Re:What Happens When You Send a Zero-Day to a Bank?
by andai on Saturday April 22, 2017 @09:07AM
(#14172316)
Ahh! I just realized, I read about the New York broken windows situation in Malcolm Gladwell's excellent book (in my layman opinion) The Tipping Point.
From the original article in 1982:
Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
Or consider a pavement. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of refuse from take-out restaurants there or even break into cars.
Broken Windows, The Atlantic Monthly, March 1982
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The way I would put it, based on my visits to my home town of Zagreb, Croatia:
Apathy is contagious.
New York City based their increased focus on petty crimes on it. I don't think it is useful as the basis for a model of policing, though.
In some ways, it is an embodiment of the slippery slope fallacy, where if security is not perfect, it's worthless, in the same sense that a roof with one leak in it is worthless, because that one leak becomes the beachhead for further damage to the roof.