In matters concerning IT security, John Pescatore of Gartner is supposedly an expert. That may be so, but he evidently does not know the first thing about logistics.

According to this story, DaimlerChrysler Financial Services Canada lost a data backup tape when they sent it via UPS courier to a credit agency. Apparently, the tape was not encrypted - at least Chrysler have not confirmed so.

The story concludes with Pescatore's comments that Chrysler should have bought more insurance on the shipment, because "You can get higher levels of insurance on any items you’re sending, so if it's lost, stolen or damaged, you can get some financial payments back". More proof that these Management Consultant types don't have a clue what they're talking about: insurance does not guarantee delivery - the package would still be routed through the same hubs on its way to its destination; it does not give the package "special treatment" or "special handling instructions". Also, unlike the physical medium it travels on, the data itself cannot be insured - and even if it was, this copy has still gone astray.

This is the same guy who said that "Organisations should aim to spend less of their IT budgets on security". So, by buying more insurance for a shipment - instead of investing in encryption technology - an organisation is increasing its costs and, in the process, not decreasing the likelihood that sensitive personal data will fall into the wrong hands.

As someone once said... words to the effect of "Better to keep quiet and be thought of a fool, rather than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Way to go, Gartner!

First there was the campaign for .nyc - a totally pointless call for yet another TLD for the City of New York. We have enough TLD's already - we don't need to pollute the namespace any further with city TLD's. If .nyc or .berlin get their way, who has the right to claim .bristol? The original one in the UK? Or Bristol, TN? Or Bristol, NB? The arrogance of these cities to think that they have the right to pollute the DNS namespace with this nonsense is astounding.

Now there's a story that Spamazon is suing NY State because of a new tax law that allows NY State to force online retailers to collect sales tax at the point of sale for goods shipped to NY residents. Normally, I wouldn't support Amazon (they're on my boycott list, generically, for being email spamtards) but I have to admit that Amazon are in the right here. Only an arrogant State Legislature would pass a law requiring a business in another state to collect taxes on the State's behalf.

It's also disappointing to read that this legislation was originally proposed by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. I had a lot of respect for the man - even when he was caught with his trousers down - due to his stance on spammers and telescum like Xentel Inc.

Still, this doesn't score as high in the hubris stakes as Judge Charles Kocoras of the IL courts, who suffers from a superiority complex: he was the one who returned a default judgement against Spamhaus, who don't even have a presence in the US.