I don't think most people know about this sort of thing. Most non-techies I've talked to are actually quite surprised about the printer thing: the idea that a printer would secretly print a pattern of light yellow dots on your paper that wasn't in your source file is very surprising to everyone I've mentioned it to. It's the sort of thing that's weird enough that some people think I must be telling them a conspiracy theory.
Most people don't care about things like this at all. Look at how many of them happily use Facebook. If Apple put in a warning screen that said, "Angry Birds is requesting the following information: your location, your contact list, and your phone number. Is that ok?", then I would bet at least 90% of the users would just click "sure, no problem".
We are losing this battle because very few people care about privacy any more.
Then you'll love Cory Doctorow's term for those that work on such hardward and software: Vichy-Nerds.
Seriously, hackers, maybe some on this site, write this software and design this hardware, to do these things. Maybe a better question is why do we as a profession do so?
Hmm, but there's something negative implied about the original intent in the word though, like you were doing something wrong.
How about "snitchsoft", nah, same problem.
Really it's "trackware" because regardless of how you use the device/product, you are being tracked. Even your PDF documents have serial numbers by default.
Although I agree that there is a privacy problem with some of these things. The fact that geotagged photographs is lumped in with this is nonsense. This is not "acting behind your back to betray privacy", this is good archival practice. It is also a desirable marketed feature of such cameras.
If you take a photo of the stone under which your 90-year-old mother keeps her spare key in her front garden. Then publish it on the web, that's your own fault; not the fault of the camera.
So my question: which of you guys is going to start the comprehensive "traitorware awareness" database, and then intermediate it to the rest of us via facebook, twitter, or your own platform, so that we can be secure in our persons, house, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizure.
Where the traitors are rocks, be a river that flows around them.
Cookies are often used for good. Based on the examples in the article, "traitorware" as herein termed is a specific implementation of a technology that betrays its user, and not the component parts that make up that software. So, a cookie may be part of traitorware (say, an ad network that tracks your movements across every page it can (Facebook)), but cookies themselves are not traitorware.
Cookies are being exploited more and more for just personalization by other sites using Facebook cookies or the like - not sure if this is quasi-legal or just a full loophole.
I'm not impressed with the article. This part in particular seems lacking in perspective:
> Traitorware is not some science-fiction vision of the future. It is the present. Indeed, the Sony rootkit dates back to 2005.
We're firmly in science-fiction territory and most everyone who would pay attention to this article knows it.
This reminds me of when the EFF pleaded with its audience not to buy an iPad. What good is a boycott by sympathetic developers going to do? Keep them from making web apps work well on the iPad, and giving developers tasked with building a business app that works well on an iPad a choice to keep using an open platform?
Bullshit. My camera's serial number in the file is what enables me to get paid. When I want anonymity I'll use EXIFtool and wipe the metadata because I feel like it. EFF are annoyingly patronizing sometimes, and this is one of them.
So you say it's Hacker News here... Okay, have you ever heard of steganography? And are you sure your camera isn't covertly embedding something into image data (not metadata), like printers do with yellow dots?
And there are a lot of different watermarking algorithms, some of which are capable of surviving basic image operations, like resizing or color balance adjustment.
The EXIF metadata is a problem for people who would like anonymity and don't know how to use EXIFtool. The EFF is concerned with them, not outliers like you.
[+] [-] nickpinkston|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _delirium|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] towelrod|15 years ago|reply
We are losing this battle because very few people care about privacy any more.
[+] [-] meadhikari|15 years ago|reply
>>is meant to help locate and disable the phone if it is lost of stolen.
And are never shown this
>>your iphone may record your voice, take a picture of your location,record your heartbeat and send that information to the mothership
[+] [-] cdibona|15 years ago|reply
Seriously, hackers, maybe some on this site, write this software and design this hardware, to do these things. Maybe a better question is why do we as a profession do so?
[+] [-] dspeyer|15 years ago|reply
Or maybe the term is meant to include that stuff too, despite the explicit definition.
[+] [-] sharednothing|15 years ago|reply
Answer is "something written by turncoat mercenary Geeks".
[+] [-] russell|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alanh|15 years ago|reply
$sys$
INVISIBILITY COURTESY SORY CORP
[+] [-] ck2|15 years ago|reply
How about "snitchsoft", nah, same problem.
Really it's "trackware" because regardless of how you use the device/product, you are being tracked. Even your PDF documents have serial numbers by default.
[+] [-] nickpinkston|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frobozz|15 years ago|reply
If you take a photo of the stone under which your 90-year-old mother keeps her spare key in her front garden. Then publish it on the web, that's your own fault; not the fault of the camera.
[+] [-] gallerytungsten|15 years ago|reply
Where the traitors are rocks, be a river that flows around them.
[+] [-] baud|15 years ago|reply
Company A with software X.
Employees from Company A defect to Company B and "recreate" software X. Hence Traitorware!
Have to start clicking before thinking.
But getting on track with topic, we could also consider cookies a somewhat primitive form of Traitorware...
[+] [-] cookiecaper|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickpinkston|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] benatkin|15 years ago|reply
> Traitorware is not some science-fiction vision of the future. It is the present. Indeed, the Sony rootkit dates back to 2005.
We're firmly in science-fiction territory and most everyone who would pay attention to this article knows it.
This reminds me of when the EFF pleaded with its audience not to buy an iPad. What good is a boycott by sympathetic developers going to do? Keep them from making web apps work well on the iPad, and giving developers tasked with building a business app that works well on an iPad a choice to keep using an open platform?
[+] [-] _pius|15 years ago|reply
What's your justification for saying this? The author of the article laid out a series of examples supporting the contrary point.
[+] [-] anigbrowl|15 years ago|reply
[+] [-] drdaeman|15 years ago|reply
And there are a lot of different watermarking algorithms, some of which are capable of surviving basic image operations, like resizing or color balance adjustment.
[+] [-] pjscott|15 years ago|reply