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Security Expert Winn Schwartau is 'Mad as Hell, Switching to the Mac'

by , 4:15 PM EDT, May 25th, 2005

Writing for Network World, security expert Winn Schwartau admits: "This is my first column written on a Mac - ever. Maybe I should have done it a long time ago, but I never said I was smart, just obstinate. I was a PC bigot. But now, I've had it. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore." He has now switched his entire company to Macs, a process that "took less than two days."

What brought someone with 22 years of experience in the computer security field to make such a move? Mr. Schwartau says that it's "an experiment predicated on the hypothesis that the WinTel platform represents the greatest violation of the basic tenets of information security and has become a national economic security risk." He goes on to explain: "I don't need [my computers] to do a whole lot -- except work reliably, which is why I am fed up with WinTel." He cites a litany of reasons he's angry, from memory-gobbling Web browsers to reliance on third party utilities "to try to keep my PC alive."

He then recites a list of reasons "WinTel will fail -- and has to fail." Check out his article for all of them. And keep an eye on his blog, where for the next few months he plans to post twice-a-week updates on the progress of his switch.

Observer Comments

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:jimothy Posts: 567 Joined: 04 Jun 2004
Subject: That says it all!

When somebody named Winn can't stick win Windows, that says it all!

View Name:Guest
Subject: a bit unclear!
Close Name:metavurt Posts: 163 Joined: 16 Jun 2003
Subject: re: a bit unclear

actually, he's talking about just getting work done. nothing against his career. people, millions of them, still need added security for their machines, macs included. it just means he'll get more done now than before.

reading's not hard. i promise.

View Name:Guest
Subject:
View Name:Guest
Subject: MS thought it was all about features
View Name:Guest
Subject: Security Expert???
Close Name:Brutno Posts: 194 Joined: 28 Aug 2002
Subject: Re: Security Expert???

...and the Intel CEO, Mr. Otellini, spends one hour EACH WEEK getting spyware off his daughter's machine. I would think he knows what he's doing, and even he has to do too much. So....your point is?

Close Name:Steve W Posts: 482 Joined: 22 Nov 2002
Subject:

Quote
Guest wrote:
Did anybody bother to check out what this guy does before they said "security expert". Give me a break. This guy runs a web based bullshit fatory teaching people how to be "cyber safe". His motto..."We focus on the people not the hardware". Could be because he doesn't understand the hardware. He is bitching because his hardrive doesn't work or he can't understand the BIOS or other meaningless crap. If you were running a large Wintel system, would you hire a guy who can't even keep his own machine running? Can't the editors find a better source or was it a slow day?

He doesn't run a large Wintel system; he has other things to do. The point of this is that he shouldn't have to worry about this crap. We have been conditioned to believe that dealing with spyware, virii, crummy hardware and all the other things that go wrong with most (read Wintel) computers is normal. We shouldn't, indeed in most cases we don't, accept that sort of thing as normal. This stuff is defective!!

Close Name:Steve W Posts: 482 Joined: 22 Nov 2002
Subject: Electronic Bill of Rights

Winn Schwartau wrote this in 1997. I've kept it because it made sense then and makes sense now.

Quote
"In cyberspace, you are guilty until proven innocent." Our collective digital faces are rubbed into that unfortunate truism every day as decisions that affect each of our lives are made without our knowledge or consent.

As individuals we are known by our digital essence - embodied as bits and bytes and distributed among 50,000-plus anonymous databases to which we have no access or recourse to amend, edit or correct. To prove this, I hired my cyber-PI neighbor for $100 to assemble the medical, financial and legal records, and whatever else he could find, on a local TV news reporter (with his consent). The results? Seventeen pounds of records, 14.5 inches high. I went to the Internet and, using my Visa card, paid for on-line research in the hopes of further violating my victim's privacy. When all was said and done, I spent less than $1,000 and knew more about the TV personality than he knew about himself.

This is morally and ethically wrong. The 200-year-old concept of public records did not envision Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp. or the Internet. The Constitution did not envision the records of 265 million Americans being sold on a CD for $29.95.

The solution is a simple yet bold one requiring political strength, vision and the love of one's constituency more than oneself. The answer is a six-point Electronic Bill of Rights that takes into account the realities of modern technology:

I own my name. My name is mine to do with as I please. Not yours.

You, as a business, may use my name for the purpose of our transaction only. You may not sell, barter or otherwise market my name, or any information about me, without my explicit permission.

If you need to keep my name in files for the purpose of ongoing business, you will protect it from abuse, illicit access or accidental release.

If you have any files containing my name, you must notify me of the existence of those files, send me copies upon request and provide a reasonable means to add, delete or correct information.

The government will create a new data classification called "personal but unclassified" and set standards for its protection in the private and public sectors.

I will have civil and criminal recourse against persons and organizations, public and private, who either violate my electronic rights or permit them to be violated.

These simple principles will bring back much of the privacy that has been eroding since the dawn of the computer age. It places a common-sense limit to how my name may be used, and it will add credibility and accuracy to existing databases. These simple principles also will cause a backlash by those organizations who do not believe in the privacy rights of the individual and who make their living by twisting the concepts of public records and unregulated databases for their personal profit.

But more importantly, these simple principles will help us find the leaders in Congress who understand how critical and fundamental these rights are and should be. These new leaders will find the political courage to finally make cyberspace a much safer place to play, live and do business.

View Name:Guest
Subject: Do NOT make Winn a Mac winner until he concludes
Close Name:jacrav Posts: 268 Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Subject: When you buy 22 computers …

… seems to me the main agenda is getting work done to amortize …

View Name:Guest
Subject: Brutno
View Name:Guest
Subject: RC, are ya switching too?
View Name:Guest
Subject: I've read his book...
Close Name:Brutno Posts: 194 Joined: 28 Aug 2002
Subject: Re: Brutno

Re-read my post - I never said Schwartau wasn't an expert. In fact I was rebutting comments in the post previous to mine.

View Name:Guest
Subject: He is blaming hardware problems on software
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