

This World of Ours: Mickens on Security [pdf] - pfooti
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/1401_08-12_mickens.pdf

======
pfooti
from the article ...

"In general, I think that security researchers have a problem with public
relations. Security people are like smarmy teenagers who listen to goth music:
they are full of morbid and detailed monologues about the pervasive
catastrophes that surround us, but they are much less interested in the
practical topic of what people should do before we’re inevitably killed by
ravens or a shortage of black mascara. It’s like, websites are amazing BUT
DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK, and your phone can run all of these amazing apps BUT
MANY OF YOUR APPS ARE EVIL, and if you order a Russian bride on Craigslist YOU
MAY GET A CONFUSED FILIPINO MAN WHO DOES NOT LIKE BEING SHIPPED IN A BOX. It’s
not clear what else there is to do with computers besides click on things, run
applications, and fill spiritual voids using destitute mail-ordered
foreigners. If the security people are correct, then the only provably safe
activity is to stare at a horseshoe whose integrity has been verified by a
quorum of Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman.

