War on General-Purpose Computing

We hear a lot about security. We hear much about copyright. Not often do we think or hear about the connections between the two. Copyright- and internet-reform activist and science fiction author Cory Doctorow discusses just how these two come together in what he calls the War on General-Purpose Computing. The idea is that general purpose computers, such as your laptop or the servers locked away in the company data center, are designed to do exactly what we tell them. Because they can do anything, it's important that their owners/users know what is running on them. Rogue processes need to be found and removed to keep legitimate programs and data secure.

Being able to control everything on the computer means if it's displaying copyrighted content, you can (technologically, if not legally) make and distribute copies of that content. Content publishers claim this causes them to lose money, so they push for laws and technology that don't allow users to control everything on their previously general-purpose computer. Since owners/users can't even tell everything that is running, let alone actually control everything their computer is doing, security gives way as someone else is controlling their computer. Someone else is controlling your computer.