Docandersen&#039;s Blog

There is a place that I have been to a few times in my life. It is for me a spiritual place that takes me away from where I am to where I would like to be. It is a place where the footprints of life fade to black and all you can see is what may yet be.

From this place I can see as far as I know I can look. The reality of seeing what might be is you are bound and limited by what you know and what you can see. In this place many of the limitations that sit in front of me expand beyond me, so that I can see what yet may be.

It is there that the three ghosts will visit. What was, what could be and what is now. Three ghosts that find their way into your eyes and reveal great mysteries to you. Or simply show you so much “stuff” that you cannot filter what is there and walk away more confused than ever.

Today I am looking beyond where I normally view change. Out to the edge of what I know to be real to the edge of what is possible. I’ve written out that in my book the Syncverse. A dream induced look at a world where all things could be equal. Where we devote as much energy to educating people as we do to interviewing them about moving from Cleveland to Miami.

Out there at the edge of this reality is a concept. A driving veil of confusing smoke and mirrors that only shows itself part way. You see only what is revealed and guessing beyond that is hard. If you go 100 time you will see 100 different pieces that together make less sense than the do apart.

I see in the future a device independent solution impendent world where things run regardless of platform, and things move regardless of where they started. I think I see Cloud 2.0.

It looks pretty cool to me…

.doc

A night talking ethics…

June 27, 2012June 27, 2012doandersen

Interesting debate on ethics last night. One that resonated with me on the drive home. Given that you are told to collect information are you responsible for the how of that information?

yes (in my opinion)

If you know someone is doing something that is at best wrong are you responsible for reporting it, and if so how?

So this one has two interesting answers (again IMHO). The first is of course you should always report issues/concerns. You have to be considerate of the reality of that reporting but it is critical to report concerns like that. The other side I realized as I was driving home is how I would react if it were my child. This caused me to stop for a moment and wonder. Is there a great separation between how I would act as a father and how I would act as an IT person? I think that there is. As an IT person I am bound into specific rules that limit my actions and push me towards the middle ground. You have to “ensure” that if you find something someone is doing by accident and realize that what they are doing is illegal, you have to protect the ability of the law enforcement agencies to prosecute that person. As a father I suspect I would probably act more quickly and with less post options for law enforcement. Which makes me wonder if in fact my gut instinct to protect my children might in the long run not be the best way to solve the problem.

Great night, lots of fun!

.doc

The flip side of connection…

June 24, 2012doandersen 1 Comment

I was playing with a new connected device (Escort Radar Detector) for the car yesterday. First off it was a very easy device to connect (Bluetooth) to the iPad and the software is kind of cool.

It speaks to the connection topic of my blog this week. The concept of connecting the devices around you to information that you need.

I suspect however that an interesting security flaw exists. Since the software on the iPad collects information about how fast you are driving, could the police subpoena your iPad or Iphone and ask to see the records of that software? In effect no longer requiring the reason for the radar detector in the first place by catching you using the detector against you?

It seems far fetched but it is feasible. I wonder what the ACLU would say about that. It really isn’t an invasion of privacy as you’ve chosen to put the device in your car. You could argue that it is to a small degree flight from prosecution (although that is a stretch at best) since you are attempting to avoid a ticket.

The other side of connection and connections is exposure. What do you exposure yourself to. Say for example that under the patriot act the US Government decides to force all Bluetooth stacks to include a take over function for law enforcement. This would allow the police to take over your device (hi-jacking) as they do on a number of spy shows currently. Suddenly everything on your device is exposed for them to review. Including of course that wonderful new application that tells them when you are speeding. Remember that the FBI never caught Al Capone for violent crimes, he went to prison for income tax evasion.

How much do you speed?

Its not a radar detector any longer it’s a remember to slow down and drive the speed limit device.

.doc

The point of connection

June 23, 2012doandersen