James Fallows:

Retired Admiral Mike McConnell argues that we now suffer from a conspiracy of secrecy about the scale of cyber risks. No credit-card company wants to admit how often or how easily it is cheated. No bank or investment house wants to admit how close it has come to being electronically robbed. As a result, the changes in law, regulation, concept, or habit that could make online life safer don't get discussed. Sooner or later, the cyber equivalent of 9/11 will occur -- and, if the real 9/11 is a model, we will understandably, but destructively, overreact.

Tom Cross via Andy Greenberg:

Internet-related companies need to be more transparent about their lawful intercept procedures or risk exposing all of their users. There are a lot of other technology companies out there that haven't published their architecture, so they can't be audited. We can't be sure of their security as a result.

Rattle:

Paranoia about the conspiracy is always justified. It's just usually misplaced.

Rebecca Brock:

She tells me she's ready. She may be small, she says, but she's mean. She outlines her plans for fending off terrorists. She says, "I kind of hope something happens, you know?"

She wears an American flag pin on the lapel of her blazer. She sits on the jump seat, waiting for her life to change.

Decius:

Wow, life is boring.