Chapter 8
Black Mirror: Shut up and Dance provides an introduction into a discussion on computer reliability, specifically the operating systems on computers. Shrive having the ability to view Kenny’s webcam is clearly a violation of his privacy and begs the question of who is responsible for that breach in privacy? Is it Kenny's fault for downloading Shrive or his computer’s operating system for not allowing it to run. It is not the operating systems fault that the malware was installed, it was Kenny’s. He downloads the software, without any knowledge of the software or reading into the software or their website. The operating system cannot be responsible for this breach since Kenny chose to put the malware onto his device. Similar to Kenny downloading Shrive, his sister downloading the actual malware is also her own fault since she willingly downloaded the content. Allowing individuals to choose what they want to download on their device leads to a tradeoff between security and freedom within software. Where the user has the freedom to download whatever they want but the software is not responsible to protect the user when they download malicious content. On the flip side a piece of software could be very strict and allow no downloads from non-trusted sources, but then the user is now limited in what they can do on their device. There is an unavoidable threat of security within software, as complex systems have many working parts that have potential vulnerabilities [1]. Computers also allow their user to assume responsibility in choosing what to put onto their device, which puts more responsibility into the users hands.
As computing technologies continue to grow in capability, so does an individual's responsibility to understand how to properly use the technology. With computers and their operating system, it falls upon the user to know that they have the ability to download anything but have to be cautious. The movie would not have happened if Kenny’s sister had been careful with where she downloaded content from or if Kenny had been more cautious about a random malware removal tool he found. In both instances it is not the software’s fault to make up for the lack of knowledge that the user has, it is the responsibility of the user to know how to be cautious. However the internet is a large space that connects the whole world, there are exceptions of when the computer and software is at fault for breaches. For example, the Equifax hack is not the responsibility of the user, as the user could not have done anything to prevent it besides not using Equifax. But people need to use credit report services realistically to live in the world today, so it is an unreasonable expectation to tell a user to not use Equifax [2].
Sources:
The computer for the 21st century: present security & privacy challenges, Leonardo B. Oliveira1*, Fernando Magno Quintão Pereira2, Rafael Misoczki3, Diego F. Aranha4, Fábio Borges5, Michele Nogueira6, Michelle Wangham7, Min Wu8 and Jie Liu9, (2018) https://jisajournal.springeropen.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s13174-018-0095-2.pdf
Equifax Hack: 5 Biggest Credit Card Data Breaches, Mrinalini Krishna, (09/30/2021), https://www.investopedia.com/news/5-biggest-credit-card-data-hacks-history/