Stewart Baker with Michael Daniel on ze Podcasts

I want to put a quick note out about the latest Steptoe Cyber Law podcast, which is usually interesting because Stewart Baker is a much better interviewer than most against people like this. He's informed, of course, as the US's best known high power lawyer in the space. But also, he's willing to push back against the people on his show and ask harder questions than almost any other public interviewer.

TFW: "I know shit and I have opinions"

http://www.steptoecyberblog.com/2017/03/27/steptoe-cyberlaw-podcast-interview-with-michael-daniels/

The whole interview is good, and Michael Daniel's skillset is very much (and always was) managing and understanding the physics of moving large government organizations around for the better. His comments on the interview are totally on point when it comes to how to handle moving government agencies to the cloud. Well worth the time!

More to the point of this blog however: 47 minutes into podcast Stewart Baker says, basically, that he thinks the VEP is bullshit, and everyone he knows (which is everyone) thinks the VEP is bullshit. Daniels says about VEP not that it works in any particular way, but that he is a "believer", and, to be fair, his position is "moderate" in some ways. In particular, he acknowledges that there is a legitimate national security interest in exploitation. But he cannot address any of the real issues with the VEP at a technical level. In summary: He has no cogent defense of the VEP other than a nebulous ideology.