Re: [tlug] Geeks and Hackers, Uncle Sam's Cyber Force Wants You!

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Gernot Hassenpflug writes:

 > I'd like to note that I am a big fan of Bruce Schneier's columns
 > and articles, but that a lot of my friends who are in business, and
 > have ties to the security industry, think that what he says is not
 > worth the paper it could be printed on. In other words, there are
 > lots of folks with influence who do not agree with him for one
 > reason or another (even, gasp, ignorance perhaps!), so I would not
 > castigate the gentleman for his views in that regard.

Where has anyone been castigated for "views"?  The castigation is for
the unfounded use of the word "FUD", for which he has neither provided
support nor explicitly retracted, yet.

Here's a constructive suggestion.  Although the suggestion of a "TLUG
militia" was clearly intended to be "cute", I'm sure there was
something more to it.  Maybe the gentleman might like to back up his
words indirectly with a presentation or whitepaper on "HOWTO: Help
Linux Make the 'Net a Safer Place for All in 12 Ways"?

I would be very happy to have a discussion of the issues raised by the
"gaps" in Schneier's columns.  I'm sure there's plenty of room for
technical discussion of the merits of his positions, as well as a
dramatic variation in what people think is good policy.  As a
(economics) technical example (warning: serious game theory embedded
in a timely topic), I attended a talk on the application of "Colonel
Blotto" games to analysis of anti-terrorist policies about a month
ago:

http://econ.ucsc.edu/news_and_events/downloads/seminars/S08/RPowell.pdf

which is related to the "whack-a-mole can't work" theme of Schneier's
"Movie Plot" blog:

http://www.schneier.com/essay-117.html