Who ya gonna call?

Begin rant

If words weigh a milligram each, there surely have been metric tons of them dumped on and around Sony BMG by now over their misbegotten effort to manage our music at any cost. Maybe they will find out that "any cost" is more than even they can afford. But I doubt it. If I had infected millions of computers around the world with spyware, I would be up to my ears in FBI agents. Sony may get away unscathed.

There have been a few more tons heaped on the anti-virus vendors like Macafee and Symantec and on Microsoft's anti-spyware tool, since it took them a year to admit there was something wrong and longer to address the issue. Did they sell out to Sony? Want to place bets?

This means something more to me, though. It means that "trust but verify" isn't enough. My world has devolved simply to don't trust. From Enron to Sony, we can't trust the vendors. We can't rely on the security firms we hire to protect us. We can't trust our government not to lie to us or to keep their hands out of our pockets. Some of it is obvious. I watch discussions on current issues in wonder that two people can loudly proclaim opposite interpretations of what seemed simple observations. But much of the funny dealing is hidden behind National Security Letters and the FISA court.

I look at the Medicare drug benefit our congress and our president have offered us. They tout choice; let the individual decide. But the choices run into the hundreds, the web sites they offer as help don't work. Phone calls to advocacy organizations are answered by a machine and no call back happens. The formularies reject all meds a person takes. Whole classes of drugs are excluded despite the law that says they must not do that. I have degrees in math and business administration, but I find it all hopelessly confusing, obscure, and often self-contradictory. How could the generic wheelchair bound innocent cope with this stuff.

In a world where we are inundated with information, finding any that is trustworthy is getting harder and harder.

End of rant