Security Blogs and Politics
on November 13th, 2006 at 4:17 pmÂ
Before you read this post, go take a look at my “Rules” for my blog.
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OK, now that you are back, let me piss off some people. During this election season, I have to say that most of the security bloggers out there stayed out of the fray by sticking to what their blogs are about, namely: security. And my blog rules state that I will do the same. Basically, if you want to discuss a law or other political issue that pertains to security, then fine. I will do the same. Martin McKeay and I have had our friendly blog disagreements concerning phone tapping, phone tracing, tracking terrorists, and privacy stuff. Alan Shimel and I have done the same to a degree. All that is fine because that kind of stuff is relevant to security. You can make judgements and assumptions as to our political leanings based on what we have posted (and maybe the region of the country we each live in), but that is no guarantee as to where we stand because we have made no definitive statements on the subject (I haven’t read all of Martin’s or Alan’s stuff, but I haven’t seen it in any of the stuff I have read).
I say this because I read a couple of posts from security bloggers during this last election season that, in my opinion, are just a little off. One post was by the Great One, Mr. Schneier himself. He says he is glad to see the Republicans get some of the brunt of the electronic polling problems. He backs off of that kinda quickly, but it shows his bias clearly. Another is by a blogging buddy of mine, Christian Koch (might not be a buddy after I writie this, but I hope all is still well). In his post, he doesn’t even try to hide his feelings at all (not saying that he should have to, but you will see where I am going with it below).
First of all, I want to say that I respect everyone’s views, even if I don’t agree with them or understand them.
Second, if you have a blog, then it’s your fingers doing the typing, so you have full freedom to write about anything you want. I get that, and I would never say you can’t.Â
However, don’t we, as security bloggers, owe it to our readers to stay a level above all this mud slinging and give content that is relevant to security? It seems a tab bit like false advertising if you have a blog that is advertised as a security blog and you use it to blast a politician or a political party because you don’t like their politics.
And another reason not to show which side you are on is because it tends to taint your readers’ opinions of you from then on. If you try to come at an argument with logical, non-biased opinions, your debate will still be tainted by your blantantly-stated political beliefs. That is no better in my mind than if you stated that you liked TippingPoint IPS better than anyone else’s, then tried to go into a debate about IPS products and tried to stay neutral. There is nothing wrong with stating your opinion on the matter because you are free to say what you want. But your opinion will be tainted from then on. And you would never again be able to be neutral on the debate (at least, not for a long time) because you can’t switch to neutral once you have got in gear.
Anyway, my two cent’s worth. You may think I am just frustrated because I did not like the outcome of the election. But you really can’t make that statement, because I have never said which side I am on, regardless how many clues you think I have given. So there!
And Christian, just to hopefully ease hurt feelings, I thought the cartoon in your post was pretty funny.
Vet
It’s not just politics. Sex, religion and taxes are also dangerous topics to blog about (though my wife does take some online ribbing from me). I tend to come side with LonerVamp in that I occasionally deviate from security and admin topics. I also try to keep work out of the commentary as employers tend to be overly sensitive about specific subjects.
The thing to keep in mind is that your readers will always be surprised when they meet your as the image in their heads rarely has anything to do with what you actually look/act/sound like, including your actual views on politics, religion, and sex. LV once thought I was about 25 years younger than I actually am. (LV: BTW, I never thanked you for that.)
Michael- your right I purposely try not to get into the political thing and even privacy issues I only comment on rarely. However, I do try to keep a mix of non-security stuff on my blog, because I think it is good for people to have a little insight and flavor into what makes you tick. Thats why the subtitle to SSATY (stillsecure, after all these years) is writing on work, kids and network security.
I think it all depends on just how “journalistic” the writer wants to be. This is the biggest problem, to me, with the “blogosphere.” I could write complete lies on my blog if I wanted to, and what is to really distnguish between your blog and mine, especially if I make mine all pretty and official-looking?
Anyway, keep in mind that some bloggers are not as strict about sticking to only security. Most people want to speak their mind and self-publish and it is natural for us to express, purposely or accidentally, our beliefs.
I keep a blog myself, and while I talk about a lot of security issues, I also talk about unrelated things like my life, job, beliefs, friends, or just news going on that my family may care about. I do that because, well, it’s my blog. I’m not out to be a popular security writer with tons of hits and affiliates and comments…and other people may feel the same way.
Thanks you.
Please also remember your international readers, like myself from Australia!
It’s not like we don’t care… well OK… we really don’t care!!
Can we now move onto the content that is relevant to security?
Thanks.
Good post Michael,
I have to say I’m getting tired of all the non-infosec “privacy” stuff as well as politics. Yes, I know our rights are eroding. Yes, it stinks. But it would be nice if the politics and privacy / infosec and risk posts ratios were a little closer to 1 on some blogs written by people I really like.