• ZZartin - Monday, February 27, 2017 9:08 AM

    Eric M Russell - Monday, February 27, 2017 8:56 AM

    I've wondered for a long time why issues like like digital privacy and identity theft don't get talked about more often by politicians. It's something that 99% of the public care deeply and consistently about. But for whatever reason politicians even during an election season don't seem to want to go there; perhaps because certain segments of the corporate community actually profit from unregulated and friction-less digital transactions, even if it means increased incidences of fraud.

    People might care deeply about privacy and identity theft but most people outside of technology simply have no understanding of what the actual risks are enough to have any kind of meaningful discussion about it.

    It's hard to engage the public meaningfully on any topic. But a politician doesn't necessarily have to present the issue to the public from a technical perspective, they simply have to understand the fear, identify a culprit, and propose a solution. For example: "Internet service providers are hoarding details of your private life and selling it to the highest bidder, digital thieves can drain your bank account and use the money to fund terrorist groups (yada yada), and the current administration has done nothing the address the issue." I've never seen that angle ever come up at a political debate, but I think it would be effective, especially coming from an independent candidate. If we're going to demonize a group of people for political gain, then why not hackers and personal data brokers?

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho