The medical device issue proves just how important it is for Free Software to overcome the slavery by design in closed technologies.
The same losses inflicted on humanity's advancement by legacy concepts of intellectual property will persist and amplify in this area. The pharmaceutical and medical device industry already enjoy protections in the EU/US that media companies only dream of. Planned Obselenity (Tivo-ization) is one pharma lacks. Closing device design and software on anything inside or installed on a human overcomes that. The only remaining obstacle in med-tech will be externalities. Think: Nvidia eye replacements for the blind. Imagine being a citizen of Country A using Country B's closed source pacemaker. Much more complex machines are already "weaponized" maybe a few less Country A people means cheaper petroleum or a faster end to a conflict. Think: Bin Ladden with a remote controllable dialysis machine. In relation to the danger of opening control to the user being life-threatening, that's true of any technology since the stone age. Knowing how to safely build a fire for others, that's like a free software job. :) To address the issue of slavery, closed technology is slavery. Most of those using Microsoft, Google, or Facebook have no idea what the EULA or Licences mean. They've been socially engineered into generating data for free (gratis). Working without pay is slavery even if one is entertained. Moreover, very few can even imagine their life without Windows or Facebook. They're addicted. That works so much better than shackles and whips. Could they quit even if they wanted to? Where's the digital underground railroad? The torture of the past has been surpassed (for the most part) with psychological techniques. The level of surveillance, state violence, and social control have increased. Directly telling someone they are digitally enslaved is a hard sell, but I'm very concerned that medical coercion will soon be even more prevalent. Think: Microsoft Health XP home edition. Plug and play! Until we pull the plug -- TechLibre.net Where your technology finds liberty. TEFL certified English Teacher Registered GNU/Linux User #491032 Registered Ubuntu User #27631
