Arts & Letters Daily links to this remarkable essay by the author of a forthcoming “history of Stalin and his courtiers.”
“How. . . are they going to automate the protection of our privacy?”
Robert Cringely writes thoughtfully and at length about the numerous vulnerabilities of new governmental info-tracking schemes. Problems are unavoidable, both because of the vast scope envisioned for these databases and because they will be created and administered by government officials who will lack both the incentive and the ability to prevent theft and misuse of sensitive data.
No sane person is in favor of terrorism or lawlessness. But at a time when intelligence agencies are under fire for being not very intelligent, when our leaders are sometimes in too big a hurry to cast blame and take credit, we are building huge information gathering systems that we can’t completely control, we can’t completely validate, that can be turned against us by our enemies, and that can ultimately be used to justify, well, anything.
Of course he’s right. CARNIVORE, CALEA, TIA, etc. have been and are being driven by concerns about organized-crime and terrorism. Most citizens are unaware or unconcerned about problems with these systems, government agencies have lobbied vigorously for them, and legislators have consequently brushed aside concerns in allowing them (though TIA’s status is uncertain). But the existing systems are all vulnerable to hacking — and have been hacked, as Cringely points out — and the proposed TIA system, which promises to be much bigger than the previous systems combined, is likely to be at least as vulnerable to such problems and to false positives as well.
(Link: Don Luskin)
UPDATE: This is encouraging, though I think it’s too early to know if the level of public opposition will prove sufficient to stop the government’s data-mining program for good. TIA legislation has been “killed” at least once before, yet the security bureaucracy and its legislative supporters got it reintroduced in slightly different form. Time will tell.
Vacation
Lex is off to Maine. No blogging for a while. Now, y’all behave yourselves while I’m away.
Interesting Article
Interesting article here with national security and freedom of speech implications. I agree with the statement “Why in the world have we been so stupid as a country to have all this information in the public domain?”, but I fail to see the net benefit from squelching this guy’s work, as it does not seem to be prohibitively difficult to reproduce. Even if it took a year of dedicated effort by a group with nefarious intentions, would these assets be adequately protected by then?
Fitzgerald’s, Los Straitjackets, Pontani Sisters, etc.
I should mention that I saw a truly fabulous set of shows at Fitzgerald’s on July 4th. They have a party on the 4th every year, called the American Music Festival, with a tent with a stage outside, and bands playing all day. It’s worth checking out if you live in the area.
I actually had to work the morning of the 4th, which was unfortunate. But I got home in the mid-afternoon and my wife talked me into going to Fitzgerald’s, with the kids, to see a western swing outfit called the Hot Club of Cowtown. These guys were excellent. Girl fiddle player plays in Bob Wills style, but with a hint maybe of Stefan Grapelli. They did an instrumental version of Faded Love, which is originally a Bob Wills song. They played it so well the crowd fell silent — it brought tears to your eyes. They asked for requests, and I was able to bribe my 8 year old to go up and ask for Bubbles in my Beer, which they played. They also did a nice one called “Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight”.
Cowtown was followed by a zydeco-type outfit called Geno Delafose & French Rockin Boogie. I danced, sort of, with my two oldest daughters (4 and 6) to this stuff. I just sorta flung them around. They dug it. Let me state candidly that it is my considered opinion that zydeco, which really does all sound exactly the same, is nearly useless where the listener is sober. Starting at mildly buzzed and ascending on into the higher realms of inebriation, it becomes a valuable enhancement to the natural inclination to rhythmic bodily movement. So I derived what enjoyment was to be had from Monsieur Delafose and his colleagues.
As an aside, I will note that I drank bourbon and ginger ales throughout this extravaganza. I highly recommend this nutritious and flavorful drink. I suggest you get your friendly barkeep to give it to you in a large glass, in this case a plastic beer mug, with a lot of ginger ale so it is somewhat dilute. This method enhances the drink’s natural thirst-quenching qualities, while not getting you so blotto so fast that you are rendered useless as a caregiver to small children. (Please pass on any memorable experiences you may have with this delectable cocktail. The Summer is young.) (My Mom used to drink these. Maybe three of them a year. She insisted on Old Grand Dad and crushed ice. I had Makers Mark. And ice schmice — just go easy on the ice.)