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IP: more on Freidman: Webbed, Wired and Worried
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 18:26:15 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: Jamie McCarthy <jamie () mccarthy vg> Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 17:54:52 -0400 To: farber () cis upenn edu Subject: Re: IP: Freidman: Webbed, Wired and Worried
From the New York Times --- http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/opinion/26FRIE.html Webbed, Wired and Worried By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
[author of "The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization"]
Ever since I learned that Mohamed Atta made his reservation for Sept. 11 using his laptop and the American Airlines Web site, and that several of his colleagues used Travelocity.com, I've been wondering how the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley were looking at the 9/11 tragedy -- whether it was giving them any pause about the wired world they've been building and the assumptions they are building it upon.
This is stunningly thoughtless analysis. Singing "Blame PGP" to the tune of "Blame Canada" might set nodding the heads that don't understand the issues -- but it's the same old song. The terrorists used cell phones as well as the internet, but nobody wants to junk those. As the last month's news has made clear, our government had plenty of clues about last September's sneak attack -- the problem was putting the pieces together, and telling the real pieces from the useless. Clipper would have saved us? Our intelligence was already backlogged in reading decrypts, because we just didn't have enough agents who could read foreign languages. [1] And come on -- Travelocity may need to "authenticate your intent" before it sells you a ticket? There's a uselessly fascist little universe wrapped up in that statement, and it's no safer than the one we live in now. If they hadn't bought tickets from Travelocity, they would have bought them with credit cards over the phone. Or from a travel agent. Can we please stop debating whether to close the wine cellar door after the horse escapes the barn? The one-sentence introduction to steganography was a classic touch -- of course, there is no real evidence that terrorists have ever used it. [2] I thought we learned seven months ago that our problem was not a "web of technologies" from Silicon Valley -- it was box knives from Office Depot, suicidal zealots from fanatic-in-training camps, and 100-ton flying machines from Seattle. The antidote to panicked silliness is to go reread Bruce Schneier's Crypto-Gram from September 30th, which addresses these same issues with maturity. [3] [1] http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/1001/101201b1.htm http://www.sunspot.net/bal-te.language20sep20.story even http://english.pravda.ru/politics/2001/04/18/3754.html [2] http://www.benton.org/DigitalBeat/db103101.html [3] http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0109a.html ------ End of Forwarded Message For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- IP: more on Freidman: Webbed, Wired and Worried Dave Farber (May 26)