I agree about the control the parties have over the candidates. The way money flows these days, there are a very few people in each party that control how it's allocated during campaigns. It's no mystery to me why votes in Congress are so often along party lines.
I'm not voting for someone on the basis of their stance on Internet Security. I've worked in government as a security engineer. It was a lousy experience. There's far too much interest in CYA, which leads to bad decisions by non-technical committees.
That said, I don't advocate handing Internet Security over to private enterprise. I advocate letting private enterprise look after their own security, and fixing the way government computing is done such that governmental agencies can do a decent job of looking after their own security.
The reason for this is simple: the government has a lot of confidential information. Some of it is mine. I don't want it compromised. Long experience tells me that you can't run and effective security program with contractors. You need thoroughly seasoned professionals who have an intimate understanding of the networks they support. In a large organization, you're not going to get that understanding from contractors.
There's another reason, too - it has to do with the way contracts are awarded and executed in government. The awards too often go to companies as rewards for political support (read: contributions). Under those circumstances, contracts tend to be poorly structured. The contractors care about meeting the terms of the poorly structured contract, and not so much about meeting the needs of the organization they serve. It's not the fault of the contractor, but that's the way it is. In addition, government managers tend to manage their contractors poorly, and IT staff tend to ignore them. This is not a recipe for success.
I have personally seen this in action, and I've heard about similar experiences from the miserable schmucks who are trying to support computing in our armed forces. You never hear about this, but I trust my sources. Our military counterparts are not given what they need to do their jobs. Instead, they are ordered to facilitate the activities of contractors. This behavior is not limited to computing.
dlavie, the following is not directed at you, but I have to say this: Internet security as a big campaign issue? Really? I'm in the business, but I have to put health care, education, and undoing all the horrible things Bush did far ahead of Internet security.
I'm voting for Obama, because after the last eight years, I wouldn't vote for a Republican if you paid me.
While everyone has their own motives for endorsing one candidate or the other, I
think someone should look at computer and Internet security as the major driver.Looking at how the candidates intend to address the situation… Actually, in my opinion
candidates haven’t said anything substantial about computer or Internet
security for those candidates , I am sure that when authories asked them, they will come up with
the presently undergoing about the current government position on computer security, which is to “continue to
encourage industry to enhance their voluntary security efforts with our level best aspects”
I'm anxiously waiting for the alcohol/drug induced fiery, gas guzzling SUV crash (hopefully head on w/ a train) with Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Brittany Spears inside. Now that would be news.
Aside from basic computer literacy, I expect any legislator that I vote for to be at least marginally familliar with the internet. If I am not mistaken, McCain only recently used the internet... for the first time. Obama on the other hand owes a good deal of his success to web-based campaigning.
I don't think we should cut McCain any slack simply because of his age. Should we turn a blind eye to his energy policy because he doesn't grasp the relatively new concept of renewable energy?
Personally, I think that based on Obama's success in web-campaigning, he has a very good grasp of the power that the internet offers. One would hope / expect his thoughts on information security to follow suit.
At this point it pretty doesn't matter where the candidates stand on the issues because the conventions haven't happenned, the parties' platforms haven't been written. After the conventions, the parties will manipulate the puppets, sorry I meant candidates, and tell them their stands.
Then whoever gets elected will be able to deferr criticism by saying Congress blah blah blah ad nauseam.
A rather cynical look at the politics but this will be the 8th election I've participated in and each campaign makes it a little worse.
For my money, we don't know where either candidate stands on Internet security. We have NO idea! Why? Why would we? Presidential candidates during elections play to their audience. If security was important...heck...if it was even on the consciousness of the voting American public, then it would be on the candidates' agenda. They would tell us where they stand and how they plan to achieve their stated goals.
The problem is not with either candidate...it is with the broader populace. Unfortunately, security is something people recognize, appreciate and will pay for when it is scarce...as in just as it is about to be lost...or after it is gone. Computer and Internet security, as campaign topics are just not things voters care about.
I know Senator McCain has people on his staff who understand computer security and its importance. And these are people to whom he listens. They are behind the scenes. If someone told me Senator Obama had similarly focused and informed advisors I would not be at all surprised. But we won't see them. We won't hear them.
If you are trying to decide how to vote (or for those readers who are) then my advice is to pick between two alternatives: 1.) find a different criterion upon which to decide; or 2.) find a way to make computer and Internet security important to voters in the next 100 days!
Good question - those are the ones we are voting for; although some computer literacy from the president can't hurt. John McCain has admittedly said that all things related to computers and technology are done by his wife (watch the video here) - you can't blame him, he's 71!
Hello {Don that thinkernetter cap, shed the emotion} Ira,
Ignored intelligence? They didn't ignore intelligence, they had bad intel; in fact EVERYONE on both sides of the isle were on board with the war...before and after 9/11. How come everyone has forgotten that?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1q9Q0OtJ4g&feature=related . I did not refer to McCain as middle aged; he's older than middle aged (which is even better - more experienced), I apologize for any inference. It's easy to criticize how any war is fought, let's go back to FDR & Truman during WWII then and examine the poorly clothed troops in the Ardennes in the winter of '44. Then let’s look at the HIGH casualties back then as compared to today and examine how spoiled & weak we Americans have become as a people with better modern weaponry & tactics, especially with what is currently at stake here with the WAR on Terror. Where do we, the successive generations of the WWI and WWII generations, compare in our steadfastness, our morality, our righteousness, in our goodness...IN OUR RESOLUTE WILL? The WWII generation defeated Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy while losing hundreds of thousands of souls (over 400,000).
McCain to me is a Democrat in the Republican camp. I will grudgingly vote for him. There's simply too much at stake with an inexperienced, celebrity-like (hence the comparison, not the equation of Obama with Paris Hilton. I think that’s DEAD ON) liberal at the helm of USS USA traveling through the turbulent waters of this dangerous time in US & world history. If you want to vote for improvement, vote for the right, which is steadfast in cleaning up terrorism and trying to establish a Democracy in the Middle East. Don't tell me it cannot be done, it must be done, especially after 9/11. Doing nothing hasn't worked. The left said they were on board before the war; I guess things are too tough for them now - Pansies. We've tried ignoring terrorism for over 30 years, including a previous attack on the WTC ('93) prior to 2001, all to no avail. Quit lauding on everything the MEDIA is spewing forth and THINK (you Thinkernetter) for yourself. HOW COME WE DON'T HEAR ANY NEWS OF THE SUCCESS OF THE SURGE OH DEAR MEDIA [ ...sound of crickets chirping... ]?.
Back to Subject: I don’t have any faith by political or governmental means (of either party) overseeing Internet/Computer Security. Government is just too big, inefficient and corrupt. Repubs like (yeah sure) smaller/more efficient G'vmt, Dems like big bloated G’vmt. They both suck. Internet Security should be spearheaded by academia and/or private firms or joint ventures leading/advising the US government. Of course, that might be like running your rowboat into the USS USA Ocean Liner.
Hello, Ira!I have a question!I think it's obviously that neither Obama nor Mccain can't be specialists in every field they try to fix.And I quess non of them has a special IT education to realize the routes and consequences of all computer security and other computer stuff problems.They must have people , who advise them and recommend what do, don't they? But do we know these people? Do they say, that that person will be responsible for the decision of problems in that area?
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The US National Security Agency learned the hard way that it can be dangerous to give a contractor too much money and access, with too little scrutiny. The NSA and other government agencies hire tens of thousands of contractors
a year to analyze data. Edward Snowden -- who revealed himself as the NSA leaker after fleeing the country -- was one such contractor, reportedly holding a $122,000 salaried position at Booz Allen Hamilton at the time of his departure.
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Big-data and analytics tools enable marketers to understand customers as individuals, identifying unmet needs and addressing each customer as a "segment of one," says John Kennedy, VP corporate marketing, IBM.
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The whole Amazon.reader debate is a double-stupid. It's stupid to think that there's any e-book buyer who doesn't know Amazon's URL, and it was stupider to let ICANN launch the whole free-form TLD initiative to start with.
While NFC's original goal was to enhance mobile commerce applications, it is finding its way into a number of other uses, which is creating both opportunity as well as challenges for IT departments.
Enterprises would like to move to cloud computing but are hesitant because they are concerned about providers’ ability to secure company data. Here are some tips that help to ensure that if breaches occur, the business is not left holding the bag.
Edmunds separates customers into segments based on the info it collects on its site and from partners, and uses that to push out custom content, said Brian Baron, director of business analytics for Edmunds.com, at Predictive Analytics Innovation Summit.
The IBM Smarter Commerce Global Summit in Monaco kicked into high gear today, and we've already begun to see news emerging from that lovely city-state by the sea.
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