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This is the strangest critique of writing more secure code I've seen. Yes, more secure code does reduce the chance of jailbreaks, but insecure code is overwhel

This is the strangest critique of writing more secure code I've seen. Yes, more secure code does reduce the chance of jailbreaks, but insecure code is overwhelmingly used more by criminals and state actors to try and break into your computer. Secure Code helps all computer users, the 'little guy' most of all. And you can always vote with your wallet (or, you know, vote) to keep your digital liberties. Blaming a better tool for eroding your liberties seems ... strange.

missosoup 6y ago
State actors and high tier criminal orgs will always have a way into your digital life. In a way, making code more secure is just creating an asymmetry where regular joe can't break into a device but only state actors and other major players can. I can sort of understand GP's sentiment. If someone really wants to hack me, they will. Or they'll find some other vector. The prevalence of memory safe code doesn't really impact my own security as an individual. But it does impact my ability to jailbreak and own my devices. There was a similar discussion around the intel Trusted Computing concept. It was not a platform that ultimately benefited the user, it was a platform for user-hostile forces to 'trust' that the user isn't interfering with the code they want to execute on the user's device. Slowly but surely we're moving towards a world where user devices are merely thin clients over corporate and government owned systems, and don't really belong to the user at all.
asdff 6y ago
A good hacker can always break in. In fact the most common and most effective hacking doesn't involve technology at all: social engineering. All this sort of walled garden thinking does is make it just a little bit more challenging for people to learn more about the tools they've purchased and own outright, and how to best make use of them for their own needs. Today, when macOS gives me warnings and asks permission for inane things, like terminal needing permission to look into ~/Downloads or ~/Documents, I and everyone else with some experience in technology just rolls their eyes at this request and move on. This would be like if my new toothbrush asked me 'are you sure you want to brush your teeth in this bathroom?' However, to someone not familiar with technology and Apple's security logic of recent years, these requests might seem terrifying, and scare off what could be bright minds who could have contributed to the field of computer science had they not been questioned at every turn by their operating system of their intentions. You learn by breaking things, after all.

missosoup 6y ago

State actors and high tier criminal orgs will always have a way into your digital life. In a way, making code more secure is just creating an asymmetry where regular joe can't break into a device but only state actors and other major players can. I can sort of understand GP's sentiment. If someone really wants to hack me, they will. Or they'll find some other vector. The prevalence of memory safe code doesn't really impact my own security as an individual. But it does impact my ability to jailbreak and own my devices. There was a similar discussion around the intel Trusted Computing concept. It was not a platform that ultimately benefited the user, it was a platform for user-hostile forces to 'trust' that the user isn't interfering with the code they want to execute on the user's device. Slowly but surely we're moving towards a world where user devices are merely thin clients over corporate and government owned systems, and don't really belong to the user at all.

asdff 6y ago

A good hacker can always break in. In fact the most common and most effective hacking doesn't involve technology at all: social engineering. All this sort of walled garden thinking does is make it just a little bit more challenging for people to learn more about the tools they've purchased and own outright, and how to best make use of them for their own needs. Today, when macOS gives me warnings and asks permission for inane things, like terminal needing permission to look into ~/Downloads or ~/Documents, I and everyone else with some experience in technology just rolls their eyes at this request and move on. This would be like if my new toothbrush asked me 'are you sure you want to brush your teeth in this bathroom?' However, to someone not familiar with technology and Apple's security logic of recent years, these requests might seem terrifying, and scare off what could be bright minds who could have contributed to the field of computer science had they not been questioned at every turn by their operating system of their intentions. You learn by breaking things, after all.