[LINK] The Ethics (!) of Dodgy Web Designers

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Glen Turner wrote:
> Ivan Trundle wrote:
> ...
> 
>>It also confounds me that well-educated friends of mine persist in using
>>such machines, and a common refrain is that 'I used Nortons until it
>>expired, but now my machine is messed up'. And when I suggest that they
>>could improve the situation by either having better security, or to
>>consider buying a better OS in future, they roll their eyes and make
>>claims such as 'all machines have security problems...' etc.
>>
>>If people bought houses without proper security, and discovered that
>>their possessions were systematically removed or destroyed every few
>>weeks (or had people camping in their lounge room), they would have a
>>better grip on security, and would consider buying better locks.
> 
> 
> Alternatively, consider cars. They had horrible security until a "name
> and shame" campaign of intrusion testing by the insurance companies
> forced manufacturers to install decent (but more costly) locks.
> 
> Before that only the insane retro-fitted better locks to their new
> cars, even though the one's provided by the manufacturer were poor.
> 
> You'll note that this situation was seen as the fault of the car
> manufacturers, not the car owners.
> 

we could also consider the safety aspects such as annual vehicle 
inspections, seat belts, air bags,
drink driving, speeding, age testing and leaded petrol- which impact on
the community's health.

> Similarly, I'd argue that computers shouldn't need their owner to
> do *anything* to make them secure. Owners should even be protected
> whilst behaving foolishly. Anything else is a failure by the
> computer manufacturer.

Not necessarily, drunk or speeding drivers are on their own.

It is worth noting that the NRMA has abondoned their recommended
repairer program. Personnally, the crappiest expensive service I have
ever had was from an NRMA recommended repairer.

I hate the car analagy....

Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://www.ramin.com.au/
Telephone: 0414-869202