Dear Corporations: Sorry, But It’s My Computer

By Jeffrey | September 5, 2007

I understand that corporatism has been the official citizen of America for a long time, and that us mere mortal civilians must bow to their will, but the technological encroachment by companies on our machines has got way out of hand.

When we buy games, software, hardware, or whatever else-ware we want to put on your computers then it should be limited to that. That means no over-bearing, spyware-like, copy-protection programs. No internet activation. And no tracking of software use.

2K Games has even recently insinuated that their position is that each member of a household should buy Bioshock to be able to play it.

It’s time for us to shout, “We’re mad as hell, and we’re not going to take it any more!”

Whatever happened to the days of buying a game, bringing it home, opening up the top of the box - that had no layers of shrinkwrap, cd-sealing tape, or any other junk - taking out the CD, popping it in and just playing it?

Now we have to deal with CD Keys, which aren’t so bad by themselves, but also programs like Starforce - Motto: “Destroy your Windows installation and monitor your computer usage, all while doing next to nothing to prevent piracy” - and required use of an internet connection, even for offline games, to “activate” that software you just bought.

Let’s take this little corporate comfort pillow mantra and apply it to other situations.

Say you go in to buy a car. You demo it, like how it feels and drives, so you decide to buy it, which you do. You sign the papers, and drive it home. The next day you go hop in and attempt to start it to take it for its first official drive, but something pops up out of the dash. A little speaker says “Please verify purchase with the manufacturer” at which point the car rings home to Ford, Dodge, etc. and verifies that you did purchase the car and it is a genuine automobile.

Well, that’s not so bad, right? So you again attempt to start it, but now you’ve noticed that cameras have installed themselves on the exterior of the vehicle and are scanning your garage to ensure that you have done nothing illegal with the car, like installed jacks, nitros, etc.

Finally, you say, “The hell with it!” and you return the car to the dealership and get your money back. Unfortunately the cameras are still in your garage, and have now entrenched themselves so far into the foundation that it is impossible to remove them. The only way to resolve the situation is to rebuild the entire garage.

Sounds fun, huh? Such is the state of software on the PC today.

We need to shout loud and clear to the corporations that this is MY machine, and MY hardware, and they have no place on it unless I give them one.

We need to not buy software that includes all of this garbage, because petitions, complaints, and every other form are nice, but corporations only understand one language: the bottom line.

We can’t rely on any help from the government, either. Because reality suggests that corporations, and the legal system’s inaction, has created a new mantra for computer security:

When an individual installs illegal and hidden software on your machine it’s called hacking. When a company does it it’s called intellectual property management.

Only corporations accuse individuals of being thieves after taking their money.

Topics: Rants |



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