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Doctorow on the War on General Purpose Computing

Posted by timothy on from the worth-reading-all-the-way-through dept.

Cory Doctorow has posted the content of his talk delivered at Google this month on what he calls the coming civil war over general purpose computing. He neatly crystallizes the problem with certain types of (widely called-for) regulation of devices and the software they run — and they all run software. The ability to stop a general purpose computer from doing nearly anything (running code without permission from the mothership, or requiring an authorities-only engine kill switch, or preventing a car from speeding away), he says boils down to a demand: "Make me a general-purpose computer that runs all programs except for one program that freaks me out." "But there's a problem. We don't know how to make a computer that can run all the programs we can compile except for whichever one pisses off a regulator, or disrupts a business model, or abets a criminal. The closest approximation we have for such a device is a computer with spyware on it— a computer that, if you do the wrong thing, can intercede and say, 'I can't let you do that, Dave.'"

9 of 360 comments (clear)

  1. It's not that hard actually. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just extend RFC 3514 to add an "Evil Bit" to all executables. If that bit is set, the program won't run.

    Problem Solved.

  2. Oh shit! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm a woman who uses a PC and a Christian.

    So, I now have to deal with a war on PCs, a Republican War on Women, and then there's the War on Christianity.

    What is a girl to do!?

    1. Re:Oh shit! by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm a woman who uses a PC and a Christian.

      I figure I know what you do with the PC. What's the Christian for?

    2. Re:Oh shit! by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

      You can stop using the Christian. Stopping being a woman is difficult and PCs are too much useful to get rid of, but at least you'll get rid of a third of your problems.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    3. Re:Oh shit! by Half-pint+HAL · · Score: 5, Funny

      Christians have been used as lion food since the heyday of the Roman Empire.

      --
      Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
  3. Re:all in all by fustakrakich · · Score: 5, Funny

    How did we reach a point where we will so willingly turn over our individual agency to Apple, Microsoft, Sony? Or AT&T and Comcast?

    First the earth cooled... It was all downhill from there.

    --
    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. "I can't let you do that, Dave." by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Funny

    Except in this case it's "They told me not to let you do that, Dave."

    --
    Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
  5. Re:all in all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not the goodness of their hart, but for dough, a deer, a female deer.

  6. Re:Glitch in the Matrix... by russotto · · Score: 3, Funny

    11 of 9 comments loaded

    We liked 7 of 9 so much we cloned her twice.