News comes of late that the U.S. federal government is implanting spyware directly into computer hard drives at the factory.  This affects almost all new computers.  “The NSA’s Office of Tailored Access Operations (TAO) has been already exposed as operating a covert interception scheme of deliveries of new computer equipment.”  Computer Hard Drives; Your Only Hope is to Destroy the Hard Drive.

(Google images.)

I’m sure Clover agrees with this nefarious program in full.  Clover always agrees with law and order no matter how lawless the law or order.  To him there cannot be any downside to this program.  You know, if you’re not doing anything wrong you have nothing to fear, obey the law, etc.

I have no technical skills to speak of.  However, I imagine that this pre-loaded malware makes it that much easier for the ever-benevolent government to access and control things like … your new car.  You read it here first but now other news outlets are speculating that bluetooth based hacking may have facilitated the murder of journalist Michael Hastings.

“After Hastings died in a bizarre one-car crash along a straight Los Angeles street, former counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke noted the accident was “consistent with a car cyber attack” and that it was easy to hack cars. It seems he was right, as 60 Minutes demonstrated in a chilling fashion.”  Car Hacking Report Refuels Concerns About Michael Hastings Crash.

None of this will matter to Clover.  Nothing concerning government is bad in his limited mind.  He with his speed bumps, cameras and traffic signs.  Maybe you feel the same way.  To Clover’s delight totalitarians are clamping down hard on what little driving freedom remains for Americans.  New York City has a scheme in the works to make city driving all but impossible.

The problem with Clover’s acquiescence here is that traffic command and control makes the roads less safe.  It turns out, scientifically speaking, that all those damned road signs and rules Clover loves so much really act to distract drivers rather than make them safer.  “The American system of traffic control, with its many signs and stops, and with its specific rules tailored to every bend in the road, has had the unintended consequence of causing more accidents than it prevents.”

A sizable city in the Netherlands did away with most road signage and lane markings. The result was a near automotive utopia.  “‘Right of way’ became an instinctual process between motorists. Their collective sense of responsibility and consideration created a safe environment.”

(Clover free.  Google.)

Freedom works.  Government control makes things less safe at best and lethally dangerous at worst.  Which do you prefer?