The common reaction is an almost knee-jerk demand for more, stricter controls.
In most cases, these controls won’t work.
If we want people engaged in the process, we need to let them take responsibility.
We need to develop transparent systems and demystify what happens. It’s time to reinforce that if something doesn’t “feel right,” stepping forward is not only okay, it’s rewarded.
From my column:
The actions of Snowden and Manning have dominated the headlines. Politics aside, the challenge centers on trust for those with access to sensitive information and the larger threat of rogue employees.
The common reaction is an almost knee-jerk demand for more, stricter controls. In most cases, these controls won’t work.
A few years ago I conducted a training session at a military base (going to keep this a bit generic). It was an intensive five-day training, and I offered the students a bundle of electronic supplemental materials.
At the time, providing a link to a website was not feasible. Instead, the quicker and more reliable method was “sneaker net 2.0,” a USB drive.
When I held up the slightly-larger-than-my-thumb drive, a whopping 16MB, and asked who wanted it, I was prepared for a jeer about whatever virus I put on it.
No jeer. Instead, I watched faces wrinkle a bit, staring at the plastic object in my hand. Finally, someone spoke up, “we can’t put that in our computers.”
Keep reading to learn what I experienced, and what we need to do about it at: Missing the real opportunity of Snowden and Manning (and get in the conversation).
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