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The Future Has a Kill Switch
palegray.net writes "Bruce Schneier brings us his perspective on a future filled with kill switches; from OnStar-equipped automobiles and city buses that can be remotely disabled by police to Microsoft's patent-pending ideas regarding so-called Digital Manners Policies. In Schneier's view, these capabilities aren't exactly high points of our potential future. From the article: 'Once we go down this path — giving one device authority over other devices — the security problems start piling up. Who has the authority to limit functionality of my devices, and how do they get that authority? What prevents them from abusing that power? Do I get the ability to override their limitations? In what circumstances, and how? Can they override my override?' We recently discussed the Pentagon's interest in kill switches for airplanes. At what point does centralizing and/or delegating operational authority over so much of our lives become a dangerous practice of its own?"
"Sir, I believe you just dropped 29 planes from the sky instead of hitting the EasyButton for more toner. How do you want me to handle this with the press ?"
So then, your two reasons for thinking this is a good thing pretty much boil down to "fear of terrorism" and "people are stupid and need to be protected from themselves".
Wow. You got me there!
Caveat Utilitor
A well-known security expert (some say it was Bruce Schneier) once gave a public lecture on kill switches.
He described how the kill switch is triggered by the authorities, and how the kill switch, in turn, is a component in a vast collection of kill switches called our formerly free culture.
At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: "What you have told us is rubbish. The kill switch is really a flat-out plate of poo supported on the back of a tortoise-like electorate."
The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, "What are the tortoise standing on?"
"You're very clever, young man, very clever," said the old lady. "But it's turtles all the way down!"
She then showed the security expert the kill switch controlling his pacemaker, and he turned a whiter shade of pale.
(a shameless mooching from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down)
sometimes, I wish my wife had a kill switch. Nag, nag, nag.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
Three killswitches for the airplanes under the sky,
Seven for the iPhones in the lesser phones,
Nine for OnStar drivers doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of California where the Shadows lie.
One Killswitch to rule them all, One Killswitch to find them,
One Killswitch to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
My in-laws live on a rural mountain road with a cell phone tower just across the river. A while back, someone with an Onstar equipped vehicle drove off the road, and down a bank. The brush closed behind them, and their vehicle didn't make any noticeable marks on the side of the road. The ONLY reason the authorities found them was because Onstar told them exactly where to find their car.
The fact that they were drunk, and trying to avoid the authorities is another matter.