Editorials

Playing slots on mobile phones isn’t something new. But being able to play slot machines on your smartgadget outside New Jersey and Nevada – the only states in the US that allow online gambling – is something that can change the face of casino gaming forever.

Malware and breaches are inevitable. Anyone that has been in security knows that this is a simple fact. Every day there are hundreds of attempted (and successful) attacks executed against businesses, consumers, and the government. These attacks have been traditionally met with an incident-response thought process. IT departments monitor their networks for suspicious activity and respond when/if they find someone who is either attempting to or actually has broken in. Sadly, this is probably not the best way to handle security.

The big news today is that Google is preparing to encrypt their search data. They are planning to automatically encrypt not only the connections, but the information sent back to the user. On the surface this would seem to be a big step towards preventing people like the NSA from finding out what we do on the internet and it would be in line with consumer demands for more protection from spying eyes. The question is, will this move actually do anything or is it all just a feel good PR event.

We talk a lot about privacy, net neutrality, digital right and other topics that have become more and more important over the last few years. As the internet becomes the defacto way we communicate these items HAVE to be addressed or we end up in a situation where the rights of people using these services simply do not exist. For years the average consumer’s information has been treated like a commodity that can be traded, sold or used in any manner the holding company sees fit. This type of behavior, while currently legal, is simply unacceptable as are the myriad of other abuses of our digital communications. These many abuses all beg the question, why do we not have the same rights in the digital world that we have in the real world?