Microsoft To Get Malware Bailout In Germany 226
hweimer writes "The German government plans on paying to set up a call center to help Windows users with malware infections. I think this has the effect of being a malware bailout for Microsoft, discouraging them and other software companies from writing better code and giving users little incentive to switch to more secure alternatives. How much government money is needed to run the call center is also not revealed." The call center, running in cooperation with ISPs (but not manufacturers), is envisioned to have a staff of about 40.
Re:Not really (Score:1, Interesting)
I think this has the effect of being a malware bailout for Microsoft, discouraging them and other software companies from writing better code and giving users little incentives to switch to more secure alternatives.
Does he also think that hospitals treating the sick discourage people from taking steps to stay healthy?
If people do indeed get help from this it will be money well spent. Period.
If you subsidize stupidity... (Score:1, Interesting)
...you get more of it.
Re:Not really (Score:3, Interesting)
For the most part I tend to agree. Any user installed Trojan is the users responsibly.
If the malware gets installed through an exploit then it is the OS/Applications fault.
In a good amount of cases it is no longer Microsoft's fault.
Re:Not really (Score:0, Interesting)
Perhaps so, but how many people let UAC run without considering what it is? You are far more likely to have a keylogger running on Windows than on Linux.
UAC does not stop most malware, anyway, as shown here: http://www.sophos.com/blogs/chetw/g/2009/11/03/windows-7-vulnerable-8-10-viruses/ and here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=175
Sudo, on the otherhand, is a far more secure solution.
Re:Not really (Score:3, Interesting)
There is one platform out there that's resistant to the dancing bunnies problem.
The iPhone.
Unfortunately, that's the only way to be resistant to it - don't allow third-party software unless it's been inspected by real people whose job it is to inspect it.
Re:Not really (Score:4, Interesting)
That does seem to be the case. Most of the in the wild exploits these days are targeting applications like Acrobat and Flash because the underlying OS has been hardened to the point that remote exploits are becoming harder to come by.
Re:So AAA is a bailout for Ford Motors? (Score:3, Interesting)
They (Macs) have malware and bugs aplenty,...
Please list all non-trojan malware for OSX. Even a small sampling will suffice. Hell, even one would suffice.
(Bugs? Certainly. Trojans? There have been roughly a handful of variants that require a user to find a shady pr0n website, download the trojan, then enter an admin password in spite of all warnings telling them that it might not be a good idea... one simply cannot fix stupid).
Anyrate - let me know what you find.
Re:Not really (Score:3, Interesting)
And I'm not sure where you've got the "liberal" part from, since it wasn't in my OP.
Well the 'liberal' part usually goes with liberal-democratic, so as to distinguish it from "democratic" as it is used in the sense the "German Democratic Republic" or the "Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea," 'liberal,' in this context referring to the support of private property rights and markets.
That being said, I agree with you almost completely when you write:The role of a democratic government is precisely what the voting citizens define it to be. Though I would stress that limitations are imposed by whatever the terms of the "social contract" under which that government obtains its legitimacy may be. Practically this usually means it is subject to constitutional limitations as to legislative power.
Where I strongly agree is that the "role of a (liberal)-democratic government" is not what some particular citizen (or even some foreign "thinker") defines the role of government to be in their personal philosophy in opposition to the right of the majority to determine that role. A society must be free to chose a way to organise itself even at the expense of offending a particular citizen's ideological purity.
An alternative mission for government (Score:4, Interesting)
The purpose of the government is to uphold every citizen's inalienable rights; and it must be as small as it can be while remaining capable of fulfilling that purpose. No more, no less
I propose a different mission for government: in economist-lingo, to maximize social welfare (that is, the sum of how happy the population is).
And of course, the population should value freedom of {speech,assembly,press,etc.} very highly.
But---pregnant pause---there is such a thing as a market failure, and I think it makes good sense for the government to step in and make regulations that makes the market more competitive.
Observe that the societal material benefit of a free market comes about not because the market is free but because it's competitive.
If you're free to enter a market where you'll most certainly be crushed by the incumbent monopoly, what does that freedom really buy the society? But if the monopoly is prevented from using its monopoly status to crush you and has to compete reasonably fairly with you, you might have a shot at getting your better/cheaper product out to consumers.
If you're an American, you'll laugh at "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help you." I don't. I know there's something shady going on, in particular with travel funds for the EU which the MEPs aren't held much accountable for [long story, but the point is if you-an-MEP travel not-extremely-extravagantly, you can pocket a large wad of my tax money at the end of the year. Some politicians do.]. But I also believe politicians (from time to time) genuinely want to do good for the people and the nation.