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I think this is a really important issue and glad someone is working on awareness. It extends far beyond cars but those are probably the most 'frightening' exam
by bo1024 9y ago
I think this is a really important issue and glad someone is working on awareness. It extends far beyond cars but those are probably the most 'frightening' example. We need to
(1) Admit we have a big problem.
(2) Admit it will be difficult to solve and there aren't easy solutions.
(3) Start working on solutions.
Unfortunately, these steps never seem politically popular. But it will be tough. Except in very rare scenarios (NASA), software security and correctness aren't treated as important in the scheme of things, relative to functionality and features. Nobody wants to invest in actually secure, carefully-audited code. (They might claim they do, but their standards for "secure" and "careful" would be litigation-worthy in any field but software.)
For example, I believe in freedom of software and ownership rights, which seems to mean that I believe people should be allowed to run open-source code on their own cars' computers. But this impacts public safety. How do we develop reasonable regulations similar to those for physical "street-lega" modifications?
- sparkie 9y agoI have reason to believe that a competent hobbyist programmer is less dangerous than the electronic engineer, pretend-to-be-programmers who wrote the original firmware on the vehicle. Based on years of working with electronic engineers' code. (Apologies to those of you who are competent in both)
- bo1024 9y agoI appreciate your point and am inclined to agree. But my agreement doesn't matter. Your point is only one starting point for a challenging and nuanced discussion over the legality and safety of people installing their own software on their own cars. My broader point is that this (among others) is a discussion we should already be having and eventually must have -- if not amongst "ourselves", then with legislators and laypeople. Yet the state of software security, awareness, and incentives is such that it could be years or a decade until we do...