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Laurie Anderson Is Quoting Me
Not by name, but Laurie Anderson quotes me in one of the tracks of her new album:
My favorite quote is from a cryptologist who said “If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology and you don’t understand your problems.”
Also in interviews:
“Of course, it’s ridiculous, outrageous, blah, blah, blah,” Anderson says about the ad. ‘But, I mean, my favorite quote on this is from a cryptologist who said, ‘If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology  and you don’t understand your problems.’ And I think I’m completely on board with that.”
People are telling me that she has been reciting this quote in performances for years. (I lost track of her since college and her 1981 hit “O Superman.”)
The origins of the quote is from Roger Needham:
If you think cryptography can solve your problem, you don’t understand your problem and you don’t understand cryptography.
I modified the quote in the preface to my 2000 book Secrets and Lies:
A few years ago I heard a quotation, and I am going to modify it here: If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology.
I can’t tell you why me in 2000 didn’t credit Needham by name. I should have.
I have used the quote pretty consistently since then. Somewhere along the line I dropped “security” from the phrase, and now say it more like Anderson quotes me:
If you think technology will solve your problem, you don’t understand your problem and you don’t understand technology.
I sometimes use singular and sometimes use plural. Sometimes I say “the problem” and “the technology.” But I think the quote flows better ending with just the word “technology.”
