Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Just Curious

After having signed on a few minutes ago, my virus checker informed me that it had finished downloading whatever it downloads, and needed to re-boot my computer to initialize these new upgrades - and it did - no help from me.

Curious number 1:

How much information really passes between my computer and the folks who are making my hard drive hammer away for hours on end, supposedly checking for viruses? Is it all one way - them to me - or do they upload the results of these total scans of my computer for purposes unknown to me? After all, my computer is connected to the internet 100% of it's uptime, and to be truthful, I have no idea if or when it starts talking to someone somewhere I have absolutely no idea of.

Curious number 2:

While waiting for the system to re-boot and wondering why it takes so damn long to turn off, it finally re-started and then asked me for my password.

My password.

I wonder how many "passwords" are embedded into my operating system.

Remember the movie "War Games"? where the chief programmer had created a "backdoor" for himself that bypassed all the supposed security protections against illegal or unauthorized access?

How many programmers did that at Microsoft, if any? How many unknown(to me) "backdoors" exist in my system that allow who-knows-who to snoop at any time? Backdoors that are secretly required to be installed by federal or state edict?

I would bet on the idea that such things do exist for every computer manufactured today, and that 99.9999% of us have no ability or means to find out.

Curious number 3:

Who in the hell out there would actually give a damn what's on my computer?

1 comment:

TheWayfarer said...

Trust me, Bob...There are statist asshats who believe the grass won't grow, unless they are there to watch it.