Cyber War: I Hate Hackers

Another method is the security dongle. Keep your mind out of the gutter. A security dongle is typically a USB type device that you plug into a computer. Think of it as a key that unlocks your device and protects your data.

There are drawbacks. One would be cost. Either system will require a program and hardware. The CAC system will need a primary database for the creation of cards and will be time consuming for people to get.

The dongle could just be manufactured and purchased, but we are back to relying on the individual to operate it properly or use it at all. There is no point in doing it if you cannot guarantee it.

The detractors of this system will claim that it is a violation of freedom of speech. My counter is simple; the Supreme Court has already guaranteed your ability to lie. When they struck down the Stolen Valor Act of 2005, their main point was that the ability to lie was a right under the 1st Amendment. “the Court has instructed that falsity alone may not suffice to bring the speech outside the First Amendment; the statement must be a knowing and reckless falsehood.”

In layman’s terms, you can tell lies on the internet or in person but if you lie and gain something or cause harm to someone, you can get into trouble.

So having a valid identification might be seen as an infringement on the individual but there are pros to go with the cons.

Pros: Ease of secure access to the internet anywhere without having to remember complicated passwords. One pin or password gets you access to your stuff that is encrypted with your private key so you can store stuff in the Cloud, and no one can get at it. You have a ready form of Identification that can be used in person or online. Hackers cannot break into your data quickly, identity thieves are halted in their tracks, and while the option to set up a pseudonym can be made, and your real identity is there in the background to prove who you are at need.

Cons: Your real identity is there in the background so you cannot lie on the internet without being found out. There will be one database with information on everyone. There will be some form of a line to get the Card, and there will be cost. People will be afraid that the government knows about them. It will be time-consuming and expensive to set this up. The reason, the banking industry has not upgraded to chip and pin, is because of cost in cards, changes in point of sale terminals and processing and software requirements.

We are in the digital age. We cannot hide in our little castles and wait for the bad old hackers to break our defenses. We need to get active about our internet security. We need to be proactive instead of reactive and in order to do that; we need a measure of control.

Right now, anyone can sign up for something using any name, and that is great, but laws are created because a small percentage of the population does harmful things to people. We may not need a sheriff, but we need better protection than a static firewall.

And to those who say we would give up freedom, we are not free. We live in a civilized society governed by laws for the cooperative nature of society. We have freedoms inside those constraints, but those constraints must be fluid to an ever changing environment.

If we were free, we would not need governmental protections on our freedoms; our own individual might would decide whether we had something or not.

While I would like to superglue hackers fingers to their keyboards and then break said keyboards with a sledgehammer, I am not free to do that. As a barbarian, anarchy does not bother me.

 

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-210d4e9.pdf

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