This blog printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Consider the different reactions to two recent incidents of computer hacking:
--Fishback Financial sends out letters to customers indicating someone got unauthorized access to customer's private financial information. Chuck Clement at the Madison Daily Leader and Shawn Niestadt at KELO post some generic advice from the bank and the attorney general. No outcry, no public meetings. The MDL headline -- "Consumers Told: Obtain, Review Credit Reports" -- avoids even mentioning the bank and its failure of security.
--Madison High School students use a password to allow them to install games on their school-issued computers. 14 kids are suspended. The school administration and board are grilled by the press, the blogs, and parents.
Numerous conclusions are possible. Sloppy security at Fishback Financial put thousands of account holders and millions of dollars at risk. Sloppy security at MHS meant kids played with video games and maybe checked Facebook during class. Yet while the school board catches rightful heck from the public (and more for its draconian and unequal response than for allowing the hacking in the first place), Fishback Financial gets minimal scrutiny from a sleepy press.
Tell me again, who has more power in America: government or corporations?
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20 hours ago
Perhaps a better way to put it would be, "Where does the power lie in the USA? With the people or with the large corporations?"
ReplyDeleteI shy away from using the words "power" and "government" in the same sentence, but would enthusiastically embrace the notion of "power in the hands of the people."
The government is supposed to be of, by, and for the people. At least, that's what they told me in the mid-size Minnesota town where I grew up. The bad news: Right now it is not. The good news: In the future it can be.
Large corporations rule this nation with with arrogance, indifference to the law, and in some cases outright perversion. A friend of mine from South America noted that as if it were as obvious as the fact that the earth is round. Unfortunately, I cannot recall in my lifetime any President who set himself to a higher standard and stayed with it in the face of all adversity, except perhaps Jimmy Carter.
Geez, Cory, you're turning me into a liberal.
The outcry in Madison came from what some thought to be a harsh punishment of the students caught 'hacking' the system, not the actual 'hacking' itself.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure if the person or persons who hacked in Fishback's database are caught and they are given a $10 fine or given the death pently, the outcry and the media would heat up.
Perhaps a better comparision is the person who altered a student's record in Pierre (http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=25,68228). I think the two stories recieved similar news headlines.
Stan, I am turning you into a liberal? It's probably just the Black Hills -- they have that effect on some people.
ReplyDeleteBrett: the press still isn't giving the Fishback story nearly the attention they have given to the school "hacking" stories. And they certainly aren't getting any info from Fishback Financial. There's another problem with leaving too much power in the hands of corporations: it's much easier for them to dodge accountability.
Oh, what I meant is ... This is the only blog I actively participate in, and your posts make a lot of logical sense to me. So I'm seeing things from angles I have heretofore missed.
ReplyDeleteThe Black Hills can indeed make one more "environmentally aware." I guess that pretty much translates to "liberal." (I contrast that with "leftist," which to me means something quite different.)
Aging is also making me more liberal, as I begin to realize that the current health care system, with my current insurance plan, would cost me in excess of USD $12,000 annually should I develop a chronic illness before I become eligible for Medicare. Even Dennis Kucinich's 6-percent payroll tax for "universal Medicare" would be cheaper than that, unless I were fortunate enough to earn a couple of hundred grand per annum.
On the issue of hacking, I have dreamed up an axiom, although I won't claim original authorship: "If you think hackers can do something, then they can. If they can, then they will."
I wonder if any colleges offer majors in computer network hacking?
Stan,
ReplyDeleteDSU currently offer a Computer and Network Security major. While it's not a hacking major, it order to properly secure your network against hackers, you need to know the tatics that hackers take and use. So many hacking tatics are taught throughout the major.