The Age of Personal Responsibility is Dead!

Or at least it seems to be these days. Whatever happened to the days of ensuring your own safety and security, of being held liable for your own decisions? This is going to be another unorganized rant; you have been warned.

I just came across and read this article on CNN's web site. It states that there are people calling upon brokerage firms and other agencies to better educate their customers on security as it relates to their sensitive information, and possibly for them to provide software to do so. This is what set this rant off.

Twenty three years ago, out of my thirty three years on this earth, I was fortunate enough to have a very insightful father that took me to a middle school near our home that had just started offering computer related classes. The classes were simple, because no established and proven course material had yet been written, but among the simple laws of computing that they taught were "save early, save often" and "never write down your password." What did these things teach me? Computers, though generally dependable aren't always reliable, and — more importantly — that security is always a concern.

Fast forward to today, and the wide spread use of computers for everything from gaming, to investing, to development, to education. The one thing we hear almost daily, even just the average person that doesn't use computers, is how hackers broke into this web site or company, how that person was bankrupted because their password was easy to access or guess, or about the latest worm or virus exploiting this operating system or that one. These are all security issues, and they're brought to us daily, but aren't these people being taught anything about securing their accounts when they're taught the basics of using their computers? Why must it fall on lawmakers or industry leaders to make sure that the average Joe knows how to protect his ass? Why didn't he or she take the time to learn what how to protect themselves before signing up for DSL or broadband internet access, instead of just rushing out and ordering it? Why is it the company's fault for these people letting other people take advantage of them...?

And while I'm mainly referring to computer related responsibility, it doesn't end there. Why must I have car insurance when the insurance agency is going to do everything in its power to not pay for damages or losses if I get into an accident? Why can't I accept liability for my mistakes if that is what I wish to do? Although I don't use, support, or encourage the use of any drug, why is it that the government has taken the choice of whether or not I can legally use one out of my hands? If I acknowledge that it's addictive, and that it's not good for my body, why can't I choose to use one if I want to? We allow alcohol and tobacco, so why not marijuana, cocaine or something else? How hypocritical is that?

People need to stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for themselves and their actions. I'm not going to excuse people or companies for not disclosing all available information about a product or service, but people need to wake up and pay attention to what the hell they're doing! Don't blindly do something without knowing the consequences.