I just learned that the Pubish via E-Mail option in Blogger Pro is now active
but is beta. One of the advantages of this for me is that it will make it much
easier to comment on thigs that come to me through mailing lists. This post is
being made through the e-mail interface. Let’s see how it works.

I keep trying to point out to the people that I train that if I can figure it out it ought to be a piece of cake for someone else to do the same. Evidently Microsoft’s Jim Allchin doesn’t see it that way. Hiding things from view is only effective with personal items like cryptography keys and passwords and even with some of those it isn’t fully effective. Allchin seems to believe that:

---

Too much disclosure also would lead to more digital piracy, Allchin testified. He noted that product activation, a feature introduced with Windows XP, essentially locks the software to a specific hardware configuration.

“Web systems such as BearShare and Morpheus enable users to exchange songs, music videos and other digital content over the Internet without necessarily paying any royalties,” Allchin testified. “Owners of such digital content are…affected by the strength of the safeguards that…Windows can provide to prevent misappropriation of such content.”

---

I don’t believe that full disclosure of the API of a truely secure system will in any way compromise the security of that system. If it will the system is placing entirley too much emphasis on the lack of technical acumen in its advisary. If MS can figure it out, so can someone else.

While it really comes as no surprise Ashcroft has shifted the governments position toward a pro-gun policy in terms of second amendment interpretation. There’s something about the second amendment’s interpretation by all the anti-gun forces that has always confused me. Their position in the past has been that the second amendment was meant to allow for arms to be guarenteed in a military or militia context only but its the military style weapons that they want to ban. It looks to me like taking their interpretation of the amendment would mean banning sporting arms while maintaining a right to ownership of military style arms like assault rifles and machine guns.