Again, this is from an article called “Your TV Might Be Watching You.” I encourage you to read to entire thing.
We are reassured by the people who found the problem.
“Samsung quickly fixed the problem after security researchers at iSEC Partners informed the company about the bugs.”Don’t you feel more secure now? I know I do, but I don’t have one of their TVs. I assume that the problem could not also be in mine but I have noticed that the little red power button seems to be always on.
At the DEFCON convention one of the repeated concerns you hear is that the big companies don’t want to hear about these problems. Most hackers do their intrusions as recreation. They are not really out to destroy anything. All they want to do is play a game of “gotcha!” If they ever get really angry at the nation they could shut most things down in a heartbeat. That is one reason why the government is trying to get control of the internet through regulation, data mining and taxes. The recent scandals are a result of this. They often gather information they have no legal right to and no current need for and store it for access later. They fear hackers who can blow the whistle on them.
Business and government should welcome the work of these hackers. Some seem to be catching on. From the article,
“Companies like Samsung pay hackers when they report security vulnerabilities like the ones iSEC found.”This is a good thing. Capitalism and free enterprise can provide answers to the failures of capitalism and free enterprise. The profit motive is very powerful. If the failures can be broadcast and the successes rewarded then we as citizens and consumers will be ahead of the game. We can buy from companies that have the right attitude and policies and bankrupt the ones who don’t provide the right kind of service. No government regulation is needed, just openness and a free market.
This is the silver lining. But the intrusions show up in places you would not think about.
To be continued...
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.