Bruce Sterling über die Rootkit-Debatte

Bruce Sterling schreibt bei Wired über die Folgen des SonyBMG Rookits und die Auswirkungen der Debatte: The Rootkit of All Evil.

It’s time for lawmakers, trade groups, and public-interest organizations to get down to the hard work of hammering out standards for what businesses can and can’t do to customers‘ computers. Such an effort will need to be international, because the Net knows no bounds. It will need to come up with simple, understandable language for end-user licensing agreements. It will need to draw red lines around unacceptably invasive hacks and map gray areas between spying and market research.

I’m not holding my breath, though. After all, we asked for this. We didn’t want to ruffle the feathers of the goose that laid the golden egg of technological progress, so we allowed manufacturers to claim more and more control over the ways we use their products and what they can do with our information. It should come as no surprise that they’re using that power as a cover for bigger, possibly more lucrative schemes.

You may not be interested in the digital rights war, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have the luxury of sitting on the sidelines. Because the other side is very, very interested in you.