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'Net Insider

By Scott Bradner

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Bradner is Harvard University's Technology Security Officer. Reach him at sob@sobco.com.

How cellular handset exclusivity fails: 06/29/09; I suppose that some people did buy iPhones because the phones worked on the AT&T cellular network. This is supposition on my part because I have not seen any articles claiming this to be the case nor have I read any blogs commentaries that support the concept.
The Internet and revolution: 06/25/09; It is too early to know if what is now going on in Iran is actually the start of a revolution in that country. Much of the western media and many commentators seem to think (or, maybe, hope) that is the case.
It's the Internet, stupid: 06/17/09; Response to FCC Notice of Inquiry: Spending government money on broadband is not all that good unless broadband's synonymous for "Internet".
Apple announcements good but incremental: 06/10/09; Apple's upgrades to its laptop and iPhone product lines this week were no game changers but strengthened already strong offerings. I do wonder if Apple still has something up its sleeve, but it's clear from what also happened this week that AT&T does not.
Cybersecurity: What will the attention span be this time?: 06/02/09; The idea that the White House would be interested in cybersecurity is not new. At least since former President Bush appointed Richard Clarke as National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterrorism there has been some level of attention to this topic. But this attention has seemed to fade quite quickly after someone is appointed to a high-level cybersecurity czar-like role. Most people who have taken on that role have quickly quit in frustration.
Verizon: incompetent training or corporate indifference?: 05/26/09; The news story sounded awful. A Verizon operator had refused to help police find a subscriber who was missing and likely in need of medical assistance because he was behind on his bill. One of many headlines said it all: "Verizon willing to let 62-year-old man die unless cops pay $20 of his overdue bill." I have no idea what actually happened, but what interests me is that it is entirely believable that someone working for Verizon would do something like this.
Sony: wishing to be in a different world?: 05/19/09; Clearly there are many places that are essentially Internet-free, but the Internet is a major factor in most of the developed world. Not everyone is all that happy with the impact. Dictators are threatened by the Internet as an information channel, moralists decry the availability of porn, regulators are scared of the unpredictability of innovation and some businesses have trouble understanding or dealing with the shifting technology.
Are your Web site's terms of service illusory and unenforceable?: 05/11/09; You may have noticed that the terms of service agreements for many Web sites are a bit one-sided. The user gets to use the service but only at the deference of the Web site operator. In addition, operators reserve the right to change terms whenever they want to and users agree to abide by future versions even if they do not know there has been any change.
The good cyberattack: 05/05/09; NRC report deals with policy issues of the United States mounting cyberattacks on bad guys, other countries.
Cloud computing security: Who knew?: 04/27/09; Security has not been much of a consideration in cloud computing --but that may be about to change.
The FBI as an ethical hacker?: 04/21/09; More details are emerging about how the FBI engages in hacking and the planting of spyware.
Third annual scare story about the national power system: 04/17/09; As far as the headline writers at the Wall Street Journal were concerned the battle was over and the U.S. electricity grid was under control by the enemy -- "Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated by Spies."
Yet another government attempt at cybersecurity: 04/06/09; The timing of two cybersecurity bills just introduced by Sen. John D. Rockefeller, IV (D.-W.Va.), Sen. Olympia Snowe (R.-- Maine) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D.-Fla.) seems a bit funny. It is not so much that they were introduced on April Fools’ Day; more importantly, they were introduced before the widespread review of U.S. cybersecurity ordered by President Obama is completed by Melissa Hathaway.
Smart grid, other environmental control systems not smart about security: 03/30/09; If lengthy requirements were a measure of success, then smart grid technology is well on its way to being an anomaly in the environmental controls space. But I'm not going to try to hold my breath for that to happen.
Not the "next Google," but still interesting: 03/24/09; No start-up on the horizon is likely to overcome Google's breadth of services and Internet mindshare, but there are some recent developments that may just pull users away from Google -- at least for some functions.
Is the Internet killing the news media?: 03/16/09; The latest Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism report on the state of the U.S. news media makes for sobering reading if you are a student thinking of pursuing a career in journalism or if you are already in the business. The bottom line is that the business is toast unless you are in the Internet side, and even there it's toast.
Paying for Internet content once is not enough: 03/11/09; What is it about being in government that makes people think we should pay multiple times for the same thing?
Special-purpose device in a general-purpose world: 03/03/09; Fortune Magazine broke the story in late February that newspaper giant (though getting smaller) Hearst Corp., is developing a wireless newspaper e-reader. This project seems like almost exactly the wrong thing to do.
Internet Safety Act: Rashomon in real time?: 02/24/09; From what you read in the trade press and blogosphere, you would think that Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Lamar Smith have decided to use the excuse of fighting child pornography to attack the Internet itself.
FTC principles for behavioral advertising: OK solution to wrong problem: 02/17/09; The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently published a somewhat tweaked set of self-regulation guidelines for companies collecting information on the actions of Internet users for the purpose of providing advertising to those users. I expect the FTC does not feel it has the authority to make any binding rules without Congressional action. But, even agreeing with that limitation, these principles are underwhelming and, as demonstrated by Google, are quite limited in usefulness even where companies claim to meet them.
Google's Latitude: Not new, but worrisome: 02/10/09; Google recently made a big splash when it announced Latitude - a new application that lets you let your friends know where you are in real time. The size of the splash is a bit puzzling since there is almost nothing new or novel in Latitude. But there are reasons to talk about the service anyway.
Cox Communications attracting attention: 02/02/09; On the surface it seems like almost exactly the wrong time for the announcement that Cox Communications made on Jan. 27. Cox announced that it was about to start unequal mucking with the Internet traffic of its residential customers. Maybe the Cox folks know something I don't, but it sure seems to me that Cox has just figured out how to be the main target for a new administration and a new FCC chair that have made it clear they might be looking for just such a target.
Obama's broadband stimulus: throwing money at wrong target?: 01/27/09; President Obama is not happy that the United States is ranked 15th in the world in broadband adoption and wants to fix things as part of his big economic stimulus package. But it's not at all clear that the type of approach in the current draft bill will help improve the U.S. ranking all that much. Part of the problem is that the ranking is misleading.
Information security 'how not to's': 01/20/09; It's not easy getting information security right. It is easy to get advice (often from vendors who want to sell you their semi-magic fix for all that ails you) on what you should be doing. But actually protecting your corporate or personal data turns out to be hard in the real world. Take a look at the Identity Theft Resource Center's report on what happened last year to see.
U.S. export controls: Ensuring obsolescence and declining economic competitiveness: 01/13/09; The United States places a thicket of controls on the export of high-tech knowledge and products, and numerous restrictions on non-U.S. researchers in U.S. research centers. In recognition of the stupidity of these controls, the National Research Council is calling on the new administration to dramatically change the rules.