Thread by @maelorin

@EFF @munin This is relevant to the current #MyHealthRecord debate. Accountability has to be built-in AND enforced. You cannot rely on people to do right, you have to verify to ensure trust and reliability. #auspol

@EFF @munin This kind of ‘failure’ is a designed-in feature. We’ve known about this kind of ‘flaw’ for decades. This is what happens when privacy and security are not taken seriously. #auspol #MyHealthRecord

@EFF @munin Convenience leads quickly to complacency. Complacency subverts systems accountability, transparency, and other mechanisms intended to protect the system and the people in and around it. #auspol #MyHealthRecord

@EFF @munin Subversion of systems does not have to be deliberate, nor malicious, nor incompetent, to produce counterproductive results.

See Scott Snook’s 2000 ‘Friendly Fire’ (Princeton) re ‘practical drift’.
#MyHealthRecord #auspol

@EFF @munin Complex systems involve complex interactions. These have to be designed-in very carefully to minimise unforeseen results and to provide means to identify and address them as early as possible. #auspol #MyHealthRecord

@EFF @munin We have had complex computer-mediated systems for half a century now. This is not a new thing. We’ve know about this stuff since way before computers were in things.

eg Aviation safety engineering.
#auspol #MyHealthRecord

@EFF @munin We have building codes and safety inspections for buildings because we know small changes have knock-on effects that have to be carefully considered before ‘just doing it’. And because we know we have to verify to ensure trust: convenience and greed can undermine any project.

@EFF @munin The IT ‘industry’ resists enforceable building codes every way that it can. Which is doing super good things for everyone.

@EFF @munin @threadreaderapp unroll