Re: How much cyber security is really there?

On 2010-04-01, Mok-Kong Shen <mok-kong.shen@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
bmearns wrote:
Richard Outerbridge wrote:

So why do we continue to sell computers to idiots if they are becoming
as dangerous as unlicensed steam boilers, automobiles and rifles have
proven to be in the hands of idiots, without any of the idiot-proofing?

See, I assumed you were being sarcastic about operator licenses for
computers. Personally, I'm not a fan of too much government regulation
to protect people from themselves, and I think that's a major
difference: guns and cars used irresponsibly can hurt other people.
Using a computer without knowing what you're doing will likely only
harm yourself. Yes, there is a certain non-zero chance that you could
hurt someone else because you didn't know what you were doing on the
computer, but the same can be said for pretty much anything.

Leaving first the special case of computer aside and considering
the general issue of protecting people from themselves, I suppose
the strong need of government regulations stems at least in
essential part from the non-existence of (or 'practical' difficulty of
obtaining) the knowledge of the dangers on the part of the normal
people. That's why e.g. certain medicaments can (in most countries)
only be obtained with doctor's prescription. In a certain sense the
governments play the role of parents with respect to their kids here
in my humble view.

Protection of their citizens is a first duty of government. That is why
they have armies, laws, courts, police. Exactly how far that duty
extends is one of the debates that has always raged.
Noone has the knowledge needed in order to protect themselves from all
possible sources of harm. Thus the duty on those who do have the
knowledge in some area to protect those that do not in that area.
This has nothing to do with parents and kids except that parents have
more knowledge than the kids do of the dangers.


M. K. Shen

.

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