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Whom Must You Trust?

CowboyRobot writes: 'In ACM's Queue, Thomas Wadlow argues that "Whom you trust, what you trust them with, and how much you trust them are at the center of the Internet today." He gives a checklist of what to look for when evaluating any system for trustworthiness, chock full of fascinating historical examples. These include NASA opting for a simpler, but more reliable chip; the Terry Childs case; and even an 18th century "semaphore telegraph" that was a very early example of steganographic cryptography. From the article: "Detecting an anomaly is one thing, but following up on what you've detected is at least as important. In the early days of the Internet, Cliff Stoll, then a graduate student at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories in California, noticed a 75-cent accounting error on some computer systems he was managing. Many would have ignored it, but it bothered him enough to track it down. That investigation led, step by step, to the discovery of an attacker named Markus Hess, who was arrested, tried, and convicted of espionage and selling information to the Soviet KGB."'

5 of 120 comments (clear)

  1. I would trust me.... by Petron · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I know what I've been up to...

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    if (it != oneThing) it = another;
  2. Re:Correct usage? by Aighearach · · Score: 2, Funny

    Off the lawn you will get. Put up with this I will not!

  3. Re:Trust is a virgin by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    You could have phrased that better, such as "Trust is like virginity. Once you get fucked, it's gone."

  4. Re:Correct usage? by Opportunist · · Score: 1, Funny

    You need to stop using RPL, that reverse polish notation is not good for you.

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  5. Whom you trust ... ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I see that alot.