Study Journal 4

~ The internet was not designed for security. All security measures are just band-aids as problems occur.
~ Hackers believe that all information should be free, yet somehow keep personal privacy and less-than-legal organization secrets as pretty high priorities.
~ It's a shame the term hacker has changed. The original meaning was cooler - people able to create really cool things with basic tech tools.
~ When the government mines metadata, that means they don't get any contents of your message. They have a from email address and a to email address. Email addresses aren't very secret already.
~ Arguably, knowing who is talking to who might give them some information, but I don't really see why there's a problem. Businesses gather much more than that.
~ Stoll's idea of the internet being a network built on trust seems a little outdated. Most people just assume others will attempt to hack any and every site they create now.
~ There is no real leader for hacktivism. It will be very difficult for the government to stop leaks of confidential information by prosecuting individuals.
~ It's interesting to see Stoll's portrayal of people being unconcerned about unauthorized accesses to their networks. It's difficult to imagine that happening now.
~ Patents are supposed to encourage innovation by letting them be rewarded for their inventions. I don't mind them being able to sell the rights to a patent, but something needs to be done to prevent companies abusing that.
~ Contract agreements with a company can be a very laborious process when done correctly, it's easy for them to sneak things in that are less than desirable. New hires must have representation!
~ Patents are abused by companies. They seem to just collect them. Patents are supposed to only be granted for real innovations, but it's difficult for the office to determine what that means. Look-and-feel isn't really innovative generally.
~ There needs to be more protection for the real inventor. The person who benefits from a patent is generally the first to file, not the first to create.