NYCPHP Meetup

[inforequest]

Jon Baer jonbaer-at-jonbaer.net |nyphp 04/2004| wrote:

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> I agree w/ Tim, its a massive security issue (its been popping up alot
> latley, backdoors in routers (come on people, it didnt just "land"
> there) ... some bugs have been good ones due to IO (WRT54G) but I dont
> think Id trust it 100%.  The funny part is that companies are extremely
> reluctant to spend on security.  I would be too if nothing happened, id
> feel it as a waste of resources and money for preventitive measures I
> didn thave to take.
>
> On the flip side the worry is that we dont want tech to be so closed
> that other countries build themselves into superior developers (thus
> open trade for the market).  Its a mess :-)
>
> - - Jon

It is no different than any other industry in America. They will do it 
until we all get screwed, and then they will change it. Until that 
happens, they will take the short term profits and to hell with 
security/reliability/or whatever.

We saw it in the acountng industry - eveyrone cheated until the system 
collapsed.
We saw it in the energy business (and continue to see it now) - Enron 
had the cajones, but everyone else went along for the ride.
We are on the verge of that issue in broadcast media - so few owners for 
all the radio stations, no one cares to listen anymore.
We are on the verge of that in the recording industry - so little gets 
to the innovators people don't mind sidestepping copyright.
We are on the verge of that in the banking industry - look at the latest 
Wachovia deal... does anyone care about their bank anymore? Does it matter?
We are on the verge of that in the credit industry - billions in fraud 
are written off yearly; does anyone care?

Place your bets as you see fit - short term (outsource) or long term 
(independent technologists and small businesses).

Personally, I am waiting for the entrepreneurs in data mining to start 
hiring laid off Indian programmers in India, and aggregating all the 
consumer data they steal when they leave on their last day. They could 
build a better Axciom pretty quickly, and that's big bucks (as well as 
doom for outsourcing).