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February 17, 2008
Something to ponder
Bruce Schneier is a security researcher who is one of the few voices of sanity in this age of surveillance. I thoroughly recommend everyone to read his site http://www.schneier.com/
For those who can't be bothered, here is something from one of his recent columns that I think everyone should think about:
"Since 9/11, approximately three things have potentially improved airline
security: reinforcing the cockpit doors, passengers realizing they have to fight back, and -- possibly -- sky marshals. Everything else -- all the security measures that affect privacy -- is just security theater and a waste of effort.
By the same token, many of the anti-privacy "security" measures we're seeing -- national ID cards, warrantless eavesdropping, massive data mining, and so on -- do little to improve, and in some cases harm, security. And government claims of their success are either wrong, or against fake threats.
The debate isn't security versus privacy. It's liberty versus control.
You can see it in comments by government officials: "Privacy no longer can mean anonymity," says Donald Kerr, principal deputy director of national intelligence. "Instead, it should mean that government and businesses properly safeguard people's private communications and financial information." Did you catch that? You're expected to give up control of your privacy to others, who -- presumably -- get to decide how much of it you deserve. That's what loss of liberty looks like."
You read it here first.
