Obama scares the hell out of everybody with cybersecurity op-ed | Hacker News Reader

Obama scares the hell out of everybody with cybersecurity op-ed

thedc.com

15 pointscoconuts231412 comments

Ridiculous linkbait headline. Why not just link to the op-ed in question?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000087239639044433090457753...

Well the first paragraph of the op-ed is:

"Last month I convened an emergency meeting of my cabinet and top homeland security, intelligence and defense officials. Across the country trains had derailed, including one carrying industrial chemicals that exploded into a toxic cloud. Water treatment plants in several states had shut down, contaminating drinking water and causing Americans to fall ill."

It's a sensationalist piece all around.

I find it quite interesting how everytime we're talking about giving more power to the Government, they all seem to get along so well, and they're only arguing about how much power they should get - just more, or a lot more?

See:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3896492

"Be afraid! (You are so much easier to control that way.)"

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but the continual push to always have something to be deathly afraid of that the government will protect you from is straining my credulity. An organized conspiracy (ala the "New World Order")? Unlikely. Enough politicians making enough power grabs to simulate that? Apparently.

Is there room for decentralization of utilities to address these issues? Solar for electricity, ambient moisture condensation for water, etc? Is the future of utilities centralized or decentralized?

slightly offtopic: The user id - coconuts2314 - looks like a bot. Look at all the submissions and only one lame comment. Shouldn't the HN spam algorithms detect this?

There are a bunch of these. I don't think 'pg cares.

We ban them when we notice them. It's on my todo list to write some code to do it automatically, but my todo list is long.

Good to know. I thought this might have been a place where you figured the voting system sorts it out in the end.

Not spamming, just don't have much time to spend commenting in the forum...

Interesting that this op-ed comes out after his executive order giving him control over telecommunication systems during a national emergency made the rounds around the blogosphere.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com