you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 96 points 2 years ago (1 child)

There's a word for software that does actions without the user's permission or knowledge.

That word is MALWARE

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] -27 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    Every piece of software does things without your permission or knowledge.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 8 child comments
  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago

    If it does what you wanted it to when you installed it, it's doing things with your permission. If what it was going to do was clearly and correctly explained during the download or install process, it's doing things with your knowledge.

    It's like a motor vehicle. You don't need to know how an internal combustion engine works to be able to give informed consent about driving it, but if it starts rolling away after you park it, you're going to either get it fixed or get a new car.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)
  • [–] -5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    You understand and give explicit permission for every piece of the kernel?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Do you trust Microsoft? If you do I might suggest we find you a nice quiet padded room.

    Imagine someone attempted to (or even succeeded in) pushing malicious (or even just poor, "bad" code into the kernel. What do you suppose would happen? Oh wait we don't have to imagine. Some people tried, and got admonished publicly.
    https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/30/22410164/linux-kernel-university-of-minnesota-banned-open-source

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    This is beyond pedantic. You and everybody else knows exactly what they meant.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] -5 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If we're going to call something malware we better be damn sure we understand the definitions of it.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Good news! The original comment provides that!

    software that does actions without the user’s permission or knowledge

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    And yet still all software does that!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments