BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOUR BLACKBERRYHow Wired Gadgets Encroach on PrivacyWith every high-tech gadget we buy, we give up a little more privacy. Many devices today are in constant communication with their manufacturer. And it's not just consumers who are losing their rights -- the technology gives authoritarian states whole new ways of keeping tabs on individuals.<snip>
Don't believe it? Well, consider a recent incident involving the Internet bookseller Amazon and two works by -- ironically enough -- George Orwell. Amazon had been selling the titles, "1984" and "Animal Farm," to owners of its Kindle reader, the special e-book device the bookseller developed. However, it turned out that the publishers of the Orwell books didn't own the electronic rights to the works. And so, to the surprise of buyers, Amazon erased the two books -- which had been paid for and delivered -- from the electronic reader. Amazon's readers had unwittingly purchased pirate copies, it turned out.
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In his 2008 book "The Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It," American writer Jonathan Zittrain writes about the danger of what he calls "tethered appliances." They are becoming ever more common, he argues, because software updates are supposed to protect us from attacks by hackers or viruses -- just think of the monthly ritual of the Windows update. Using this logic, Apple can dictate the terms and conditions under which software can be developed for the iPhone. The iPhone is not a PC -- not everyone can write software for the phone and not everything can be installed on it. Hence Apple -- like Amazon -- reserves the right to remotely meddle with your iPhone at any time and without the consent of the user, in order to delete objectionable applications. All with the best of intentions, of course.
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A dramatic example of Zittrain's thesis occurred recently in the United Arab Emirates. Wired magazine and The Register reported how the local Internet provider, Etisalat, sent out a software update to around 145,000 of their Blackberry customers. However, thanks to a software glitch that caused the battery power in all the affected Blackberrys to be drained, it was discovered that the software update also included surveillance software.
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Also in the US, in 2006, another judge decreed that EchoStar, a manufacturer of satellite dishes and receivers, should reduce the functionality of devices it had already sold. This was because EchoStar's competitor, TiVo, which makes digital video recorders, was accusing EchoStar of violating its patents. EchoStar was told they would have to deactivate the built-in video recorder function. They were to do this retroactively using a software update. The consequences for the users would be that the function -- which owners had already paid for -- would disappear, as would all the programs they had already recorded. Happily for the owners, the order has been delayed while the legal wrangling continues.
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