Fwd: Question re: Bad ideas from Microsoft et al...

From: Alex Ramonsky (alex@ramonsky.com)
Date: Wed Apr 09 2003 - 03:16:39 MDT

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    >
    >
    > 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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