Not the bright center of the universe.
I read this article with no surprise at all. I’ve been meaning for some to blog about what I see as widespread ignorance of security work outside of the US. I just never got time to collect all the examples I wanted to highlight. But Jason Hiner’s article serves as a good enough springboard all by itself.
His attempts to reassure American readers just perpetuate their self-centeredness and ignorance.
“The U.S. is at a tactical disadvantage at the moment. Since many of today’s latest technologies (in virtually every field) are simpler to use and implement, have more features, and are much cheaper than their predecessors, international upstarts have a big advantage right out of the gates when they establish their internal IT infrastructure.“
In other words, “Of course we invented all the good stuff and made it so easy, a caveman^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hforeigner could use it.“ The use of the word “upstart” is a dead giveaway. How dare these foreigners attempt to achieve our level of technological superiority?
“This was bound to happen as IT helped accelerate globalization.“
Again, the assumption that Americans created all IT and passed it on to everyone else.
“Silicon Valley is still the epicenter of the technology world ... there are still more new and innovative tech ideas concentrated in Silicon Valley than anywhere else on earth.“
The key word here being “concentrated.“ Sure, you might have more IT shops per square inch in Silicon Valley, but do they really out-innovate all the other IT companies and universities all over the world? I don’t think so.
“The sleeping giant hasn’t woken up yet.“
Don’t worry, Americans, you can still grab the crown back if you try.
This sort of arrogance and complacency on the part of the US completely misses the fact that there has been plenty of innovation throughout the rest of the world, and it certainly isn’t a new thing. Fifteen years ago I was working in Europe, joining international working groups, and seeing firsthand the groundbreaking work that was being done. The Swiss have their ETHZ; Germans have their high-tech incubators and excellent academic research all over the country; the British have IT centres in Ireland, Scotland and of course England; the French had their Minitel way before the World Wide Web (which, I hardly need point out, was invented by an Englishman at CERN). Today, Israel receives a grudging acknowledgment of its innovation in security software. Chinese hackers wouldn’t pose nearly the threat that they do to US military networks if they weren’t any good at it. There’s plenty of innovation going on in Russia and South America, not all of it good, but certainly noteworthy. Singapore invented the high-tech city long, long ago.
Do I need to mention Knoppix (German)? IRC (Finnish)? Linux (Finnish)? The well-known Polish researcher at COSEINC in Singapore? Korean broadband, which just blows the US away? Let’s not even get started on what Japan has done.
People, the only ones who ever thought the US was the bright center of the tech universe were the Americans themselves. Once in a while the “sleeping giant” wakes up a little bit and realizes that there’s the rest of the world out there. Too bad, so sad.
That article is like the tech/geek equivalent to religious idealists who want to invade any country who doesn’t share their beliefs to a “t,“ and live in their own little realities. I swear, as I was reading it towards the bottom, I had this vision of Mr. Hiner thumping his chest with one fist and shaking a bayoneted gun with the other with eyes pinched tightly closed, ears plugged, and mouth screaming out primitive non-sense…but maybe that’s just my deranged imagination.