Reflections on Technology and Society

[This editorial was published originally in " Security & Privacy " Volume 2 Number 4 July/August 2004 ] Archaeologists wonder why the city of Naachtun, capital of the Mayan kingdom of Masuul, was abandoned suddenly, with no evidence of natural or manmade disaster. No volcanic eruption. No invading hordes. Why, after more than 250 years of growth and economic vigor was this city abruptly evacuated? Did the leading people in the city fail to react to some important change? What happened? Two recent Internet worms, Slammer and Witty, have sounded an alarm to the entire computer security industry. To date, however, we have failed to respond to the alarm with the vigor warranted. Could we be dooming the Internet itself to the fate of Naachtun? When Slammer hit in January 2003, it shocked the security community by growing with unprecedented rapidity‚ -- doubling every eight seconds or so. The bulk of the machines destined to be infected were hit within 10 minutes, although the ...

[This editorial was published originally in " Security & Privacy " Volume 2 Number 3 May/June 2004 ] A few years ago I had lunch with Ray Cornbill, a friend of mine who is a distinguished professor, though not a physician, at a major medical school. Ray's unique sideline is as an international rugby coach. We chatted about our work and compared notes on current events. As we finished our lunch and prepared to depart, he made a remarkable statement: "I'm going over to the radiology practice to pick up my old x-rays." What did he mean by that? It turns out that the radiology lab that had taken his x-rays for the past couple of decades decided that it could no longer afford to keep the old ones around. Because he was a well-known professor at an affiliated medical school, a staff member had given him the heads up about the imminent disposal. Why did he care? Well, before becoming a rugby coach, he was an active rugby player for many years. Rugby is, shall w...

[This editorial was published originally in " Security & Privacy " Volume 1 Number 3 May/June 2003 ] There comes a point in the life of any new discipline when it realizes that it must begin to grow up. That time has come to the security field, as this magazine's founding indicates. Many things come with adulthood — some desirable and some less so. If we're to establish a place in the engineering community for ourselves as practitioners with expertise in security and privacy issues, we must be clear about what it is that we do and what we don't do; what can be expected of us and the boundaries of our capabilities. Today, far too much security terminology is vaguely defined. We find ourselves confused when we communicate with our colleagues and, worse yet, we confuse the people we're trying to serve. Back in the bad old days, it seemed clearer. The Orange Book (see the related sidebar) was new and seemed relevant, and the industry agreed on the nature of th...

So, Santa, was I naughty or nice? The Kindle you gave me for Christmas is quite delightful, which makes me think that you must have noticed some of the good things I did in 2009. On the other hand, my relationship with books is somehow self-abusive - I buy far more of them than I have the time to actually read. All it takes is a well-written book review or an enthusiastic recommendation from a friend or even an acquaintance and my Amazon.com history quickly gets ever longer. Back when I was courting my wife I remember telling her about one night when I woke up disoriented in my (then solitary) bed completely covered with books. It seems that my towering reading list, piled high on the night table, had become unstable and collapsed on me. I thought the story was funny, she thought it was cautionary. She was right. So now I have yet another way to consume the written word. My wife will be pleased, since the Kindle will hold in its capacious storage a quantity of books far beyond t...

[originally published May 2009.] For humans, war remains an inexhaustible subject of storytelling and analysis — such a compelling topic that experts trace the origin of historiography to the Athenian general Thucydides, who wrote The Peloponnesian War nearly 2,500 years ago. The appeal of war stories, whether we read them for elevation or escape, is eternal. Science fiction, like every other genre whose authors have written for economic gain and popular acclaim, has plenty of combat. We'll focus on two novels at opposite ends of the SF timeline: Robert A. Heinlein's Hugo-winning classic, Starship Troopers , and newcomer John Scalzi's Hugo-nominated novel, Old Man's War . From the Halls of Montezuma Although war has proven an eternally engaging subject, its portrayal varies widely. Science fiction authors live in a real world, and unless they're remarkably oblivious, the wars around them shape their imaginations. For the two books I focus on here, we'll look a...

Notes from "A Celebration of the Life of Jacob T. Schwartz" at NYU on Friday 27 March 2009 A few notes that I took during the celebration. These notes are expected to be read along with scanned image of the program, included as a PDF file. Jack's widow Diana added some comments to my notes, which are included in italics with the prefix "DS". The program takes the form of a SETL program . DS: I put this together in tribute to SETL. I think he would have loved it. The MC was Ed Schonberg. There was a brief greeting by the head of Courant. DS: I asked Ed to be the MC since he coordinated Jack's 70th birthday festschrift. Marian McPartland performed two pieces on the piano. She clearly knew and cared for Jack and Ed. DS: I came to NY 35 years ago with a scholarship to study jazz piano with Marian. She and I quickly became friends and have been close friends for many years. When I married Jack she instantly was drawn to him and they used to have the mo...

[originally published May 2005] With all due respect to Alfred, Lord Tennyson, spring is the best time to plan your summer reading (besides, this magazine isn't the place to explore the racier topics in his poem Locksley Hall ). If you go to the beach in August without a couple of good, fat, books already researched and acquired, you risk spending your precious time in expensive resort bookstores, browsing among stacks of trashy titles, embarrassing yourself with plaintive requests to friends or relatives for books, or, even worse, reducing yourself to working your way through a stack of moldering Archie comics. Your reading time is too precious to waste—don't become a poster geek for the Wasted Summer Reading Foundation! A good summer book must meet several exacting requirements. It must be entertaining without being taxing — we're on vacation here, so War and Peace won't do. The book should be long, preferably very long — the number of hours we have at the beach is s...