I would like to put forth the assertion that "society", of late, has become exceptionally poor at judging relative risk. I think this is due in large part to the sensationalism of the media (although this is not an entirely new phenomena - "remember the Maine"). I will cite a few examples: 1. Radon causes 25% of all lung cancer. Of course every study but one shows no link between radon and lung cancer. Still, Americans spend billions testing and reducing the "threat". 2. Second hand smoke kills. Probably, but the only statistical link was found by picking and choosing which studies to use. And the freedoms of millions of Americans are dramatically restricted based on this premise. 3. Terrorism is a big threat to the "national security". Of course more people are killed in the bathtub than by terrorists, but that is beside the point. My reason for bringing these up is that I think much of the "information warfare" 5th horseman is overblown hype - in the same category as 1-3 above. Of course, many security professionals will disagree, because it is in their best interests to do so - their level of funding depends on it. Sure, there have been break-ins and some loss of $$ (of course that is what insurance companies are for). I have seen nothing, to date, that would justify massive increases in government power over the private sector; this of course, has never stopped them before. The desire to "do something" appears to infect every politician, fortunately our system has checks and balances to limit the ability for them to "do something" - because more often than not it is the wrong "something"! Unfortunately, these checks and balances have been seriously eroded over the past 60 or so years. It is now much more necessary to actively oppose such idiocy as the FDA regulating tobacco or the govt imposing "policy" over the entire information infrastructure. It is hard to "buck the tide", but those of us who are skeptical of government "solutions" to "problems" that may or may not exist must actively oppose them. Clay *************************************************************************** Clay Olbon II * Clay.Olbon@dynetics.com Systems Engineer * PGP262 public key on web page Dynetics, Inc. * http://www.msen.com/~olbon/olbon.html ***************************************************************** TANSTAAFL