As I have thought over the stuff from my last post throughout the day, I have wondered if this change in psyche is all that bad. As users grow more accepting of some external entity changing their devices in the name of security and usability, will that open more doors for us in the IT Support industry to become more proactive about issues that we know are coming down the pipe?
Where is that line between privacy and ownership? Usability and Security?
Monday, March 7, 2011
Who Owns My Stuff?
Why are we okay with a company automatically pushing an upgrade to our phones or deleting a malicious app? If Microsoft pushed a security upgrade to your PC without your consent or deleted an executable that it found to be malicious how would you feel?
When Apple announced that it had a kill switch built into iOS to remotely disable any app that turned out to be evil a lot of people were uneasy. Including myself. It is one of those moments when you realize that being able to stop malicious activity is good but also you wonder who gets to decide what should be killed...
Google apparently took a page out of Apple's book because over the weekend they remotely killed several apps that were found to be malicious. They also pushed a security update to affected phones.
I feel pretty confident that if the PC was developed in today's ecosystem it would work the same way. Operating Systems are built on a platform that did not consider the danger of malicious code. People trying to circumvent the rules were really just people looking for a better way to do things. It was harmless fun. It was a blue box that let you make free phone calls or it was a code redesign to make the same software run more efficiently on the same hardware.
Viruses changed all that. The increase in the value of personal data led people to realize that there was gold in them there hills.
So now we are developing a new ecosystem. Smartphones are not computers. The world in which they live is not the old internet. It is a whole new paradigm. Service providers and manufacturers push updates to "protect" the network and its users.
How long before an OS upgrade brings this same mindset to our PCs? There has been a lot of talk about 10.7 bringing OSX and iOS together. Will it be Lion that suddenly gives Apple the ability to disable a program on my computer?
I am sure it will start very benevolently. Some OS-provider will disable some really evil virus that eats children and everyone will feel the same way I feel about Google deleting the apps this weekend. We will all be grateful that the virus was stopped but we will wonder in the back of our minds about apps like HandBrake.
How long will it be before an app gets disabled because it infringes on the rights of the OS-provider to make money...
When Apple announced that it had a kill switch built into iOS to remotely disable any app that turned out to be evil a lot of people were uneasy. Including myself. It is one of those moments when you realize that being able to stop malicious activity is good but also you wonder who gets to decide what should be killed...
Google apparently took a page out of Apple's book because over the weekend they remotely killed several apps that were found to be malicious. They also pushed a security update to affected phones.
I feel pretty confident that if the PC was developed in today's ecosystem it would work the same way. Operating Systems are built on a platform that did not consider the danger of malicious code. People trying to circumvent the rules were really just people looking for a better way to do things. It was harmless fun. It was a blue box that let you make free phone calls or it was a code redesign to make the same software run more efficiently on the same hardware.
Viruses changed all that. The increase in the value of personal data led people to realize that there was gold in them there hills.
So now we are developing a new ecosystem. Smartphones are not computers. The world in which they live is not the old internet. It is a whole new paradigm. Service providers and manufacturers push updates to "protect" the network and its users.
How long before an OS upgrade brings this same mindset to our PCs? There has been a lot of talk about 10.7 bringing OSX and iOS together. Will it be Lion that suddenly gives Apple the ability to disable a program on my computer?
I am sure it will start very benevolently. Some OS-provider will disable some really evil virus that eats children and everyone will feel the same way I feel about Google deleting the apps this weekend. We will all be grateful that the virus was stopped but we will wonder in the back of our minds about apps like HandBrake.
How long will it be before an app gets disabled because it infringes on the rights of the OS-provider to make money...
Friday, March 4, 2011
On Being a Digital Canary
Up until 1987 coal mine workers kept canaries with them underground. If there was a toxic gas, such as methane or carbon monoxide, in the mine the canary would die before the miners suffered any harm. This worked especially well since the canaries sang constantly. The miners did not have to be watching the bird to know that something had happened. If the singing stopped you headed for the exit.
I have found that I tend to adopt a similar approach with new technologies. Being on the "cutting edge" really only means that you are a digital canary. If the mine fills up with methane you will be dead on the ground as those around you head for the surface.
It is cool though. Sometimes it is more fun to be a dead canary than alive and bored.
I have decided to actually formalize this status a little bit. Whenever we have something new in ITS and we need to test the waters I always tend to go to the same users. I ask them if they want to testers, set them up, step back and watch.
What makes a good digital canary?
First, these users have to love being on the cutting edge. If given the choice they will pick unstable and new over rock-solid and stale. They have to want to be a canary. If you pluck a bird from the open, grassy meadows of stability and throw them deep in a dangerous mine of beta they may not respond the way you want.
Second, they have to be somewhat technical. I say "somewhat" because they don't need to have the ability to parse the log files after their most recent crash and tell you which kernel extension seems to be the problem. However, you do want more from a dying canary than, "It broked!"
Third, you need to have a good relationship with them on a personal level. If you do not have a good relationship with your digital canaries then any problem they have can feel a little like it is your fault to them. No one wants a paranoid canary.
If you read through those three and thought, "Hey I like new stuff. Hey, I'm somewhat technical too. Well I can kind of tolerate Micah." and would like to get on my digital canary list let me know.
So what about this blog?
My plan is to use this blog to flesh out some of the ideas about technology and report some of the experiences I have as a digital canary. Only instead of singing in a cage as my little lungs fill with toxic gas, I will post my experiences and lessons here for others the comment on or learn from.
Anyway. If nothing else I hope this is entertaining.
I have found that I tend to adopt a similar approach with new technologies. Being on the "cutting edge" really only means that you are a digital canary. If the mine fills up with methane you will be dead on the ground as those around you head for the surface.
It is cool though. Sometimes it is more fun to be a dead canary than alive and bored.
I have decided to actually formalize this status a little bit. Whenever we have something new in ITS and we need to test the waters I always tend to go to the same users. I ask them if they want to testers, set them up, step back and watch.
What makes a good digital canary?
First, these users have to love being on the cutting edge. If given the choice they will pick unstable and new over rock-solid and stale. They have to want to be a canary. If you pluck a bird from the open, grassy meadows of stability and throw them deep in a dangerous mine of beta they may not respond the way you want.
Second, they have to be somewhat technical. I say "somewhat" because they don't need to have the ability to parse the log files after their most recent crash and tell you which kernel extension seems to be the problem. However, you do want more from a dying canary than, "It broked!"
Third, you need to have a good relationship with them on a personal level. If you do not have a good relationship with your digital canaries then any problem they have can feel a little like it is your fault to them. No one wants a paranoid canary.
If you read through those three and thought, "Hey I like new stuff. Hey, I'm somewhat technical too. Well I can kind of tolerate Micah." and would like to get on my digital canary list let me know.
So what about this blog?
My plan is to use this blog to flesh out some of the ideas about technology and report some of the experiences I have as a digital canary. Only instead of singing in a cage as my little lungs fill with toxic gas, I will post my experiences and lessons here for others the comment on or learn from.
Anyway. If nothing else I hope this is entertaining.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)