Slashdot Mirror
Symantec Labels Vicars' Software as Spyware
ukhackster writes "The curse of Norton Antivirus has struck again. This time, Britain's vicars have been hit. Norton mistook a legitimate file for a piece of spyware, and those who followed the instructions found that their sermon-writing application no longer worked. Norton was once an essential application. Is it turning into a joke?"
So, tell us something we don't know.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
*dons flame redardant suit*
I know saying something good about Trusted Computing around here is largely akin to taping meat to myself and dancing with lions, so here is an AC post.
One of the goals that Trusted Computing is working towards is 'Sealed Storage': only the program that generates the data can access the data it has encrypted. Coupled with some way of preventing monkeying with memory (such as curtained memory), it would be trivial to implement what you describe.
The problem with your system is that it assumes it is infaliable; which it isn't. Most of the viruses we see today propagate using exploits, and we can safely assume that, left up entirely at the software level, such a system would also be circumvented in some way. Sealed storage would go much further in ensuring the integrity of such a security policy.
As for documents being opened, Microsoft is trying out secure I/O, so you could prove input came from a user, so you could safely have programs open documents because you can verify the user actually tried to do it themselves, and the program isn't overstepping its boundaries.
I think you are right, and I think its about time things changed. I'm just trying to point out the things you say are closer than you think, but its much cooler to bash an unreleased, untested set of rational ideas as corporations trying to remove your rights.
Shit, ... HELL YEA! Man how could anyone see this as a bad thing? The last thing these people is help spreading their hate mongering and lies. Let them use pen and paper. They want your thoughts regressed a few thousand years, let the way they do it be regressed as well.
-Polyhead-