On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Helge Hafting wrote:The manufacturer is liable for damages if the product is
This seems silly to me. Sure, lasers and medical equipment is
dangerous if used wrong. When such equipment is
controlled by software, then changing that software brings
huge responsibility. But it shouldn't be made impossible.
It may be "silly", but hey, it's often a law.
Also, even if it wasn't about laws, there is a very valid argument that you should be able to be silly. There's a reason people don't get locked up in prisons just for being silly or crazy - sometimes something that seems silly may turn out to be a great idea.And how would truly bad people modify any of my software?
And people seem to totally ignore that there is no correct answer to "who may do software updates?". People rant and rave about companies that stop _you_ from making software updates, but then they ignore the fact that this also stops truly bad people from doing it behind your back.
Quite frankly, in many situations, I'd sure as hell be sure that any random person with physical access to a machine (even if it was mine, and even if I'm _one_ of them) could not just upgrade a piece of software.I want to be silly and reprogram something. I should be able
Sometimes you can make those protections yourself (ie you add passwords, and lock down the hardware - think of any University student computer center or a library or something), but what a lot of people seem to totally ignore is that often it's a hell of a lot more convenient for _everybody_ if the vendor just does it.
And no, the answer is not "just give the password to people who buy the hardware". That requires individualized passwords, probably on a per-machine basis. That's often simply not _practical_, or is just muchA jumper needed for reprogramming limits reprogramming to
more expensive. It's quite natural for a vendor in this kind of situation to just have one very secret private key per model or something like that.History have showed, again and again, that such a "very secret"
In other words, these secret keys that people rant against JUST MAKE SENSE. Trying to outlaw the technology is idiotic, and shortsighted.Yes "very secret" keys makes sense. They are so useful, because
If you don't want a machine that is locked down, just don't buy it. It's that simple. But don't try to take the right away from others to buy that kind of convenience.Seems to me that this "convenience" is only for monopolists trying
And yes, Tivo is exactly such a situation. It's damn convenient. I've got two Tivo's myself (and yes - I actually paid full price for them. I was given one of the original ones, but that's long since scrapped, and even that one I paid the subscription fee myself). But you don't have to buy them. You can build your own at any time, and it will probably be more powerful.What is the convenience of a locked-down device? I agree it is nice
So people are trying to claim that something is "wrong", even though it clearly is. The people arguing for "freedom" are totally ignoring my freedom to buy stuff that is convenient, and ignore real concerns where things like TPM etc actually can make a lot of sense.
Can it be used for bad things? Sure. Knives are dangerous too, but that doesn't make them "wrong" or something you shouldn't allow.