From: Alex Ramonsky (alex@ramonsky.com)
Date: Wed Apr 09 2003 - 03:16:39 MDT
>
>
> Hi,
> My wife would like to ask a question...
>
> Jill Ramonsky wrote:
>
> Alex has kindly been showing me the "Bad Ideas from Microsoft" thread,
> and some obvious concerns have occurred to me.
>
> Imagine this - after working tireless for decades, we eventually
> upload my husband and other extropes onto computers which are
> TCPA/Palladium controlled. In effect, this would mean that Microsoft
> et al would "own" all uploaded people, and could switch them off (read
> kill them) any time they wanted, at their discretion. They would also
> "own" all people who were born uploaded, and all AIs. They would
> probably also "own" the complete creative output of all uploads. If
> the Fritz chip were to become part of implants, they would also "own"
> the IA parts of your brain. This is not a good future for extropes,
> and I'm not sure that the threat which TCPA poses has been fully
> understood on this list.
>
> So I posed the following question on the AgainstTCPA forum:
>
>
> Could someone explain to me what happens if I write my own software?
>
> Let's say I write a GUI Windows application called "Thing-Editor"
> which edits "Thing-Documents" (files whose format I define without
> reference to anything else).
>
> Will any of these new "trusted" systems prevent me from compiling
> and linking my software? Will they prevent me from running it?
> Will they prevent me from giving away free copies to all my
> friends? Will they prevent the distribution of "Thing-Documents"?
>
> Surely, a box which won't let you compile and run programs isn't
> really a computer - it's an entertainment console.
>
> Have I misunderstood this or am I right to be scared?
>
> The responses which have been so far received (see
> http://againsttcpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5784#5784) are not
> encouraging. There are two possibilities - either my concerns are
> unjustified (in which case I hope someone here can explain this to me)
> or they are not (in which case...?). I hope it is the former. I hope
> someone on this list can explain why I'm wrong.
>
> Jill
>
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