The Evolving Attitude Toward Computer Crimes

As I have been reading The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage, written by Cliff Stoll, the indifference of the authorities towards the hacker has been shocking. In the story Cliff tracked a hacker as he exploited the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and from there attempted or succeeded in hacking networks operated by the FBI, NSA, and several military operations. When Cliff informed these agencies and tried to solicit help he got the cold shoulder, time after time. They constantly said that nothing significant had been stolen or destroyed so they wouldn't worry about it.

Now we contrast that to today. There are numerous agencies and groups that are spending all day, every day, tracking down and busting hackers. There have been a myriad of laws and legislation in preventing many kinds of hacking. Digital Terrorism is quickly becoming one of the largest threats of our national security.

As systems get larger and more people are getting smarter it is becoming increasingly difficult to combat these issues. I think that there needs to be more organization in preparing people who can fight this war. Just like members of the army or navy are given duties and trained to combat threats, there should be an organization to combat different digital threats. We must take more action in protecting our nation from digital terrorism.

Digital Privacy in the US

I was reading a few articles today about Google and privacy rights. One article was about Google Street View, a technology that shows street level images of buildings, cars and even people, and the privacy issues of doing such a thing in Canada. Apparently the privacy laws in Canada restrict showing faces or license plates on the internet.

After reading this article I wondered why the US is lagging behind in the issue of digital privacy. Another point of view could say that others are overprotective. I don't know which is right but in a world of identity theft and crazy stalkers I would tend to lean towards the lagging behind camp. This article shows us that the US does not protect the right not to be identified online while Canadian laws purely protect that right. The US needs to learn from the Canadian laws of privacy and help protect the privacy and dignity of its citizens.

Embracing Technology: A Paradigm Shift

In this era of technology it is hard to imagine any significant group or organization that wouldn't embrace technology. We all see how technology improves our lives and makes things easier. Can you imagine engineers not using computer aided drafting software or accountants not using spreadsheets? It would be silly not to.

Although somewhat different I wondered why Galileo's ideas were so readily rejected by the religious leaders of the time. Many modern day scientists develop other radical ideas that are easily embraced by the masses. I think technology has helped people to accept new ideas. There has been a colossal paradigm shift that technology has introduced to us. In a world where changes in technology crawled along, people couldn't accept change as easily. Now you can spend hours a day learning about new technologies, and this where our paradigm shift has come from.

Global Village and All-at-Onceness

But there is less and less surprise in the "global village" . . .. When the news is constant and continuous and always with us, when we are saturated with news, there is no real news. Real news is from elsewhere. When everyone is in the same room (or the same global village), there is no real news, because everyone can see what everyone else is doing. Surprise is impossible. News is impossible. The people in the room don't need information about what's going on there.

From Movable Type to Data Deluge. By: Gehl, John, Douglas, Suzanne, World & I, 08879346, Jan99, Vol. 14, Issue 1

In this quote the author is stating that as technology brings us closer together, we are less surprised by the happenings of the world. While I agree that this is true, there are so many things in the world that continue to surprise me, despite how easy it is to gather information about these things. As I read this quote I thought about when I was planning on going to Thailand. I had never been there so I didn't know what to expect. Excitedly I gathered information about the country, read books, viewed videos and pictures, talked to people who had been there, and tried to grasp what this country was like. I still remember the shock of arriving, everything was so different than what I had imagined, from the smells to the buildings to the abundance of stray dogs, not to mention a different language and culture. Regardless of all of the available information I was shocked at what I found. I have had similar experiences traveling to other countries. Despite the global village created by high availability of information, some things will always surprise us.