[LIFTED]. RIGHT. OFF.
I heard a hilarious discussion on the radio during my drive home. Three people; one - a specialist in computer security, another - the CEO of a company who had said that his company simply could not operate in the UK under the regime proposed and thirdly -a lecturer in security studies from what I suspect is a former poly in London.
The latter was of the opinion that everything Cameron proposes was good and right because NATIONAL SECURITY. The tech expert explained why half of the proposals were technically impossible and the other half would make not jot of difference. The Academic replied that none of this mattered and the ideas were good because NATIONAL SECURITY. The CEO explained why his company would leave the UK as would many major tech companies and why half the city would have to leave if their encryption protocols could not be guaranteed. The academic replied that everything would be OK and that the ideas were good because NATIONAL SECURITY.
The academic actually used the following phrase several times - and this is a direct quote - "The internet is the wild west and we must bring the rule of law to it!' He also said 'The internet is like the world west and that may suit the Americans but we're Europeans and we don't like that'. He also claimed that fraud was rife on the internet, was entirely due to criminals having access to encryption and Cameron's measures would make a big difference.
It was like listening to the Daily Mail made flesh. Sadly, I suspect this guy isn't alone in either his ignorance or his sef-righteousness.\
EDIT : Actually, it wasn't live radio (although it was broadcast previously), it was the latest edition of the BBC's 'lets talk about tech' podcast. You can get a copy of it here
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/5li ... -1645a.mp3The bit I'm talking about starts 3 minutes in. Genuinely, it's worth listening to if only to hear how utterly clueless academics tend to be once pulled out of their area of expertise.
