To be honest, I don't trust any black box be it software or hardware or a combination. All can be setup to reveal information you might not want to reveal. In the case of television, telephone, electric service, or even my laptop connection to the world, all can be monitored, they can tell others where I am, how much I'm using of what, what I've clicked on, who I called, etc, etc, and if I'm even a bit late with a payment (or not, they've made mistakes), someone else with control to my access can turn it off in an instant.

Even my bloody truck has GPS in it and bidirectional communications in it. Who has access to that information since I have an antenna sticking out of the top for my not-so-voluntary installation of On-Star? I don't even trust the black box that tells the truck how to run. If it fails, then power brakes, power steering, and the whole shootin' match goes to hell in a 70MPH basket with me in it. I even had a hardware black box, known as split system braking, not work at all when a brake line to one wheel sprung a major leak. Front/rear separation my butt. Thank goodness for being able to downshift and use of the "parking brake". It was a tense moment when I went to stop on a curved exit only to come around the corner and see a log jam of cars only to have the brake pedal go to the floor with no effect.

The big problem is you can't get away from black boxes anymore, especially the electronic kind. Thank goodness the Cylons don't know where Earth is, yet. 😉 Unfortunately, we can't get away from ol' SOL and, if he kicks up a good storm in the right direction, we may yet personally witness "The Day the Earth Stood Still". 😀 The Northern Lights will be really pretty though. :w00t: