[ale] Cory Doctorow, right again

James Sumners james.sumners at gmail.com
Fri Mar 16 14:02:09 EDT 2012


Which all boils down to exactly what I said. Either ignore installing
third party software altogether, or do the best you can with the time
you have. The argument that open source is safer because you,
yourself, can look at the code before installing it is ludicrous. If
you have the time to do that for _every_ piece of software you
install, then you must not be doing anything else.

On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 13:42, mike at trausch.us <mike at trausch.us> wrote:
> On 03/16/2012 01:29 PM, James Sumners wrote:
>> It has applications that are shipped with it. And you can use webapps
>> all day long. You don't _have_ to use the AppStore. But if you do use
>> it, then you still have to decide if you trust the developer. If you
>> install something that seems scummy in the description (poorly
>> translated descriptions, bad reviews, etc.) then that's on you. It
>> isn't the fault of anyone, or anything, else.
>
> And what if you install a highly-rated, seemingly legitimate app that
> does things that you aren't aware of because you have no way to possibly
> be aware of them?
>
> There are security concerns with any application software on any
> platform or device that are a mile long and simply cannot be addressed
> by the average user.  These problems will likely never go away, unless
> the entire world moves to a model where the source code for all software
> becomes generally available.  And even then, you have the problems that
> were discussed in “Reflections on Trusting Trust” (a very worthwhile
> read if you haven't), making it almost completely impossible to sanely
> be able to settle on any level of trust in software.  One would have to
> take a copy of a (as Thompson calls it) "bugged" binary and examine it
> on a system that is known to not be bugged.
>
> I don't know about you, but I don't have the means to create a
> completely isolated environment in which to be able to assert such
> levels of trust.  At least not yet; it would be possible to do but it
> would not be really doable without a great deal of time, effort and money.
>
> And even then, who would be insane enough to trust anyone else to create
> such a thing for them?  :-)
>
>        --- Mike
>
> --
> A man who reasons deliberately, manages it better after studying Logic
> than he could before, if he is sincere about it and has common sense.
>                                   --- Carveth Read, “Logic”
>
>
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-- 
James Sumners
http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/

"All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."

Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
CH:D 59



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