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Comment by Karunamon | Hacker News Reader

I'm really having a hard time getting worked up over a $99 key which will all but completely eliminate boot sector infectors and the like. I think a lot of this storm and strife comes as a result of who is pushing it, less than the concept.

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It's not the fee that's the problem. It's the permission.

Suppose Wikileaks developed installable software that embarrassed the U.S. government. Would their key have been revoked, making it impossible for anyone to run their software? Yes.

What "permission"? The key is open to anyone with the $99, or at least that was my understanding.

Also, slippery slope. Cmon.

There is a fine line between slippery slope as a fallacy, and the legitimate concern that the very existence of a feature like this invites abuse. Or the even more legitimate desire to build a world in which bad actors (corporations, governments, etc.) cannot do remote evil, rather than a world that works only because they don't do remote evil.

That which does not exist cannot be abused. I'd much prefer a world where authorities cannot disable software, not a world where they merely don't.

That's not fallacious slippery slope reasoning. It's an argument for structural and technical rather than merely moral, ethical, or legal impediments to abuse of authority.

>It's an argument for structural and technical rather than merely moral, ethical, or legal impediments to abuse of authority.

I've got to disagree with you there. Every piece of modern technology out there has the potential for abuse of authority - but you don't crap on the tech wholesale simply based on that alone. The moral/ethical/legal impediments are how you rein in abuse, not by hamstringing yourself.

You will still be able to run any software on your computer once it has booted, the signature is for the bootloader. So this would only be an issue if Wikileaks for some reason had to implement their own operating system. Even then, users would have the option to disable secure boot and run the unsigned bootloader.

..Unless you run on an ARM chipset, at least in the case of Windows. I don't advocate government intervention often, but I would really like to see that particular requirement struck down on antitrust grounds.

>Suppose Wikileaks developed installable software that embarrassed the U.S. government. Would their key have been revoked, making it impossible for anyone to run their software? Yes.

Perhaps you posted this in the wrong story?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/wikileaks_app_yanked_fr...

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