The Battle for Your Computer

Bruce Schneier has an interesting essay up on his blog today that takes an insider's view on application development, entertainment software, updates and other day-to-day tasks and programs with the idea in mind of who gets to do what with your computer.

It's a good essay, and I recommend reading it here. Schneier is a respected voice when it comes to security. But I have to disagree with him on two points: disabled outbound traffic filtering for the upcoming Vista firewall and automatic updates.

He suggests that both are examples of companies trying to assert control, but I think it's a stretch at best. While I'm more than willing to take Microsoft to task when it's warranted, in this case I agree with their decision on the Vista firewall.

I don't enable outbound filtering on my own firewall. I think it sacrifices too much convenience and ease-of-use for too little return. Most people, myself included, go bonkers having to give a specific ok to let every application we use connect to the Internet. We just start clicking ok every time, which defeats the purpose. If you're in a high-risk environment then you might need outbound filtering. Otherwise you most likely don't.

So I don't see anything nefarious behind Microsoft's Vista firewall default settings.

Also, I think automatic updates are a terrific feature, for both security and convenience. It's critically important to get patches out to fix browser security holes, for instance, as soon as possible. And most people aren't going to bother checking the vendor Web site for their many applications to see if there's a necessary patch, so getting an automatic notice about available patches is a very, very good thing. (I do recommend setting any automatic update feature, Microsoft's included, to download the patch automatically but wait for your say-so to apply it, just so you're fully aware of what's going on.)

It's true that automatic updates can be abused. Adobe's practice of trying to foist additional third-party toolbars with an Acrobat Reader update frustrated me to no end, and I'm troubled by Microsoft's recent pilot program to quietly distribute its Windows Genuine Advantage anti-piracy tool via automatic updates.

So I would agree wholeheartedly with Schneier if he suggested these practices tarnish the necessary practice of automatic updates. But I have to strongly disagree with a blanket statement like "Automatic update features are another way software companies try to own your computer."

Despite these two objections, though, Schneier's post is a good read. Check it out and see what you think.