Archive for June, 2006

I gave in and bought an Xbox 360.

Bleh. I feel dirty and content. It’s quite strange.

The xbox live marketplace is fun, I like the idea of downloading demos, it looks great in 720p on my HDTV, and the ability to play Uno with Patrick should not be overlooked.

I would like to take this moment to bring up an issue that is very dear to me. Recently, I was discussing with a friend on the subject of Google Mail and how they have access to way to much information for my tastes. While I do somewhat trust Google, should they turn evil in the next decade or so, I could be fucked over.

Then, the conversation drifted onwards (Drifted onwards? Isn’t that some kind of paradox?) to things that call home, that send information to companies without your consent. I believe that, while at a minor cost and with very minor impact, the WGA tool does just that. (Indeed, if you have been following the news, it turns out that the Windows Genuine Advantage tools calls home once a day to the mothership, “to ask if it should shut itself down”, they say). It talks to a server somewhere in redmond that I did not aprove of. Nowhere in the EULA does it says it does, too. I never agreed for that communication to happen. It’s a matter of principle.

My friend retorted with something like “Well, I don’t care about the information on Google, even if as you say, this very Google Talk log is being stored on their servers, since I have absolutely nothing to hide”.

I tried making an analogy, picture someone going in your house and looking through all of your stuff, and all of your drawers. You have nothing to hide, but that person still searches through just in the event that you might. He said he would not really care if someone did, because he has nothing to hide, but I could sense that this second answer was vaguely softer, more unsure. That uneasy feeling was there.

Well, this is the exact same thing. It pisses me off that in the IT world, you are considered guilty until proven innocent, software companies overrule every single right to privacy you have, and they get away with it.

This is my machine. My computer. I paid for it, assembled it myself, and gave it much love. This alone should enable me to have complete and utter control over what the hell happens on it.

More broadly now, this is my network. I own all the machines. I pay for the commercial DSL line. I own every single piece of hardware connected to it. I should be able to have complete and utter control over what traffic goes through it, right?

It just amazes me how people can quickly disregard their god given right to privacy, their freedom and security just to please a big company that doesn’t like them, nor even care about them in the slightest regard. The only thing they care about is your money.

It’s a matter of principle. Benjamin Franklin said:

“They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security”.

And damn he was right.