Wow, my recent editorial over at www.wxpnews.com stirred up a lot of controversy. It's about a thesis project called the Neighborhood Network Watch (NNW) that, in my opinion, goes way over the top by instructing people to illegally access and capture packets from their neighbor's wireless networks and falsely claims to be affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security.

Seems a few people only read the first few paragraphs, though, and concluded that I was criticizing the government rather than the student. I got some pretty strongly worded responses, such as this one from "Name Withheld":

I think you've blown a gasket in the name of  paranoia so that you can stir some interest in an otherwise dull e rag. It would seem to you that the Gov't is to blame for everything until it's time to rely on them again.

I bet you spend most of your time on your fat butts thinking of ways that the government is dying to keep you from doing whatever you want to do. You guys have gotten rich on selling software that caters to the public's sense of paranoia and in order to keep your millions of dollars coming in for your yuppie condo's, your yachts, your kids private schools and your string of ex's you see the government as bloated as you are. Perhaps it's true. But in a country that pay's $57 million dollars to someone to play football while people like myself risked their lives  for this country for 29 years for next to nothing,  there comes a time when I feel like saying  "Shut up!"

We're involved in a global war in which the enemy would love nothing better than to end your way of life as well as your life and because we have been successful at keeping  9/11 from happening again, you whine and complain like the little children that you really are. Get a grip. Put the coke back in the bag and get ready to reap the harvest of what you've sown. We as a Country have turned in on ourselves because facing the fact that the world is a hostile planet to live on and not realizing that "Freedom is not free" is going to cause our collective lifestyles of the rich and famous to come to a serious end if we keep on devouring ourselves.

I spent 29 years in the military wing of this government while you lived your Roman lifestyles. If we keep on this course of self destruction then the next time a planecollides with a building, or a city disappears from a nuclear back pack, well then leave us your phone numbers so we can call you to rescue us from the disaster to come. Maybe you can blame the terrorist to death.

Another reader, who did sign his name (but which I won't divulge here), said more succinctly:

That’s IT!!  You have had umpteen issues in a row now screaming drivel about Big Brother is watching, government is evil, and other chicken little crying.  I have had it, and cannot consider anything that you say with seriousness.

I’m always happy to hear from readers and always appreciate their input, even when they disagree with me. And as the mother of a career military daughter, I especially appreciate anyone who serves our country, but I do wish people would read the entire article before blasting me. I know in today’s fast-paced world, we don’t always read to the end of a lengthy piece, but sometimes that causes us to miss its point.

This particular piece wasn't about the government. As I said in the editorial itself: “I was amazed at the idea that the government would openly endorse such an idea.” I also said, "The threat of terrorist activity is ever-present and our government's diligence can, at least in part, be credited with preventing more attacks on American soil subsequent to 9-11.” As for the person who put up this site, with the goal of making the government look bad, I said, “I'm not amused. Claiming to be affiliated with the government when you aren't is lying in my book. That Martin hides under the cloak of an academic project doesn't make it any less dishonest.”

Now, I’m not claiming that I’ve not criticized the government in the past. Has our federal government at times gone too far in the name of combating terrorism? Yes, it has – that’s the nature of big government. And ours has grown too big and too powerful. If you read some of the material written by the founding fathers and compare what they had in mind to what we have today, you can't deny that.

If and when the government abuses its power, I will condemn that. And I can, because despite the problems, we still live in the best country in the world, where our Constitution guarantees us freedom of speech and the right to petition for redress of grievances. My daughter, who just returned from a military tour in Afghanistan, and others like her risk their lives to ensure that we continue to have those rights.

I am very much aware of what our enemies want to do. That’s why I have continued to support our war efforts in the face of massive opposition from those around me. The military is one of the few duties that the federal government is constitutionally justified in spending our money on, and I am happy when my taxes go toward that proper cause instead of the many so-called “general welfare” purposes for which the central government was never intended to be responsible. However, military methods were never intended to be turned against our own citizens and unreasonable search and seizure was seen by the founders as a serious breach of governmental power. I once took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of my state and the United States, and I still take it seriously.

As to the fantasy life conjured up for me by the first reader, I’ve never sold a piece of software, although I’ve used a lot of it. I’m an independent contractor who provides editorial content to Sunbelt and other companies, not a software vendor. My husband and I have built a fairly successful business doing that, by working those butts that we sit on off for up to 14 or 16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week for years, but we haven’t made it to millionaire status yet.

Before all that, however, I was a police officer so I know a little bit about how hostile the planet can be and I have some scars to prove it. No, I don’t presume to imply that I risked my life to the extent that  those in the military do, but I have been the target of bad guys who wanted to hurt me. I haven’t spent my whole life ensconced in “yuppie condos” or floating on yachts (about the closest we came was when we thought about buying a pontoon boat once, but decided the expense and maintenance cost made it not a smart idea).

“Put the coke back in the bag?”  I swore off soft drinks over ten years ago. If he was referring to a different kind of “coke,” the only drugs I use are aspirin or Advil and only when the pain is really bad. And although it's a little disconcerting to be so completely misrepresented, I’m actually really heartened to see someone besides me defending our country.

Because I love my country. That’s why I will always speak up when I believe it's going off track. And that’s why I will also speak up against those who try to make it look bad when it hasn’t gone off track, as the perpetrator of the NNW web site did by pretending the DHS approved his recommendations for illegal spying on your neighbors.

Based on reader feedback, I’m not the only one who’s concerned about some of the recent government trends toward turning against our own people instead of just fighting the enemy, the new presumptions of guilt until proven innocent and, relevant to the newsletter, the way technology is being used/misused to further that. But - contrary to what some readers seem to believe - that is by no means the only subject of recent editorials (see “Politics of Change in the Tech World,” which is not about politics but about technology, “Who Owns that File Format?”, “You Can Take it With You (Windows Settings, That Is)”, “Wireless on a Plane,” “Will Robots Replace Your Pet?” and others.

The editorial is called that because it offers opinions. I certainly don't expect everyone to agree with mine. But I do wish they would find out what the opinion actually is before disagreeing with it. Many, many readers did read it all and did get it, and I appreciate your responses and will be printing some of them (along with a link to this blog post) in the follow-up in next week's "dull e-rag."

And for anyone who wishes I'd write about something else, please send me your topic suggestions.

The Canadian group had their own little game going at the MVP Summit this year. They each had a number of hockey pucks, emblazoned with different Microsoft product logos. There were three different product pucks, and somewhere out there were ten pucks with the MVP logo. The objective was for us non-Canadians to collect all four different pucks, and if we did, we would win a genuine Canadian jersey so we could go around impersonating a Canadian and saying "eh" for the rest of the Summit.

Well, I managed to get all three product pucks on the first day - but I never did snag one of the rare MVP pucks. It was my own fault; I came soooo close. Dana Epps, a noted leader in the Canadian Contingent, actually had one when I asked - but I had left my other three pucks back at the hotel and he required that he be shown the others before he would give up the MVP puck. Well, Dana, here they are:

 
My three pucks - minus the all-important MVP pucks

Oh, well. I figured they would make good souvenirs. And if they decided to do the same thing next year, I'd be ahead of the game. :) I put them in my computer bag and forgot about them.

Then we got to SeaTac airport. When my bag went through the x-ray machine, suddenly the TSA folks got real interested. The fellow monitoring the machine called someone else over, then another person. They whispered amongst themselves, and then asked me to step over to the side so they could search my bag.

Well, this bag happens to have a built-in holster where I sometimes carry my gun on rare occasions when my clothing makes it difficult to carry on my person. It was empty, of course, but I figured that was what was causing the consternation (even though no one had said a thing about it when we flew out of DFW ... Seattle is, after all, on the left coast and I figured they might get a little more excited about things like that).

However, the agent who searched my bag passed right over the holster without a question. "What do you have in here?" She asked. Well, gosh, lots of things: my cell phone, chargers for my laptop, phone, and toothbrush, keys, my watch, my wallet, some of the little gifts they had given us at the Summit ... finally she gingerly lifted out a small round rubber object labeled "Windows Server 2008" and asked "What is this?"

"A hockey puck," I replied. "There should be two more in there." She dug some more and come up with the rest. "This is very unusual," she said, turning them over and over in her hand as if trying to find the magic button to activate them. "I'll have to x-ray these," she said finally, and took off with them. She didn't come back for a while, but when she did, I guess she had ascertained that 1) they really were hockey pucks and 2) there's no rule against taking hockey pucks on the plane. She put them back into my box, apologized about four times for the inconvenience and sent me on my way, with my dangerous-looking hockey pucks tucked back into my computer bag.

The moral of the story is: if you want to take hockey pucks onto a plane in your carryon luggage when you're flying out of Seattle, be prepared for some extra scrutiny. I guess all those Canadians must have brought their pucks in packed in their checked baggage.

Well, it took a little longer than anticipated to catch up on everything that had piled up in my Inbox during our Seattle trip, but I finally have time to breathe (and blog) again.

The best technical presentation I attended at the MVP Summit this year was (once again) Mark Russinovich's. He talked about security boundaries in Windows, what a security boundary is, what's not a security boundary (e.g., UAC and PMIE) and why the difference matters.

I did a high level overview of the subject for this week's VistaNews (to be published tomorrow, April 24 at www.vistanews.com) and I'll be doing a more technical discussion later. Meanwhile, I think some folks will be surprised to learn that so many of the new Vista features touted as "security features" may not provide quite as much security as they thought.

Steve Ballmer's keynote speech was fun and inspiring, as usual. It was nice seeing Bill there last year, but he just doesn't stir the old Microsoft spirit the way Steve does.

 
At the keynote on Thursday

The press latched onto his comment that Vista is a "work in progress" but that was really only a passing comment. Steve was very responsive during the Q&A session and even immediately put on the Maple Leaf jersey given to him by the Canadian Contingent.

Speaking of which, it seemed as if the theme of this year's Summit was "Canadians, Canadians, Canadians." The last few years, their numbers seem to have been growing steadily and they always display their patriotic pride, but this year it seemed as if about a quarter of the auditorium was filled with people wearing those red and white jerseys.

All those red and white jerseys represent Canadians

Next year, I plan to try to organize my fellow Texas MVPs in a similar way (maybe we'll give Steve-O a ten gallon cowboy hat). Then we can form a Texas-Canadian alliance and really take over the conference. :)

One of the fun things about the Summit is catching up with old friends (as well as meeting new ones). On the last day, we ran into Thomas Lee, whom we've known online since the 90s.

 
Me with Thomas Lee (and Canadians in the background)

There were lots of brand new MVPs at this year's conference, too. Here's Tom with Joli Ballew, one of our fellow Texans (and one my own nominees to the program):

 
Tom and Joli

It's been a hectic week but another MVP Summit has now come and gone. Every year is the same in some ways, different in others. It's good to connect with old friends and to meet new ones. We look forward to the sessions and invariably, some are disappointing and others are well worth the price of admission by themselves.

This year's Summit started out on a so-so note. Some changes were made and not all of them seemed good. The keynote speeches from Ray Ozzy and Steve Ballmer were moved to the last day of the Summit instead of the beginning. I think that got things off to a slow start - the keynote traditionally is what invigorates the participants and gets us enthused about the rest of the week.

This time, instead, there were "open sessions" on a variety of topics at the Seattle Convention Center on Monday. The problem was that Microsoft was paying for accomodations for MVPs Monday through Thursday nights. That means unless we wanted to pay for Sunday on our own (or take advantage of a "double up" program whereby you could get Sunday paid for if you shared a room with another MVP), you probably didn't get into town until sometime Monday. And with air travel the way it is, lots of folks didn't make it to the Convention Center until most or all of those sessions were over.

At the Welcome Reception, it was immediately evident that quite a few MVPs who had been there in the past weren't in attendance, and that there were quite a few newbies. The Canadian Contingent has grown to startling proportions; seems half the room was filled with folks in red and white jackets emblazoned with the Canadian flag. I admire their patriotism and hope to organize the Texas MVPs in a similar fashion next year. Maybe then we can form a Texas-Canadian alliance and take over for real. :)

On the Microsoft campus, things were a tad different this year for us Security MVPs. Last year we were treated like royalty. This year, not so much. Not that it was bad, it just wasn't special. The fantastic team of pepole we had taking care of us at the 2007 Summit - Melissa Travers as our lead and Cami Schwann organizing our dinners and parties - left us a little spoiled, I guess.

For me, the highlights of the week were Mark Russinovich's presentation on Wednesday and Steve Ballmer's keynote and (especially) Q&A session on Thursday.

This weekend, after we get back home and I get a chance to sort through my notes, I'll write about some of the (non-NDA) topics that were discussed and post some photos. Meanwhile, I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that today's flight back to DFW goes as smoothly as the trip up here. I had a great time, but I missed my cats - and the Texas sunshine. I'm really tired of having fuzzy hair every day from the rain. :)

DEBRA LITTLEJOHN SHINDER
deb@shinder.net  www.debshinder.com