The future of computing-the future of business Rapid technological innovation is moving us towards a world of ubiquitous computing-a world in which we are surrounded by smart machines that are always on, always aware, and always monitoring us. These developments will create a world virtually without secrets in which information is widely available and analyzable worldwide. This environment will certainly affect business, government, and the individual alike, dramatically affecting the way organizations and individuals interact. This book explores the implications of the coming world and suggests and explores policy options that can protect individuals and organizations from exploitation and safeguard the implicit contract between employees, businesses, and society itself. World Without Secrets casts an unflinching eye on a future we may not necessarily desire, but will experience.

RICHARD HUNTER is Vice President, Security Research, GartnerG2, the strategic business growth division of Gartner, Inc., the world's largest technology research firm. Hunter is internationally renowned for his expertise in technology and security, cybercrime, information management, and privacy. He was formerly Vice President and Director of Research for Applications Development at Gartner. Hunter earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University with a concentration in music and is also a world-class harmonica virtuoso. He works in Gartner's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, and lives nearby.

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xvii

Everything You Need to Know before We Start xix

A Brief History of the Next 10 Years xxi

Chapter 1: 1

Why Wont They Leave Me Alone?

The Power of Names and Numbers 2

What Does It Take to Create a Universe? 3

Crossing Over 5

More Data, More Power, Few Controls 6

Unstoppable Momentum 8

By the Numbers 9

Where Did the Secrets Go? 10

Chapter 2:13

Streets Without Secrets

How the Future Worked in the Past 15

Authentication and the Exception Economy 17

How It Works in Tampa 19

What the Software Knows 21

Yes, Probably 22

Does It Work? 23

More Faces in View 25

Walk with Me 25

Keep Walking 27

Do the Math 28

Draw the Lines 31

So? 33

Eternally Vigilant? 34

Chapter 3: 37

Homes Without Secrets

I Want This Why? 39

KISS 40

About Those Cameras 42

Data at Rest 44

The Rules 45

We Are the Boundary 47

Chapter 4: 49

Cars Without Secrets The Technical Stuff: Telematics 50

Who Hears What 51

The More You Give, the More You Get 51

Whos Driving? 53

What the Owner Wants 54

Cars Without Secrets, Now 55

What the Car Knows 56

Suppose 58

Private by Intention 59

What Can Policy Do? 60

Call Me Any Time 62

Speaking of Enhancing Performance 63

Making the Drivers Smart 64

Smart Cars, Yes 65

Its Simple, Not 67

Hunters First Law 68

Chapter 5: 69

The N Party System: The Era of the Network Army

How Scenarios Work 70

The Scenarios for Social Structures 70

The Quadrants 72

The Engineered Society 73

The Lost and Lonely 75

The Conscientious Objectors 80

The Network Army 81

I Repeat: The Network Is an Amplifier 84

Chapter 6: 85

Software Without Secrets

Disruptive, Quite 86

Business Without Secrets 87

Interviewing Raymond 87

Hackers and Crackers 89

From Communities to Network Army 90

Open Source Is More Than Open Source 96

Yeah, Its a High-Performance Team 97

Is This Message Clear? 99

The Medium and the Message 100

Why They Listen 101

Power Grabs, Not 101

Ideological Conflict and Corruption 102

Nemesis and the Network Army 104

Can I Be Your Enemy? 104

Generals Are Always Fighting the Last War 105

The Message and the Medium, and the Audience for Linux 106

If Youre Losing the Battles, Change the Battlefield 107

Free Stuff Kills Competitors, Not Markets 108

Why Not Just Let the Market Do Its Work? 109

Maybe Someone Can Be Convinced 110

How Did Things Get So Bad? 112

A Few Pointers for Engineered Society Generals 112

Hunters Second Law 114

Chapter 7: 115

The Rise of the Mentat

Mentat Defined 115

Why Mentats? 122

Mentats Have (Hidden) Power 123

Mentats Provide Less Information 124

The Network Mentat 124

The Mentat Reviewer 126

Choose Your Mentat 126

Trust Matters 128

Mentats and the Law of Inertia 129

Mentats and I-Filters 130

Hunters Second LawPersonal and Institutional Conflict 130

Breaking the Bubble 131

Would Breaking the Bubble Have Saved Cisco? 132

Reality Always Wins (in the World Without Secrets and Everywhere Else) 133

On the Interactions of Laws 133

Chapter 8:135

Distracted Consumers, Mentats, and Timothy McVeigh

The Path of Least Resistance 136

Its Easier If You Dont Ask 137

So Why Look? 139

Did McVeigh Do It? 140

The Necessary Knowledge Is That of What to Observe 142

What Do You See? 142

Chapter 9: 145

In the Exception Economy, Be Exceptional

What Drives the Exception Economy? 147

A Portrait of the Artist as a Very Big (or Little) Number 156

Business Without Secrets 157

The Business Is a Network 158

Art Is Exceptional, Objects Are Not 165

Chapter 10: 167

Art Without Secrets

Who Wins and Who Loses? 167

Relationships Matter: The Fate of the Music Industry 170

The Economics of Long-Playing Plastic 170

Yes, It Really Works Just Like That 174

Independents: Theyre Everywhere. Are They Dangerous? 177

What about the Relationship? 179

Strategies for Record Industry Viability 180

Strategy 1: Kill Digital Distribution 181

Strategy 2: Monopolize Bandwidth 186

Strategy 3: Prohibit Alternative Business Models 188

Summary: The Fate of Digital Objects 192

Power and Knowledge 192

Chapter 11: 193

Crime Without Secrets

Buying In 194

Yeah, Its about Technology 195

The Lessons 196

Plan B 197

What We Fear 198

Its Not the Transaction, Its the Database 199

Mass Victimization 200

Why Worry? 202

Chapter 12: 203

War Without Secrets

Engineered Society Warfare and the Terrorist 205

Crime Is War, War Is Crime 208

Network-Centric Warfare 209

Crackers at War: Threat or Menace? 218

Whats Potential and Whats Real? 225

What to Do, Right Now 234

Chapter 13: 245

Digital Pearl Harbor

On the Morning  . 247

What Happened after Pearl Harbor 250

A Pearl Harbor for the New Century 251

A Dream of Electronic Handcuffs 252

Under Observation 255

Watching Everything Is Not Knowing Everything 256

If Automated Surveillance Works, Whom Does It Work On? 257

The Issue Is Control 259

The Return of the Engineered Society 260

Whos Not on the Team? 261

Pearl Harbor in the Borderless World 262

Chapter 14: 265

The Last Secrets

Notes 267

Index 275