[Cryptography] Trust & randomness in computer systems

[Ray Dillinger]

On 03/16/2016 03:57 PM, J.M. Porup wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 16, 2016 at 09:07:59AM -0700, Henry Baker wrote:

>> For example, it would seem that cell "suicide"
>> is a lot more common than previously thought.
>> If a cell determines that it has been overwhelmed
>> by forces that it cannot control, and this is
>> a threat that can overwhelm other cells, as well,
>> it will commit suicide in an attempt to stop a
>> pathogen from spreading.  Ditto for individual
>> plants and animals; the survival of the species
>> is more important than the survival of the
>> individual.
> 
> This is an incredibly dangerous way of thinking. By this 
> logic, the kill list ("Disposition Matrix") can be justified 
> as "a little light pruning." Better to kill America's 
> political enemies and justify it as in the interest of the 
> species than to actually give people the freedom they were promised.

Suppose that instead of leaping to conclusions about murder
or political assassination, you were to take the quoted
material in context as it was presented, as a possible way
to avoid subverted electronic devices from subverting more
electronic devices.

In other words, if someone cracks my IoT thermostat I
would rather have the thermostat go out ("commit suicide")
than have it be used to make further attacks on my home
network.

Not that I would ever own an IoT thermostat, but there
exist people who would, they live on the same larger
Internet with the rest of us, and compromises in their
systems impair everyone else's productivity and security
too.
				Bear



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