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Obama will appoint a cyber-security czar

Here we go again with the "czars". The Obama Administration already has more czars than the Romanovs. Now we're going to get a Cyber-Security Czar:

Nonwithstanding the nomenclature this is actually a pretty good idea. Network and computer security is a National Security issue. It should have the attention of the president. Good security is hard work. Network security is more than encryption and firewalls and biometric identifiers. At its heart computer security is inherently a people problem, and a very complex one at that.

We don't yet know who Obama will select to head up this new White House office. If he asked me, I'd say he should talk to Steve Bellovin or Bruce Schneier. I think though that both men are probably too smart to actually want the job.

Part of Obama's stated motivation for elevating cyber-security issues to the White House is the fact that his campaign was "hacked":

"What isn't widely known is that during the general election hackers managed to penetrate our computer systems," said Obama. "Between August and October, hackers gained access to emails and a range of campaign files, from policy position papers to travel plans."

Heh. Hackers also compromised Sarah Palin's email. Does anybody important remember (or care) about that? Didn't think so.

Obama also says he's not interested in regulating the Internet or snooping on American's private emails or web traffic. We'll see. He's appointed a bunch of RIAA lawyers to his administration. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is about as anti-privacy as you can get.

If RIAA interests are incorporated into the cyber-security arena watch out for file sharing sites and P2P networks to be shut down in the name of National Security. To do that you have to, by defiition, spy on the private emails and web traffic of ordinary Americans. The RIAA would like nothing better than a federally sanctioned backdoor into each of our hard drives.

If Obama allows that, then all the czars in the world can't protect us.

Posted at 15:34 by Chris Wysocki   [/obama_watch]   Comments | Archived | Perm Link |
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