On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 11:06 AM, Bernard Tyers - ei8fdb <ei8...@ei8fdb.org>wrote:
> > > There have been some interesting threads here that have brought up some > interesting questions for me: > * The thread discussing the usability of tools, such as cryptocat. > How it was (originally) easy to use but may not have been as secure as > possible. (NB: This is not a jab/poke at anybodies work, or an excuse to > bring up any of the previous discussions about Cryptocat) > * The perception of tools which are easy to use but may not be > secure, eg. Viber, whereas other tools are seen as secure, > * There are no shortcuts to being secure. > > I have spent a lot of time pondering the human psychology, media spin, "memetic" side of these questions -- how you get from security/privacy meaning "someone else with something to hide" to "no one needs to be profiting from my private business, thank you very much!" for example -- a transition we've been laboriously spinning for the last few years, though it feels like it's been spinning at the apparent speed of a galaxy... Still, there has been progress. Getting tools like Tor from (at best) gray-hat hacker tools in the eye of the press to the darling of the Knight Foundation in five years shows that there is progress, at least at some levels, but the popular level has to move. I remember when people did not understand the need for virus protection on their computers at all either, and there's something to be said for comparing the notion of how security in terms of malware, and security in terms of privacy are evolving in the public's awareness, in the awareness of more "insider" organizations (as appropriate for each subcategory), and in policies at the highest level -- national policies, laws, and so on. There could be some good lessons there -- just making the comparison could open some eyes to some apt paralellisms, I might think? I'd be happy to throw additional thoughts your way. yrs, -- Shava Nerad shav...@gmail.com
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