Transparency?

It's an idea I've picked up from David Brin (his blog is over there, on the right) and it's one I have decided I rather like.

There are a host of reasons. The main one is: I love my privacy. I don't, in any sense, have any. I have no expectation of privacy at work, where my phone can be tapped and my computer keystrokes recorded and logged for later, and I have no expectation at home because I live with other humans. We all need space, but we can't all have it at the same time. Google stores my search habits, banks and stores store my buying habits. I'm tracked, data mined, coded and analysed every minute of every day.

Which is OK with me.

On the other hand, while I am perfectly happy to have all of this happen - it's apparently the consequence of a lifestyle that I rather like - I am not so happy that there are elements of the world which are not subject to the same rules.

It irks me that while I can hide nothing from the IRS, whole political parties obviously can. I am annoyed that if I question how a major company is spending money I am not allowed to find out the answers. I would quite like to have access to all of that information.

Would I use it?
Well, no, probably not. I think the ordinary schlub, like me, probably wouldn't. I believe, though, that there are a sufficient number of people who would in order to make the total societal transparency that David Brin espouses (and which is still a really good idea) very unlikely. I think a society grown so used to lying, and being lied to, is probably not going to handle truth very well.

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ZOMG! Cyberpunks!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7740483.stm

As the article says, the USA is under increasing threat from Chinese cyberspies.

There are a couple of reasons for this. First, the USA is proud of technology. And while it makes some really neat toys, neither government nor enterprise understand how to use and abuse them properly.

Second, because any human product is inherrantly flawed and an sufficiently dedicated hacker can get into just about anything given time and resources.

I say this not because I am some ub3rl33t h4x0r capable of "hacking the Gibson" or "hacking all the internets at once", but because I'm moderately I.T. aware and moderately paranoid. You build defenses expecting that some other bugger is working on ways to crack them.

In this case, if you want to secure information from cyberspies my immediate thought is "stop leaving it on vunerable networks". Print it, put it in a box, lock the box in a safe, lock the safe in a room, lock the room in a building, lock the building. This low tech solution is neither interactive nor sharing, but it will flat foot 100% of computer based hacking.

If information is sensitive, why is it being shared? If someone needs to see it, do not allow the information to go to them, make them come to the information. This is also simple, low tech, and irritatingly obvious.

In the same sense, if your government officials leave laptops full of sensitive data on the tube, take away the laptop, give the man a desktop bolted to his desk and don't let him work from home ever.

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