it’s still relevant.
Door locks
I like Ben Franklin and I want to like his quote. I think the key term in the quote is “essential liberty” because we all have locks on our doors so we all give up some liberty for some safety. Do we give up essential liberty when we put locks on our doors? Would we be be giving up essential liberty to create a haven on the internet?
Well, no.
Door locks are to prevent others from trespassing on your property. You still have complete control over your house. How, on the other hand, if you entrusted the key to a “neutral” third party who would safeguard it with their life but still keep it away from you, only opening the door with you needed them to, then you’d be giving up a liberty for security.
We need a privacy equivalent of Godwin’s law
In every privacy discussion I’ve seen over the years, someone feels compelled to repeat Benjamin Franklin’s dictum and no doubt believes that they’ve imparted wisdom to the masses. They probably believe this quote is the last word on the subject, which makes them rather similar in thought process to the religious fundamentalists for whom the ten commandments are the last word on human morality.
As another wise person observed, the devil is in the details.
what’s in the details
How funny … so is God.
Godwin’s law
I had not actually heard of Godwin’s law. For those like me that missed this meme here are some links.
Wikipedia article on Godwin’s Law
XKCD comic about it.
I really like Cliff Stoll’s variation on Godwin’s law: “Godwin’s Law? Isn’t that the law that states that once a discussion reaches a comparison to Nazis or Hitler, its usefulness is over?”