"The main reason PCI exists is that there are tens of thousands of merchants who don't understand the basics of information security and weren't even taking the very minimum steps to secure their networks and the credit card information they stored.... PCI pushes that burden downstream and forces merchants to take on a preventative role rather than a reactive role. They have to put in a properly configured firewall, encrypt sensitive information and maintain a minimum security stance or be fined by their merchant banks. By forcing this to be an issue about prevention rather than reaction, the credit card companies have taken the bulk of the financial burden off of themselves and placed it on the merchants, which is where much of it belongs anyways.
I was rooting around in my storage closet a few days ago when I came across a pile of old Wired magazines. Talk about a trip through time--they're all from the early nineties, the first few years of Wired, and they combine a cute-but-ironic enthusiasm for new tech interlaced with full-page ads for long-dead software products and companies (anyone remember Kai's Powertools?).
In the interest of historical research I thought it would be fun to go through an
It isn't easy being the parent of a six-year-old. However, it's a pretty small price to pay for having somebody around the house who understands computers.
