Perverse Security Incentives

Yet another example of the premise that if you want to understand the world around you, look for the incentives…

Schneier on Security: Perverse Security Incentives

bq. Incentives explain much that is perplexing about security trade-offs. Why does King County, Washington, require one form of ID to get a concealed-carry permit, but two forms of ID to pay for the permit by check? Making a mistake on a gun permit is an abstract problem, but a bad check actually costs some department money.

bq. In the decades before 9/11, why did the airlines fight every security measure except the photo-ID check? Increased security annoys their customers, but the photo-ID check solved a security problem of a different kind: the resale of nonrefundable tickets. So the airlines were on board for that one.

And so on…

posted at 9:39 am on Wednesday, April 01, 2009 in Links, Security | Comments Off on Perverse Security Incentives

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.