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Civil War General-Purpose Computing | Cory Doctorow | Talks at Google

Talks at Google

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  • Recommended by 4 people: 4 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2014 to 2022.
  • Presented by Cory Doctorow, author and activist
  • An opinion. It argues one side of a question engineers disagree on.

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

91K views14 years ago4 recommendations

SecurityTools and practicePrivacy and surveillanceWeb and application securityThe tech industry

Cory Doctorow discusses the political and technical battles over DRM, device lockdown, and the preservation of general-purpose computers.

Who governs digital trust? Doctorow framed the question this way: "Computers are everywhere. They are now something we put our whole bodies into---airplanes, cars---and something we put into our bodies---pacemakers, cochlear implants. They HAVE to be trustworthy." Sometimes humans are not so trustworthy, and programs may override you: "I can't let you do that, Dave." (Reference to the self-protective insane computer Hal in Kubrick's film "2001." That time the human was more trustworthy than the computer.) Who decides who can override whom? The core issues for Doctorow come down to Human Rights versus Property Rights, Lockdown versus Certainty, and Owners versus mere Users.

Why it's here

4 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as an eye-opening talk on the threats of DRM and the fight to maintain user control over computing hardware.

freedombenon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Cory Doctorow: Persuasion, Adaptation, and the Arms Race for Your Attention”

Always interested in what Cory Doctorow has to say. While this particular blog post isn't about DRM, his work is benefiting everyone (except those who would rather enrich themselves at the expense of humanity). It's probably bigger than you think. I highly recommend reading up on what Cory has to say on DRM and the war on general purpose computing. It may change your mind. link link Also watch the various youtube videos of his talks, like this one: link to this video
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jcron Hacker News • Recommends

On “Cory Doctorow novel pulled from school reading for 'questioning authority'”

The book, "Little Brother," is available in multiple formats under Creative Commons licensing (free): link Also, you might enjoy Cory Doctorow's talk: "The Coming Civil War over General-purpose Computing" link to this video
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zAy0LfpBZLC8mACon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Telegram founder: US intelligence tried to bribe us to weaken encryption”

…ion can be read by third parties or it can not. You cannot build crypto that only leaks nuclear bomb plans, but keeps your medical information uncrackable. And you might be interested in some of Cory Doctorow's talks (or blog articles or maybe even books) on the general topic of "the war against general-purpose computing", like maybe one of these: link to this video link…
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zAy0LfpBZLC8mACon Hacker News • Recommends

On “DRM Is Toxic to Culture”

…decided by a democratic process, the other is dictated by one party. > but that is a problem of execution, not one of concept. Actually, it is a problem of the concept. It is asking for computers to be robbed of their defining characteristic, and to be put under dictatorial control. See also Cory Doctorow's talks on the topic, like maybe this one: link to this video (he gave this and similar talks in many places, you can find quite a few of them on youtube, I have no clue whether this particular one is good)…
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freedombenon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Apple fails to block porn and gambling “enterprise” apps”

…it's one of the reasons they live in the Apple ecosystem. They want to be protected from running apps that might do something objectionable (according to Apple's standard), and are absolutely willing to trade their freedom for some security. I obviously don't agree with this at all (I refer you to Cory Doctorow's War on General Purpose Computing: link to this video ) but it is a position I can understand.…
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est31on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Google has banned the training of deepfakes in Colab”

There is this talk about the civil war on general purpose computing by Cory Doctorow: link He gave the same talk at Google: link to this video It's slowly becoming reality.
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mtgxon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Julian Assange: Cryptographic Call to Arms”

In Cory Doctorow's talk at Google, he said that all routers today have interception technology in them. It's only a matter of being enabled or not in some countries or in others. But it seems so many have asked for it, that they don't even bother to build routers without that interception technology in them, so now their default router has interception built-in by default. link to this video
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mtgxon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Massive New Surveillance Program Uncovered by Wall Street Journal”

…and following just that one. Now it's up to the people to stop this from becoming legal or from being done even illegally, not just in US, but in all countries, as I'm sure many others will try doing it, too. The ironic part is that the developed "democratic" countries may be the first to do it, because they are more advanced technologically. 1 link to this video…
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vy8vWJlcoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “The Copyright Monopoly Stands In Direct Opposition To Property Rights”

From the article: "(Some people would argue that even property as such is a governmentally-sanctioned private monopoly, in order to downplay the fact that the copyright monopoly stands in opposition to property rights, but that would not be what we mean by "property" and "monopoly" as concepts. If I own an umbrella, I control that umbrella. If I have a monopoly on umbrellas, I get to control everybody else's umbrella too, and get to call on the government to have that enforced.)" I believe the above was meant to addresses your specific form of criticism. I've said it before, and I'll say it again... "imaginary property" != "real property" importanceof("real property") > importanceof("imagina…
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pdkl95on Hacker News • Mentions

On “A message from Lawrence Lessig [video]”

[comments don't always parse as intended, so let me first say that I mean this in the very best way possible, and intend to find ways to support Lessing and everybody else fighting corruption] This may be the most powerful talk I've ever seen. Mr. Lessig has alway given a very interesting (and entertaining) talk. There have been some good talks recently, such as some of the 30c3 talks and Doctorow's caution for the future1 a year earlier. There are, believe, there's two reasons this talk is so effective. First, Mr. Lessig gave such a clear and simple goal. This prevents the problem from being immediately interpreted as one of those "big problems" that never get solved. It doesn't even matt…
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jakeoghon Hacker News • Mentions

On “California Police Used Stingrays in Planes to Spy on Phones”

Is it accurate to state they have made illegal (via 'rules') to use open source (user controlled) EM comm above 100um (below 3000GHz1) (except a few windows)? Or is it 9kHz to 275GHz? I bet when line of sight NIR comms (there's a nice window around 1550nm) get popular, they will (to stay relevant) want to 'regulate'2 that too. Prior restraint is the problem here, anyone can mess with the spectrum with basic electronic skills, mandating 'approved' software seems less than pointless. 1 link 2 link to this video
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bryanbuckleyon Hacker News • Mentions

On “GPLv4 – Starting the Conversation (2014)”

> When someone sell property, the seller should not have a right to exercise powers that are exclusively to the new owner. Sorry to say, but it is already the case of many computing devices: link to this video If you buy an iPhone, what exactly do you own? I hope this stuff gets cleared up, of course. Would be nice to run some free software on any computing device you own. > DRM is the technical method to remain in control over property after sale, where contract would be the legal method when renting out property. I agree at least the "owner" should be allowed to boot alternative SW, but it means DRM for digital assets will not be functional (you could dual boot..), as well as some silicon, I imagine.…
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pdkl95on Hacker News • Mentions

On “Cortana: The spy in Windows 10”

…oing to have to put safety and security rules on publicly networked computers. This is a cheap excuse to not address actual security. The negligent security practices of most businesses over the last few decades are becoming a serious problem, and as usual the guilty are trying to deflect the blame onto the people least responsible: the users. 1 link to this video…
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_nrvson Hacker News • Mentions

On “KIA Dealership in Canada remotely disables car over $200 fee”

Glad this made me remember Cory Doctrow riffing on similar scenarios in 2012 with his talk "The Coming Civil War over General-purpose Computing" link to this video
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jakeoghon Hacker News • Mentions

On “United States to fund gun-violence research after 20-year freeze”

You are arguing for two classes of people; those with access to general purpose computing, and those without. link to this video
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jakeoghon Hacker News • Mentions

On “‘Quarantine fatigue’: Researchers find more Americans venturing against orders”

Tech giant briar patch. You want the gov to decide what can be remembered a-la GDPR? Maybe some Article13 after? link link link link link The Coming Civil War over General-purpose Computing: link to this video
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