Freedom of speech and its consequences

Security Strategies This newsletter is sponsored by Symantec Security Information Management Solutions: Beyond Threat Management Learn the latest Security Information Management best practices from IT research firm Forrester Research and Symantec. Watch now and also discover how solutions are evolving, as well as how to get more out of SIM - much more than incident response and threat management. Network World's Security Strategies Newsletter, 05/31/07 Freedom of speech and its consequences By M. E. Kabay In my last column, I introduced the case of AutoAdmit, where the owners allowed graphic racist and sexist lies to be posted at will on a site claiming to be devoted to the interests of law students. I began that article by explaining that some of my undergraduate students have trouble understanding that what they post in cyberspace may have unintended consequences later in their lives. In March, Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post published a blistering analysis of the personal consequences to specific individuals of the libel published on AutoAdmit. Brilliant, talented women law students were denied jobs at top law firms; suspicions fell on vile postings on that board which feature derisive statements about women and other minority groups, "disparage individuals by name or other personally identifying information… [and] included false claims about sexual activity and diseases." The author pointed out that such postings eventually get indexed by search engines such as Google and are available to potential employers during their due diligence background checks. Unfortunately, some of these firms decline to risk embarrassment and therefore decline to hire the defamed law students. Don't Overlook Inside Security Threats Research says it's not just vendor hype: Most companies have significant vulnerabilities they're not aware of and vastly underestimate the risk of insider attacks. Watch this Webcast and learn which attacks you need to be worried about, which are the most underestimated threats and much more. Click here to view the webcast. One of the principals in the AutoAdmit case published a fascinating rebuke to an organization called Reputation Defender in which he refused to help remove defamatory materials about named individuals because he objected to the way in which he was approached. Readers can gain a clear understanding of that person’s values and concern for the victims of his board’s policies by reading his self-defense. In May, Wall Street Journal Law Blog writer Amir Efrati reported that the other AutoAdmit principal had been refused continued employment at a prestigious law firm. The attorney who refused further employment wrote, “We expect any lawyer affiliated with our firm, when presented with the kind of language exhibited on the message board, to reject it and to disavow any affiliation with it. You, instead, facilitated the expression and publication of such language… [and your resignation from the site was] too late to ameliorate our concerns.” I think that the people who ran this board had no sense of responsibility for the damage they were potentially causing to real human beings when they allowed lies and threats to remain on their discussion board. It’s easy to focus on abstractions and misinterpretations of the First Amendment and to lose sight of simple human empathy and bonds of social relations when everything is carried out impersonally in cyberspace. For more on that topic, see my paper “Totem and Taboo in Cyberspace: Integrating Technology into our Moral Universe” in HTML or PDF. So, students, learn the lesson well: Speech may be free, but disregard for the consequences of our actions does not always go unpunished.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

TODAY'S MOST-READ STORIES: 1. Novell publishes terms of Microsoft Linux deal 2. Verizon planning iPhone killer 3. Michigan man fined for using free Wi-Fi 4. Switches of the future 5. Are security pros worrying about the right stuff? 6. Cisco routers cause major outage in Japan 7. Microsoft routs BMC's .Net Identity Management 8. Report slams FBI network security 9. Skype worm jumps to ICQ, MSN too 10. Don't sniff at used network gear MOST E-MAILED STORY: Michigan man fined for using free Wi-Fi

Contact the author: M. E. Kabay, Ph.D., CISSP-ISSMP, is Associate Professor of Information Assurance and CTO of the School of Graduate Studies at Norwich University in Northfield, Vt. Mich can be reached by e-mail and his Web site. This newsletter is sponsored by Symantec Security Information Management Solutions: Beyond Threat Management Learn the latest Security Information Management best practices from IT research firm Forrester Research and Symantec. Watch now and also discover how solutions are evolving, as well as how to get more out of SIM - much more than incident response and threat management. ARCHIVE Archive of the Security Strategies Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: security.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007