Overuse and Misuse of Terms
"He who controls the language, controls the world." I use to think that was bullshit. But then, I watched the Intellectual Property Cartel win points worldwide by using the made up misnomer "cybersquatting" to describe anyone who had a domain name that they happened to want. The mere use of the term caused anything from crappy legislation to judges automatically finding against anyone called a "cybersquatter."
Is it any wonder that now that a new term that strikes terror (pun intended) into humankind would be appended to the end of things to gain more attention (read money) from those who might otherwise be logical, thoughtful people? Of course not! It's human nature. The more I hear about human nature, the more I wonder if it's worth it to be human.
An Internet security expert told conference attendees Tuesday to use the term "cyberterrorism" properly--and played down the spread of government-sponsored hacking.
Organizations are abusing the word by using it to fuel their budgets, Bruce Schneier said.
Speaking at the Infosecurity Europe conference in London, the renowned author and cryptography expert called cyberterrorism a myth that has yet to become to a threat to human life.
"Nobody's getting blown to bits," Schneier said. "I don't think that cyberterrorism exists--if you add 'terrorism' to things, you get more budget. If you can't get e-mail for a day, you're not terrorized, you're inconvenienced."
"We should save 'terror' for the things that deserve it, not things that piss us off," he added.