As you point out, Paul Marks’ article, particularly the material about hacking risks, is largely based on views held by Hart Rossman. Rossman was on the CHI mashup panel, and as you mention, he made a couple brief comments about security issues.

However, Rossman didn’t express the specific concerns highlighted in Marks’ article during the CHI panel discussion or Q&A. Ben’s comments about Marks approaching him after the session for quotes reinforces my suspicion that Marks also hit up Rossman privately for juicy quotes – so the ACM TechNews synopsis presents a completely different perspective on mashups from the positive public discussion that hundreds of us heard at the CHI panel.

It’s important to recognize that Rossman’s professional practice as chief security technologist for Science Applications International, and adviser to the US Department of Defense, involves identifying real or perceived security threats for a range of applications. Even so, Marks appears to have exaggerated Rossman’s concerns about the danger of mashups in the New Scientist On-Line article. Rossman speaks in his own words about mashup security in a clearer and less sensationalistic tone at http://wiki.mashupcamp.com/index.php/PrivacySecurity

I’d like to see Marks set the record straight out of respect for Ben and the other CHI panelists and the audience, and for the benefit of the community, including all of us striving to create new modalities of beneficial applications in today’s security-conscious environment.

Jonathan Livingston, The Memory Project