Dissertation Could Be Security Threat
from the ah,-the-world-today dept
Fascinating story about a grad student's dissertation that even his own professor called "tedious and unimportant", but which US government officials are trying to make disappear. The dissertation apparently maps "every business and industrial sector in the American economy, layering on top the fiber-optic network that connects them." It's that map of the fiber-optic network that has the government worried. In these terrorist-fearing days, they say such a map could be very useful info to a would-be terrorist. The grad student in question, Sean Gorman, is surprised at all the attention he's getting, and wondering what it means if his dissertation is classified, saying, "Crap. Does this mean I have to redo my PhD?" He does point out that, with the map, he can conduct tests of where the fiber optic network is most vulnerable, which is part of what scares the government. Some are saying he should be allowed to hand in the dissertation, get his grade, and then have the work "burned". Others are pointing out that if he could build this map, so could anyone else (it's all based on publicly available info) - and, thus, there's a lot more value in getting the information out there and forcing the government to protect the fiber-optic infrastructure at its weakest points. Interestingly (though, not surprisingly), it's not just the government that wants to suppress the data, but the big companies that are most effected by its potential release. When Gorman presented just a sliver of his results to a forum of CIOs from large financial institutions, they threatened to not allow him to leave the building with his laptop. All of this is missing the point. The data is out there. If Gorman is building the map, so is someone else. Denying that doesn't solve the problem. Meanwhile, Gorman has more mundane concerns: "They're worried about national security. I'm worried about getting my degree."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team