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Bruce Schneier: Why Collecting More Data Doesn't Increase Safety

Posted by timothy on from the but-it's-only-wafer-thin dept.

Jeremiah Cornelius writes "Bruce Schneier, security expert (and rational voice in the wilderness), explains in an editorial on CNN why 'Connecting the Dots' is a 'Hindsight Bias.' In heeding calls to increase the amount of surveillance data gathered and shared, agencies like the FBI have impaired their ability to discover actual threats, while guaranteeing erosion of personal and civil freedom. 'Piling more data onto the mix makes it harder, not easier. The best way to think of it is a needle-in-a-haystack problem; the last thing you want to do is increase the amount of hay you have to search through. The television show Person of Interest is fiction, not fact.'"

3 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Fiction, not fact. by Black+Parrot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Good luck if he thinks he convince the American public that televised fiction isn't fact.

    --
    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
    1. Re:Fiction, not fact. by auric_dude · · Score: 5, Informative

      Television dramas that rely on forensic science to solve crimes are affecting the administration of justice via http://www.economist.com/node/15949089

  2. Bruce Schneier facts by KugelKurt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bruce Schneier doesn't need to hide data with steganography - data hides from Bruce Schneier
    Bruce Schneier knows who the Anonymous Coward is
    Bruce Schneier can recite pi. Backwards.
    Bruce Schneier can securely wipe any hard drive by shaking it like an etch-a-sketch.
    Bruce Schneier knows Chuck Norris' private key.
    Bruce Schneier can write a recursive program that proves the Riemann Hypothesis. In Malbolge.
    Bruce Schneier can read captchas.
    Hashes collide because they're swerving to avoid Bruce Schneier.
    Bruce Schneier is the root of all certificates.
    Bruce Schneier intercepts all your internal monologues by a man-in-the-middle attack.

    http://www.schneierfacts.com/