Schneier's Talk At Defcon 15

Bruce Schneier is one of the most insightful people in computer security... he knows the encryption algorithms and protocols like the back of his hand, and he's also fundamentally aware of the human problem. That's why he's so eminently quotable... and his talk at DefCon 15 didn't disappoint:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1672905904171732325

He talks about how broken airline security is, including how to fly without your ID... new hash functions, new encryption standards, voting, side-channel attacks, laptop security, and why you should never trust your anti-virus company.

The best quote: Data is the pollution problem of the information age. Classic...

How we dispose or deal of this data after we're done is how we will be judged in the future. Orwell got it wrong: its not about real-time surveillance, its about leaving a data trail that can be mined. Unlike Germany, in the US data about you is not owned by you...

I'm not as paranoid about the loss of privacy, as I've mentioned before... as data pollution becomes the status quo, and everybody's embarrassing profile is online, we're going to need more tolerance to hold society together... Intolerant groups and corporations will wither and die, either from sex scandals, or lack of innovation. I see that as a good thing.

Naturally, this gets more complicated when dealing with medical history or military secrets... but you get the point.