Long, cold cyberwar

Berlinermauer

Let’s keep this post simple.

We’re near the start of a long cold, cyber war. Many things make this clear – from Stuxnet to Snowden, from the Sony hacks to Chinese DNS poisoning.

This is a hard time to be in information technology.

Just in raw, technical security terms this is tough – rebuilding every layer of computing infrastructure so that it is safe.

And that’s the easy problem.

The hard problems are emotionally and politically challenging: We have to prevent automated privacy invasion from creating new powerful fascist states. We have to keep the Internet competitive and innovative – a positive creative force.

To give a hint at how hard it is, here are three harsh yet promising articles on key subjects.

I don’t know how long this war will take. I’d prepare for, say, a century.

It took many times longer than that after the invention of the printing press for everyday ideas like copyright, the novel, universal literacy and the public library to settle down.

If it feels tough, that’s because it should be.

If, like me, you’re a programmer, the days of rainbows and unicorns are gone. It’s now about moral responsibility, professional integrity and the strategic creation of new concepts.

Let’s get to it.

2 thoughts on “Long, cold cyberwar

  1. I don’t think that copyright _has_ settled down. There’s been a long, long, war of attrition by rights owners against the general public interest that shows no signs of flagging. While there are occasional brief victories for sanity, the general trend has been for ever more locking down.

    As for the public library – that is being challenged at the moment. I am not sure where we will be with public libraries within even a decade. Copyright links with that of course.

    So maybe your war will be longer than you think.

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