Slashdot Mirror
Free Software, a Matter of Life and Death
ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "Software on medical implants is not open to scrutiny by regulatory bodies. Glyn Moody writes: 'Software with the ability to harm as well as help us in the physical world needs to be open to scrutiny to minimise safety issues. Medical devices may be the most extreme manifestation of this, but with the move of embedded software into planes, cars and other large and not-so-large devices with potentially lethal side-effects, the need to inspect software there too becomes increasingly urgent.' A new report 'Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices' from the Software Freedom Law Center points out that, as patients grow more reliant on computerized devices, the dependability of software is a life-or-death issue. 'The need to address software vulnerability is especially pressing for Implantable Medical Devices, which are commonly used by millions of patients to treat chronic heart conditions, epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, and even depression.' Will making the source code free to scrutiny address the issue of faulty devices?"
Blue Screen of Death, now with real death?
Thanks!
At least I didn't say it'd be the first killer app for the platform. Man, these jokes write themselves!
But do you want to risk everyone being able to reverse-engineer the protocol used for adjusting the settings for such a device?
Yes. Security through obscurity is essentially no security at all. The only thing that should be secret is the private encryption key that is uniquely associated with the remote control, which should be under strict physical security at all times.
What you say? There's no encryption implemented in these devices? That's a big problem whether the code is open or not.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!