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Super Snooper

By: Mike Banks Valentine

Article Word Count: 638 words  [Comments (0)]
Total Views: 21 Views




You've heard enough about Big Brother to last a lifetime, so

I've renamed him Super Snooper to spare you the cliche during

this discussion.



Super Snooper, (Big Brother), is using terrorism as an excuse to

spy on everyone, scan their irises, print their fingers, record

their movements and assign threat levels to each and every one

of us. The latest announcement from the airline industry tells

us of the testing of a huge new database full of facial

recognition files, credit card activity records, airline seating

charts, travel histories, driver licenses, social security

numbers, bank records, employment records and any other

"relevant" information they deem necessary to track terrorists.



The computer all this information is stored on is capable of

noting who you sit near on the plane and if you know anyone else

on the passenger list. It knows if you've been sleeping. It

knows if you're awake. It knows if you've been bad or good. So

be good for goodness sakes! Super Snooper knows all-in the name

of security and safety. I hope everything it knows is, not only

true, but unfailingly correct in it's conclusions drawn from

everything stored in those really deep data piles.



Snooper sniffs the slightest whiff of smelly actions and, using

predictive behavior models, assigns a threat level to you and me

and dear old Auntie Mabel. Well, that's O.K. with me! It's all

in our best interest, right? Security and safety are more

important than protecting privacy, right? Right?!



Lest you think I'm exaggerating, hop over to the Washington Post

story from February 1, at the link below and review it for

yourself.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5185-2002Jan31.htm

l



It's not just terrorism that is putting security in the news

headlines and privacy on the backburner. This week Microsoft

announced the appointment of a new Security Czar who takes the

helm as their top privacy protector on April Fools Day. Scott

Charney is a former Department of Justice Cybercrime cop who

calls the top security job at Microsoft, "Irresistable."



His characterization of his new job is no doubt due to the

horrible security breaches built into Microsoft's products and

he relishes the challenge of plugging all those many gaping

holes.



For my part, I wish him well and hope he succeeds on a grand

scale since security of Microsoft products is critical if they

gain even the smallest adoption of the .Net Passport system that

requires registration of all MSN products users as it is built

in to their latest iteration of Windows, Explorer, Outlook

Express and required of each of the MSN web services such as

hotmail, bCentral small business services and each of their web

portals.



I predict, without hesitation, that individual privacy and

enterprise network security will be the blockbuster issues of

computing and the web in the coming year. Super Snooper is, like

it or not, going to be snooping and sniffing you, your

grandmother, your kids, your neighbor, your friends, your

enemies and all our biometrics to compare all that information

to profiles of known terrorists. I know, I know, you're very

harmless and sweet and innocent and honest and true.



It's those bad guys I'm worried about, so you don't mind if we

profile you, right? We won't attach any of that information to

your .Net Passport, your medical records or your tax files.



Really! We promise! Super Snooper is only after terrorists.

Nobody is interested in all that information we have on you.

Betcha it's totally secure too (on Microsoft IIS server soft-

ware that is completely patched and impervious to hackers or

criminals or even that cybergeek who lives next door.) I know

that because Microsoft has a new Security Czar who starts his

irresistable job on April Fools Day!

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