Windows Vista: Intercontinental Ballistic Software

Woody Leonhard notes that:

with Windows Vista and potentially Office 2007 that changes – the activation system will occasionally check if the product key is still ‘legal’. If Microsoft decides that the product key for your software has been stolen and misused then your copy of Vista or possibly Office 2007 can be disabled remotely (after a warning period).

He’s worried about piracy. I.e. what happens if somebody else “borrows” your key, so Microsoft cuts you off through no fault of your own. I’m wondering what happens when the U.S. Government leans on Microsoft to cut off the keys to the latest alleged seeker of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Imagine if all your computers shut off just as the bombs start to fall. Indeed, maybe the bombs don’t have to fall at all. Maybe it’s enough for the U.S. to turn off the computers and wait for the opposing side to cave.

Frankly it’s hard to imagine why any sensible foreign government would allow Vista to be installed on any PC in their country. If I were France, China, Iran, Canada, Venezuela, or anybody else, I think I’d be looking at a country-wide migration to Linux.

Some nations are starting to worry about this. China is one of the most likely targets of a U.S.-Microsoft cyber-attack, and they’re probably further along than anyone in preparing to defend against it. However, I don’t think they’re ready yet. They have not taken the logical step of flat-out banning the installation of foreign-controlled closed source software.

Britain is rethinking a deal to buy U.S. fighter planes if they don’t get the source code. So far I don’t think they’ve thought about Windows, but they should. What would be worse? All their fighters being grounded, or every PC in the British Isles shutting down at once?

Of course this attack isn’t just a threat to foreign countries. It’s a threat to anyone the U.S. Government or Microsoft doesn’t like. I figure it’s a tossup whether this power will be used first to go after child pornographers or copyright pirates. It probably depends on who fires first, private industry or the government.

Either way, look for this attack to be rapidly expanded to tax cheats, deadbeat dads, drug dealers, individual citzens who support unpopular^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hterrorist organizations, drunk drivers, individuals criticizing corporations, lawyers who defend these folks, and anyone else the government or a big company don’t like.

I used to think Richard Stallman was paranoid. Now I’m beginning to think he wasn’t paranoid enough.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 10th, 2007 at 2:23 PM and is filed under Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the Atom feed. You can make a comment, Digg this story, or trackback from your own site.