One of the classic rules of information security is as follows:

Bad security is worse than no security. With bad security, you think you’re safe. With no security, you know you’re not–and act accordingly.

What’s interesting is how much this applies to user interface concerns as well. Occasionally, Windows will simply fail to execute simple copy-and-paste correctly. It’s not so common that it prevents me from using it entirely (which, incidentally, is a horribly damaging attack against an IT infrastructure–break things so often that people refuse to trust and receive value from *anything* out of IT), but it’s not so rare that I can ignore it as a random bug. It’s essentially stuck in that middle ground, where I have to accept and suffer through it, all the while experiencing much more frustration than if I just consistently retyped the text myself.

This is not just idle chatter. More and more, I’m realizing the effects of user frustration are a key tool in understanding everything from cryptographic deployment(Sporadic SSL vs. Universal IPSec) to Desktop UI’s to the farce of “Secure” Digital Music that breaks on a whim.

More on this another time.