3 ms·

It was not my intention to fear monger. I was speaking by analogy, not sure if it was not clear or if you disagree with my argument. What I am saying is this:

It was not my intention to fear monger. I was speaking by analogy, not sure if it was not clear or if you disagree with my argument. What I am saying is this: in a world where weapons of mass destruction becomes more available, privacy/anonymity is mostly a non issue. I will say it outfront: I am skeptical of the evil genius in a basement, holding a day job while secretly moonlighting on his personal armageddon. Players willing and able to conduct this type of terrorist attacks will probably not rely on the same IT stack regular joes do. Assuming they have the financial resources and personnel to pose a credible threat will know to not use their iphones. They will know to use vintage hardware, to download and compile their own Linux/OpenBSD from scratch, to get their crypto libraries from "rouge" countries outside of the sphere of influence of the US, etc. Those that do not, they will be busted early. Those that pose the real threat then are the ones that you cannot stop by making technology harder to get. As long as there is demand, there will be supply. And they will have gear that is in the same ballpark as the forces that are supposed to stop them. Probably not as good as the best there is, because you can never outspend the guy with the printing press, but good enough to hold their own. And then there is the cost. Not only the conspiracy theory cost that the government is going to turn fascist, but the very real cost of giving real criminals an edge over the public. They already are breaking the law, they wont care about using banned technology. If they can afford it, and if they can either profit from it or avoid being caught using it, they will get it in the black market.

TeMPOraL 11y ago
You were not fearmongering; I was preempting in case someone accused me of doing so ;). I agree with your analysis if applied to contemporary dangers. But I've been not-so-subtly hinting towards biotech for a reason - as it progresses and the "tools of the trade" become both cheap and possible to DIY, the "required financial resources and personnel" drop sharply. People brewing up dangerous viruses ten years from now in universities or hackerspaces, whether on purpose or by accident, don't seem like a big stretch of imagination. And I honestly wonder, how are we, as a society, planning to safeguard ourselves against that threats. We can barely handle the diseases that occur naturally. People don't realize how dangerous this stuff is, because - again, except from natural diseases - we've never had to deal with a self-replicating technology before. I'm not saying we'll need to drop privacy and anonymity entirely, but I suspect that they will be affected by any good solution. I'd probably sleep safer if I knew that there's no easy way to anonymously obtain necessary ingredients. You'll never stop a very determined attacker, but they're not the problem - random nutjobs with an axe to grind are.
- girvo 11y ago
  > I'd probably sleep safer if I knew that there's no easy way to anonymously obtain necessary ingredients That is already the case for a lot of things, when it comes to chemistry anyway. Your random person couldn't get their hands on the things required to make various dangerous chemicals. Criminals, they can, sometimes, but with great effort and expense so it's usually aimed at chemicals that will make them money (drugs, typically) -- and the really advanced stuff is done by "legit" (kind of) labs, not a home chemist. Of course, that's only as good as the stores following the protocols, and with the internet that can change somewhat, but even then it requires buying chemicals outside of the country and getting it through customs (which isn't perfect, but puts up enough of a barrier that regular people or average criminals don't risk it).

TeMPOraL 11y ago

You were not fearmongering; I was preempting in case someone accused me of doing so ;). I agree with your analysis if applied to contemporary dangers. But I've been not-so-subtly hinting towards biotech for a reason - as it progresses and the "tools of the trade" become both cheap and possible to DIY, the "required financial resources and personnel" drop sharply. People brewing up dangerous viruses ten years from now in universities or hackerspaces, whether on purpose or by accident, don't seem like a big stretch of imagination. And I honestly wonder, how are we, as a society, planning to safeguard ourselves against that threats. We can barely handle the diseases that occur naturally. People don't realize how dangerous this stuff is, because - again, except from natural diseases - we've never had to deal with a self-replicating technology before. I'm not saying we'll need to drop privacy and anonymity entirely, but I suspect that they will be affected by any good solution. I'd probably sleep safer if I knew that there's no easy way to anonymously obtain necessary ingredients. You'll never stop a very determined attacker, but they're not the problem - random nutjobs with an axe to grind are.

girvo 11y ago
> I'd probably sleep safer if I knew that there's no easy way to anonymously obtain necessary ingredients That is already the case for a lot of things, when it comes to chemistry anyway. Your random person couldn't get their hands on the things required to make various dangerous chemicals. Criminals, they can, sometimes, but with great effort and expense so it's usually aimed at chemicals that will make them money (drugs, typically) -- and the really advanced stuff is done by "legit" (kind of) labs, not a home chemist. Of course, that's only as good as the stores following the protocols, and with the internet that can change somewhat, but even then it requires buying chemicals outside of the country and getting it through customs (which isn't perfect, but puts up enough of a barrier that regular people or average criminals don't risk it).