[WEB SECURITY] Re: [owaspdallas] Re: [WEB SECURITY] RE: How to stop hackers at the root cause

[arian.evans at anachronic.com (Arian J. Evans)]

You are absolutely right Paul. The problems with ignorance and
abstinence-based approaches to child education extend out well beyond
the Bible Belt, and can be found all over the US. I should have cast a
wider net. Also, great job at ruining a good laugh.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/abstinence07/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/18/AR2009031801597.html?hpid=topnews&sub=AR
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2009/03/19/teen_birthrate/index.html
http://dir.salon.com/topics/sex_education/

The point here is that while education is valuable -- *comprehensive*
education is even more valuable.

This is a loaded subject and people with belief-system drivers can get
quite passionate about it. I'm not interested in a passionate
discussion about this subject.

I think the thread will turn into the tarpit of insanity if it goes
further so I suggest we be done,

---
Arian Evans



On Wed, Apr 14, 2010 at 10:29 AM, Paul Schmehl <pschmehl_lists at tx.rr.com> wrote:
> --On Tuesday, April 13, 2010 15:21:26 -0700 "Arian J. Evans"
> <arian.evans at anachronic.com> wrote:
>
> > Keyboard Cowboy,
> >
> > Education is always a good thing. I think kids should have the opportunity
> > to
> > learn both sides of software security. Great suggestion.
> >
> > Kids, by nature, are drawn to things that are taboo and demonized. Which
> > hacking no doubt falls into, and according to Daniel, also Angelina Jolie.
> >
> > We can find great analogies to the "hacker kids problem" in recent studies
> > done on teenage behaviors:
> >
> > The Bible Belt, particularly evangelicals in the south, have the highest
> > rates of teen sex and pregnancy in the US. Telling kids to "abstain"
> > clearly
> > doesn't work as well as teaching them how things work, and in particular
> > careful education surrounding the use of safety devices. To the exact
> > point
> > you made in your blog.
>
> This is totally off topic, but I simply cannot let this slide. ?People like
> to throw out canards like this as if they are facts, and seldom are they
> ever questioned.
>
> First of all, your assertion isn't borne out by the data. ?Secondly, you've
> not cited a single study to back up your assertion, in particular the claim
> that the lack of sex education (which you assume occurs due to religious
> objections) is responsible for the claimed, but not factual, higher
> pregnancy rates.
>
> According to a study done by the Guttmacher Institute in 2000 [1] (The
> Guttmacher Institution is a pro-choice group that advocates for sex
> education), here are the state rankings by rates of pregnancy and rates of
> abortion
>
> 1) Nevada ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?4
> 2) Arizona ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?19
> 3) Mississippi ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?28
> 4) New Mexico ? ? ? ? ? ? ?18
> 5) Texas ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?26
> 6) Florida ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?7
> 7) California ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?5
> 8) Georgia ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 22
> 9) North Carolina ? ? ? ? 17
> 10) Arkansas ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 41
> 11) Delaware ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?8
> 12) Hawaii ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?6
>
> Of the top twelve states, only half are what could be considered Bible Belt
> states, so I think you have to look elsewhere for your explanation of teen
> pregnancy rates. ?OTOH, it's pretty clear the Bible Belt states are
> significantly less likely to abort a teen pregnancy, which may or may not be
> an indicator of religious influence. ?(I'm not prepared to say it is without
> data to support it.)
>
> About.com also has statistics about teen birth rates [2], and their
> statistics don't bear out your assertion either. ?Their stats are based on
> the 2006 Guttmacher Institute report, and the rankings have changed very
> little.
>
> States ranked by rates of pregnancy among women age 15-19 (pregnancies per
> thousand):
>
> ?1. Nevada (113)
> ?2. Arizona (104)
> ?3. Mississippi (103)
> ?4. New Mexico (103)
> ?5. Texas (101)
> ?6. Florida (97)
> ?7. California (96)
> ?8. Georgia (95)
> ?9. North Carolina (95)
> ?10. Arkansas (93)
>
> States ranked by rates of live births among women age 15-19 (births per
> thousand):
>
> ?1. Mississippi (71)
> ?2. Texas (69)
> ?3. Arizona (67)
> ?4. Arkansas (66)
> ?5. New Mexico (66)
> ?6. Georgia (63)
> ?7. Louisiana (62)
> ?8. Nevada (61)
> ?9. Alabama (61)
> ?10. Oklahoma (60)
>
> Again, the so-called "Bible Belt" doesn't demonstrate a propensity to get
> pregnant at any higher rates than other parts of the country but clearly
> bears those children to term at a higher rate than other areas.
>
> Furthermore, the most recent statistics from the government [3], while they
> do show a change in the rankings, still do not bear out your assertion that
> the Bible Belt, "particularly evangelicals in the south", have the highest
> teen pregnancy rates. ?As I've shown birth rates do not equal pregnancy
> rates. ?You have to factor in abortions as well.
>
> You may well have been misled by MSNBC [4] (but then who hasn't been misled
> by MSNBC), because they recently reported a study that found a correlation
> between the Bible Belt and birth rates, but that study doesn't address
> pregnancy or abortion, so it's misleading. ?The study also appears to be
> biased toward its conclusion by the failure to even consider pregnancy
> rates. ?Birth rates are not an indicator of teen pregnancies. ?They are an
> indicator of teen births, which may be an indicator of choices between
> abortion and bringing a baby to term that are based on religious factors,
> but I haven't found any data to support that conclusion.
>
> I would have preferred to use the CDC data, but their data takes a lot more
> work to extract than I had time for. ?I suspect it would reveal the same (in
> general) information that the Guttmacher institute produced.
>
> [1]
> http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:2pauuI7VVBoJ:www.guttmacher.org/pubs/USTPtrends.pdf+statistics+on+teen+pregnancy+by+state&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjJ1Yt7cIlu5z8STulZhAV2cMQnBegPj0drpWSbOq47UR8qRmEv9XgUpJvXaDQik5-q_VqtvI4lGQ5CY_UUzzUFuVFyPu0l6o7casH7DIlOW5t7k4O5J_SFJgY6d5BtFBctb0V7&sig=AHIEtbQiPQuCASJ8Pe1yKqjPfd8vF4rKuA
>
> [2] http://womensissues.about.com/od/datingandsex/a/TeenPregStates.htm
>
> [3]
> http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2009/01/08/teen-birthrates-where-does-your-state-rank.html
>
> [4] http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32884806/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/
>
> --
> Paul Schmehl, Senior Infosec Analyst
> As if it wasn't already obvious, my opinions
> are my own and not those of my employer.
> *******************************************
> "It is as useless to argue with those who have
> renounced the use of reason as to administer
> medication to the dead." Thomas Jefferson
>
>
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