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It might be that they are not a false flag operation but the Government is going to take advantage of the media attention to "civilize Internet".

• maxwell 15y ago
  I hear this concern, but I'm not quite sure what the government can even do to "civilize". What would it mean exactly? Tighter regulation of domains, criminalization of encryption, tracking down and harshly sentencing crackers, forcing an "Internet ID", registering hardware? Any of these measures seems extraordinarily expensive. Maybe doable if the CIA drums up a War on Hacking, shifting attention away from the War on Terror, post-bin Laden.
  • arethuza 15y ago
    In Vernor Vinge's novel Rainbows End governments have done pretty much what you describe - running any kind of computing device that isn't part of their "secured" infrastructure is illegal: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End Note: one of the many interesting things about the book is that it creates a scenario where this kind of control is very much a grey area.
  • baudehlo 15y ago
    > I'm not quite sure what the government can even do to "civilize" Nothing that would make anything better, and everything that would mean they have more powers.
    • maxwell 15y ago
      This is exactly the kind of qualitative fear mongering I was referring to.