Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Melas

In the most respectful way, I disagree. *Anything* and *everything* will be "posted on the web" if everyone did it. The more we share online, the more the average person is going to know. Yes, it can be easily found online, but loose lips do sink ships. Why make things easier, is all?


223 posted on 06/03/2005 8:18:50 AM PDT by getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL (H.R. 698 - go drop anchor somewhere else)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 201 | View Replies ]


To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL

Gotta keep them average peoples from knowing stuff I guess....


237 posted on 06/03/2005 8:29:39 AM PDT by Melas (Really does live in Texas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies ]

To: getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL
The more we share online, the more the average person is going to know. Yes, it can be easily found online, but loose lips do sink ships. Why make things easier, is all?

If I may, what you're advocating is known in the security biz as "security through obscurity." It is notoriously ineffective, as anyone with any degree of initiative can easily "defeat" this security mechanism. (You can validate this yourself by Googling the phrase "security through obscurity"--the articles which come up will almost without exception be disdainful of the concept.)

In this case, this information needs to be widely disseminated, as the aviation community (both professional and private pilots) need to be on the same page as the air traffic controllers at all times. Any attempt to keep this information secret is doomed to failure, as too many people need to know this "secret." Therefore, we must assume that the bad people know this information, and act accordingly. Posting the squawk code information once, twice, or a thousand times on Free Republic or elsewhere on the Web has no meaningful effect on aviation security.

If I recall correctly, you've got a personal stake in this (was it your husband that was a pilot?) so your position is understandable. But I think if you asked 100 security experts, 100 of them would tell you that it's not significantly more risk to have this information out in the public, and may in fact be safer than trying to keep this information closely held -- (i.e. a scenario where a private pilot either did not know or forgot the codes, putting his/herself, the fighter pilots, and possibly the public at risk thereby.) Security is the business of risk management, not risk avoidance. Pros and cons of any action taken for security purposes need to be carefully considered.

Having said that, I'd agree that it would be prudent to investigate some kind of rotating encrypted code system rather than the static code currently in use--maybe adopting the SecurID passcode technology for instance. However to implement that, you'd have to replace (or augment) the transponder systems in every single airplane in service. Smarter people than me are probably looking at how to do this right now, but it is a massively non-trivial problem to solve, not in the technology but in the deployment.

Sorry about going on at some length, but I thought your concerns needed a more thorough discussion. I'm sure other security-savvy FReeper can chime in with more detail.

258 posted on 06/03/2005 8:47:18 AM PDT by filbert (More filbert at http://www.medary.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 223 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson