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posted by martyb on Sunday March 10 2019, @10:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the get-off-my-lawn dept.

Professor Eugene Spafford at Purdue University, the father of the field of Internet security, has some takes on this year's RSA conference:

I have now attended 13 of the last 18 RSA Conferences (see some of my comments for 2016, 2015, and 2014). Before there were RSA conferences, there were the Joint National Computer Security Conferences, and I went to those, too. I’ve been going to these conferences for about 30 years now.

[...] I am giving serious thought to this being my last RSA Conference — the expense is getting to be too great for value received. The years have accumulated and I find myself increasingly out of step here. I want to do what is right — safe, secure, ensuring privacy — but so much of this industry is built around the idea that “right” means creating a startup and retiring rich in 5 years after an M&A event. I don’t believe that having piles of money is how to measure what is right. I will never retire rich; actually, because I will never be rich, I probably can’t afford to retire! I am also saddened by the lack of even basic awareness of what so many people worked so hard to accomplish as foundations for others to build on. We have a rich history as a field, and a great deal of knowledge. It is sad to see that so much of it is forgotten and ignored.


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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday March 11 2019, @04:09PM (1 child)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday March 11 2019, @04:09PM (#812742) Journal

    I have not been to a lot of conferences, but I see what you're saying. These are problems common to all such events, not just security ones.

    These days, what really is the point of such a gathering? Meaning, with the Internet, why not do it all online?

    One of the conferences I attended is at a ski resort-- the first of 2 times in my life that I have gone skiing. Still, I stayed at a cheap motel 10 miles away, and took a bus to the resort, to save money-- the public's money, not my money, for I was reimbursed for traveling and lodging. I would have never splurged to hit the slopes if they had not been in my face. And that was my own money, for which I was not reimbursed, nor did I expect any reimbursement. It was worth it, to learn how to ski and maybe find out why so many people think it's so much fun. But though I did mildly enjoy skiing, I also find embarrassing the flaunting of wealth and privilege inherent in it. There are plenty of hobbies that are far more expensive than skiing, such as boating and off-roading, but to me, skiing is still on the costly side. Lays us all open to charges of waste, same as any government official flying to a resort for a few days of fun at the public's expense. But everything I saw suggested that conference was scrupulously run, and the public was not cheated into paying inflated prices for the location. If anything, probably got a discount, and no doubt the ski resort counts on making it up from attendees who go skiing. At least that conference was real.

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  • (Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:31PM

    by Hyperturtle (2824) on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:31PM (#813796)

    There seems to be a line that gets crossed when something becomes mainstream. Like anti-establishment stuff suddenly becoming hip (as opposed to hipster stuff becoming mainstream). Suddenly, everyone that cared has lost control, and the forces of evil have taken over.

    Then maybe they cash out, or regroup, or... find something else to do.

    I think we can see that when fans are disappointed when bands sell out, or what happened to the Burning Man, etc... the RSA conference reached critical mass and now its just like one of those websites that used to be good but now displays nothing more than ads that are somewhat relevant to how the site used to be, with any actual news or updates being scraped from somewhere else.

    (Also, I think the green site falls under the same category of what happens when that line is crossed...)