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I am so happy this is happening ! I always felt cryptography was treated as a back room kind of operations. We are all so busy making iOS apps. The real comput

by 1971genocide 11y ago

I am so happy this is happening ! I always felt cryptography was treated as a back room kind of operations. We are all so busy making iOS apps. The real computer science has always taken a back seat. Hopefully MORE such breeches occurs and investment in security recieves the kind of investment and respect it deserves. We are all so focused on this MBA growth bullshit. Time to do some real computer science !

1971genocide 11y ago
I remember reading about how openSSL had like one programmer and he used his own funds. It's embarrassing that we let this shit happen. this is why I think cs needs some form of labour union ( like the brotherhood of teamster, I didn't know truck drivers got better wage than half of us ) the wages keep on dropping and we have no say in where to divert investment.
- NhanH 11y ago
  How do you think labor union would have helped in the openSSl case?
  - 1971genocide 11y ago
    Labour unions are know to manage and divert investment for the common good for a field. They help enforce regulations and prevent random programmers from doing something stupid. IN the case of openSSL. Even though we all collectively know how important security is for the Internet in general, it would be hard to convince investors to fund something that is a collective good with long term potential. Right now except for EFF, no one is voicing the concern about encryption. And it's all programmers collective fault for letting this happen.
    - NhanH 11y ago
      I understand the general appeal, what I was wondering is the specific mechanism that would work to help case like openSSL (if anything, I can see it hurting the effort, as you said, "stopping programmer from doing something stupid"). I'm more worried that labor union will be doing things more in the veins of RIAA and MPAA: seemingly good for short term of the field, but completely stupid in the big picture.
      - 1971genocide 11y ago
        I think a democratically elected face for programmers would be a good thing. Right now there are major problems surrounding IT, while we are forced to work on marginalized things. Meanwhile foreign private contractors get the govt deal since they are the "cheapest". Remember healthcare.gov, how does a country with the best programmers make such blunders ?? It will be expensive to increase training, provide certifications for security and create a open industry around security. But cyber security is as much or more important than other forms of defence. The reason for myopia is because its not as cool. Imagine if some spy infiltrated and stole physical copy of all the records of Govt personnel ?? Can a price be put on it ?
  - Spooky23 11y ago
    Unions and professional associations can mandate standards, and enforce use of those standards in contracts. Look at the bar for the legal profession, or the liability associated with a PE stamp. The software world consists almost exclusively of at will employees and 1099 contractors. They ship whatever slop management demands, and have no recourse.
    - icebraining 11y ago
      Yeah, look at the bar. Have the guys behind Prenda Law been disbarred yet?
- Osmium 11y ago
  It really is one of those bizarre things. I can't quite figure out how there's so much money in technology, and yet some common and ubiquitous (and crucial!) open source projects are so incredibly underfunded. There has to be a better solution to this?
rnovak 11y ago
I don't think I can agree with you, actually knowing some of the people that have had their information exposed, and I think it's pretty heartless to "be glad" that people are getting screwed over.
- 1971genocide 11y ago
  Of course, its horrible this happened. But I have seen people treat computer security is some sort of joke. I think it unacceptable this happened, but the US govt hasn't paid much attention securing itself from cyber attacks while spending billions on NSA wiretapping. It's similar to the banking fraud. People in power need to taken accountable for not taking their jobs seriously. and the realistic in me believes its impossible to make the people in power listen without some reasonably horrible thing from happening - things need to get worse before it gets better. Remember the amount of money the govt poured into the Iraq war due to the "perceived" threat.

1971genocide 11y ago

I remember reading about how openSSL had like one programmer and he used his own funds. It's embarrassing that we let this shit happen. this is why I think cs needs some form of labour union ( like the brotherhood of teamster, I didn't know truck drivers got better wage than half of us ) the wages keep on dropping and we have no say in where to divert investment.

NhanH 11y ago
How do you think labor union would have helped in the openSSl case?
- 1971genocide 11y ago
  Labour unions are know to manage and divert investment for the common good for a field. They help enforce regulations and prevent random programmers from doing something stupid. IN the case of openSSL. Even though we all collectively know how important security is for the Internet in general, it would be hard to convince investors to fund something that is a collective good with long term potential. Right now except for EFF, no one is voicing the concern about encryption. And it's all programmers collective fault for letting this happen.
  - NhanH 11y ago
    I understand the general appeal, what I was wondering is the specific mechanism that would work to help case like openSSL (if anything, I can see it hurting the effort, as you said, "stopping programmer from doing something stupid"). I'm more worried that labor union will be doing things more in the veins of RIAA and MPAA: seemingly good for short term of the field, but completely stupid in the big picture.
    - 1971genocide 11y ago
      I think a democratically elected face for programmers would be a good thing. Right now there are major problems surrounding IT, while we are forced to work on marginalized things. Meanwhile foreign private contractors get the govt deal since they are the "cheapest". Remember healthcare.gov, how does a country with the best programmers make such blunders ?? It will be expensive to increase training, provide certifications for security and create a open industry around security. But cyber security is as much or more important than other forms of defence. The reason for myopia is because its not as cool. Imagine if some spy infiltrated and stole physical copy of all the records of Govt personnel ?? Can a price be put on it ?
- Spooky23 11y ago
  Unions and professional associations can mandate standards, and enforce use of those standards in contracts. Look at the bar for the legal profession, or the liability associated with a PE stamp. The software world consists almost exclusively of at will employees and 1099 contractors. They ship whatever slop management demands, and have no recourse.
  - icebraining 11y ago
    Yeah, look at the bar. Have the guys behind Prenda Law been disbarred yet?
Osmium 11y ago
It really is one of those bizarre things. I can't quite figure out how there's so much money in technology, and yet some common and ubiquitous (and crucial!) open source projects are so incredibly underfunded. There has to be a better solution to this?

rnovak 11y ago

I don't think I can agree with you, actually knowing some of the people that have had their information exposed, and I think it's pretty heartless to "be glad" that people are getting screwed over.

1971genocide 11y ago
Of course, its horrible this happened. But I have seen people treat computer security is some sort of joke. I think it unacceptable this happened, but the US govt hasn't paid much attention securing itself from cyber attacks while spending billions on NSA wiretapping. It's similar to the banking fraud. People in power need to taken accountable for not taking their jobs seriously. and the realistic in me believes its impossible to make the people in power listen without some reasonably horrible thing from happening - things need to get worse before it gets better. Remember the amount of money the govt poured into the Iraq war due to the "perceived" threat.