[Upd-discuss] Microsoft

[Dean Anderson]

On Thu, 24 Jun 2004, Richard Stallman wrote:

>     As much as some of us would like to hear it, I've seen nothing that
>     indicates that XPs activation opens a 'back door' to Microsoft.
> 
> Isn't it the case that, due to activation, Microsoft knows who the
> user is?  That way, when XP asks for an upgrade, Microsoft can give
> you an upgrade designed specifically for you.  That would be a back
> door, even though activation itself is not one.
> 
>     I'm not sure the car analogy holds: you'll find that certain car
>     manufacturers will insist on your use of authorised dealers to make
>     repairs and having problems fixed elsewhere is likely to invalidate your
>     warranty. In that respect you have been forced to 'register' your car with
>     the manufacturer to keep it working.
> 
> These are not analogous.  The car does not refuse to run just because
> its warranty is void, and you can continue repairing it yourself.

It doesn't hold now, but I'm not so sure your want to dismiss this so
quickly.  Given that cars are starting to use RFID's in keys to exchange
crypto-authentication between the key and the car's computer, and the
trend toward equiping cars with 'call-home when in trouble' tracking
systems, I'm not so certain we might not see such things in the future.  

I read an article in Circuit Cellar magazine this month about altering the
engine timing for an aftermarket turbocharger. This involved
reverse-engineering the signal being sent from the engine to the car's
computer, and then building a circuit to alter the signal.  Automechanics
appears to be moving away from "greasemonkey with a wrench" and going
towards applied electronics, with a specialty of reverse engineering. When
does for example, "altering your car's timing" become illegal reverse
engineering?  Imagine the computer chip anti-reverse engineering law being
applied to working on your car.  When this law was established, it was
probably thought to be ridiculous that anyone might try the same argument
with respect to automobiles.  But, in some ways we are almost there. It
seems like some of the "sure, that would be ridiculous"-type arguments of
the early era of electronic patents and copyrights could come back.

		--Dean