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Chicken Little Entrepreneurs
Publish Date : 12/22/2005 6:22:48 PM Source : Mike Banks Valentine
Chicken Little is hurrying Umbrella 'neath her wing. She thinks the sky is falling fast So goes to tell the King. But, after she has spread the news And all is told and said The good old King just laughs at her And sends her home instead.That is a very wise old King and I'd love him in charge now.Technology vendors think they can save the world and theyare using terrorism to sell snake oil to government andindustry. Acting like Chicken Little, they run togovernment with a technology based "solution" to terror.But somehow our King, anxious to appear to be doingsomething about terrorism, agrees that the sky is fallingand buys her tech toys instead of laughing and sendingChicken Little home. The following is a quote from a Wharton School ofBusiness, University of Pennsylvania interview with TomSiebel of Siebel Systems, a manufacturer of CRM (CustomerRelationship Management) software for big business. "Tom Siebel has been attacked for his proposal to useSiebel software to sniff out terrorist plots. In February,Siebel told a Congressional committee that a speciallytailored Siebel system might have deterred the Sept. 11 attacks. "Security agencies can use this technology to maintain a 'logically' centralized – although physically disparate – consolidated view of terrorist-related information gathered from multiple sources and channels and make this information immediately accessible to authorized personnel in the homeland security network," Siebel testified. "This is not an opportunistic capitalization of tragic events. This is a combined effort between the U.S. government and private enterprise to avoid a repeat of September 11th." He added that since November of last year, variousgovernment and non-profit agencies have purchased theSiebel Homeland Security product to anticipate, track,prevent, and respond to national security threats."http://makeashorterlink.com/?T59025701(Free membership required to read, check the privacy policy.)Siebel Homeland Security product? Wow! Can I get a copyfor my laptop and another for my PDA? Must be a hot sellingitem, and it's working like a charm, too. I wonder why it'snot available worldwide, since it IS so effective? It seemsthat between Larry Ellison and his National ID database andTom Siebel's Homeland Security product we've got theproblem of terrorism licked. But wait, it seems that thehardware guys want a piece of the snake oil action. "If we had advanced (technology) tools in place prior to Sept. 11, it is almost certain that some of the terrorists would have been detained and possibly some of the plots would have been foiled," said a report from Progressive Policy Institute, a Washington research center associated with the Clinton-Gore administration.A story at NewsFactor.com points out that new tech spygear is being hawked to the government at unimaginablerates. http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/17942.html "With some exaggeration, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, whose department is responsible for airport safety, told the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month: "We've got every salesman - 20,000 of them, I think - approaching us about how they've got some machine that will take care of everything we do, including not only detecting explosives but athlete's foot as well." That snake oil is pretty slippery guys. Software poweringadvanced hardware is impressive, but not magical. Whereis the wolf to chase off these high tech chickens? Itseems that we've got a children's story being rewritten inWashington, D.C. The remake of "Chicken Little" has 20,000high tech Chicken's selling overpriced umbrellas to theKing -- and apparently he's buying. Chicken Little is hurrying Database 'neath her wing. She knows the sky is falling fast So goes to sell the King. Now, after she has sold the cure And all is told and said The good old King smiles sweet at her And takes her in to bed.The huge new homeland security proposal by PresidentBush will employ over 169,000 people and incorporateall or part of dozens of existing federal agencies.No doubt it will have a vast database incorporatingLarry Ellison's suggested National ID software, andwill be powered by Siebel's Homeland Security Product.Surely there will be lots of iris scanning, finger-print reading, face recognizing, smart card reading,body scanning, security cameras and superduper tech-nology feeding all that data into the centralizeddatabase where Big Brother comes to life, finally. What the heck, I may as well get into the act. "Oh King!I have a Homeland Security Bridge I'd like to sell you."This baby has a built in database of every vehicle on theroad and computerized steel gates that slam shut whenterrorists attempt to cross over. We'll know because allcar rentals and sales will require purchasers to statewhether they've got evil intent. That will be entered intoour bridge database along with predictive behaviormodeling, just like that used by the airports now. You'll need one at every border crossing point. Buy the hardwareat $3 Billion each and I'll DONATE the software 'cause I'ma Patriot, just like Larry Ellison!" About the Author
Mike Banks ValentineI-Privacy Discussion ListProtecting Privacy is Good for Businesshttp://www.adventive.com/lists/iprivacy/summary.htmlmailto:i-privacy-join-request@list.adventive.com
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