[GRLUG] FYI Linux Red Flag News Release

[Tim Schmidt]

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 4:41 PM, Collin Kidder <adderd at kkmfg.com> wrote:
> I don't think that he need imply that we're as bad. The fact that we
> even register on the radar is bad enough. Our track record is nowhere
> near spotless. The Patriot act and other highlights have proven that our
> government is more than willing to step on us. There is no excuse for
> that. But it doesn't necessarily mean that we're as bad as China. We aren't.

Exactly.  It's pointless to debate degrees of 'badness'.  I certainly
don't intend to.  My point was that one cannot chide China while
faux-patriotically ignoring our government's technological and
human-rights related misdeeds (among others).

In other words, it's a systemic _human_ problem.  _Not_ a problem that
has regional or political boundaries.

Now...  if we want to channel this into a productive discussion...
I'm firmly of the opinion that the only effective way to fix systemic
brokenness - fast - is to stick a fat prybar in one of the cracks and
break the living hell out of it some more.  In other words, the
quickest way to get the NSA to stop spying on internet traffic would
be to gain control of the infrastructure in place to do so, and
proceed to wield it in the most nefarious way imaginable, and make all
the results public.  Most people simply don't realize they're being
spied on, and when told, don't realize what that implies.  Events like
this (fictional one) tend to encourage people to begin caring.

It's a simple extension of the argument for full disclosure of
security vulnerabilities.

--tim