[ltp] Fingerprint reader and the Bios

[Aaron Mulder]

True, true...  I would be happier if they prompted me with a warning
saying "this might be dangerous, use at your own risk".  Since I'm
installing the thing anyway, they're only making it harder on me.  And
I think all the wireless and video drivers have proven that no Linux
distro is immune to shipping proprietary privileged code.

Anyway, I guess this is well and truly off-topic.  Sorry!  :)

Aaron

On 1/26/06, Bret Comstock Waldow <bwaldow@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Jan 2006 03:35, Aaron Mulder wrote:
>
> > I don't get this either.  To me, the fingerprint reader is way more
> > secure because the only meaningful risk I feel I run is typing in my
>
> When they say it's less secure, they're not talking aboout your login or =
data,
> they're talking THEM helping hackers attack machines THEIR software is
> installed on by providing add-on code that runs with root privileges as p=
art
> of THEIR set up.
>
> You are thinking about getting access to your machine.  They are thinking
> about automating the installation of code that provides a weakness for
> hackers to exploit.  Since the code in question is proprietary, they can'=
t
> examine it to determine if it has any exploitable weaknesses, and they ca=
n't
> fix it if it does.  Experience has shown that this is not a good idea.
>
> SuSE is doing the right thing here, but it's a different issue than the o=
ne
> you appear to think it is.
>
> Cheers,
> Bret
>
>
>