Cheap Caution

Most people don't care about security until it's too late. They entrust their data to large companies simply because those companies are large and well-known. Those companies generate massive profits without charging for service, but this doesn't raise any flags for most consumers. It shocks people to discover that free-service providers readily distribute their data. Trust should be honored, but in many cases, it isn't. It is unwise to dispense valuable information casually; think about what happens if it escapes. 

Hackers think about escaping data. They want to catch it. Groups like the Chaos Computer Club flourish because so many people find data theft amusing. Other groups sell this information or use it for political purposes. Some hackers are honest thieves, but the worst ones hide. Worse than any hacker, though, are governments and companies. Some employees of these organizations, if not the organizations themselves, will misuse this information. They have easy access to the information of thousands or millions of people, simply because those people trust them.

The internet survives on trust, and lack of trust will kill the internet. A complete lack of trust is the consequence of too much trust. People who trust too much will be betrayed at some point. They will then get scared and refuse to trust again. In contrast, trust in small amounts is easy to grant and replace; the risk is low. Internet users should trust only when necessary, and they should be conscious of their own (in)security. If they are wise, the internet can blossom into a grand community. If most users are foolish, the internet will collapse into a ghost town.

I was inspired to think this way about trust by The Cuckoo's Egg, which is a fascinating book. It reads like a novel, but it isn't a work of fiction. The author, Dr. Stoll, should have been a professional writer. Of course, if he had chosen that occupation, he'd never have had the experiences that made the book so interesting.