Owning Dominion Security

Owning Dominion Security

By John Taylor; 2006 April 10

Internet security experts long ago came up with the ploy of laying
snares for spammers, phishers and other malicious software (mal-ware),
which they call honey pots, false email addresses that collect
information about the origin of spam or phishing emails, and blacklist
them. The virus checkers that protect our electronic mailboxes use
this technique. Lately mal-ware perpetrators have come up with their
own honey pots, websites that clandestinely deposit key mapping
software into a visitor's computer. This mal-ware bot waits for the
unsuspecting victim to access his or her bank account and records the
password and forwards it on to thieves, who then have access to free
money whenever they want.

This makes honey pots rather passé, so the latest innovation by
Microsoft is what they call "honey monkeys," bot programs that
actively go out looking for mal-ware sites. When they detect key
mapping code snippets or other dangers, the site is flagged and
Microsoft records the location of the evil honey pot. Because they are
run from virtual computers on RAM drives, honey monkeys cannot be
harmed by mal-ware. These active protection programs are like ideal
undercover police officers, they go 24 hours a day and can brave the
sleaziest and most dangerous haunts of criminals without being killed
or even harmed. Unfortunately, according to the Net security expert I
heard interviewed Leo Laporte's tech show, Call for Help, Microsoft is
not sharing the information it gleans with its honey monkeys. It
designs them only to seek out vulnerabilities in their own products;
there is no concern for protecting the general public by sharing any
data about these criminals with the police or anybody else, especially
their competitors. Eventually, he said, other companies, or even the
police, will catch up and design their own honey monkeys, and the
mal-ware honey pots will be forced to move on to other ploys.

This is a symptom of a larger illness, the irreconcilable conflict of
interest between private and public interests. The Internet is
determinedly built upon private corporate property; when a security
expert gets too good at her job and discovers a vulnerability, most
often the owners solve the problem the simplest and easiest way,
simply by firing the whistle blower. This temporarily serves the
narrow interests of that company but the broader interests of all are
compromised.

Now that the Internet has become the information highway for the
entire human race, computer security conferences have attempted to
take its infrastructure under the wing of international bodies.
Unfortunately, the United States has made it clear that it regards the
Internet as a vital national interest and it is not to be touched by
anybody but its private owners. One result of this determines the way
one must spell the word "Internet." The word is required to be
capitalized, like Kleenex and Viagra, because it is copyrighted, a
private trademark. If the electronic nervous system of planet earth
were the property of all as it should be, it would be internet, not
Internet. If you do write "internet instead of "Internet," you will be
contacted by a lawyer for the Infrastructure. No kidding.

Consider what Jesus said about Himself when a questioner addressed Him
as "good rabbi":

"He said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but one,
that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the
commandments." (Mark 19:17, WEB)

This shows the utter impartiality required of a person who seeks God,
for only God's interests are ultimately permanent and good. Anything
else, personal, private, is the reverse of good, it will turn into a
honey pot or a honey monkey for some over all. The word "good" is the
property of God, it is Good, not good. It should not be used for
anything other than God's interests, which is the same as saying the
highest, most universal interests of all. What word should be used?
Just what Jesus says here, life comes of keeping the commandments of
God. Since God is the One and Only Good, ours is only to obey, no
matter what the cost to personal, private, corporate or national
interest. This good is the rock of salvation for the entire human
race. Other foundations, sooner or later, collapse.

"The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of
the rock of my salvation." (2 Kings 22:47, KJV)
"The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my
salvation be exalted." (Ps 18:46, KJV)

As the central light of the Oneness of God becomes more intense I
believe a culmination point will come, resulting in a revised, much
more sophisticated way of owning. Exclusive private proprietorship
will remain, but it will be temporary, like a patent. It will
gradually meld into many other diverse phases of having goods, like
lending, rental, leasing and, finally, shared, public ownership.
Because it will be all worked out by computer, it will be simple and
natural, without conflict or pain. A general marketplace sharing all
goods and services will eliminate for the rich much ostentation, waste
and purchases that are underused; for the poor there will be no more
penury, deprivation or lack of access to needed facilities. The more
widely the principle of one lamp is understood the more ownership,
including real estate, will transition into modes and degrees of one
dominion.

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com