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> You don't have "root" on your own body in a rule-of-law democracy. Maybe if you live on that Face/Off prison where everyone wears metal boots on a magnetic g

> You don't have "root" on your own body in a rule-of-law democracy. Maybe if you live on that Face/Off prison where everyone wears metal boots on a magnetic grid. But in the real world rule-of-law is quite fragile because everyone has "root" over their own bodies. The obvious benefit is an ability of the public to revolt against a corrupt regime. Regardless, it's a fatuous metaphor because nobody is advocating for mandatory metal boots nor the little Harkonnen heart plug thingies from Dune. Some people are, however, quite vehemently demanding that all software/hardware be designed by law to give root to a trusted third party. That's fatuous and dangerous and therefore requires different metaphors.

derefr 7y ago
> Some people are, however, quite vehemently demanding that all software/hardware be designed by law to give root to a trusted third party. My point with my analogy was that, in the real world, hardware/software already do give root "by law" to the state. Not explicitly, but rather implicit in the fact that the government can tell you what to do, and so, if they want to control your computer, they can make you do it. (What else do you call a National Security Letter?) That's kind of what "by law" means—the law doesn't need to say that the law supercedes X; the law can supercede X in any specific case, any time it likes. If a court rules you need to open up your computer, there doesn't need to be a law making that request legal. A court said it; it's legal by definition. And even then, a government only needs (the public conception of the machinery of) the law on their side if they aren't all that motivated to deal with you. If they really care—think "motivated enough to go though the trouble of putting someone into a witness-protection program, but... the opposite of that"—then there are plenty of private places they can disappear you to, and paint over your life with fabrications of criminal behavior they caught you in, including several months of evidence from a parallel running manufactured narrative of your life. If you think there's a difference between dying by having your heart unplugged, and dying by having a SWAT team show up at your door with munitions you can never hope to have parity with, I don't know what to tell you. Either way, you're going to end up doing what they say, or dying trying to get away. (And if they really really care, you won't even be able to do that. You'll just wake up in a straightjacket in a padded room with all your teeth pulled out, so that you can't even bite your tongue.)

derefr 7y ago

> Some people are, however, quite vehemently demanding that all software/hardware be designed by law to give root to a trusted third party. My point with my analogy was that, in the real world, hardware/software already do give root "by law" to the state. Not explicitly, but rather implicit in the fact that the government can tell you what to do, and so, if they want to control your computer, they can make you do it. (What else do you call a National Security Letter?) That's kind of what "by law" means—the law doesn't need to say that the law supercedes X; the law can supercede X in any specific case, any time it likes. If a court rules you need to open up your computer, there doesn't need to be a law making that request legal. A court said it; it's legal by definition. And even then, a government only needs (the public conception of the machinery of) the law on their side if they aren't all that motivated to deal with you. If they really care—think "motivated enough to go though the trouble of putting someone into a witness-protection program, but... the opposite of that"—then there are plenty of private places they can disappear you to, and paint over your life with fabrications of criminal behavior they caught you in, including several months of evidence from a parallel running manufactured narrative of your life. If you think there's a difference between dying by having your heart unplugged, and dying by having a SWAT team show up at your door with munitions you can never hope to have parity with, I don't know what to tell you. Either way, you're going to end up doing what they say, or dying trying to get away. (And if they really really care, you won't even be able to do that. You'll just wake up in a straightjacket in a padded room with all your teeth pulled out, so that you can't even bite your tongue.)