[OLPC Security] Trusting governments <== wrong message

[Choy Mu]

This whole trusting governments to install programs that bypass the other security protections is just sending the wrong message to the children of the world. It has been shown tine and again that there is no power too small to abuse and this lets the governments abuse the most naive users.

At the very least, a log should be kept of all programs installed by any trusted user that violate security protocols that non-trusted programs must follow. That way, as the child becomes more proficient with the system, he can look to see if his government (or OLPC) deserves his trust.

The hardware LEDs on the camera and mic are good, but a government could still install a program that looks at all files and e-mails for key words and sends them to its internal secret police. The same could easily happen on the backup servers since the files are stored plain text along with any keys that would be used to decrypt them even if they were encrypted.

I don't see any easy way around the backup problem. "But the governments agree not to do this." I hear someone cry from the back. Yeah, right.

Sorry, but this trusting governments with children's private data just seems a recipe for early spotting of the troublesome ones so that they can be re-educated before they become a real "problem."

Think I'm a bit paranoid? Then you haven't been paying much attention for the last 20 years or so.

  
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