[conspire] Ehhh... Linux image problem, ya think?

[Daniel Gimpelevich]

On Tue, 23 May 2006 23:32:13 -0700, Rick Moen wrote:

> Quoting Daniel Gimpelevich (daniel at gimpelevich.san-francisco.ca.us):
>> On Tue, 23 May 2006 20:51:10 -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> 
>> > "Trusted Computing" [sic] is where your computer will do only what some
>> > corporate baron permits it to (at least, in the operating mode where
>> > it's allowed access to data of interest).  I spoke merely of signed
>> > packages, and schemes for the local admin to vet those signatures.  
>> > (If you don't like that, you'll hate Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, etc.)
>> 
>> Basically the "Are you sure you want to use unknown software?" prompt with
>> "Yes" disabled.
> 
> [irrelevant description of apt key checking snipped]
> 
> [scenario of hypothetical improvement to apt key check snipped]

The above was intended to be a whimsically metaphorical take on TC, not a
description of something on any current *nix system.

>> If "Yes" is disabled through user intimidation rather than
>> code, the net effect is almost the same.
> 
> [depiction of sanity snipped]
> 
> Yes, users on some platforms do have a dreadful track record for making
> the wrong dialogue choices for the wrong reasons -- I'll have to tell
> you my MS-Word macro virus story, some time -- but this need not be the
> case.

This is a very good counterpoint to my point, which was that people can be
bullied into imposing "virtual TC" on themselves even without any actual
TC platform having to be deployed into their environment.