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?"

Comments

Simple questions, simple answers

[Dachannien]

• Who has the authority to limit functionality of my devices, and how do they get that authority? In this order: the Content Cabal, Russian hackers, and federal law enforcement. The Content Cabal gets the authority because they pay Congress and/or the FCC for it, the Russian hackers get that authority because our own security-fu is weak, and law enforcement gets it because terrorists scare the shit out of us.
• What prevents them from abusing that power? Content Cabal: Nothing (once their power is ensconced in law, it's too late); Russian hackers: Nothing (the teeming masses of neophyte device users will never learn to make themselves secure); and Law Enforcement: Nothing (you can't complain about what you don't know about).
• Do I get the ability to override their limitations? In what circumstances, and how? I want some of what you're smoking. But seriously, the only guaranteed way to override these limitations is to use devices that are not equipped with such "functionality". (In the case of the Content Cabal and law enforcement, this may eventually not be legally possible.)
• Can they override my override? As with any form of DRM, it will be a war of escalation between those who want control over their own devices and those who have a vested interest in wresting that control away from you. Any security you manage to get for yourself will eventually become obsolete, either because (a) the device itself reaches obsolescence, through format changes, licensing, insufficient processing power, or plain old wear and tear, or (b) the security measures you obtain are eventually counteracted through countersecurity measures. Neither side will win, of course, which is why the Content Cabal and law enforcement will seek criminal penalties against those who try to maintain control over their own devices.