[Fsuk-manchester] A powerful argument for software freedom legislation?

[John Rooke]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/23/internet-of-things-vulnerable-nework-hackers-brian-krebs
>From the article:
"Instead of using traditional computers for their botnet, they used CCTV
cameras, digital video recorders, home routers and other embedded
computers attached to the internet as part of the internet of things.”

What this attack demonstrates, Schneier says, is that the economics of
the IoT mean that it will remain insecure unless government steps in to
fix the problem. “This is a market failure,” he writes, “that can’t get
fixed on its own.”

He’s right. Computer companies such as Apple and Microsoft go to great
pains to try and ensure that the desktop and laptop computers they sell
are protected from malware and that vulnerabilities are patched as soon
as possible after they are discovered. But none of that happens with IoT
devices, which are sold at razor-thin profit margins and are usually
built by smallish Chinese and Taiwanese companies that don’t possess the
expertise (or the incentive) to make them secure. What makes it even
worse, though, is that most of the IoT devices currently installed in
homes cannot be patched. As Schneier says: “The only way for you to
update the firmware in your home router is to throw it away and buy a
new one.”

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http://independent.academia.edu/JohnRooke

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Rooke