[geeks] Apple applications phoning home

[der Mouse]

>>>> [...] kernel crashes triggered by USB devices.
>>> I think the USB manufacturers are to blame as much as Apple for not
>>> sticking to supposed standards for USB devices.
>> That should not be able to crash the kernel [...]
> Kernel modules interact with the Kernel, if a Kernel module goes
> wrong it usually brings the Kernel down too.

Oh, if you're talking about third-party provided kernel modules, then
yeah, it's understandable.  I thought you were talking about
third-party devices interacting with OS-provided drivers.

> It doesn't matter how careful you are, you will always encounter the
> unknown in the wild, and that has the potential to stop your software
> working as it should.

Certainly.  The device might not *work*, but it should fail gracefully,
and certainly not in a way that takes down the whole kernel.  Though,
as you point out, using third-party kernel modules does hand the keys
over to unvetted code.

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