• 3.) More Concerned With Trade - Really? What, exactly, is worth trading across a thousand years of time and space? Certainly nothing physical, and even information is questionable when it's a thousand years stale.

The recipe for Coca-Cola?

Damn, anyone know the name of the (1980s?) science fiction novel in which contact has been made and the only thing that Earth has that interests aliens is Coca-Cola? (a minor point in the book).

Ask the author of the article where he got that notion from.

That phrase does not appear in the law nor in Massachusetts FAQ.

Nor does anything like it, except in reference to

1. public networks
2. wireless
3. laptops & portable devices

eihab seems to have it right.

IANAL, either, but I did read the whole law and there is no broad encryption mandate as the SQL Mag author claimed.

The encryption-related sections of the law that I can find (17.04 (3) & (5)) actually mandate:

• “(3) Encryption of all transmitted records and files containing personal information that will travel across public networks, and encryption of all data containing personal information to be transmitted wirelessly.”
• “(5) Encryption of all personal information stored on laptops or other portable devices;”.

In other words, if you send data over public networks, or wirelessly, or store it on laptops, you should encrypt it. Excuse me for not getting excited about this.

Law: 201 CMR 17.00 reg

FAQ: 201 CMR 17 faqs

The whole thing seems pretty sensible overall.

So... if you believe you have an explosive or chemical weapon or other noxious item ... why would you open up the containers and smell them?