eNannying

The story today about a report recommending better laws against ‘e-crime’, recommending that software producers etc. should be made to pay compensation to the victims of ‘e-crime’ left me frothing at the mouth.

Responsibility for protecting users also fell to “the IT industry and the software vendors, the banks and internet traders, and the internet service providers”, he said.

Now I’m sorry, but that is just utter shit. Well, up to a point, anyway.

Personally, I firmly believe that we’re responsible for our own security, whether that is the physical stuff (closing/locking doors and windows, locking the car, that kind of thing) or whether it’s computer security – anti-virus, firewall, security patches, keeping the OS up to date, all that guff. However, I also try to bear in mind that the world is full of fuckwits, so I would like to see PC manufacturers/sellers have some decent (and preferably free) security software pre-installed on all new machines. Mind you, I’d also like to see ISP CDs provide the same kind of thing. And I’m not talking about processor- and memory-intensive hogs like McAfee or Norton, either. And I do think that if you’re provided with a broadband router/modem, then it should be one with a built-in firewall, rather than just the cheapest box they can find. So on that score yes, I do feel that companies should be encouraged to do more to deal with the problem from the start – and to have these things installed and activated by default, without the need to go through shedloads of financial commitments and contracts (McAfee/Norton/Symantec, I’m referring to you) – just have it ready to run from Day One.

But when all’s said and done, that security is still a personal responsibility, not one that should be legislated by government. If you opt for being a fuckwit, not running AV, running an out-of-date or unpatched browser/OS, and then clicking on some dodgy email purporting to be from your bank rather than going direct to the bank website to check it out, you deserve to get stung. I tend to think of it as an idiot tax.

Antivirus-wise, AVG offers a completely free version of their fantastic anti-virus software, which I’d recommend to anyone. Personally, I use the paid-for licensed version, because I think that the software is so good it’s worth the £25 for two years for a single license. (I’ve actually got it licensed for 5 machines, I think – should keep me going)

But none of this internet security stuff is really difficult. You just have to have some kind of intelligence, and not just click on a link in an email, for example. It really isn’t rocket science.

And if you can’t be arsed to run AV, or do just click on that link that says it’ll go off to [xxx] bank so you can change your password, as it may have been hacked already? Then I’m afraid you should be liable for the results of your own idiocy. And I’d say the same thing even if I were to fall for something like that.

Idiot tax – pay it, and learn from the experience.