I've been having trouble with our "Freedom of Speech" the past few years. And it all started, for me, with the ruckus over Eminem (Not Eminem himself). Maybe I'm wrong, but I've always kind of thought that when the Forefathers of the US put the Freedom of Speech in Bill of Rights, they were thinking that it is the inalienable rights of the citizens of the US to speak out against it's government, that the government or other institutions should not be able to tell the public what they can and can not say.

But... and perhaps this started with 2 Live Crew, though that was so long ago, I scarcely remember... it seems to me that today's younger generations are twisting the Freedom of Speech to mean that they have the freedom to swear and insult. In the days of our Forefathers, if someone spoke out and said something, they were allowed to but there came a certain degree of accountability. If you spoke up back then, people knew you. Your words were immediately associated with you and you were held accountable. There was not even a glimmer of an idea that some teenager in the back corner of the family room with a little electronic box (electronic? What's that?) would be able to instantly, anonymously and baselessly insult and defame someone else without any sense of repercussions.

In 'Ye Olden Days' you could send anonymous letters to the local newspaper. However, it had to pass the editor. He would read the anonymous article and decide whether or not the words would be worth the cost of the ink. Today, while some sites have such checks, most are just 'Click and Post' commentary. And I personally think in an era where 14-yr-old children are walking through the mall with parent-provided Blackberries, accountability should be more important than ever. Sure, go ahead and speak your opinions. It's your right. But be ready for the repercussions.

I've been reading slashdot for a while and I've avoided commenting because... I'm not a nerd. I'm a geek. Which my friend always find annoying because 'back in his day' nerd and geek were the same thing.

I've been into computers for over 10 years now and while I know far more than the average user, I don't know enough to hold a flame to many nerdier folk.

However. I've dealt with enough real life cases in computer security/maint to know that the average user doesn't care about a process. They don't want to hear about it being a process. They view the computer as a glorified telephone/television combo. They just want to be able to power up, do what they want and log out. The average user these days isn't going to spend time to learn about how to properly protect themselves online because they have other things to do.

To expand on a car analogy someone else used...
Likening computer security to a car would mean comparing it to car security. While some people might take their cars to a car audio shop to get a security system installed, most will just buy their car from the dealer and just want to push the button and have their car secured. Even if they won't always push the button. Unless they're in an 'unsafe' neighborhood.

What the average user doesn't understand is that every time the get online they're in an unsafe neighborhood. They don't know it and they're not going to do the research to find out. They're not reading /. They don't see comments about Security being a process and not a product. They just want to start up the computer and feel safe that their security system is working. They're not going to search online to find the best anti-virus product(s) available. They're not going to look for reviews of 16 anti-virus programs reviewed. They quite simply don't care and don't feel that they should have to care.

What good is firewall software if the user has no clue whether to allow a process access to the internet or not, but since it just popped up while they were installing something new, they allow it anyways? The firewall/software does nothing for them.

And before someone brings up the Linux solution. I love Linux. I use it. It is NOT user friendly though. With all the different flavors around, the *cough* average user would just rub their temples in frustration and stick with Macrohard products. And if they did pick a Linux distro, they would have to pray that all the components in their computer are compatible. I've installed linux on multiple systems (which previously ran some variation of winblows) and every system has had at least one piece of hardware that didn't have a driver available.

So, to make a long story short (TOO LATE) computer security for the average person will never happen. The only way to make computers secure for the average user to make the internet secure. The only way to make the internet secure is to allow your local ISP to start white-listing/black-listing sites, thus dictating where you can and can not go. And that's never going to happen. Or at least, we hope it doesn't.