computer "security" firms collude with government

[pvn]

[ QUOTE ]
So you first posted hoping to see some government conspiracy wherein they are coercing these private companies, then find out that the initial article was wrong and you change it to "See the free market works." Just curious, would you have said the free market was working well if the article had gone uncorrected?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I would have said (and basically implied) that government intervention was distorting the incentives these companies have to provide a product that actually monitors the security of the purchaser's PC.

My comment on the correction was flippantly ironic.

However, if you read the article, you'll note that at least some of the companies surveyed clammed up when asked if they've "received such a court order signed by a judge requiring you to cooperate with law enforcement authorities in terms of not
detecting government-installed spyware or delivering government spyware to your users?"

So regardless of their overt policy, you don't have much in the way of assurances when using proprietary software.

Open source FTW.