[ assume any use of the word "you" is "you (HN readers in general)" ]
Intel and Microsoft et al[1] have been trying to lock down the PC for a long time. This is just the latest version of what used to be known as "Trusted Computing". You may have heard about it in the early/mid 2000s by the name "Palladium"[2].
Why? It's partly a very-misguided approach to "security" (which is often defined as security for the software vendor, not the owner of the machine, aka DRM), and this crosses over into the attempts at extending copyright into some sort of property right trump card[3], but this is really best described as the main battlefield in the War On General Purpose Computing.
General purpose ("Turing complete") computers are incredibly powerful, and that power scares a lot of people that are used to selling goods with single/fixed purpose (e.g. an "appliance"), and people that are used to being arbiters of a scarce resource (e.g. pre-digital publishing). The best description of this War is probably Cory Doctorow's incredible talk[4] at 28c3. Contrary to Doctorow's optimism that we would win this war, developments like SGX and Intel ME suggest we are actually losing ground rapidly[5].
It's easy to understand the desire to enforce DRM, but the problem is significantly broader, because as John Deere has shown us, these technologies will soon be in "everything". It's one thing to say you are going to jailbreak a phone or work around DRM on a PC. You may be perfectly fine with boycotting MPAA films. You may be fine with installing Linux or BSD in response to the Windows 10 fiasco.
However, remember how hard it's getting to buy a TV without the "smart" junk. It's going to be a lot harder avoid these problems when it's your car. Again I suggest watching Doctorow's even more important followup talk, "The Coming Civil War over General Purpose Computing"[6]. These problems need to be solved now, and we need to start establishing proper legal frameworks to protect user rights, because those rights are rapidly being appropriated.
There is a tendency among engineers to avoid political topics and to focus on on technical issues. That is no longer an option, because abstaining from this fight is de facto choosing to let the people trying to hide the General Purpose Computer where nobody can use it. There is no neutral ground when the world is burning[7].
"It taught us that we have to create the future .. or others will do it for us.
It showed us that we have care for one another, because if we don't, who will?"
- Ivanova (Babylon 5, "Sleeping in Light")
[5] HN doesn't like to hear this - this is easily the fastest way I've seen to earn downvotes - but another big way we are losing the War On General Purpose Computing is the normalization of the "app store". Apple started this with the original iPhone (and later iOS in general), and now an entire generation of programmers think it's just fine that they have to ask a business for permission to publish their software. (jailbreaking doesn't count)
I remember when Intel introduced the Pentium III with a serial number[1] --- something that seems almost innocuous today --- and received a very strong "do not want" response which made them remove it in subsequent models. Now they have put in far scarier features, yet receive nowhere near as much opposition from users.
I think the whole "security culture" is to blame for this. Very abstractly, security is about preventing someone from doing something you don't like. That combined with "default deny" turns into "everything which is not explicitly allowed is forbidden", and it naturally promotes locked-down devices where the user has no control. Users are conditioned to accept this because it's "for their security".
In these environments, one way to regain control is to find weaknesses in the security, e.g. jailbreaking/rooting. This is why I'm actually rather afraid of all the developments in "safer" languages and systems. Maybe some insecurity and imperfection, and accepting the occasional hack/leak due to it, is a good thing after all, if it means a path to freedom. I like to keep this quote in mind:
"Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes."
security is about preventing someone from doing something you don't like
Indeed. There's a fight for control of devices. Unfortunately the antonym of "secure" on the internet isn't "open" but "exploited"; the average consumer really is worse off if their computer is loaded with malware or a victim of cryptolocker.
Intel and Microsoft et al[1] have been trying to lock down the PC for a long time. This is just the latest version of what used to be known as "Trusted Computing". You may have heard about it in the early/mid 2000s by the name "Palladium"[2].
Why? It's partly a very-misguided approach to "security" (which is often defined as security for the software vendor, not the owner of the machine, aka DRM), and this crosses over into the attempts at extending copyright into some sort of property right trump card[3], but this is really best described as the main battlefield in the War On General Purpose Computing.
General purpose ("Turing complete") computers are incredibly powerful, and that power scares a lot of people that are used to selling goods with single/fixed purpose (e.g. an "appliance"), and people that are used to being arbiters of a scarce resource (e.g. pre-digital publishing). The best description of this War is probably Cory Doctorow's incredible talk[4] at 28c3. Contrary to Doctorow's optimism that we would win this war, developments like SGX and Intel ME suggest we are actually losing ground rapidly[5].
It's easy to understand the desire to enforce DRM, but the problem is significantly broader, because as John Deere has shown us, these technologies will soon be in "everything". It's one thing to say you are going to jailbreak a phone or work around DRM on a PC. You may be perfectly fine with boycotting MPAA films. You may be fine with installing Linux or BSD in response to the Windows 10 fiasco.
However, remember how hard it's getting to buy a TV without the "smart" junk. It's going to be a lot harder avoid these problems when it's your car. Again I suggest watching Doctorow's even more important followup talk, "The Coming Civil War over General Purpose Computing"[6]. These problems need to be solved now, and we need to start establishing proper legal frameworks to protect user rights, because those rights are rapidly being appropriated.
There is a tendency among engineers to avoid political topics and to focus on on technical issues. That is no longer an option, because abstaining from this fight is de facto choosing to let the people trying to hide the General Purpose Computer where nobody can use it. There is no neutral ground when the world is burning[7].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_Computing_Group (formerly the TCPA)[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Secure_Computi...
[3] http://www.wired.com/2015/04/dmca-ownership-john-deere/ (a well-known example)
[4] http://boingboing.net/2012/01/10/lockdown.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUEvRyemKSg
[5] HN doesn't like to hear this - this is easily the fastest way I've seen to earn downvotes - but another big way we are losing the War On General Purpose Computing is the normalization of the "app store". Apple started this with the original iPhone (and later iOS in general), and now an entire generation of programmers think it's just fine that they have to ask a business for permission to publish their software. (jailbreaking doesn't count)
[6] http://boingboing.net/2012/08/23/civilwar.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nypRYpVKc5Y
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWg2qEEa9CE