Posted on 01/28/2008 7:51:47 AM PST by Mike Acker
How best to Clean up the Internet
We all know this is a job that has be be attended: we have got phishers, pharmers, hackers, bank robbers, sleazes sending out RATS and robots, taking over our computers, stealing our identity, credit cards, bank funds, and birth days, plotting conspiracy, and sending sleaze
over OUR network
In his book "Geekonomics: The Real Cost of Insecure Software" David Rice describes our condition as a "market failure": the current Market Incentives are not producing results most beneficial to society.
David rails over "insecure software" and that is certainly a big part of our network troubles today, but he also touches on a lack of responsibility as also being a factor. Interestingly Bruce Scheneier had made the same comment as well
who is responsible for Network and Computer Security? Microsoft? Software vendors? computer owners and operators? Network ISPs? Anti-virus research companies? Banks and merchants? Everyone?
This is a topic I think merits discussion, but more: we will need to act on this before the hackers render our network useless.
How about leaving the internet alone? Did that even occur to you?
somebody is stealing your birthday ???
But Microsoft can totally not care about security and leave all the holes open for years and years, and people will still buy it, while claiming that anyone who doesn't is "gay".
That’s my point. I’ll be my own big brother.
Forget about it. If you can't control your own computer, then you shouldn't have one.
Why must we choke the life out of everything in this world?
Frankly I could not care less about porn or “offensive content”. If someone doesn’t like it they don’t have to look at it (unless malware pushes them there against their will). These are legitimate LEGAL issues.
Forget about it. If you can't control your own computer, then you shouldn't have one.
Ditto that!
I hate these newbies that come on here and try to get us to favor censorship.
Me neither. I've done many transactions over the net and have never had a problem.
Of course, when I receive junk emails generated from somewhere in Russia telling me that my debit card needs to be re-activated, I promptly delete them. Sadly, I'll bet too many gullible people follow the instructions.
Part of the problem is that many Internet users don’t use or know how to use even the most basic protections. I have helped many friends and family members with computer issues and have have frequently found out of date anti virus programs, hundreds of pieces of spyware and malware and no firewall installed. This would be no different than leaving your house unlocked, your garage open and the key in your car and then wonder why you were robbed. I have recently started using a USB device that secures my computer against hackers and phishing when accessing my financial sites. This is in addition to running a top rated anti-virus/anti spyware software and a third party firewall.
Clean up? Naaah.
Just needs a little Eau de Toilette.
What is the brand name of the USB device?
Whenever I hear “Internet” and “security” outside of business, I think of big government oversight, restrictions, filtering, and censorship. Think of the Internet as a library; you go there to seek information, read, educate yourself, and discuss your new knowledge with your friends over a cup of joe.
Take that same library, the librarian (metaphor for government) has a real problem with say,”Catcher in the Rye” or maybe she’s a liberal and copies of Rush Limbaugh’s “See I Told You So” is always mysteriously checked-out, then are you so willing to allow someone to do something for you, that you should be allowed to choose for yourself?
Like most other errorsions of freedom we’ve endured the past forty, or fifty, years, they start off with the basic precept that it is for the protection of (insert gender, group, or ethnicity here) and they never intend on hurting the “law abiding citizen” - however, we know that is the big lie.
The use of the Internet is not a right, but the information on it has the right to be disseminated by those authors who wish to do so. We all share in the burden of making things more secure, business has a due diligence they owe their shareholders, government has a due diligence to protect our personal information, and we all have a due diligence to protect ourselves.
No matter what limitations, controls, or censoring occurs on the web, it will never eliminate the need for personal responsibility. One only needs to look at the billions of dollars we spend each year on security, and amazingly, we are no more secure than we were when ALGORE created the Internet.
you couldn't sell that on 42d street
Who would I trust to secure the internet? Microsoft? Hahaha! Govt.? Oh hell no! The UN? Even worse than all the rest!
The diffuse, unfocused way it's been handled so far is better than any alternative.
A lot of hackers are part of international crime syndicates, making billions from illegal activity.
You could ask a more fundamental question- how do we get people to behave themselves?
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