“The reality is that more and more decisions, including decisions about life and death, are being made by software,” Thomas Dullien, a well-known security researcher and reverse engineer who goes by the Twitter handle Halvar Flake, said in an email. “But for the vast majority of software you interact with, you are not allowed to examine how it functions,” he said.
The Times has a great look at hacker and car manufacturer mishaps and makes the case over and over again for Open Source. It’s great to see more of the world waking up to the importance of open source.
I actually remember warning Ford employees of this type of thing back in 2001. As I recall, my exact words were “Hooking the entertainment system into the main network that also talks to the engine is a f’ing stupid idea, please fire whatever idiot thought of doing it.”
Sadly, I was only a third party contractor at the time. It’s obvious, really, but the idea of the “fully connected car” had took hold by then, and there was no escape from the obvious and inevitable fate.
Couldn’t agree more.
Because of the Internet and Software Development I see two scary things for Humanity that are happening right now, and will get worse in the future:
1. The inability of the general public to discern what is “Real”, and what is “Not”
2. Never knowing who has hacked into the software that will become completely integrated into most products that consumers use.