Scientists and technologists create a variety of impressions in the eyes of society at large, some positive and others negative. In the latter category is the perception (often clearly a mischaracterization) that many individuals in these occupations are not involved with society in positive ways, making them easy to target for many of society’s ills. […]
Lauren Weinstein
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Risks of National Identity Cards
In the wake of September 11th, the concept of a national identity (NID) card system has been getting considerable play, largely promoted by persons who might gain financially or politically from its implementation, or by individuals who simply do not understand the complex implications of such a plan. Authentic unique identifiers do have some potentially […]
The horrific events of September 11, 2001 have brought grief, anger, fear, and many other emotions. As we write these words a few weeks later, risks issues are now squarely on the world’s center stage, particularly technological risks relating to security and privacy. With the nightmare of recent events still in a haze of emotions, […]
You get up to the turnstile at a sporting event and learn that you won’t be permitted inside unless you provide a blood sample for instant DNA analysis, so that you can be compared against a wanted-criminal database. Thinking of that long overdue library book, you slink away rather than risk exposure. Farfetched? Sure, today. […]
Inside Risks: Risks of Internet Voting
Risks in computer-related voting have been discussed here by Peter Neumann in November 1990 and by Rebecca Mercuri in November 1992 and 1993. Recently we’ve seen the rise of a new class of likely risks in this area, directly related to the massive expansion of the Internet and Web. This is not a theoretical issue—the […]
The Internet is expanding at an unprecedented rate. However, along with the enormous potential benefits, almost all of the risks discussed here in past columns are relevant, in many cases made worse by the Internet, due to widespread remote-access capabilities, ever-increasing communication speeds, the Net’s exponential growth, and weak infrastructure. This month we summarize some […]
Inside Risks: Risks of Content Filtering
The Internet and World Wide Web may be the ultimate double-edged swords. They bring diverse opportunities and risks. Just about anything anyone might want is on the Net, from the sublime to the truly evil. Some categories of information could induce argument forever, such as what is obscene or harmful, whereas others may be more […]
Inside Risks: Just a Matter of Bandwidth
The previously incomprehensible increases in communication capacities now appearing almost daily may be enabling a quantum leap in one of the ultimately most promising, yet underfunded, areas of scientific research—teleportation. But to an extent even greater than with many other facets of technology, funding shortfalls in this area can carry with them serious risks to […]
Inside Risks: Bit-Rot Roulette
It’s obvious that our modern society is becoming immensely dependent on stored digital information, a trend that will only increase. Aspects of our culture that have routinely been preserved in one or another analog form are making transitions into the digital arena. Consumers who have little or no technical expertise are now using digital systems […]
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