Asymmetrical Information

From the desk of Mindles H. Dreck:

Web's role in 9/11?

Thomas Friedman writes about a sort of new humility in Silicon Valley about the potential uses of the 'net and information technology.

Ever since I learned that Mohamed Atta made his reservation for Sept. 11 using his laptop and the American Airlines Web site, and that several of his colleagues used Travelocity.com, I've been wondering how the entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley were looking at the 9/11 tragedy — whether it was giving them any pause about the wired world they've been building and the assumptions they are building it upon.

I have heard and can understand how the flow of information in general may make a 9/11 attack more effective. Certainly, we all were able to watch it and discuss it immediately, including critical Al Qaeda audiences in the Middle East. But this article suggests that the internet (or Mr. Atta's laptop) enabled the attacks.

There is no doubt that Al Qaeda used the internet for communication and some e-commerce. But the entire operation was possible in the pre-internet age. Telegrams and coded phone calls would have done the trick. No Al Qaeda terrorists hacked into security systems to disable them. To my knowledge, no electronic identity theft faciliated the highjackings. In addition, Atta was allowed to do everything he needed to do - as Mohammed Atta.

Friedman gets a few Silicon Valley types to (sort of) agree with him -

John Doerr, the venture capitalist, said, "Culturally, the Valley was already maturing before 9/11, but since then it's definitely developed a deeper respect for leaders and government institutions."

At Travelocity, Mr. Hornthal noted, whether the customer was Mohamed Atta or Bill Gates, "our only responsibility was to authenticate your financial ability to pay. Did your name and credit card match your billing address? It was not our responsibility, nor did we have the ability, to authenticate your intent with that ticket, which requires a much deeper sense of identification. It may be, though, that this is where technology will have to go — to allow a deeper sense of identification."

Will Doerr and Hornthal start writing about Gray Goo soon?

Well, what would you say if contacted for this column? "nah, it has nothing to do with us"?

Not bloody likely.

Posted by Mindles H. Dreck at May 26, 2002 10:51 AM | Technorati inbound links"); ?>