As the worlds of digital and analogue become intertwined, so the fundamental idea behind free software – that people have a right to see what this stuff is doing – becomes not a theoretical matter of ethics, but a practical, quotidian necessity if we are to avoid the situation where bad code leads to the ultimate Blue Screen of Death – ours.

A fascinating solution proposed for what sounds like a very real problem. It would benefit more and more people for embedded source to be available for perusal for more things, like medical devices, telemetry systems in vehicles, and voting machines—then again, could we trust that the code released is the real stuff in use?

(via ComputerworldUK.)