atw: Why Daniel Geer Was Unfairly Fired, Part 1: What The CyberInsecurity Report Actually Said

Hi folks:

Thought some meaningful background and excerpts from the report itself might
be in order here.

===Begin Extracted Report Content===

1) Authors contributing to the report:

* Daniel Geer, Sc.D - Chief Technical Officer, @Stake
* Charles P. Pfleeger, Ph.D - Master Security Architect, Exodus
Communications, Inc.
* Bruce Schneier - Founder, Chief Technical Officer, Counterpane Internet
Security
* John S. Quarterman - Founder, InternetPerils, Matrix NetSystems, Inc.
* Perry Metzger - Independent Consultant
* Rebecca Bace - CEO, Infidel
* Peter Gutmann - Researcher, Department of Computer Science, University of
Auckland

2) Excerpts from the Introduction by the Computer & Communications Industry
Association (CCIA)

Excerpt One
=========
Microsoft's efforts to design its software in evermore complex ways so as to
illegally
shut out efforts by others to interoperate or compete with their products
has succeeded.
The monopoly product we all now rely on is thus both used by nearly everyone
and
riddled with flaws. A special burden rests upon Microsoft because of this
ubiquity of
its product, and we all need to be aware of the dangers that result from
reliance upon
such a widely used and essential product.

CCIA warned of the security dangers posed by software monopolies during the
US
antitrust proceeding against Microsoft in the mid and late 1990's. We later
urged the
European Union to take measures to avoid a software "monoculture" that each
day
becomes more susceptible to computer viruses, Trojan Horses and other
digital
pathogens.

Excerpt Two
=========
CCIA and the report's authors have arrived at their conclusions
independently. Indeed,
the views of the authors are their views and theirs alone. However, the
growing
consensus within the computer security community and industry at large is
striking,
and had become obvious: The presence of this single, dominant operating
system in the
hands of nearly all end users is inherently dangerous. The increased
migration of that
same operating system into the server world increases the danger even more.
CCIA is
pleased to have served as a catalyst and a publisher of the ideas of these
distinguished
authorities.

Over the years, Microsoft has deliberately added more and more features into
its
operating system in such a way that no end user could easily remove them.
Yet, in so
doing, the world's PC operating system monopoly has created unacceptable
levels of
complexity to its software, in direct contradiction of the most basic tenets
of computer
security.

Microsoft, as the US trial record and experience has shown, has added these
complex
chunks of code to its operating system not because such programming
complexity is
necessary, but because it all but guarantees that computer makers, users and
consumers
will use Microsoft products rather than a competitor's.

===End Extracted Report Content===

To be continued...

George Mena
Sr. Technical Writer
ESS Technology, Inc.
48401 Fremont Blvd.
Fremont, CA USA 94538
510-492-1763
e-mail: George.Mena@xxxxxxxxxxx

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