by Willis Ware
August 17, 2000
There is a continued push by law enforcement for broader access to Internet
communications and to Internet traffic. The thrust by law enforcement
is generally seen by the technical and user community as a serious threat to
privacy, and a major deterrent to the development and evolution of good
security -- in fact, even a potential contributor to weakening of security.
Moreover, the ongoing efforts of the legislative process, primarily at the
federal level but also at the state level, to deal with various issues
relevant to the Internet are also raising similar concerns in regard to
privacy and security.
Add to these two observations the fact that copyright issues are seen as
favoring big business (e.g., DVD, MP3); and the fact that the UCITA threat
acts to relieve software vendors of important responsibility. One has to
conclude that in addition to the usual past and present inertia and
unwillingness of organizations to embrace security, there are other new
forces in the world that could well impede rapid progress in widespread and
sound information security. The only force in favor of rapid progress
would seem to be that of critical infrastructure protection.
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