Close
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Menu
Search
  • Latest News
  • Cybersecurity
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Mobile
  • Networking
  • Storage
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home IT Management
    • IT Management

    Technology as a Tool—For Good

    By
    eWEEK EDITORS
    -
    October 1, 2001
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      People want to stand together in the face of adversity, but they also want a focus for their anger: if not someone, then something, to blame. In our technology-centered society, our tools can easily become convenient scapegoats.

      When the open, international network, or the mathematics of strong encryption, are used—or even suspected of having been used—for malicious purposes, the cry goes up that we must accept inconvenience or higher costs if it denies these facilities to those who would do us ill. Such costs, however, are real, while the resulting denial may hurt us more than it hurts our enemies—especially if the only effect is to remove U.S. technology providers from a market while overseas competitors continue to sell. Our abortive experience with a restrictive U.S. crypto policy should not be quickly forgotten.

      But Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) has resurrected the discredited notion of mandating “backdoor” access to encrypted communications. Major Internet service providers acknowledge FBI pressure to grant it access to users e-mail streams. Wireless communications and electronic payment systems find themselves in the cross hairs of the presidents sweeping Mobilization Against Terrorism Act. Past experience, sad to say, has shown that such initiatives can introduce unintended loopholes; they certainly involve the creation of new potential points of failure, both technical and institutional.

      Its hard enough to design something that works all the time; its much harder to design something that has intentional seams or openings while limiting precisely the scope and exploitation of those deliberately introduced flaws.

      Meanwhile, the focus on the network as a source of strategic intelligence can distort the definition of agencies success. If government surveillance merely keeps up with the growth of network traffic, then the gross measurable output of intelligence collectors may grow at an impressive rate—but will the actual value of that output also keep pace?

      Our agencies must search for our enemies where they are, not look for them in places—such as the Net—that are merely easy to explore.

      We need to honor the initiative and courage of the passengers on United Flight 93, who were able to find out what was happening in New York and Washington in time to prevent their aircraft from becoming another missile.

      Consider this: If all in-flight telephone use had been blocked by technical means, instead of merely by routine flight-crew instructions, how many more on the ground would have died on that dreadful Tuesday? The civic role of IT, in good times or bad, is to give people better information while preserving or even expanding their freedom to take extraordinary action in extraordinary situations.

      Avatar
      eWEEK EDITORS

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Why Data Security Will Face Even Harsher...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 1, 2020 0
      Who would know more about details of the hacking process than an actual former career hacker? And who wants to understand all they can...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      How Veritas Is Shining a Light Into...

      eWEEK EDITORS - September 25, 2020 0
      Protecting data has always been one of the most important tasks in all of IT, yet as more companies become data companies at the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      How NVIDIA A100 Station Brings Data Center...

      Zeus Kerravala - November 18, 2020 0
      There’s little debate that graphics processor unit manufacturer NVIDIA is the de facto standard when it comes to providing silicon to power machine learning...
      Read more
      Apple

      Why iPhone 12 Pro Makes Sense for...

      Wayne Rash - November 26, 2020 0
      If you’ve been watching the Apple commercials for the past three weeks, you already know what the company thinks will happen if you buy...
      Read more
      eWeek


      Contact Us | About | Sitemap

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      Terms of Service | Privacy Notice | Advertise | California - Do Not Sell My Information

      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×