Seeing a Different Side of the Silicon Valley
I just filed my final deadline story (but far from my final story) from the RSA Security conference. The last time I was here was shortly after the dot-com bust, and it was a very different San Jose. I saw a lot of barren shops and worn facades. Pessimism hung heavy in the air. The party scene was pitiful, too. Now, the place is thriving again: buildings have been brought back to life; restaurants and bars team with patrons; and I’ve managed to make the rounds to no less than seven parties in the past two nights and still be in bed by 11.
RSA is the granddaddy of all information security shows, and coming to it generally gets me jazzed about my job again.
Last year, the buzz was all about phishing and spyware and how security companies could combat identity thieves. It was also when everyone realized that hacking was no longer a hobby but a job with a big payoff through theft and fraud. ChoicePoint that month became the first in a long line of companies forced to admit they did a lousy job guarding people’s privacy. In that time, consumer confidence has tanked, and this week the industry leaders all warned that without working together to fix this fast, the Internet will no longer grow as a viable place to conduct transactions. This is important because we’re moving away from everyone just seeking information online to actually participating using the Internet (think wikis, blogs, eBay, online banking and other interactive programs). The good news is the industry’s figured out consumers want their privacy but without having to remember a slew of secret codes. So expect more seamless security to be baked into mobile devices like Web-enhanced cell phones and Palm Pilots or Blackberries. And they’ll make it easy for you to surf and shop via the Internet by requiring you to enter your personal data, including passwords, only once, where they’re then stored in a secured, virtual container for use across a wide variety of Web services.
Improv at the Plaza
One reason I hit the hay relatively early each evening was so I could get in a couple of early morning runs before heading to the convention center. I wanted to stick as closely as possible to the marathon training schedule, so I found the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose a nice substitute for the track workout at Balboa Stadium. It was a little longer than 400m, but it was oval and, at dawn, free of pedestrians. I think I entertained the cabbies idling in front of the Fairmont Hotel, especially when I finished an “800” and immediately hit the grass to do sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks.
This morning, soon as it’s light enough, I’m heading to the Guadalupe River Park a block from my hotel. While waiting in the lobby the other morning, I saw a guy in running shorts and shoes head out and asked specifically where he was going. He pointed me to the trail and since then I’ve been anxious to check it out before I check out.
[Photo of the Chavez Plaza by Steve Dietz at yproductions.com]
RSA is the granddaddy of all information security shows, and coming to it generally gets me jazzed about my job again.
Last year, the buzz was all about phishing and spyware and how security companies could combat identity thieves. It was also when everyone realized that hacking was no longer a hobby but a job with a big payoff through theft and fraud. ChoicePoint that month became the first in a long line of companies forced to admit they did a lousy job guarding people’s privacy. In that time, consumer confidence has tanked, and this week the industry leaders all warned that without working together to fix this fast, the Internet will no longer grow as a viable place to conduct transactions. This is important because we’re moving away from everyone just seeking information online to actually participating using the Internet (think wikis, blogs, eBay, online banking and other interactive programs). The good news is the industry’s figured out consumers want their privacy but without having to remember a slew of secret codes. So expect more seamless security to be baked into mobile devices like Web-enhanced cell phones and Palm Pilots or Blackberries. And they’ll make it easy for you to surf and shop via the Internet by requiring you to enter your personal data, including passwords, only once, where they’re then stored in a secured, virtual container for use across a wide variety of Web services.
Improv at the Plaza
One reason I hit the hay relatively early each evening was so I could get in a couple of early morning runs before heading to the convention center. I wanted to stick as closely as possible to the marathon training schedule, so I found the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose a nice substitute for the track workout at Balboa Stadium. It was a little longer than 400m, but it was oval and, at dawn, free of pedestrians. I think I entertained the cabbies idling in front of the Fairmont Hotel, especially when I finished an “800” and immediately hit the grass to do sit-ups, push-ups or jumping jacks.
This morning, soon as it’s light enough, I’m heading to the Guadalupe River Park a block from my hotel. While waiting in the lobby the other morning, I saw a guy in running shorts and shoes head out and asked specifically where he was going. He pointed me to the trail and since then I’ve been anxious to check it out before I check out.
[Photo of the Chavez Plaza by Steve Dietz at yproductions.com]
