I saw Schnier's piece on Motherboard and felt it was well written and reasoned save that he has hope that national and international laws can somehow contain this problem. I am not as optimistic.

I felt like the DDoS on Krebs was a signal event and not a good one. I took the opportunity to send something of an essay to my entire department. Short version: Look at what any amateur could do to screw up our Internet/Web never mind state actors; If you come to work on Monday and there *is* no Internet, don't be shocked.

A year or two ago I bought a Foscam outdoor IP camera for $99. I thought it was pretty good and took a moment to wonder how I might get a such a decent camera for so few dollars. Whimsically, I concluded that Foscam (home Taiwan? PRC?) was engaging in a systematic program of below-cost market dumping. The overall goal? To saturate the national Internet spaces of both PRC perceived enemies and friends* with market-dumped, controllable, security-impaired IP Cams, TVs, thermostats, and toasters.

Years ago, I probably would have thought that an Internet of Things was Way Cool. If you can't tell, I am a little less sanguine lately when it comes to Internet technologies and whatever promise they might hold for people in general.

Jim

* friends can become enemies in a New York second