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+ 40. Computing “Progress”: Good and Bad +

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

+ Bradley Horowitz of +Yahoo proposed here + + (50) + + that every object in +our world have a unique number so that your cell phone could record +everything you do—even which cans you picked up while in the +supermarket. +

+

+ If the phone is like today’s phones, it will use proprietary software: +software controlled by the companies that developed it, not by its +users. Those companies will ensure that your phone makes the +information it collects about you available to the phone company’s +database (let’s call it Big Brother) and probably to other +companies. +

+

+ In the UK of the future, as New Labour would have it, those companies +will surely turn this information over to the police. If your phone +reports you bought a wooden stick and a piece of poster board, the +phone company’s system will deduce that you may be planning a protest, +and report you automatically to the police so they can accuse you of +“terrorism.” +

+

+ In the UK, it is literally an offense to be suspect—more precisely, +to possess any object in circumstances that create a “reasonable +suspicion” that you might use it in certain criminal ways. Your +phone will give the police plenty of opportunities to suspect you so +they can charge you with having been suspected by them. Similar +things will happen in China, where Yahoo has already given the +government all the information it needed to imprison a dissident; it +subsequently asked for our understanding on the excuse that it was +“just following orders.” +

+ + +

+ Horowitz would like cell phones to tag information automatically, +based on knowing when you participate in an event or meeting. That +means the phone company will also know precisely whom you meet. That +information will also be interesting to governments, such as those of +the UK and China, that cut corners on human rights. +

+

+ I do not much like Horowitz’s vision of total surveillance. Rather, I +envision a world in which our computers never collect, or release, any +information about us except when we want them to. +

+ + +

+ Nonfree software does other nasty things besides spying; it often +implements digital handcuffs—features designed to restrict the users +(also called DRM, for Digital Restrictions Management). These features +control how you can access, copy, or move the files in your own +computer. +

+

+ DRM is a common practice: + + + Microsoft does it, + + + Apple does it, + + + Google +does it, even the + + + + + BBC’s iPlayer does it. Many governments, taking the +side of these companies against the public, have made it illegal to +tell others how to escape from the digital handcuffs. As a result, +competition does nothing to check the practice: no matter how many +proprietary alternatives you might have to choose from, they will all +handcuff you just the same. If the computer knows where you are +located, it can make DRM even worse: there are companies that would +like to restrict what you can access based on your present location. + + +

+

+ My vision of the world is different. I would like to see a world in +which all the software in our computers — in our desktop PCs, our +laptops, our handhelds, our phones — is under our control and +respects our freedom. In other words, a world where all software is + + free + + software. +

+

+ Free software, freedom-respecting software, means that every user of +the program is free to get the program’s source code and change the +program to do what she wants, and also free to give away or sell +copies, either exact or modified. This means the users are in +control. With the users in control of the software, nobody has power +to impose nasty features on others. +

+

+ Even if you don’t exercise this control yourself, you are part of a +society where others do. If you are not a programmer, other users of +the program are. They will probably find and remove any nasty +features, which might spy on or restrict you, and publish safe +versions. You will have only to elect to use them—and since +all other users will prefer them, that will usually happen with no +effort on your part. +

+ + +

+ Charles Stross envisioned computers that permanently record everything +that we see and hear. + + (51) + + Those records could be very useful, as long as +Big Brother doesn’t see and hear all of them. Today’s cell phones are +already capable of listening to their users without informing them, at +the request of the police, the phone company, or anyone that knows the +requisite commands. As long as phones use nonfree software, +controlled by its developers and not by the users, we must expect this +to get worse. Only free software enables computer-using citizens to +resist totalitarian surveillance. + + +

+ + +

+ Dave Winer’s article + + (52) + + suggested that Mr. + + + Gates should send a copy of + + + + + Windows Vista to + + + Alpha Centauri. I understand the feeling, but +sending just one won’t solve our problem here on Earth. Windows is +designed to spy on users and restrict them. We should collect all the +copies of + + + Windows, and of + + + + + MacOS and + + + + + iPlayer for the same reason, and send +them to Alpha Centauri at the slowest possible speed. Or just erase +them. + + + + +

+
+
+

+ Footnotes +

+

+ + (50) + +

+

+ Bradley Horowitz, “The Tech Lab: Bradley Horowitz,” + + BBC News, + + 29 June 2007, + + http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6252716.stm + + . +

+

+ + (51) + +

+

+ Charles Stross, “The Tech Lab: Charles Stross,” + + BBC News, + + 10 July 2007, + + http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6287126.stm + + . +

+

+ + (52) + +

+

+ Dave Winer, “The Tech Lab: Dave Winer,” + + BBC News, + + 14 June 2007, + + http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6748103.stm + + . +

+ +
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