Category: Best of the Web

Tags: computer, security, digital, trust, copyright, computers, intellectual, property

Who governs digital trust? Cory Doctorow frames 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. Published on Aug 22, 2012 by AtGoogleTalks

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