Blogging for Grades

[scarfman]

What do you think is more important in regard to computer use:
A free environment? or
A secure environment?

Briefly support your opinion from what you've learned so far this semester

As one of them creative types I'm tempted to say freedom. Communication is freedom, man! Word, sword, mighty! Ideas gots to flow! Information wants to be free! Expression is the need of the soul! The man can't keep you down as long as you got the straight dope! You can't stop the signal, dude!

But your medium of expression has to be secure. If there's one thing this course has taught me, especially the bits about social engineering, it's that no system is unbreakable. What's the good of propagating the revolution on your website if its server can't stand up to the hacks it attracts?

Maybe freedom and security are antitheses but, like most sets of opposing forces in the world, a balance between them must be struck for the most benefit to be realized.

Comments

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Freedom and security aren't antithetical.

The precondition to freedom is security from those who want to take freedom away from you.

The conflict arises when people forget that security is a means to secure freedom, and not an end in and of itself.

[scarfman]

By the way, I did get the email you sent me this week, but for some reason I can't respond to it without experiencing technical difficulties.

[(Anonymous)]

MU*

Freedom and security are not antitheses : only a free man can be secure. If you are surrounded by armed guards all the time, chances are you are in prison, waiting to be hanged.

If no system is unbreakable, no system is irreplacable. Look at open-source development. Things such as Linux and Firefox have gone from the status of curiosities to being full-fledged alternatives to products which don't do what the users want (or do what the users don't want). Of course, "men are more inclined to suffer evils…" but that is another story entirely.

--publius--


*Zen Buddhist shorthand for "I reject the premises of your argument". Used to get rid of questions along the lines of "have you stopped beating your wife?".