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The reason I started this discussion is the following.
Let's assume 2/3 of the disks is not locked as tested by the German magazine. The fact that my two year old brand main-board doesn't support it makes be believe this could be true.
Assume that in the near future a email worm in introduced which mutates extremely fast, virus software will be to late to detect them.
Let's assume that a major software product has a security hole (e.g. a mail client, OS etc) which allows code to be run. This has happened quite often the last years.
Nothing new here, a current worm could write random data to places where it will cause most of the data on the disk to be lost. Nevertheless , I still can use recovery tools to retrieve some of the contents.
In the worst case I reformat the drive and reinstall. This risk threatens our data every day.
The new threat which makes this feature dangerous is that it can physically lock my hard disk. Since repairing it will be more expensive then buying a new one , I will buy a new one. Bummer.
But what happens... I install my new OS, applications etc wham locked again. Users will return those disk thinking it's DOA. Drive vendors will claim it's a user fault.
I am not an attorney but I think that at least by Dutch law there will be a serious legal problem. Of course it's not feasible to start a lawsuit for one drive but using the Internet groups off users can start one lawsuit to together.I think that at least here in the Netherlands they will win because to Judge will declare the drive vendors have a 'care duty'. *
This is the true problem not the data loss. My data can always get lost , destroyed whatever. And when the worm wrecks my new installation sure I'll get pissed. But I can always reinstall and try again.
The security feature at the other hand, allows me to loose several disks a day and there is not much to do about it. When I would be able to always perform a security erase, I mean without a password, the problem would not be as big it is now.
I suggest that we accept the is a problem and start looking at a technical solution instead of trying to blur the actual problem.
Sincerely,
Thomas
* Note: I am not threatening anyone with lawsuits here. I am just suggesting that this is a realistic possibility!
