IP: Another note on security (from eweek)

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 16:30:22 -0700
> To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
> From: "Robert M. McClure" <rmm () unidot com>
>
> (Permission to copy has *not* been obtained, but I doubt
> that they would object to it being sent to the IP list.)
>
>
> eweek Nov 26, 2001
>
> PETER COFFEE: CONVERGENCE POINTS
>
> SECURITY HAS TO MAKE SENSE
>
> Perhaps the worst thing about the post-Sept. 11 environment is the
> abandonment of cost-benefit analysis, or any analysis at all, in the rush
> to prove that one has taken every possible precaution. The result reminds
> me of descriptions of the Prohibition era: The rules become the problem,
> and people begin to sneer at both the rules and at those who bother to obey
> them.
>
> At Los Angeles airport, for example, private cars were barred -Ä unless they
> carried "handicapped" placards. This is a case of reasoning in only one
> direction: "We have to ban cars! Make people use shuttle buses!" "But what
> about people in wheelchairs?" "OK, let the handicapped cars come in."
>
> Reasoning backward, one realizes that stealing a handicapped placard is so
> easy that this modified measure accomplishes practically nothing. Security
> measures have to be more robust to hold people's respect.
>
> Reasoning in just one direction is also a good way to lose at chess: "I'll
> move here, then he'll move there, then I'll have him." One easily forgets
> that the opponent is not participating in your plan, but making and
> pursuing his own.
>
> The opponent may not be limited to your ideas of what is a weapon. At
> Comdex, I was not allowed to enter a keynote theater with a pocketknife.
> Never mind that the stated policy banned cameras, laptop computers, bags of
> all kinds) but not knives. The security guard put his hands on his hips and
> grumped, "Well, you should have known!"
>
> My Rotring pen, however, a forged metal shaft that is three times as long
> as my knife blade, was acceptable.  If you and I were to fight a duel and
> I had choice of weapons, I would give you the knife and keep the pen any day.
>
> If institutions want support for their increased security measures, those
> measures have to stand up to common-sense scrutiny; they have to be
> communicated clearly and enforced consistently and courteously. Otherwise,
> you'll have a much bigger problem than when only the terrorists dislike
> you.
>
> Tell me what's keeping you "safe" at peter_coffee () ziffdavis com.

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