external articles
this is a decent lay-persons type interview with linus torvalds from cnn international. good comments on meetings and micro-managing at near the end. maybe all managers should pretend they aren’t paying their employees when interacting with them.
this is a good article from bruce schneier about privacy. the number of c.c.t.v. cameras in london is definitely a turn-off. the bigger question for me is how does a society get to the point where this is necessary? is it crime? is it really effective? since i’ve been here, in islington, i’ve seen at least 3 of these signs asking if people saw anything related to some sort of crime. i think actually in all cases, it was a single male getting attacked by multiple other males. supposedly, all 3 were caught on camera. of course, having footage of some guy getting his ass kicked doesn’t really do anything for you if you don’t know who anyone is. i guess that will all be solved when they have national rfid cards and monitoring your location at all times. in case you couldn’t tell, i don’t think they are useful at all.
May 19th, 2006 at 19:59
Schneier’s comments are spot on, but a little to idealistic. The problem I have with the article, and with most liberal ranting, is that they seldom ever offer a solution. Clever ideals but no clever propositions.
May 19th, 2006 at 20:10
i’m not sure i would call schneier a liberal. he’s also written several books on computer security, cryptography and general security. he’s also had a e-mail list newletter called “cryptograms” for a long time, but now posts the stuff on his blog. he does provide practical advice though none was in that actual post. his recent books, like “beyond fear”, have been targeting a more general audience.