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While we're all (i would think) very joyous at the return of Hacker Jeopardy to DefCon, does this latest article by Winn Schwartau entitled "Mad as hell, switching to Mac" mean we'll be seeing lots of Macintosh related questions? 
an interesting read, albeit in Winn's well-established vein of "security should be dropped down to the most basic user's level". while i agree that one of the most significant problems in the tech world is the fact that users have to be involved, i'm still pretty tied to the model of "hire the right experts to set things up, lock down all the settings so they can't be changed, stuff the users in a corner, and tell them to shut the fuck up and just work with the computers they way they're configured."
yes, there is much effort that needs to be focused on the abilities of the basic user (see the paper Why Johnny Can't Encrypt) but the fact that users can't do everything is what keeps me employed.
as for home computers, i just don't know anymore... i'd love to hear other people's opinions on this, actually. i think my current mindset could best be summarized with the notion "look, you bought the fucking thing... if you don't know how to use it and don't have any friends who can help you that's your own goddamn fault." i mean, hell, if i went out and bought surgery implements and tried to operate on my dog, would i have much of a right to cry when he dies? should advocacy groups start lobbying for more simplified scalpels and so forth?
of course, the flip side of this is that being online and having access to the web and electronic messaging in your home is becoming more and more of a requisite in our society, whereas my in my hypothetical example, i'm not that compromised as a citizen by having to rely on a veterinarian when my dog is ill.
i don't know. i'm just sorta thinking out loud. maybe this post belonged in the more generalized Computer Security forum. feel free to move it there, dear admins.
[EDIT: URL tag fix]
an interesting read, albeit in Winn's well-established vein of "security should be dropped down to the most basic user's level". while i agree that one of the most significant problems in the tech world is the fact that users have to be involved, i'm still pretty tied to the model of "hire the right experts to set things up, lock down all the settings so they can't be changed, stuff the users in a corner, and tell them to shut the fuck up and just work with the computers they way they're configured."
yes, there is much effort that needs to be focused on the abilities of the basic user (see the paper Why Johnny Can't Encrypt) but the fact that users can't do everything is what keeps me employed.
as for home computers, i just don't know anymore... i'd love to hear other people's opinions on this, actually. i think my current mindset could best be summarized with the notion "look, you bought the fucking thing... if you don't know how to use it and don't have any friends who can help you that's your own goddamn fault." i mean, hell, if i went out and bought surgery implements and tried to operate on my dog, would i have much of a right to cry when he dies? should advocacy groups start lobbying for more simplified scalpels and so forth?
of course, the flip side of this is that being online and having access to the web and electronic messaging in your home is becoming more and more of a requisite in our society, whereas my in my hypothetical example, i'm not that compromised as a citizen by having to rely on a veterinarian when my dog is ill.
i don't know. i'm just sorta thinking out loud. maybe this post belonged in the more generalized Computer Security forum. feel free to move it there, dear admins.
[EDIT: URL tag fix]
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