With all of the media press about Sony CD’s installing rootkits on computers, I began to think, what else is being installed when we put disks in our computers? There are always those stupid Interactual players that want to install on dvds. There are reports that those detect things like Alcohol 120%. Already notorious for refusing to run when certain programs are installed are some videogames which use copy protection schemes.
When we put a cd or dvd in our computers, we can always hold shift or click no to prevent stupid software from being installed on our computers. However, what are we supposed to do if videogame manufacturers start using root kits? We have to install the videogames, so there isn’t any way to know what else they are installing at the same time. There is no reason to beleive that sometime soon, if it hasn’t already happened, that some videogame installer will, in fact, install a root kit on our computers. After all, Sony makes computer games too…
ALso of note, not content to threaten the Florida State Bar Association, or the judge who took him off the Strickland vs Sony case, now Thompson has taken to threatening Amazon.com. He has even gone so far as to post his own review/rebuttal on Amazon.com.
For me, the most disturbing part of Thompson’s rebuttal is something that he does quite frequently: mixing his faith with his opinions. He consistently expresses the belief that if you disagree with him and do not think that videogames are violent, then not only are you not a Christian, but you are actively anti-Christian. In his world-view, it seems that the only reason you dislike him is because he is a Christian and if you disagree with him you are anti-Christian. This kind of “you are either with us or against us” mentality is more dangerous than his beliefs on videogames.