Ceterum censeo!
From Noirware (Hal Berghel, University of Nevada, Las Vegas), IEEE Computer, March 2015.
I have drawn an orthogonal distinction between a posteriori bad ideas (those that, in practice, just didn’t realize expectations) and a priori bad ideas (those that could or should have been identified as wearing a cloak of dopey by a competent knowledge-domain expert before any work began). Dopey a priori offerings become part of the disaster literature, and many are destined to be featured in eponymous documentaries. Not everything we can do is worth doing. The use of RFID in security-challenging is really a poster child of a priori misguided technology.
The last time I discussed this topic, I gave two examples: the use of RFID for keyless entry and transit passes, and the laughable Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) People Access Security Service cards (PASS cards) (https://cdt.org/files/security/20070124passcard.pdf). This WHTI PASS card is a particularly poignant example of how a government’s fondness for bad ideas can fill the military–industrial–surveillance–political–media–prison–energy–healthcare–academic–thinktank–corporatist–homeland security complex’s coffers.
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RFID for keyless entry and pass cards are examples of TECHNOLOGY ABSURDISM: technology development that ignores, fails to appreciate, or underrepresents obvious negative externalities. Placing technology development in the hands of the unskilled, ill-trained, or poorly supervised pretty much guarantees that the resulting technology will fail to meet our needs and expectations and expose us to increased risk. Those of you who are software engineers and developers could write books about this phenomenon from your own personal experiences. It’s incumbent on all of us to remember that many, if not most, of the worst technological ideas were identifiable as such a priori. In the hands of bad leadership, technological absurdism drifts toward TECHNOLOGY NIHILISM that in turn drives subprime innovation of limited or ephemeral value. The National Security Agency (NSA) dragnet surveillance programs typify technological nihilism in this sense, and they’re linked to exceedingly poor leadership.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
