The Security Mentor

One of my favorite security writers and experts is Bruce Schneier, who has a gift for both getting complex issues right and for explaining them clearly. Doing both of those at the same time is not easy.

He's got an important essay about the large trends in the computer industry and how they affect who owns your computer. Some key quotes:

There are all sorts of interests vying for control of your computer. There are media companies that want to control what you can do with the music and videos they sell you. There are companies that use software as a conduit to collect marketing information, deliver advertising or do whatever it is their real owners require.

and even if you're content to have, say, Sony controlling your computer, it's a security risk:

There is an inherent insecurity to technologies that try to own people's computers: They allow individuals other than the computers' legitimate owners to enforce policy on those machines. These systems invite attackers to assume the role of the third party and turn a user's device against him.

With the ultimate risk being:

If left to grow, these external control systems will fundamentally change your relationship with your computer. They will make your computer much less useful by letting corporations limit what you can do with it. They will make your computer much less reliable because you will no longer have control of what is running on your machine, what it does, and how the various software components interact. At the extreme, they will transform your computer into a glorified boob tube.

Read the whole essay. It's informative, readable, and enlightening.