What a well-written, intelligent article by Bruce Schneier. He touches on the past and future state of IT security, internet companies’ business models, consumers versus customers, and more. It is a great overview on how things have changed over the past ten years and where they’re going in the next decade:

IT security in 2020 will be less about protecting you from traditional bad guys, and more about protecting corporate business models from you.

Bruce’s essay raises a lot of questions for me. If many of the future’s security issues will be centered around protecting consumer’s time and attention just as much as they are about protecting people’s data, then how will it effect those of us with online products? (Big and small?) What are some steps we can take in the right direction now so as to have a scalable and viable business model in the days to come when our reader’s attention is at an even greater premium than it already is?

(Via Ben Brooks.)

Bruce Schneier on IT Security