Howard Schmidt...a government cybersecurity adviser, mentioned ongoing concerns about the vulnerabilities of SCADA systems and noted that 85% of the U.S. critical infrastructure is controlled by the private sector. "No one should be minimizing this issue," he said. He says this - or so I read it - as if that 85% is a problem. I think it is the solution.
In the public sector, you can start a war with insufficient justification and get thousands of US citizens killed, and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant. You can mismanage FEMA and let a major city turn into a swamp and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant. You can have voting machines that are inaccurate - maybe even deliberately so - and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant.
But, if you are in the private sector and you really screw up, you are likely to lose your job, maybe your pension. Private sector people, overall, are more likely to be responsible.
Let's make 100% of critical infrastructure controlled by the private sector.
Using a taser does make the policeman's/soldier's job easier. When you tase someone, translations are simple:
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH" is the English translation of "AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH" in Arabic.
And Farsi,
and Kurdish,
and Najdi,
and Khaliji,
and...
I friend of mine holds the theory that the way to determine if a technology will be a success is to see if pornographers adopt it. ( Presuming that they can use it in some fashion. ) When they do, you can presume that it is established.
In the grand/. tradition, let's try a car analogy. Is leaving the keys in your car a crime? Are you stealing the car or the guy that drives away with it? In another great slashdot tradition, let me fix that for you.:)
A more accurate car analogy would be: a friend, who happens to be a taxi driver, gives me a copy of the keys to his taxi, with the understanding that I can use it on Sundays when he spends all day programming in his basement. If, on Monday, I put the key in the car and put a big sign in the window that says "KEY INSIDE", and someone takes the car, am I guilty of a crime? ( Even if he gets the car back undamaged, I've still deprived him of the use of it, from which he presumably would have made a profit. )
Between the 'real' thief and myself, we have deprived the owner of an likely profit. I've been a material participant in a theft.
Transfer responsibility from the feds to the individual airlines. That's it.
Let the airlines make whatever policies they wish, implement them as they wish. Anything from 'Come on aboard, no questions asked!' to strip searching and anal cavity inspections. The customers will reward the airline whose policy makes the most sense with lots of money.
The other side of the coin is that the airlines' insurers would work to make sure that the policies were effective. If your plane gets hijack, and flown into a building, your premiums go WAY up.
My grandfather used to be an employee in a biotechnology venture in the 30's. It was a two stage process. The first was a corn - or sometimes a potato - plant. The second was a still. ( He was a tinsmith. ) The input was CO2 and sunlight, the output was ethanol.
There are 4 reasons for this:
1) The middles east is stll unstable
2) Sweet crude was recently added to the strategic pertoleum reserves
3) Nigerian production has dropped
4) China and India are using more ( and to improve its pre-olympic green image, China will buy more of the sweet crude )
I recall a rather nasty home-defense weapon that a friend of mine had for his wife to use ( they were in a rather rural area with slow police response ). It was a short-barrel.44 revolver - light, easy to use, won't jam - with a load that looked like a miniature shotgun shell. It had a bunch of pellets about 1 mm in diameter. He said that it could rip a person apart at close range, but could not penetrate 2 sheets of drywall.
Which may worry some people in power when impressionable children have access to all kinds of corrupting influences. "Daddy, what is 'capitalism'?" or "Teacher, why don't I have freedom of the press like my friends in America?"
I predict some kind of censorship - under the cover of 'protecting' them, of course - within a year.
Slashdot Mirror
It works on brain cells, not dicks.
It has the fewest flaws found because it has the fewest amount of people admitting to them
Or is my street address personal data? Or how about "the girl next door"? That is a unique identifier too.
In the public sector, you can start a war with insufficient justification and get thousands of US citizens killed, and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant. You can mismanage FEMA and let a major city turn into a swamp and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant. You can have voting machines that are inaccurate - maybe even deliberately so - and there are no consequences because you are a civil servant.
But, if you are in the private sector and you really screw up, you are likely to lose your job, maybe your pension. Private sector people, overall, are more likely to be responsible.
Let's make 100% of critical infrastructure controlled by the private sector.
Using a taser does make the policeman's/soldier's job easier. When you tase someone, translations are simple: "AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH" is the English translation of "AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH" in Arabic. And Farsi, and Kurdish, and Najdi, and Khaliji, and...
Dang!! That was almost exactly what I was going to post.
One addition: Before resigning I'd pardon everyone who is incarcerated on any type of non-violent between-consenting-adults sex or drugs charge.
I friend of mine holds the theory that the way to determine if a technology will be a success is to see if pornographers adopt it. ( Presuming that they can use it in some fashion. ) When they do, you can presume that it is established.
A more accurate car analogy would be: a friend, who happens to be a taxi driver, gives me a copy of the keys to his taxi, with the understanding that I can use it on Sundays when he spends all day programming in his basement. If, on Monday, I put the key in the car and put a big sign in the window that says "KEY INSIDE", and someone takes the car, am I guilty of a crime? ( Even if he gets the car back undamaged, I've still deprived him of the use of it, from which he presumably would have made a profit. ) Between the 'real' thief and myself, we have deprived the owner of an likely profit. I've been a material participant in a theft.
Transfer responsibility from the feds to the individual airlines. That's it.
Let the airlines make whatever policies they wish, implement them as they wish. Anything from 'Come on aboard, no questions asked!' to strip searching and anal cavity inspections. The customers will reward the airline whose policy makes the most sense with lots of money.
The other side of the coin is that the airlines' insurers would work to make sure that the policies were effective. If your plane gets hijack, and flown into a building, your premiums go WAY up.
I'm typing this on a Dell Inspiron 1420 laptop with Ubuntu factory installed.
My grandfather used to be an employee in a biotechnology venture in the 30's. It was a two stage process. The first was a corn - or sometimes a potato - plant. The second was a still. ( He was a tinsmith. ) The input was CO2 and sunlight, the output was ethanol.
I thought that the problem was that frost accumulated on the balloon too readily, so it is not as easy as one might think.
It seems that you showed some moderator a mirror and he didn't like what he saw.
I hope this wundervacine will not attach to some of the body's natural painkillers.
I predict it will hit 5/gal by the end of 2008.
There are 4 reasons for this:
1) The middles east is stll unstable 2) Sweet crude was recently added to the strategic pertoleum reserves 3) Nigerian production has dropped 4) China and India are using more ( and to improve its pre-olympic green image, China will buy more of the sweet crude )
I finally realized that I was never going to have a flying car.
Some of them protected their citizens by caving in to Islamic extremists rather than supporting their own citizen's freedom of speech.
I recall a rather nasty home-defense weapon that a friend of mine had for his wife to use ( they were in a rather rural area with slow police response ). It was a short-barrel .44 revolver - light, easy to use, won't jam - with a load that looked like a miniature shotgun shell. It had a bunch of pellets about 1 mm in diameter. He said that it could rip a person apart at close range, but could not penetrate 2 sheets of drywall.
Can we put some restrictions on the ammo that you can carry? It is ok with me if you kill a hijacker, but I don't want you putting holes in the plane.
You REALLY do need to get out of the basement.
Speak for yourslf. I'm damn good and aiming for perfection.
Sure, but only because it was a pun. I have no interest in Maoists.
Which may worry some people in power when impressionable children have access to all kinds of corrupting influences. "Daddy, what is 'capitalism'?" or "Teacher, why don't I have freedom of the press like my friends in America?"
I predict some kind of censorship - under the cover of 'protecting' them, of course - within a year.