I’ve been following the series of CIO Magazine articles addressing the realities of Shadow IT and, until, “The Declaration of Interdependence” appeared in the July issue, the logic was pretty solid. However, as I read this article, I could easily visualize the collective drooling of the well-funded and incredibly powerful copyright enforcement industry players across the country. If ever there was a commentary that literally guaranteed a punitive software piracy audit, this would be it.

“If I were an employee of one of the enforcement groups I would frame this material and hang it proudly in my office as a reminder of how secure my profession is and how very wealthy I will become.”

Here is why I am extremely concerned with the underlying message this article conveys: IT professionals, as a whole, do not have any idea how easily they expose their company—and their own professional futures—when they “…secure the network and (do) not worry about client devices…” or “...so I protect the institution, not the individual…”

“Sorry, Dave, but here be some serious legal dragons!”