5 ms·

shrug Why do you trust anyone to do anything? Why do I trust AT&T not to be recording phone calls for the NSA (oh wait...) or Sony not to install rootkits on m

shrug Why do you trust anyone to do anything? Why do I trust AT&T not to be recording phone calls for the NSA (oh wait...) or Sony not to install rootkits on my Windows PC (hang on a second...). At the end of the day, unless it's open-source, the possibility of malicious intent is everywhere. It only takes one disgruntled/incompetent employee. That said, Gruber's last post on this indicated someone of repute had looked over the exploit, and they hadn't mentioned anything about such nastiness.

DrJokepu 16y ago
To be fair, even open source is not an absolute guarantee for lack of malicious code, as proven by the absolutely brilliant Underhanded C Contest: http://underhanded.xcott.com/ http://underhanded.xcott.com/
- uxp 16y ago
  Not only that, but combine some random code you don't really know about, and slightly less than stellar (aka average) security practices on the web and you might end up with a backdoor trojan implemented in your open source project: http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt
xycat 16y ago
This argument is often put up for these kind of questions (the why trust anything you don't have control over), but there is a big difference from trusting a large corporation that might have to take responsibility and an obscure website. That being said I have a rooted/Custom ROM droid phone and I have no clue whether or not it is logging my keyboard or any such thing as I took the easy way of installing the root and rom, but that doesn't stop me from using it and I have to agree that if you want to wear a tinfoil hat that is fine and dandy just don't go against those who choose to go unprotected.
axod 16y ago
Are you really comparing the trustability of 'AT&T' and 'Sony' with 'some website that rootkitz your phonez'?
- megablast 16y ago
  Well, since we know that AT&T are forwarding all calls to the NSA, and Sony already has installed rootkits onto peoples computers, I would say that no, we are not comparing them at all. We already know the levels that those two companies will go, but we might be able to trust the website.
  - axod 16y ago
    That sort of anti corporation FUD belongs on Reddit IMHO.
    - borism 16y ago
      that sort of Big Business admiration can only belong to political website or something
      - axod 16y ago
        The Sony "rootkit" wasn't actually a rootkit. It used a similar technique to some rootkits to 'hide' itself from the user/other software, after the user had knowingly installed it. I have no idea about the AT&T 'forward all calls to the NSA', but I'd expect that would be logistically impossible.
      - borism 16y ago
        > The Sony "rootkit" wasn't actually a rootkit. It used a similar technique to rootkits to 'hide' itself from the user/other software, after the user had knowingly installed it. ho hum, that sounds like a rootkit definition to me. or what's your beloved corporation's definition of this? > I have no idea about the AT&T 'forward all calls to the NSA', but I'd expect that would be logistically impossible. oh please, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A

DrJokepu 16y ago

To be fair, even open source is not an absolute guarantee for lack of malicious code, as proven by the absolutely brilliant Underhanded C Contest: http://underhanded.xcott.com/ http://underhanded.xcott.com/

uxp 16y ago
Not only that, but combine some random code you don't really know about, and slightly less than stellar (aka average) security practices on the web and you might end up with a backdoor trojan implemented in your open source project: http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt http://www.unrealircd.com/txt/unrealsecadvisory.20100612.txt

xycat 16y ago

This argument is often put up for these kind of questions (the why trust anything you don't have control over), but there is a big difference from trusting a large corporation that might have to take responsibility and an obscure website. That being said I have a rooted/Custom ROM droid phone and I have no clue whether or not it is logging my keyboard or any such thing as I took the easy way of installing the root and rom, but that doesn't stop me from using it and I have to agree that if you want to wear a tinfoil hat that is fine and dandy just don't go against those who choose to go unprotected.

axod 16y ago

Are you really comparing the trustability of 'AT&T' and 'Sony' with 'some website that rootkitz your phonez'?

megablast 16y ago
Well, since we know that AT&T are forwarding all calls to the NSA, and Sony already has installed rootkits onto peoples computers, I would say that no, we are not comparing them at all. We already know the levels that those two companies will go, but we might be able to trust the website.
- axod 16y ago
  That sort of anti corporation FUD belongs on Reddit IMHO.
  - borism 16y ago
    that sort of Big Business admiration can only belong to political website or something
    - axod 16y ago
      The Sony "rootkit" wasn't actually a rootkit. It used a similar technique to some rootkits to 'hide' itself from the user/other software, after the user had knowingly installed it. I have no idea about the AT&T 'forward all calls to the NSA', but I'd expect that would be logistically impossible.
    - borism 16y ago
      > The Sony "rootkit" wasn't actually a rootkit. It used a similar technique to rootkits to 'hide' itself from the user/other software, after the user had knowingly installed it. ho hum, that sounds like a rootkit definition to me. or what's your beloved corporation's definition of this? > I have no idea about the AT&T 'forward all calls to the NSA', but I'd expect that would be logistically impossible. oh please, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A