I find it is interesting that a company with record cash in hand and well documented employee benefits would not have their own 'blue hat team' on staff. I mean, why invite outsiders in to reveal the exploits? Surely MS can afford an elite team of their own...especially when 1/3 of the R&D budget is going to security matters.
In light of this whole Choicepoint situation, I have been thinking a lot about the difference between the value of isolated information versus the value of aggregated information.
Clearly, the more aggregated information can be, the higher the value because those using it do not have to look so far to get other, related facts about a subject.
Perhaps the form of regulation on the topic of information security for these large clearinghouses should be to keep as much information isolated as possible...so that even if there is a fault, the effects are minimized.
This approach works in plenty of scenarios as far as contingency planning and fault tolerance goes. Faults and failures can occur, but in this case, the owners of the information should work towards containment for the sake of those they are representing (that is, those they have data about).
I am interested to see how the proposals for regulating this industry emerge, or if they will be squelched by various lobbies. We'll see.
The thing I find interesting is that a Government agency like the Secret Services uses a standard, run of the mill consumer service provider. Not that I necessarily expect the Feds to run their own cellular network, but for an agency dealing with such sensitive information (the comings and goings of W, for instance), you'd think they would use a more secured system.
Very likely I am wrong, and they do use alternative or additional measures...and maybe it was a personal account that was handled. But in the age of Homeland Security and all that, I am left with curiosity.
I concur. First Break all the Rules is very good about saying "here are 12 things to ask your employees on a regular basis". I've worked those questions into my quarterly employee review process and it really is helpful.
Buckingham has written a follow up to that too which is probably just as good.
I did my first full 'program' in Hypercard. I was a high school senior, and wrote a flash card system for Japanese characters. Both my Japanese sensei and computer teacher were impressed and encouraged me to market the product any way I could. I proceeded to build a demo version (10 characters) and uploaded it to AOL for the masses. As a 17 year old, the fact that my demo got over 100 downloads was enough to convince me then an there that Computer Science would be my college major, and Programming would be my career.
Even more fulfilling is the occasional Google search that yields a few archived remnants of that original Hypercard stack emblazed with the semi-official "company" name I marketed the program under.
Hypercard in 1992 was as good of an event driven programming platform as a kid could ask for. As I transitioned to Visual Basic and web programming, many of the concepts I understood originated from that Hypercard project.
"In the Stony Brook study, researchers found that test subjects who sat for an hour with running laptops on their laps had a median increase in scrotal temperature of 2.6 to 2.8 degrees Celsius."
Let's just hope it's done using one of those non-invasive laser thermometers.
As a freshman computer science major in a required writing class, I wrote an essay suggesting that premature introduction of computer technology could lead to severe developmental progress. One of my primary arguments was that the development of fine motor skills and handwriting was stumped when children are allowed to type and use the mouse rather than write, paint, etc.
Further, (and granted, this was prior to the widespread advent of the WWW) the 'curiosity driven' learning experience is interrupted by the immediacy of technology provided information. Case in point, Online Encyclopedia vs. Book Encyclopedia. With one, I type in my topic and immediately receive a specific article. With the other, I have to learn how to look the topic up, and in that process am inevitably exposed to other topics which may catch my attention and allow me to learn a bit more.
My suggestion at that time, and one I would probably stand by today, is that computer technology in the classroom should be delayed until the Junior High (7th or 8th grade) level. In America at least, we see quite an opposite trend, where children are exposed to technology at younger and younger ages.
I heard Dr. Ed Felton from Princeton lecture on this very idea...that we are used to purchasing a product and owning it. If that means we want to take a screwdriver, dismantle our toaster and find out how it works, then that is the right of ownership. However, he continued, with more technical products (ranging from commercial software to embedded components) we do not get ownership, rather a license agreement. Thus, we lose the "right to tinker" and subsequently improve products as we see fit.
He referenced several lawsuits involving this idea...one in particular regarding aftermarket garage door openers.
I've always asked the question "Why can't I change how long the snooze button silences the alarm?" My clock has a 9 minute snooze...but what if I just want 6 minutes? I'd have to keep buying clocks and find the right one through trial and error. I'd be totally willing to pay more for a clock with a variable snooze.
I once had a boss that insisted that I send him a status report each week.
I once had 7 bosses who all wanted me to put a new cover sheet on the weekly report (they called it a 'TPS Report'...whatever that is???). Instead, I tore apart my cubicle and embezzelled a bunch of money from them. Hmm...maybe I should make a movie out of the sad story of my job?
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I find it is interesting that a company with record cash in hand and well documented employee benefits would not have their own 'blue hat team' on staff. I mean, why invite outsiders in to reveal the exploits? Surely MS can afford an elite team of their own...especially when 1/3 of the R&D budget is going to security matters.
Clearly, the more aggregated information can be, the higher the value because those using it do not have to look so far to get other, related facts about a subject.
Perhaps the form of regulation on the topic of information security for these large clearinghouses should be to keep as much information isolated as possible...so that even if there is a fault, the effects are minimized.
This approach works in plenty of scenarios as far as contingency planning and fault tolerance goes. Faults and failures can occur, but in this case, the owners of the information should work towards containment for the sake of those they are representing (that is, those they have data about).
I am interested to see how the proposals for regulating this industry emerge, or if they will be squelched by various lobbies. We'll see.
Very likely I am wrong, and they do use alternative or additional measures...and maybe it was a personal account that was handled. But in the age of Homeland Security and all that, I am left with curiosity.
I concur. First Break all the Rules is very good about saying "here are 12 things to ask your employees on a regular basis". I've worked those questions into my quarterly employee review process and it really is helpful. Buckingham has written a follow up to that too which is probably just as good.
Even more fulfilling is the occasional Google search that yields a few archived remnants of that original Hypercard stack emblazed with the semi-official "company" name I marketed the program under.
Hypercard in 1992 was as good of an event driven programming platform as a kid could ask for. As I transitioned to Visual Basic and web programming, many of the concepts I understood originated from that Hypercard project.
Let's just hope it's done using one of those non-invasive laser thermometers.
As a freshman computer science major in a required writing class, I wrote an essay suggesting that premature introduction of computer technology could lead to severe developmental progress. One of my primary arguments was that the development of fine motor skills and handwriting was stumped when children are allowed to type and use the mouse rather than write, paint, etc.
Further, (and granted, this was prior to the widespread advent of the WWW) the 'curiosity driven' learning experience is interrupted by the immediacy of technology provided information. Case in point, Online Encyclopedia vs. Book Encyclopedia. With one, I type in my topic and immediately receive a specific article. With the other, I have to learn how to look the topic up, and in that process am inevitably exposed to other topics which may catch my attention and allow me to learn a bit more.
My suggestion at that time, and one I would probably stand by today, is that computer technology in the classroom should be delayed until the Junior High (7th or 8th grade) level. In America at least, we see quite an opposite trend, where children are exposed to technology at younger and younger ages.
He referenced several lawsuits involving this idea...one in particular regarding aftermarket garage door openers.
I've always asked the question "Why can't I change how long the snooze button silences the alarm?" My clock has a 9 minute snooze...but what if I just want 6 minutes? I'd have to keep buying clocks and find the right one through trial and error. I'd be totally willing to pay more for a clock with a variable snooze.
I once had 7 bosses who all wanted me to put a new cover sheet on the weekly report (they called it a 'TPS Report'...whatever that is???). Instead, I tore apart my cubicle and embezzelled a bunch of money from them. Hmm...maybe I should make a movie out of the sad story of my job?