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Crime Expert Backs Call For "License To Compute"
The Cable Guy writes to mention that Russel Smith, one of Australia's principal criminologists, is pushing for first-time computer users to be required to earn a license to browse the web. "The Australian Computer Society launched computer driver's licenses in 1999. It aimed to give users a basic level of competency before they started using PCs. But the growth in cybercrime has led to IT security experts such as Eugene Kaspersky to call for more formalized recognition of a user's identity so they can travel the net safely. Last week Dr. Smith sat in front of a Federal Government Inquiry into cybercrime and advised Australia's senior politicians on initiatives in train to fight cybercrime. He said that education was secondary to better technology solutions."
more formalized recognition of a user's identity so they can travel the net safely
How does letting THEM, know who I am, make ME safer?
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Computers license YOU !
Yours In Ulyanovsk,
Kilgore Trout
Classic example of trading freedom for "security", I can only hope this is not put through. This could also severely restrict younger peoples (legal) access to the internet, narrowing their horizons drastically.
Good sigs are hard to think of, bad sigs are a waste of time, that is why I invented, this lousy rhyme.
Dear Australia:
1. Get a hardware firewall and configure it properly.
2. Don't open unexpected attachments, even if you're trying to help because those strata minutes must have been sent to you by mistake and you should read them to find out who to send them to.
3. Don't click the banners.
4. No, it's not true. Don't forward the email.
5. If a computer asks you for information, lie.
6. It's not your bank. It's NEVER your bank. It's also never paypal, amazon, your ISP, or the police.
Love,
1999.
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I can understand where they are coming from, but they are going to implement it wrong. (with the heavy-handed license approach) Rather, I think that computer literacy should be something that should be taught in school along with reading and math, since computer skills essential in this day and age. The class shouldn't be about how to use popular software, (although covering operating systems besides Windows would be a plus) but should cover basic skills instead. People need to learn why they shouldn't click the "greetingcard.exe" attachment in their email inbox or why it is a bad idea to share too much personal information online. People don't always pick on stuff like that by themselves, so it has to be taught.
"It is a denial of justice not to stretch out a helping hand to the fallen; that is the common right of humanity."
They should put that on billboards and every other kind of public service announcement all over the world. Not that it would work particularly well, but over time it might. Like the gradual reduction of smoking in the US.
Honestly I'd like to see them create separate tests for Linux, Mac and Windows
That's hardly an inclusive list. I'm not going to bother reading the article, the idea of an internet license has been floated for a long time now, but they probably need to add smart phones too.
If this actually makes sense (I do not think it does), the obvious next step is to require people to purchase internet insurance in case they get into an accident/install malware and spread SPAM or DDOS attacks.
Sigh.
Honestly I'd like to see them create separate tests for Linux, Mac and Windows cause one test does NOT apply to all three.
Well, the real test with Linux is installing it. The real test with Windows is not having to reinstall it every few months. I've only used a Mac a handful of times, but I'd imagine the real test there is enduring the daily beatings for your lunch money.
Okay, I tend to agree with you.
It goes from God, to Jerry, to me.
With any other country I'd be prepared to laugh it off, but the current Australian government is stupid, technologically ignorant and authoritarian enough to try this.
They're pushing for enough control of the internet as it is, a license to communicate in the first place is just begging for abuse.
I expect Linux and Mac users probably require a special "UNIX" endorsment on their license to run a real OS, like large truck drivers need.
iPhone and similar mobile devices (with mobile browsers) need a license similar to what one needs to legally operate a motorcycle.
This could cause a resurgence in simpler phone devices, they'd have a niche market for people who don't want to pay the fees for a special license to operate a web browser on a phone.
Also, don't forget, these licenses only last 4 years, they contain a picture, and can only be renewed online once every other time.
So every 8 years, you have to go back to the Department of Electrocomputers and wait in line for 2 or 3 hours to get your renewal, as well as your typing skills (WPM) test.
Experts have called for the introduction of a mandatory license for ownership of Dihydrogen Monoxide, citing its common usage in the illegal manufacturing of most controlled substances.
weinersmith
We Mac users don't have 'lunch money'. Carrying cash is far below us, and we wouldn't dream of any meal as pedestrian as 'lunch'. We live mainly on a diet of coffee (real coffee, not the plebeian Starbucks imitation that Windows-users drink or [shudder] instant coffee). When we dine, we do so lavishly, at the expense of others.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
What can you do on Linux that can't be done in windows?
Make fun of the Windows users from the high vantage point of a Linux user?
What's next, a license for sex?
We used to, it was called marriage.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"