Slashdot Mirror
Sony Rootkit Redux: Canadian Business Groups Lobby For Right To Install Spyware
An anonymous reader writes "Michael Geist reports
that a coalition of Canadian industry groups, including the Canadian
Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Marketing Association, the
Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association and the
Entertainment Software Association of Canada, are demanding
legalized spyware for private enforcement purposes. The potential
scope of coverage is breathtaking: a software program secretly
installed by an entertainment software company designed to detect or
investigate alleged copyright infringement would be covered by this
exception. This exception could potentially cover programs designed
to block access to certain websites (preventing the contravention of
a law as would have been the case with SOPA), attempts to access
wireless networks without authorization, or even keylogger programs
tracking unsuspecting users (detection and investigation)."
Law enforcement computers, politician's computers, government computers, homeland security computers. My bet is within a week 50% of those folks wouldn't have jobs, and 75% in a month.
This makes a good argument for using open source. Removing a secret rootkit is a lot easier when the underlying layers of the operating system aren't obscured. I'll be this goes nowhere. Either that or proprietary OS vendors suffer sales losses as people flock to Linux and *BSD
It's getting pretty hard to differentiate between living in North America under corporate controlled government and China under government controlled corporatism.
If only there were a similarity that I could put my finger on, it seems there is but it escapes me.
I guess we'll see how similar if this passes. I doubt it will, but it indicates we have more in common that I'm comfortable with. Hell, just the fact that this has been proposed is a lot more egregious than I'd have ever imagined possible just a few years ago.
You and me both.
If I find that someone (Person or corporate entity.) has installed software on MY computer without my explicit permission, they will be explaining to law enforcement why they think they have the right.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
How far all thess jokes will go until we decide collectively for a stop, and just throw all those IP crap out the window?
Video of some good progressive thrash music
And therein lies the problem. "Oh, but the law permits them to".
Stallman saw this shit coming decades ago, sadly he's right :x
Unless they're backed by law enforcement, at which point they'll be explaining nothing.
That's the point.
These agencies are trying to legalize computer-rape, so that when they bend you over, you've no recourse but to take it and pray for a reach around
This signature is false.
It is amazing that corporations do not recognize this simple truth.
In which case, the only option is to not buy the spyware-infested product. Since the spyware is secret, there's no way to tell which disks are infected and which are not. The only safe alternative is to avoid buying any official content what so ever. The industry will drive any previously paying customers that give two s**** about their privacy to turn to the "piracy" avenue of acquiring content.
The contortions the industry goes through to reach out and nail their own coffin shut are quite impressive.
The only appropriate response to such a request is, "Go fuck yourself."
This space unintentionally left blank.
blueray runs 'mobile code' when it starts the disc.
for that reason (a big one) I refuse to buy BD discs or even support the business model with recorders/players.
I can't know what they run and it could be harmful. I refuse to play that game.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
That doesn't solve the problem, though - more and more people are using Linux on a regular basis, and while they are shielded from a good majority of threats seen on Windows, it doesn't meant that 1) there isn't spyware that can affect them and 2) that they would know how to lock down their systems just because they have an OS more capable of being finely-tuned and locked down. Don't mistake a great tool for a great carpenter.
I think you're calling it while it's still in the air though. These groups are lobbying for it. Of course they are: it's in their interests. Lobbying groups always ask for things that are in their interests, often at the expense of everyone else's. As always, the rest of us must oppose it. I saw nothing in the article suggesting it was likely to pass. Don't get discouraged yet, in other words, gear up for a fight.
http://tinyurl.com/9wpxjg6 Page 11-12
These exceptions they are asking for are so very broad. Take a look this exception they're seeking,
(a) a program that is installed by or on behalf of a person to prevent, detect, investigate, or terminate activities that the person reasonably believes (i) present a risk or threatens the security, privacy, or unauthorized or fraudulent use, of a computer system, telecommunications facility, or network,
Do you believe the RIAA poses a reasonable threat to your privacy from their new rootkits? Well then it seems, under this law, you could install a trojan horse on their computer, read their files, and then crash programs that might end up help the RIAA from violating your privacy...Like Windows
This raises a very valid point: once this spyware is on a system, it'll be trivial for malware authors to co-opt the malware to steal data for their own use. Not to mention, the temptation for PRIVATE GROUPS to misuse information lifted from private citizens in secret is huge.
Luckily, this goes against Canadian Privacy law in so many ways, I don't see how even the Conservative government could succeed in ramming this through.
If these laws (or any like them) are allowed to pass, the explanation will be "we installed it because the law permits it, any further harassment by you will result in fines and jail time."
That's why it's important to spread the knowledge now, well in advance. That's why it was so important for sites like Wikipedia to stage the blackout in defiance of SOPA/PIPA last year. Raise awareness BEFORE the laws are passed. Because once they are, digging the hooks out will be an extremely painful process.
This signature is false.
Then they'll pass a law where providing tools to remove spyware will get you a 5 year prison sentence.
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Simply stop buying their crap, there are alternatives. I think the choices will start to become more apparent to the masses over time, and the losers will be those depending on unsupportable business models.
Consider: You can buy DRM-free music, today, where they make no attempt to lock it to specific devices. Emusic is one, and Magnatune is another. In the latter case, you are even encouraged to share your purchase in limited amounts, and there's also free streaming if you are OK with the per-song nag message. Non-lossy formats are supported too, and they go for quality content instead of large amounts of crap. (Yeah, preaching here, but I just bought a lifetime membership.)
In TV/movie terms, Netflix has just released a season of a series, "House of Cards", that *they* produced. Screw Sony and their ilk, this is produced and distributed without their help. I'm hoping this gives big media companies a shocking wheeze, where it's apparent even to them that they're becoming irrelevant.