Re:Facebook Really Is Spying on You, Just Not Through Your P...
by TeMPOraL on Wednesday March 07, 2018 @04:00PM
(#16539846)
It's an unfortunate feature of reality.
From the point of view of software, it's impossible in principle to tell whether or not the code being executed does what the user wants it to, and only what the user wants it to. Half of that is the halting problem, the other half is that "what user wants" is an General-AI-complete problem. Moreover, the software can't even tell the difference between "the user" and "a malicious third party".
In meatspace we solve this problem with rules and laws. Software, for better or worse, moves around too fast.
From the point of view of software, it's impossible in principle to tell whether or not the code being executed does what the user wants it to, and only what the user wants it to. Half of that is the halting problem, the other half is that "what user wants" is an General-AI-complete problem. Moreover, the software can't even tell the difference between "the user" and "a malicious third party".
In meatspace we solve this problem with rules and laws. Software, for better or worse, moves around too fast.