This column addresses government policy issues that affect computer security. For good or for bad, government is increasingly involved with information systems in a variety of policy arenas, and computer security is an area that is attracting particular attention. The past few years have seen proposals for antivirus legislation, licensing of programmers, restricting use of digital technology by phone companies, and various other proposals. Some are ill-advised; others are worthy of being enacted into law or regulation. Security professionals need to participate in the political debate to help weed out the unreasonable or unnecessary regulation from the sensible. In this column, Lance Hoffman and I plan to cover key public policy issues as they occur. We plan to describe the political controversies but, more than that, to explore the varying perspectives and values that underlie the debate. In so doing, we hope to encourage security specialists to make their views known so as to influence policy decisions. No doubt this process will be challenging and interesting, if at times frustrating.
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