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Security, Technology and Privacy conference
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sun, 27 Apr 2003 21:50:59 -0400
------ Forwarded Message From: .edu> anonymity requested Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 23:30:20 -0400 To: dave () farber net Subject: Security, Technology and Privacy conference Dave (I decided to drop the formal addressing, I hope it's ok with you :-) I hope you're getting over the illness. Too bad you couldn't attend the DC conference, it was extremely interesting. John Gage kicked off the conference with a very interesting overview of current snooping technologies (with the shocking example of http://www.earthviewer.com) and the right dose of Microsoft bashing when the PC he was using for the demonstration crashed. The first panel started with John Podesta's paper, arguing for more transparency and public visibility in the government. Suzanne Spaulding tried to scare us all off by talking about "terrorism" and the importance of keeping information secret to make this country safer. The only good thing about her presentation was that it was followed by Tom Blanton, who completely devastated any arguments she might have had, with numerous examples from contemporary America, where openness of information has proven to be only beneficial, both to the government and the public. Blanton's speech was moving, powerful, ending with a quote of an American politician (sorry didn't note the name) at the end of a report on communism, that said that "Of course, as we try to fight them, we will become more and more like them." Reed Hundt's talk after lunch was very interesting, fact-driven, and provided a concice view into the immediate future of the telecommunications industry. Day two, and some very interesting facts about public safety in "normal" times came to light. Did you know that the government assumes that the average American won't consume more than 1,5 whole mangos per year? This means that the safety levels for chemicals are set in such a way that eating more than that is considered "non-normal use" and therefore dangerous, since you expose yourself to more chemicals than recommended. I believe this example was given by Dr. Linda Greer, who painted a very gloomy image of the state of safety control for the foods we daily consume, using numerous interesting examples. During lunch, we had the dis-pleasure of getting a talk by Larry Thompson, the Deputy Attorney General. It was both sad and scary. A couple of quotes that almost gave me brain damage: * "Our long studies have determined that the most successful deterrent of terrorist activity is sustained police action" * "I assure you that all of our actions (as pertaining to privacy, surveillance etc) are completely legal." He was constantly talking about the "terrorists", making sickening statements about how "there are evil men out there, and they want to kill you and me", and he concluded his little speech with a resounding "I think there is no civil liberties issue". They told us that the transcripts will be made available on the website (http://www.securityandprivacyconference.com) in the next few days, but nothing has showed up yet. Cheers ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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