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28c3: The coming war on general computation

28c3 · talk · Watch on YouTube

Hacker culture & free softwareFree speech, censorship & civil libertiesPrivacy, surveillance & cybercrime

What it is

Cory Doctorow's 28c3 keynote argues that the copyright wars were just a skirmish and that the real fight will be a war on the general-purpose computer. He explains why locked-down devices, DRM and surveillance tools all depend on removing general computation.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN returns to it constantly as a prescient talk, cited whenever threads cover DRM, locked-down devices, app verification or restrictions on running your own software.

  • 6 people recommended it
  • 6 different months
  • 2 strong recommendations
  • first 2011, last 2026

What HN commenters said

  1. “I like to call it the secret keynote of 28C3.”

    Doctorow keynote on war against general-purpose computation.

    ugh, 2011-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Doctorow: The coming war on general-purpose computation”

  2. “which I very strongly recommend that everybody watch”

    Why Turing completeness scares powers that want locked-down computers.

    pdkl95, 2014-09 · Strong recommendation · in “Lost Lessons from 8-Bit BASIC”

  3. “old but still very good CCC talk that encapsulates my feelings about this”

    CCC talk on trusted computing and user control.

    akersten, 2020-06 · Recommendation · in “How SGX Fails in Practice”

  4. “much of this has already come true”

    Famous talk on the coming war on general computation.

    woojoo666, 2021-10 · Recommendation · in “Grand jury subpoena for Signal user data, Central District of California”

  5. “Cory Doctorow has a prescient talk”

    Prescient talk predicting control over general computing platforms.

    freefaler, 2023-08 · Recommendation · in “Will Browsers Be Required by Law to Stop You from Visiting Infringing Sites?”

  6. “on why this is a serious problem for society”

    Why restricting running your own software is a societal problem.

    supern0va, 2026-03 · Recommendation · in “Android Developer Verification”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: drm, copyright, cory doctorow, locked-down devices, ccc

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