Navaho Gunleg

Just received Bruce Schneier’s latest Crypto-Gram which makes some interesting points.

One refers to this column by Bruce posted on Wired:

You own your computer, of course. You bought it. You paid for it. But how much control do you really have over what happens on your machine? Technically you might have bought the hardware and software, but you have less control over what it’s doing behind the scenes.

Using the hacker sense of the term, your computer is “owned” by other people.

A must-read if you own a computer and wonder where it’s all heading with digital content, etcetera.

Another interesting point is made about the Nintendo Wii, which seems to be ‘always on’:

We all know that, but what’s interesting here is that Nintendo is
changing the meaning of the word “off.” We are all conditioned to believe that “off” means off, and therefore safe. But in Nintendo’s case, “off” really means something like “on standby.” If users expect the Nintendo Wii to be truly off, they need to pull the power plug — assuming there isn’t a battery foiling that tactic. There seems to be no way to disconnect the Internet, as the Nintendo Wii is wireless only.

Maybe there is no way to turn the Nintendo Wii off.

There’s a serious security problem here, made worse by a bad user interface. “Off” should mean off.

You can read the Bruce’s latest Crypto-Gram here.

Computers, Schneier, DRM, Entertainment, Security