Obama's cyber security iniative

Gautham Nagesh has a good summary. Much of it has to do with working with industry to develop secure standards. The federal government, and by extension, the Potomac area, has always played a leadership role in the development of IT standards. It is one of the most poorly understood aspects of Potomac technology culture, in spite of the fact that I have been blogging about it for five years.

What particularly caught my eye was the emphasis on corporate espionage:

Prevent Corporate Cyber-Espionage: Work with industry to develop the systems necessary to protect our nation's trade secrets and our research and development. Innovations in software, engineering, pharmaceuticals and other fields are being stolen online from U.S. businesses at an alarming rate.

It never ceases to amaze me that giant corporations think that they can trash the law and yet appeal to the law's protection when it suits them. If left unchecked, such a mentality swiftly degenerates into Russian style gangsterism. It is just pure hubris.

Note - White House Homeland Security Agenda