Using military/law enforcement ideas to protect civilian/non-infosec computer users

[rslade]

Over the years, we've explored (and sometimes shied away from) the idea of ourselves as a kind of military or police force, protecting the general public from the digital/cyber bad guys.

(At least, we've discussed it a lot on the CISSPforum ...)

So I find this article on protecting civilians in cyberspace, seemingly by people outside the traditional infosec community, quite interesting.  The emphasis seems to be on human rights, rather than general computer use, but there are some intriguing ideas just the same.

(I'm particularly interested in view of the work-in-progress on the ethics of active defence ...)

[Baechle]

Rob,

This was certainly an interesting article.

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@rslade wrote:

So I find this article on protecting civilians in cyberspace, seemingly by people outside the traditional infosec community, quite interesting.  The emphasis seems to be on human rights, rather than general computer use, but there are some intriguing ideas just the same.

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Specifically for me, it is interesting to be reminded about other country and regional concepts of what information should be "protected" from the government.

The article you reference brings up several scenarios that would be criminalized in the United States.  Undertaken by government officials without a warrant, and the penalties increase significantly.  Taken by government officials to influence politics and they increase even more. 

Even with the differences in government regulation, I'm very frequently surprised about how much an individual will divulge online.  In the U.S. for example, everyone holds their Social Security Number close to their heart but will often gleefully type it in on a web page that claims to be an identity verification link from their bank sent via email.