] The outcry from computer users over their rights being
] trampled would be "shocking," said Ken Silva, vice
] president of VeriSign Inc. "What you're proposing is
] tantamount to trimming a little fat off the
] Constitution," Silva told Bass.

Thats an ironic quote given that in another (recent) context an outcry from thousands of internet users in reaction to Verisign shoving a "solution" down everyone's throats was spun by Silva and friends as "technical zealotry by a vocal minority."

This hearing was about requiring people to install anti-virus software in their computers.

Honestly, cars are required to have seat belts. I can imagine computers being required to have some sort of defensive security technology. I don't even think I would have a problem with that as long as it really was defensive, although I'd prefer that it be a requirement on operating system companies rather then end users... so I don't have to buy new software. The most compelling problem with this proposal is that "virus scanners" per say only really make sense on windows machines. Its technically possible to have viruses on any os, but the scale of the problem isn't the same. Unix machines tend to have different kinds of security problems.

Of course, it only gets worse from there. A congressional committee sitting around har haring about virus writers being primarily motivated by the fact that they "can't get dates..." Seems like a standard "making fun of the geeks" comment, but think about it. This isn't junior high school or even a sitcom. These people actually run large social institutions. They are in a congressional committee hearing and they are discussing questions that are ostensibly significant to national security.

These people actually think that all normal people are extroverted, and that introverted people are dangerous, and also pitiful. Don't these people have a basic understanding of the notion of personality types? Why do we have people who never took a psychology class in college running the country? Oh, yeah, thats right, we've just handed one of the largest economies in the world over to a professional body builder. Never mind. The world is supposed to be run by morons. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any wars.

A Congressional hearing rife with quotables...