http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/01/jacqui-smith-expenses [Slow news day, too many Conficker.c and April Fools stories to drudge through, but this whole story below has been flying under the radar a little bit, and is worth a read and wide dissemination. - WK] By Simon Jenkins The Guardian April 1st, 2009 Sweet is the spectacle of a home secretary bitten by her own snake. The outrage of Jacqui Smith's television expenses claim lies not in its content, lurid as it is, but in the way it was exposed. How many times must the home secretary have been assured in security briefings that her latest purchase of some data storage gizmo was "totally secure"? "Don't worry," the briefers would have said, "the material will be protected by the finest firewalls, the most foolproof anti-hacking devices and the most savage legal defence. Nothing will be transferable and only the highest in the land will have access. Besides, home secretary, as you have so often said, the innocent have nothing to fear." Yes, they do. They have the revelation of their husband's taste in movies, apparently leaked by contractors in receipt of easily copied discs, now on offer to anyone with £300,000. Anyone who knows anything about computers knows computer security is a contradiction in terms. It is garbage. Yet this is not believed by gullible ministers and MPs who troop through the Commons lobby to vote through new measures for more state surveillance. I am sure when they submitted invoiced expenses to the fee office last year MPs were told they would be secure. They may have believed it. They thought that what they told their constituents about the security of ID and NHS records also applied to them. [...] _______________________________________________ Best Selling Security Books and More! http://www.shopinfosecnews.org/Received on Thu Apr 02 2009 - 04:07:09 PDT
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