[OT] Mobile Phone Lifespans (was Re: Leaving out scripts )

[Kenneth Whistler]

Harald pointed out:

> --On 21. desember 2006 06:51 -0800 Mark Davis <mark.davis at icu-project.org> 
> wrote:
> 
> > That's a good point. I would point out however, that if my browser isn't
> > updated at least every few months for security problems, I have a *whole*
> > lot more to worry about than whether I can see mixed scripts or not, so
> > the lag is in practice not that bad. And I see baking it into the
> > protocol (IDNA) as the least flexible of these in terms of delay, since
> > that takes years to change.
> 
> Mobile phones come with browsers these days. And the Norwegian courts have 
> just decided that mobile phones should last for 5 years.
> 
> Just a counterpoint.

And if that is taken as consumer protection to specify that
their rechargeable batteries shouldn't wear out and have
to be replaced in 6 months, or that their screens shouldn't
give out in a year, then fine -- that is firmly in the
tradition of consumer protection against shoddy product
marketing.

But if it is taken as the Norwegian court taking a stand that
software on a mobile phone has to be guaranteed safe and
bugfree and secure against all attacks for 5 years, they are
in for a serious surprise.

Malware Goes Mobile:

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&colID=1&articleID=0005E65F-DAAB-15
2F-960883414B7F0123

Smart mobile phones and their software are one of the new
favorite targets of hackers and purveyors of malware of
various sorts. It is only going to get worse, and the problem
is potentially very serious because smart phones are used
by many, many millions of people who are even more gullible
and unsophisticated about computer attacks than your average
desktop or laptop computer user.

The software and mobile service vendors are going to 
respond exactly like Microsoft
has responded to the scope of the threat for destop and laptop
Windows system -- by taking control of the software update
process and actively pushing updates onto the mobile devices on
an ongoing basis.

--Ken