January 25, 2011 10:29 AM UTC

Who Thinks NSTIC is a Good Idea?

• 5 Comments
• by: Gypsy Chief

these are scratch notes for a good article I hope to write. Not ready to be promoted yet. Will edit.

National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. Hour and a half Youtube video starts with users who have 123456 as their password. They use the same user name and password on multiple sites. Solution: create NSTIC – govt, private partnership to promote ecommerce so everybody can have more confidence. Why not educate these morons instead? Isn’t it their own fault if they fall for Internet scams?

Opposition from far-right crazy people: Nanny state, camel nose under the tent, starts off voluntary then becomes manditory. Obama destroying America, etc. blogs with horrible spelling and grammar errors, ALL CAPS, etc.

My opposition: 1.) Schmidt is from Microsoft, before that FBI. Microsoft has a horrible track record on security – finally got serious after fortune 500 IT chiefs raised the roof. FBI has had numerous problems with computers, spent tons of money on failed attempts. Ergo – Schmidt isn’t a credible messenger.

2.) Govt is not coming in with clean hands. Consistent track record of inappropriate responses. Item: Real ID / Pass ID. 9/11 terrorists got fake drivers’ licenses. Response: unfunded mandidate to require all states to revamp licenses. Item: Intelligence agencies failed to connect the …s . Response: creation of Dept of Homeland Security. Result: bloated agency that still can’t connect the …s. Item: 9/11 terrorists used knives and box-cutters. Response: TSA takes knitting needles away from grandmothers and proclaims us ‘safer’ this is security theater. Congress abdicates oversight responsibility. Item: Bush adm coerces telcos to spy on citizens. Response: Sen. Obama votes to grant telcomm immunity. Senate ignores compromise by Sen Jeff Bingham [D-NM] which was reasonable. Item: Bush Justice Dept trampled on BOR. Response: Yoo still teaches law at Boalt Hall. Bybee still on 9th Circuit. Nobody gets prosecuted. Item: NSTIC private partners are Silicion Valley. These companies are in favor of open standards when it is in their corporate interest to do so. Microsoft tried to subvert Adobe Portable Document Format – PDF. Microsoft wrote Windows specific addendums to Sun Micro Java programming language. Probable result: a feeding frenzy as big corps try to get a piece of the pie. They donate to campaigns. Item: Comcast / NBCI merger goes through with few consumer protections. Congress is largely silent. Keith Olbermann is first casualty.

Bottom line: opposition to NSTIC must come from other than far-right loonies. We must not let them be the voice of opposition. There are plenty of more reasonable well thought out reasons to oppose NSTIC from a left-libertarian perspective. I want help and input from the group on this.

—- draft only – not ready to promote —–