Editorials

For a while now (many years actually) I have argued that the rush to turn everything into a techno-gadget has been irresponsible and dangerous. However, companies that are looking into the “Internet of things” simply do not care. They see dollar signs and revenue streams in adding services to their devices that were a one-time purchase before. Because of this they are blindly rushing products to market that are open to attack on a massive scale. Consumers who are ignorant to these flaws are buying them up at a rapid pace leaving themselves exposed to data theft and worse.

The term privacy has come to mean a great many things in the last few years. To some the idea of privacy is being able to do or say certain things without the fear of anyone finding out. Most people like to know that what they do on their own time is their business. Where things get a little muddy is when people liken the desire for privacy with a desire to hide wrongdoing. This belief couldn’t be farther from the truth . It is not just that it is wrong, but it is also dangerous. To imply that anyone that wants to have privacy is somehow hiding something illegal sets a dangerous precedent. Keeping this mentality alive will allow for a further erosion of peoples’ rights and grants very worrying powers to agencies that are there to protect, not to oppress.

Today I was asked why we do not attend the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3). It was a valid question, but the answer is not really all that simple. If I had to be blunt I would say that we stopped covering E3 when it became one big misdirection. Over the years E3 changed from a real showcase for games and software and more of chance to show off games in a way that they will never end up for the consumer.

The world of the technical press has been evolving since it stumbled on the scene back in the mid-1990s. At that time the world seemed to be open to anyone with access to a website and willing to spend a few hours tinkering with the latest gadgets. This spawned a time when the internet was really a good source for information on computer hardware and software. Manufacturers also saw this and started relationships with many of the review sites online to help them understand the market and build better hardware.