Derailment
A Train Of Thought That Jumped The Track

Ben Franklin's famous quote about liberty versus safety frames Bruce Schneier's latest column for Wired, in which he sums up post-9/11 politics as a false dichotomy between security and privacy. As is typical for Bruce's writing, it is full of links to supporting information and is well worth your time to explore.

We do indeed have a reason to be terrified in this country-- we should be terrified that our republic may well be undone by the very government that exists to safeguard it. As long as we're quoting 18th-century luminaries, I'll add another favorite. In a 1783 speech to the House of Commons, Prime Minister William Pitt said:

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."

I couldn't agree more.

Just read a fascinating post which describes an AP report on how fake IDs actually help people survive sectarian violence in Iraq. Since Iraqi surnames refer to tribe and clan, you can be targeted as a Sunni or Shiite by name alone. Being able to travel under an assumed name makes your daily life safer. It's an interesting real-life example of the law of unintended consequences.

Security is a topic I frequently think about. Computer system security is part of my job as a sysadmin, but I enjoy thinking about it as a larger socio-economic issue. Good security reading can always be found at Bruce Schneier's blog.