[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.53,0:00:09.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Introducer:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.70,0:00:16.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Anyway, I believe I've killed enough time so, ladies and gentlemen, a person who
Dialogue: 0,0:00:16.25,0:00:22.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this crowd needs absolutely no introduction, Cory Doctorow!
Dialogue: 0,0:00:22.17,0:00:24.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Audience applauds]
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.66,0:00:25.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Doctorow:
Dialogue: 0,0:00:25.91,0:00:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:29.64,0:00:36.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, when I speak in places where the first language of the nation is not English,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:37.64,0:00:44.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is a disclaimer and an apology, because I'm one of nature's fast talkers. When I was
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.27,0:00:49.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the United Nations at the World Intellectual Property Organization, I was known as the
Dialogue: 0,0:00:49.68,0:00:55.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"scourge" of the simultaneous translation corps; I would stand up and speak, and turn
Dialogue: 0,0:00:55.55,0:00:59.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around, and there would be window after window of translator, and every one of them would
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.68,0:01:06.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be doing this [Doctorow facepalms]. [Audience laughs] So in advance, I give you permission
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.52,0:01:11.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when I start talking quickly to do this [Doctorow makes SOS motion] and I will slow down.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:11.35,0:01:17.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, tonight's talk -- wah, wah, waaah [Doctorow makes 'fail horn' sound, apparently
Dialogue: 0,0:01:17.06,0:01:22.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in response to audience making SOS motion; audience laughs]] -- tonight's talk is not
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.06,0:01:28.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a copyright talk. I do copyright talks all the time; questions about culture and creativity
Dialogue: 0,0:01:28.60,0:01:33.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are interesting enough, but to be honest, I'm quite sick of them. If you want to hear
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.91,0:01:39.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,freelancer writers like me bang on about what's happening to the way we earn our living, by
Dialogue: 0,0:01:39.21,0:01:45.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all means, go and find one of the many talks I've done on this subject on YouTube. But,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.02,0:01:49.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tonight, I want to talk about something more important -- I want talk to talk about general
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.99,0:01:52.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,purpose computers.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.69,0:01:57.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because general purpose computers are, in fact, astounding -- so astounding that our
Dialogue: 0,0:01:57.69,0:02:03.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,society is still struggling to come to grips with them: to figure out what they're for,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:03.19,0:02:09.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to figure out how to accommodate them, and how to cope with them. Which, unfortunately,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.73,0:02:12.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brings me back to copyright.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:12.32,0:02:17.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because the general shape of the copyright wars and the lessons they can teach
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.80,0:02:23.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,us about the upcoming fights over the destiny of the general purpose computer are important.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.31,0:02:30.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the beginning, we had packaged software, and the attendant industry, and we had sneakernet.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.69,0:02:38.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, we had floppy disks in ziplock bags, or in cardboard boxes, hung on pegs in shops,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.10,0:02:43.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sold like candy bars and magazines. And they were eminently susceptible to duplication,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:43.78,0:02:49.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so they were duplicated quickly, and widely, and this was to the great chagrin of people
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.50,0:02:51.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who made and sold software.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.68,0:02:58.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Enter DRM 0.96. They started to introduce physical defects to the disks or
Dialogue: 0,0:02:59.43,0:03:05.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,started to insist on other physical indicia which the software could check for -- dongles,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.77,0:03:10.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hidden sectors, challenge/response protocols that required that you had physical possession
Dialogue: 0,0:03:10.66,0:03:17.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of large, unwieldy manuals that were difficult to copy, and of course these failed, for two
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.33,0:03:23.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reasons. First, they were commercially unpopular, of course, because they reduced the usefulness
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.09,0:03:27.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the software to the legitimate purchasers, while leaving the people who took the software
Dialogue: 0,0:03:27.60,0:03:32.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without paying for it untouched. The legitimate purchasers resented the non-functionality
Dialogue: 0,0:03:32.79,0:03:38.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of their backups, they hated the loss of scarce ports to the authentication dongles, and they
Dialogue: 0,0:03:38.24,0:03:43.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,resented the inconvenience of having to transport large manuals when they wanted to run their
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.62,0:03:49.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,software. And second, these didn't stop pirates, who found it trivial to patch the software
Dialogue: 0,0:03:49.26,0:03:55.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and bypass authentication. Typically, the way that happened is some expert who had possession
Dialogue: 0,0:03:55.08,0:04:00.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of technology and expertise of equivalent sophistication to the software vendor itself,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.68,0:04:05.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would reverse engineer the software and release cracked versions that quickly became widely
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.82,0:04:11.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,circulated. While this kind of expertise and technology sounded highly specialized, it
Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.63,0:04:16.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really wasn't; figuring out what recalcitrant programs were doing, and routing around the
Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.75,0:04:22.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,defects in shitty floppy disk media were both core skills for computer programmers, and
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.64,0:04:27.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were even more so in the era of fragile floppy disks and the rough-and-ready early days of
Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.30,0:04:33.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,software development. Anti-copying strategies only became more fraught as networks spread;
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.66,0:04:38.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,once we had BBSes, online services, USENET newsgroups, and mailing lists, the expertise
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.84,0:04:43.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of people who figured out how to defeat these authentication systems could be packaged up
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.24,0:04:49.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in software as little crack files, or, as the network capacity increased, the cracked
Dialogue: 0,0:04:49.64,0:04:53.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,disk images or executables themselves could be spread on their own.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.42,0:05:00.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Which gave us DRM 1.0. By 1996, it became clear to everyone in the halls of
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.48,0:05:06.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,power that there was something important about to happen. We were about to have an information
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.13,0:05:13.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,economy, whatever the hell that was. They assumed it meant an economy where we bought
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.07,0:05:19.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and sold information. Now, information technology makes things efficient, so imagine the markets
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.96,0:05:25.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that an information economy would have. You could buy a book for a day, you could sell
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.15,0:05:29.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the right to watch the movie for one Euro, and then you could rent out the pause button
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.74,0:05:35.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at one penny per second. You could sell movies for one price in one country, and another
Dialogue: 0,0:05:35.21,0:05:41.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,price in another, and so on, and so on; the fantasies of those days were a little like
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.23,0:05:46.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a boring science fiction adaptation of the Old Testament book of Numbers, a kind of tedious
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.88,0:05:52.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,enumeration of every permutation of things people do with information and the ways we
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.08,0:05:54.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,could charge them for it.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:54.02,0:05:58.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But none of this would be possible unless we could control how people use their
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.87,0:06:04.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,computers and the files we transfer to them. After all, it was well and good to talk about
Dialogue: 0,0:06:04.42,0:06:10.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,selling someone the 24 hour right to a video, or the right to move music onto an iPod, but
Dialogue: 0,0:06:10.09,0:06:15.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not the right to move music from the iPod onto another device, but how the Hell could
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.22,0:06:19.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you do that once you'd given them the file? In order to do that, to make this work, you
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.85,0:06:24.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,needed to figure out how to stop computers from running certain programs and inspecting
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.34,0:06:29.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,certain files and processes. For example, you could encrypt the file, and then require
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.67,0:06:34.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the user to run a program that only unlocked the file under certain circumstances.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:34.00,0:06:40.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But as they say on the Internet, "now you have two problems". You also, now,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.99,0:06:45.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have to stop the user from saving the file while it's in the clear, and you have to stop
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.05,0:06:49.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the user from figuring out where the unlocking program stores its keys, because if the user
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.64,0:06:53.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,finds the keys, she'll just decrypt the file and throw away that stupid player app.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:53.82,0:06:58.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And now you have three problems [audience laughs], because now you have to
Dialogue: 0,0:06:58.37,0:07:02.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stop the users who figure out how to render the file in the clear from sharing it with
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.02,0:07:07.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other users, and now you've got four! problems, because now you have to stop the users who
Dialogue: 0,0:07:07.06,0:07:11.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,figure out how to extract secrets from unlocking programs from telling other users how to do
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.71,0:07:16.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it too, and now you've got five! problems, because now you have to stop users who figure
Dialogue: 0,0:07:16.83,0:07:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out how to extract secrets from unlocking programs from telling other users what the
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.68,0:07:22.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,secrets were!
Dialogue: 0,0:07:22.07,0:07:28.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's a lot of problems. But by 1996, we had a solution. We had the WIPO Copyright
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.91,0:07:32.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Treaty, passed by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization, which
Dialogue: 0,0:07:32.99,0:07:37.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,created laws that made it illegal to extract secrets from unlocking programs, and it created
Dialogue: 0,0:07:37.93,0:07:42.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,laws that made it illegal to extract media cleartexts from the unlocking programs while
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.25,0:07:46.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were running, and it created laws that made it illegal to tell people how to extract
Dialogue: 0,0:07:46.58,0:07:51.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,secrets from unlocking programs, and created laws that made it illegal to host copyrighted
Dialogue: 0,0:07:51.72,0:07:58.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,works and secrets and all with a handy streamlined process that let you remove stuff from the
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.12,0:08:02.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,internet without having to screw around with lawyers, and judges, and all that crap. And
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.73,0:08:09.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with that, illegal copying ended forever [audience laughs very hard, applauds], the information
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.71,0:08:23.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,economy blossomed into a beautiful flower that brought prosperity to the whole wide
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.49,0:08:29.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,world; as they say on the aircraft carriers, "Mission Accomplished". [audience laughs]
Dialogue: 0,0:08:29.63,0:08:34.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, of course that's not how the story ends because pretty much anyone who
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.49,0:08:39.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,understood computers and networks understood that while these laws would create more problems
Dialogue: 0,0:08:39.63,0:08:44.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,than they could possibly solve; after all, these were laws that made it illegal to look
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.18,0:08:49.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inside your computer when it was running certain programs, they made it illegal to tell people
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.15,0:08:53.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what you found when you looked inside your computer, they made it easy to censor material
Dialogue: 0,0:08:53.55,0:08:57.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the internet without having to prove that anything wrong had happened; in short, they
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.77,0:09:04.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,made unrealistic demands on reality and reality did not oblige them. After all, copying only
Dialogue: 0,0:09:04.42,0:09:09.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,got easier following the passage of these laws -- copying will only ever get easier!
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.05,0:09:14.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Here, 2011, this is as hard as copying will get! Your grandchildren will turn to you around
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.33,0:09:18.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Christmas table and say "Tell me again, Grandpa, tell me again, Grandma, about when
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.42,0:09:23.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it was hard to copy things in 2011, when you couldn't get a drive the size of your fingernail
Dialogue: 0,0:09:23.55,0:09:27.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that could hold every song ever recorded, every movie ever made, every word ever spoken,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.86,0:09:31.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,every picture ever taken, everything, and transfer it in such a short period of time
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.92,0:09:36.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you didn't even notice it was doing it, tell us again when it was so stupidly hard to copy
Dialogue: 0,0:09:36.30,0:09:43.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things back in 2011". And so, reality asserted itself, and everyone had a good laugh over
Dialogue: 0,0:09:43.49,0:09:47.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,how funny our misconceptions were when we entered the 21st century, and then a lasting
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.97,0:09:52.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,peace was reached with freedom and prosperity for all. [audience chuckles]
Dialogue: 0,0:09:52.76,0:09:57.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, not really. Because, like the nursery rhyme lady who swallows a spider
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.95,0:10:02.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to catch a fly, and has to swallow a bird to catch the spider, and a cat to catch the
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.33,0:10:08.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bird, and so on, so must a regulation that has broad general appeal but is disastrous
Dialogue: 0,0:10:08.85,0:10:13.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in its implementation beget a new regulation aimed at shoring up the failure of the old
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.93,0:10:18.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one. Now, it's tempting to stop the story here and conclude that the problem is that
Dialogue: 0,0:10:18.11,0:10:23.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lawmakers are either clueless or evil, or possibly evilly clueless, and just leave it
Dialogue: 0,0:10:23.47,0:10:28.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there, which is not a very satisfying place to go, because it's fundamentally a council
Dialogue: 0,0:10:28.73,0:10:33.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of despair; it suggests that our problems cannot be solved for so long as stupidity
Dialogue: 0,0:10:33.35,0:10:38.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and evilness are present in the halls of power, which is to say they will never be solved.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:38.66,0:10:41.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I have another theory about what's happened.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.10,0:10:46.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's not that regulators don't understand information technology, because it should
Dialogue: 0,0:10:46.22,0:10:52.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be possible to be a non-expert and still make a good law! M.P.s and Congressmen and so on
Dialogue: 0,0:10:52.82,0:10:58.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are elected to represent districts and people, not disciplines and issues. We don't have
Dialogue: 0,0:10:58.13,0:11:02.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a Member of Parliament for biochemistry, and we don't have a Senator from the great state
Dialogue: 0,0:11:02.49,0:11:09.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of urban planning, and we don't have an M.E.P. from child welfare. (But perhaps we should.)
Dialogue: 0,0:11:09.24,0:11:14.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And yet those people who are experts in policy and politics, not technical disciplines, nevertheless,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:14.61,0:11:20.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,often do manage to pass good rules that make sense, and that's because government relies
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.03,0:11:24.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on heuristics -- rules of thumbs about how to balance expert input from different sides
Dialogue: 0,0:11:24.85,0:11:25.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of an issue.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:25.79,0:11:30.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But information technology confounds these heuristics -- it kicks the crap out
Dialogue: 0,0:11:30.27,0:11:36.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of them -- in one important way, and this is it. One important test of whether or not
Dialogue: 0,0:11:36.17,0:11:40.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a regulation is fit for a purpose is first, of course, whether it will work, but second
Dialogue: 0,0:11:40.54,0:11:45.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of all, whether or not in the course of doing its work, it will have lots of effects on
Dialogue: 0,0:11:45.25,0:11:51.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything else. If I wanted Congress to write, or Parliament to write, or the E.U. to regulate
Dialogue: 0,0:11:51.62,0:11:56.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a wheel, it's unlikely I'd succeed. If I turned up and said "well, everyone knows that wheels
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.77,0:12:01.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are good and right, but have you noticed that every single bank robber has four wheels on
Dialogue: 0,0:12:01.98,0:12:06.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,his car when he drives away from the bank robbery? Can't we do something about this?",
Dialogue: 0,0:12:06.45,0:12:11.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the answer would of course be "no". Because we don't know how to make a wheel that is
Dialogue: 0,0:12:11.19,0:12:16.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,still generally useful for legitimate wheel applications but useless to bad guys. And
Dialogue: 0,0:12:16.80,0:12:20.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can all see that the general benefits of wheels are so profound that we'd be foolish
Dialogue: 0,0:12:20.96,0:12:26.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to risk them in a foolish errand to stop bank robberies by changing wheels. Even if there
Dialogue: 0,0:12:26.47,0:12:31.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were an /epidemic/ of bank robberies, even if society were on the verge of collapse thanks
Dialogue: 0,0:12:31.05,0:12:34.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to bank robberies, no-one would think that wheels were the right place to start solving
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.100,0:12:36.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our problems.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:36.15,0:12:42.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But. If I were to show up in that same body to say that I had absolute proof
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.47,0:12:48.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that hands-free phones were making cars dangerous, and I said, "I would like you to pass a law
Dialogue: 0,0:12:48.30,0:12:52.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that says it's illegal to put a hands-free phone in a car", the regulator might say "Yeah,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.62,0:12:56.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'd take your point, we'd do that". And we might disagree about whether or not this is
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.50,0:13:00.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a good idea, or whether or not my evidence made sense, but very few of us would say "well,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:00.81,0:13:06.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,once you take the hands-free phones out of the car, they stop being cars". We understand
Dialogue: 0,0:13:06.52,0:13:12.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we can keep cars cars even if we remove features from them. Cars are special purpose,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:12.10,0:13:16.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at least in comparison to wheels, and all that the addition of a hands-free phone does
Dialogue: 0,0:13:16.86,0:13:22.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is add one more feature to an already-specialized technology. In fact, there's that heuristic
Dialogue: 0,0:13:22.83,0:13:27.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we can apply here -- special-purpose technologies are complex. And you can remove
Dialogue: 0,0:13:27.48,0:13:32.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,features from them without doing fundamental disfiguring violence to their underlying utility.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:32.57,0:13:38.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This rule of thumb serves regulators well, by and large, but it is rendered null
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.31,0:13:42.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and void by the general-purpose computer and the general-purpose network -- the PC and
Dialogue: 0,0:13:42.87,0:13:48.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Internet. Because if you think of computer software as a feature, that is a computer
Dialogue: 0,0:13:48.23,0:13:52.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with spreadsheets running on it has a spreadsheet feature, and one that's running World of Warcraft
Dialogue: 0,0:13:52.65,0:13:57.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has an MMORPG feature, then this heuristic leads you to think that you could reasonably
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.90,0:14:02.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,say, "make me a computer that doesn't run spreadsheets", and that it would be no more
Dialogue: 0,0:14:02.32,0:14:07.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of an attack on computing than "make me a car without a hands-free phone" is an attack
Dialogue: 0,0:14:07.03,0:14:12.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on cars. And if you think of protocols and sites as features of the network, then saying
Dialogue: 0,0:14:12.61,0:14:18.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"fix the Internet so that it doesn't run BitTorrent", or "fix the Internet so that thepiratebay.org
Dialogue: 0,0:14:18.94,0:14:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no longer resolves", then it sounds a lot like "change the sound of busy signals", or
Dialogue: 0,0:14:23.71,0:14:28.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"take that pizzeria on the corner off the phone network", and not like an attack on
Dialogue: 0,0:14:28.44,0:14:30.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fundamental principles of internetworking.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:30.90,0:14:36.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not realizing that this rule of thumb that works for cars and for houses and
Dialogue: 0,0:14:36.42,0:14:41.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for every other substantial area of technological regulation fails for the Internet does not
Dialogue: 0,0:14:41.19,0:14:45.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make you evil and it does not make you an ignoramus. It just makes you part of that
Dialogue: 0,0:14:45.06,0:14:50.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,vast majority of the world for whom ideas like "Turing complete" and "end-to-end" are
Dialogue: 0,0:14:50.68,0:14:56.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meaningless. So, our regulators go off, and they blithely pass these laws, and they become
Dialogue: 0,0:14:56.84,0:15:01.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,part of the reality of our technological world. There are suddenly numbers that we aren't
Dialogue: 0,0:15:01.44,0:15:06.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,allowed to write down on the Internet, programs we're not allowed to publish, and all it takes
Dialogue: 0,0:15:06.29,0:15:11.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to make legitimate material disappear from the Internet is to say "that? That infringes
Dialogue: 0,0:15:11.49,0:15:15.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,copyright.". It fails to attain the actual goal of the regulation; it doesn't stop people
Dialogue: 0,0:15:15.81,0:15:21.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from violating copyright, but it bears a kind of superficial resemblance to copyright enforcement
Dialogue: 0,0:15:21.12,0:15:26.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- it satisfies the security syllogism: "something must be done, I am doing something, something
Dialogue: 0,0:15:26.96,0:15:32.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has been done." And thus any failures that arise can be blamed on the idea that the regulation
Dialogue: 0,0:15:32.79,0:15:37.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,doesn't go far enough, rather than the idea that it was flawed from the outset.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:37.86,0:15:42.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This kind of superficial resemblance and underlying divergence happens in other
Dialogue: 0,0:15:42.40,0:15:46.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineering contexts. I've a friend who was once a senior executive at a big consumer
Dialogue: 0,0:15:46.100,0:15:50.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,packaged goods company who told me about what happened when the marketing department told
Dialogue: 0,0:15:50.93,0:15:55.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the engineers that they'd thought up a great idea for detergent: from now on, they were
Dialogue: 0,0:15:55.20,0:16:00.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to make detergent that made your clothes newer every time you washed them! Well after
Dialogue: 0,0:16:00.06,0:16:04.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the engineers had tried unsuccessfully to convey the concept of "entropy" to the marketing
Dialogue: 0,0:16:04.87,0:16:10.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,department [audience laughs], they arrived at another solution -- "solution" -- they'd
Dialogue: 0,0:16:10.10,0:16:15.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,develop a detergent that used enzymes that attacked loose fiber ends, the kind that you
Dialogue: 0,0:16:15.96,0:16:20.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get with broken fibers that make your clothes look old. So every time you washed your clothes
Dialogue: 0,0:16:20.26,0:16:25.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the detergent, they would look newer. But that was because the detergent was literally
Dialogue: 0,0:16:25.10,0:16:31.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,digesting your clothes! Using it would literally cause your clothes to dissolve in the washing
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.10,0:16:36.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,machine! This was the opposite of making clothes newer; instead, you were artificially aging
Dialogue: 0,0:16:36.95,0:16:42.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your clothes every time you washed them, and as the user, the more you deployed the "solution",
Dialogue: 0,0:16:42.83,0:16:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the more drastic your measures had to be to keep your clothes up to date -- you actually
Dialogue: 0,0:16:47.49,0:16:50.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had to go buy new clothes because the old ones fell apart.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:50.72,0:16:55.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So today we have marketing departments who say things like "we don't need computers,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:55.13,0:17:00.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we need... appliances. Make me a computer that doesn't run every program, just a program
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.54,0:17:05.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that does this specialized task, like streaming audio, or routing packets, or playing Xbox
Dialogue: 0,0:17:05.92,0:17:10.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,games, and make sure it doesn't run programs that I haven't authorized that might undermine
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.43,0:17:16.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our profits". And on the surface, this seems like a reasonable idea -- just a program that
Dialogue: 0,0:17:16.02,0:17:22.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,does one specialized task -- after all, we can put an electric motor in a blender, and
Dialogue: 0,0:17:22.68,0:17:27.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can install a motor in a dishwasher, and we don't worry if it's still possible to run
Dialogue: 0,0:17:27.06,0:17:33.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a dishwashing program in a blender. But that's not what we do when we turn a computer into
Dialogue: 0,0:17:33.49,0:17:38.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,an appliance. We're not making a computer that runs only the "appliance" app; we're
Dialogue: 0,0:17:38.38,0:17:43.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,making a computer that can run every program, but which uses some combination of rootkits,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:43.87,0:17:48.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spyware, and code-signing to prevent the user from knowing which processes are running,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:48.41,0:17:53.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from installing her own software, and from terminating processes that she doesn't want.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.05,0:17:58.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, an appliance is not a stripped-down computer -- it is a fully functional computer
Dialogue: 0,0:17:58.87,0:18:02.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with spyware on it out of the box.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:02.30,0:18:08.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[audience applauds loudly] Thanks.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:08.75,0:18:14.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because we don't know how to build the general purpose computer that is capable
Dialogue: 0,0:18:14.19,0:18:18.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of running any program we can compile except for some program that we don't like, or that
Dialogue: 0,0:18:18.54,0:18:23.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we prohibit by law, or that loses us money. The closest approximation that we have to
Dialogue: 0,0:18:23.55,0:18:29.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is a computer with spyware -- a computer on which remote parties set policies without
Dialogue: 0,0:18:29.22,0:18:34.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the computer user's knowledge, over the objection of the computer's owner. And so it is that
Dialogue: 0,0:18:34.22,0:18:37.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,digital rights management always converges on malware.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:37.45,0:18:41.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There was, of course, this famous incident, a kind of gift to people who have
Dialogue: 0,0:18:41.20,0:18:47.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this hypothesis, in which Sony loaded covert rootkit installers on 6 million audio CDs,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:47.13,0:18:52.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which secretly executed programs that watched for attempts to read the sound files on CDs,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:52.40,0:18:56.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and terminated them, and which also hid the rootkit's existence by causing the kernel
Dialogue: 0,0:18:56.27,0:19:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to lie about which processes were running, and which files were present on the drive.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:00.82,0:19:05.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But it's not the only example; just recently, Nintendo shipped the 3DS, which opportunistically
Dialogue: 0,0:19:05.96,0:19:10.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,updates its firmware, and does an integrity check to make sure that you haven't altered
Dialogue: 0,0:19:10.13,0:19:15.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the old firmware in any way, and if it detects signs of tampering, it bricks itself.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:15.30,0:19:20.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Human rights activists have raised alarms over U-EFI, the new PC bootloader,
Dialogue: 0,0:19:20.39,0:19:25.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which restricts your computer so it runs signed operating systems, noting that repressive
Dialogue: 0,0:19:25.18,0:19:30.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,governments will likely withhold signatures from OSes unless they have covert surveillance
Dialogue: 0,0:19:30.28,0:19:30.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,operations.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:30.85,0:19:35.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And on the network side, attempts to make a network that can't be used for copyright
Dialogue: 0,0:19:35.18,0:19:40.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,infringement always converges with the surveillance measures that we know from repressive governments.
Dialogue: 0,0:19:40.71,0:19:47.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, SOPA, the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act, bans tools like DNSSec because they can be
Dialogue: 0,0:19:47.70,0:19:52.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,used to defeat DNS blocking measures. And it blocks tools like Tor, because they can
Dialogue: 0,0:19:52.52,0:19:57.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be used to circumvent IP blocking measures. In fact, the proponents of SOPA, the Motion
Dialogue: 0,0:19:57.76,0:20:03.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Picture Association of America, circulated a memo, citing research that SOPA would probably
Dialogue: 0,0:20:03.12,0:20:08.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,work, because it uses the same measures as are used in Syria, China, and Uzbekistan,
Dialogue: 0,0:20:08.60,0:20:12.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they argued that these measures are effective in those countries, and so they would work
Dialogue: 0,0:20:12.39,0:20:13.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in America, too!
Dialogue: 0,0:20:13.88,0:20:20.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[audience laughs and applauds] Don't applaud me, applaud the MPAA!
Dialogue: 0,0:20:20.28,0:20:26.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, it may seem like SOPA is the end game in a long fight over copyright, and
Dialogue: 0,0:20:26.04,0:20:30.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the internet, and it may seem like if we defeat SOPA, we'll be well on our way to securing
Dialogue: 0,0:20:30.64,0:20:36.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the freedom of PCs and networks. But as I said at the beginning of this talk, this isn't
Dialogue: 0,0:20:36.32,0:20:42.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about copyright, because the copyright wars are just the 0.9 beta version of the long
Dialogue: 0,0:20:42.65,0:20:47.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,coming war on computation. The entertainment industry were just the first belligerents
Dialogue: 0,0:20:47.49,0:20:52.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in this coming century-long conflict. We tend to think of them as particularly successful
Dialogue: 0,0:20:52.34,0:20:58.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- after all, here is SOPA, trembling on the verge of passage, and breaking the internet
Dialogue: 0,0:20:58.61,0:21:04.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on this fundamental level in the name of preserving Top 40 music, reality TV shows, and Ashton
Dialogue: 0,0:21:04.52,0:21:06.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Kutcher movies! [laughs, scattered applause]
Dialogue: 0,0:21:06.93,0:21:13.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But the reality is, copyright legislation gets as far as it does precisely because it's
Dialogue: 0,0:21:13.10,0:21:18.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not taken seriously, which is why on one hand, Canada has had Parliament after Parliament
Dialogue: 0,0:21:18.98,0:21:23.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,introduce one stupid copyright bill after another, but on the other hand, Parliament
Dialogue: 0,0:21:23.94,0:21:29.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,after Parliament has failed to actually vote on the bill. It's why we got SOPA, a bill
Dialogue: 0,0:21:29.64,0:21:36.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,composed of pure stupid, pieced together molecule-by-molecule, into a kind of "Stupidite 250", which is normally
Dialogue: 0,0:21:37.51,0:21:44.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only found in the heart of newborn star, and it's why these rushed-through SOPA hearings
Dialogue: 0,0:21:44.11,0:21:48.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had to be adjourned midway through the Christmas break, so that lawmakers could get into a
Dialogue: 0,0:21:48.68,0:21:55.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,real vicious nationally-infamous debate over an important issue, unemployment insurance.
Dialogue: 0,0:21:55.03,0:22:01.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's why the World Intellectual Property Organization is gulled time and again into enacting crazed,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:01.84,0:22:07.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pig-ignorant copyright proposals because when the nations of the world send their U.N. missions
Dialogue: 0,0:22:07.09,0:22:13.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to Geneva, they send water experts, not copyright experts; they send health experts, not copyright
Dialogue: 0,0:22:13.07,0:22:17.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experts; they send agriculture experts, not copyright experts, because copyright is just
Dialogue: 0,0:22:17.73,0:22:24.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not important to pretty much everyone! [applause]
Dialogue: 0,0:22:27.18,0:22:34.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Canada's Parliament didn't vote on its copyright bills because, of all the
Dialogue: 0,0:22:34.49,0:22:40.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things that Canada needs to do, fixing copyright ranks well below health emergencies on first
Dialogue: 0,0:22:40.17,0:22:45.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,nations reservations, exploiting the oil patch in Alberta, interceding in sectarian resentments
Dialogue: 0,0:22:45.44,0:22:49.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,among French- and English-speakers, solving resources crises in the nation's fisheries,
Dialogue: 0,0:22:49.80,0:22:54.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and thousand other issues! The triviality of copyright tells you that when other sectors
Dialogue: 0,0:22:54.93,0:23:00.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the economy start to evince concerns about the internet and the PC, that copyright will
Dialogue: 0,0:23:00.56,0:23:06.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be revealed for a minor skirmish, and not a war. Why would other sectors nurse grudges
Dialogue: 0,0:23:06.63,0:23:11.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against computers? Well, because the world we live in today is /made/ of computers. We
Dialogue: 0,0:23:11.66,0:23:15.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,don't have cars anymore, we have computers we ride in; we don't have airplanes anymore,
Dialogue: 0,0:23:15.90,0:23:22.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have flying Solaris boxes with a big bucketful of SCADA controllers [laughter]; a 3D printer
Dialogue: 0,0:23:24.41,0:23:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not a device, it's a peripheral, and it only works connected to a computer; a radio
Dialogue: 0,0:23:30.38,0:23:36.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is no longer a crystal, it's a general-purpose computer with a fast ADC and a fast DAC and
Dialogue: 0,0:23:36.20,0:23:37.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some software.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:37.27,0:23:43.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The grievances that arose from unauthorized copying are trivial, when compared
Dialogue: 0,0:23:43.20,0:23:49.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to the calls for action that our new computer-embroidered reality will create. Think of radio for a
Dialogue: 0,0:23:49.27,0:23:54.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,minute. The entire basis for radio regulation up until today was based on the idea that
Dialogue: 0,0:23:54.15,0:23:59.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the properties of a radio are fixed at the time of manufacture, and can't be easily altered.
Dialogue: 0,0:23:59.18,0:24:03.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can't just flip a switch on your baby monitor, and turn it into something that interferes
Dialogue: 0,0:24:03.39,0:24:08.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with air traffic control signals. But powerful software-defined radios can change from baby
Dialogue: 0,0:24:08.61,0:24:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,monitor to emergency services dispatcher to air traffic controller just by loading and
Dialogue: 0,0:24:13.72,0:24:18.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,executing different software, which is why the first time the American telecoms regulator
Dialogue: 0,0:24:18.59,0:24:23.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(the FCC) considered what would happen when we put SDRs in the field, they asked for comment
Dialogue: 0,0:24:23.88,0:24:29.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on whether it should mandate that all software-defined radios should be embedded in trusted computing
Dialogue: 0,0:24:29.20,0:24:34.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,machines. Ultimately, whether every PC should be locked, so that the programs they run are
Dialogue: 0,0:24:34.78,0:24:37.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,strictly regulated by central authorities.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:37.33,0:24:42.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And even this is a shadow of what is to come. After all, this was the year in
Dialogue: 0,0:24:42.26,0:24:48.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which we saw the debut of open sourced shape files for converting AR-15s to full automatic.
Dialogue: 0,0:24:48.37,0:24:53.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This was the year of crowd-funded open-sourced hardware for gene sequencing. And while 3D
Dialogue: 0,0:24:53.63,0:24:57.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,printing will give rise to plenty of trivial complaints, there will be judges in the American
Dialogue: 0,0:24:57.75,0:25:02.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,South and Mullahs in Iran who will lose their minds over people in their jurisdiction printing
Dialogue: 0,0:25:02.73,0:25:09.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out sex toys. [guffaw from audience] The trajectory of 3D printing will most certainly raise real
Dialogue: 0,0:25:09.51,0:25:13.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,grievances, from solid state meth labs, to ceramic knives.
Dialogue: 0,0:25:13.41,0:25:17.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it doesn't take a science fiction writer to understand why regulators might
Dialogue: 0,0:25:17.95,0:25:23.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be nervous about the user-modifiable firmware on self-driving cars, or limiting interoperability
Dialogue: 0,0:25:23.89,0:25:28.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for aviation controllers, or the kind of thing you could do with bio-scale assemblers and
Dialogue: 0,0:25:28.79,0:25:34.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sequencers. Imagine what will happen the day that Monsanto determines that it's really...
Dialogue: 0,0:25:34.24,0:25:39.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really... important to make sure that computers can't execute programs that cause specialized
Dialogue: 0,0:25:39.00,0:25:44.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,peripherals to output organisms that eat their lunch... literally. Regardless of whether
Dialogue: 0,0:25:44.94,0:25:50.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you think these are real problems or merely hysterical fears, they are nevertheless the
Dialogue: 0,0:25:50.07,0:25:54.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,province of lobbies and interest groups that are far more influential than Hollywood and
Dialogue: 0,0:25:54.44,0:25:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,big content are on their best days, and every one of them will arrive at the same place
Dialogue: 0,0:25:59.60,0:26:04.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- "can't you just make us a general purpose computer that runs all the programs, except
Dialogue: 0,0:26:04.93,0:26:10.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ones that scare and anger us? Can't you just make us an Internet that transmits any
Dialogue: 0,0:26:10.02,0:26:14.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,message over any protocol between any two points, unless it upsets us?"
Dialogue: 0,0:26:14.93,0:26:18.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And personally, I can see that there will be programs that run on general
Dialogue: 0,0:26:18.88,0:26:24.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,purpose computers and peripherals that will even freak me out. So I can believe that people
Dialogue: 0,0:26:24.10,0:26:28.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who advocate for limiting general purpose computers will find receptive audience for
Dialogue: 0,0:26:28.37,0:26:33.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their positions. But just as we saw with the copyright wars, banning certain instructions,
Dialogue: 0,0:26:33.74,0:26:39.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or protocols, or messages, will be wholly ineffective as a means of prevention and remedy;
Dialogue: 0,0:26:39.47,0:26:45.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as we saw in the copyright wars, all attempts at controlling PCs will converge on rootkits;
Dialogue: 0,0:26:45.59,0:26:51.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all attempts at controlling the Internet will converge on surveillance and censorship, which
Dialogue: 0,0:26:51.48,0:26:57.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is why all this stuff matters. Because we've spent the last 10+ years as a body sending
Dialogue: 0,0:26:57.18,0:27:01.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our best players out to fight what we thought was the final boss at the end of the game,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:01.64,0:27:06.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it turns out it's just been the mini-boss at the end of the level, and the stakes are
Dialogue: 0,0:27:06.10,0:27:07.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,only going to get higher.
Dialogue: 0,0:27:07.34,0:27:11.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As a member of the Walkman generation, I have made peace with the fact that I will
Dialogue: 0,0:27:11.51,0:27:17.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,require a hearing aid long before I die, and of course, it won't be a hearing aid, it will
Dialogue: 0,0:27:17.09,0:27:22.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,be a computer I put in my body. So when I get into a car -- a computer I put my body
Dialogue: 0,0:27:22.48,0:27:27.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into -- with my hearing aid -- a computer I put inside my body -- I want to know that
Dialogue: 0,0:27:27.58,0:27:32.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these technologies are not designed to keep secrets from me, and to prevent me from terminating
Dialogue: 0,0:27:32.40,0:27:39.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,processes on them that work against my interests. [vigorous applause from audience] Thank you
Dialogue: 0,0:27:39.58,0:27:47.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[applause continues]
Dialogue: 0,0:27:47.85,0:27:51.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. So, last year, the Lower Merion School District,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:51.97,0:27:55.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a middle-class, affluent suburb of Philadelphia,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:55.08,0:27:57.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,found itself in a great deal of trouble,
Dialogue: 0,0:27:57.09,0:28:01.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because it was caught distributing PCs to its students, equipped with rootkits
Dialogue: 0,0:28:01.18,0:28:05.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that allowed for remote covert surveillance through the computer's camera and network connection.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:05.86,0:28:09.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It transpired that they had been photographing students thousands of times,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:09.80,0:28:14.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at home and at school, awake and asleep, dressed and naked.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:14.39,0:28:18.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Meanwhile, the latest generation of lawful intercept technology
Dialogue: 0,0:28:18.02,0:28:23.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can covertly operate cameras, mics, and GPSes on PCs, tablets, and mobile devices.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:23.99,0:28:29.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Freedom in the future will require us to have the capacity to monitor our devices
Dialogue: 0,0:28:29.93,0:28:36.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and set meaningful policy on them, to examine and terminate the processes that run on them,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:36.42,0:28:39.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to maintain them as honest servants to our will,
Dialogue: 0,0:28:39.64,0:28:44.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and not as traitors and spies working for criminals, thugs, and control freaks.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:44.55,0:28:48.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we haven't lost yet, but we have to win the copyright wars
Dialogue: 0,0:28:48.62,0:28:51.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to keep the Internet and the PC free and open.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:51.47,0:28:58.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because these are themateriel in the wars that are to come, we won't be able to fight on without them.
Dialogue: 0,0:28:58.02,0:29:03.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I know this sounds like a counsel of despair, but as I said, these are early days.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:03.82,0:29:08.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have been fighting the mini-boss, and that means that great challenges are yet to come,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:08.26,0:29:14.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but like all good level designers, fate has sent us a soft target to train ourselves on.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:15.18,0:29:20.39,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have a chance, a real chance, and if we support open and free systems,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:20.43,0:29:28.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the organizations that fight for them -- EFF, Bits of Freedom , EDRI, ORG, CC, Netzpolitik,
Dialogue: 0,0:29:28.74,0:29:33.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,La Quadrature du Net, and all the others, who are thankfully, too numerous to name here
Dialogue: 0,0:29:33.45,0:29:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,-- we may yet win the battle, and secure the ammunition we'll need for the war.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:38.44,0:29:39.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:29:39.50,0:30:11.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Sustained applause]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:11.52,0:30:16.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Doctorow] So, either questions or long, rambling statements followed by "What do you think of that?"
Dialogue: 0,0:30:16.53,0:30:19.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughter]
Dialogue: 0,0:30:19.16,0:30:20.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Doctorw] Yes. Any questions?
Dialogue: 0,0:30:21.07,0:30:26.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Organizer (?)] If you have questions, can you go to the microphones that are in the aisles, here
Dialogue: 0,0:30:26.55,0:30:33.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and just ask away. If you form a neat, orderly line, we'll go, you know, left-right left-right
Dialogue: 0,0:30:37.74,0:30:40.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Question] So if you game this out all the way to the end
Dialogue: 0,0:30:41.71,0:30:48.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You end up with a situation where either the censorship people have to
Dialogue: 0,0:30:48.98,0:30:56.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,outlaw von Neumann and Herbert's architectures and replace them with something that's not a universal Turing machine,
Dialogue: 0,0:30:58.73,0:31:03.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or they lose, full stop. I mean, and there is a big spectrum in between the two.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:03.86,0:31:06.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,don't let me distract from that. I mean, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:06.83,0:31:10.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm talking about the very last bastion line of freedom, there.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:11.94,0:31:16.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Do you think a bunch of assholes that don't even understand how DNS works
Dialogue: 0,0:31:16.31,0:31:20.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are going to be willing to shoot themselves in the - head that hard?
Dialogue: 0,0:31:21.25,0:31:27.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Doctorow] I guess my answer is that the fact that there's no
Dialogue: 0,0:31:27.31,0:31:30.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,such thing as witchcraft, didn't stop them from burning a lot of witches, right? So...
Dialogue: 0,0:31:30.85,0:31:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Laughter, applause]
Dialogue: 0,0:31:32.82,0:31:39.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,By the same token, I think the ineffectiveness of the remedy is actually even worse for us, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:31:39.25,0:31:43.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because this is like the five year plan that produces no wheat,
Dialogue: 0,0:31:43.88,0:31:50.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that yields an even more drastic five year plan that also produces no corn, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:31:50.25,0:31:53.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean, this will make them angrier, and cause them
Dialogue: 0,0:31:53.89,0:31:56.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to expand the scope of the regulation, you know.
Dialogue: 0,0:31:56.72,0:32:00.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"The beatings will continue until morale improves" as the T-shirt goes, right?
Dialogue: 0,0:32:00.34,0:32:03.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's actually my worry.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:03.00,0:32:07.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that if they saw some success, they might actually back off.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:08.37,0:32:11.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The fact that this will be a dismo failure over and over and over again,
Dialogue: 0,0:32:11.48,0:32:14.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the fact that terrorist will continue to communicate terrorist messages
Dialogue: 0,0:32:14.89,0:32:18.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and child pornographers will continue to communicate child pornographic messages
Dialogue: 0,0:32:18.18,0:32:21.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so on, will just make them try harder at ineffective remedies
Dialogue: 0,0:32:21.76,0:32:24.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[interlocutor] yeah, i mean a specialized Touring machine on an Asic[?]
Dialogue: 0,0:32:24.79,0:32:27.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is actually really,really hard, 'cause you have to make one
Dialogue: 0,0:32:27.60,0:32:30.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for every application,and that sucks...
Dialogue: 0,0:32:30.24,0:32:33.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Doctorow] Yeah, so again, I don't think they are going to ban general purpose computers.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:33.88,0:32:35.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think what they're going to do
Dialogue: 0,0:32:35.100,0:32:38.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is they're going to say "We want more spyware in computers",
Dialogue: 0,0:32:38.77,0:32:42.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"we want more U-EFI",we want... and not just like U-EFI that
Dialogue: 0,0:32:42.20,0:32:44.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,helps you detect spyware,but U-EFI where the signings
Dialogue: 0,0:32:44.92,0:32:47.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are controlled by third parties,you don't have an easy owner override
Dialogue: 0,0:32:47.73,0:32:49.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and all the rest of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:49.08,0:32:51.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think that that's going to be the trajectory of this stuff.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:51.97,0:32:57.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not "gosh, you know, that stupid policy that we pursued
Dialogue: 0,0:32:57.05,0:32:59.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at great expense for 10 years was a complete failure.
Dialogue: 0,0:32:59.97,0:33:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We should admit it and move on". I think that the answer is going to be
Dialogue: 0,0:33:02.96,0:33:05.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Oh my God, you know, look at what idiots we look like...
Dialogue: 0,0:33:05.60,0:33:09.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can't possibly admit defeat." You know, see the war on drugs.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:09.31,0:33:15.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[laughs and claps]
Dialogue: 0,0:33:15.70,0:33:18.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'll answer you in a second 'cause there's someone already ready for a question.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:18.99,0:33:27.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Conductor] We'll take… We actually got quite a bit of time. here. So, next question.
Dialogue: 0,0:33:28.69,0:33:38.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Question] Regarding the recent initiative by a big software company
Dialogue: 0,0:33:38.44,0:33:45.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to promote secure boot on U-EFI, do you think that personal computers
Dialogue: 0,0:33:45.81,0:33:58.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will arrive like the situation in the… like the Playstation platforms soon?
Dialogue: 0,0:33:58.95,0:34:08.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what do you think that we'll have some means to counterattack or to…
Dialogue: 0,0:34:08.81,0:34:11.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,[Doctorow] Yeah, so the question is really "Is U-EFI going to be a means
Dialogue: 0,0:34:11.81,0:34:14.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of freezing out alternative operating systems
Dialogue: 0,0:34:14.52,0:34:21.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the desktop. And I kinda feel like, kind of technocratic, well educated, western, northern...
Dialogue: 0,0:34:21.80,0:34:26.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,middle class people are gonna be able to figure how to get around this stuff
Dialogue: 0,0:34:26.75,0:34:31.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what i am more concerned about not least because I think organizations like the FTC
Dialogue: 0,0:34:31.88,0:34:35.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will probably eject pretty strenuously unless there is
Dialogue: 0,0:34:35.48,0:34:38.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know you can take a lid off and press a little red button to reset
Dialogue: 0,0:34:38.58,0:34:40.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is what they are talking aboout now
Dialogue: 0,0:34:40.85,0:34:44.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,