Don't Answer That

By now, you've probably run across several news blurbs—and many, many blog posts—concerning a new security vulnerability in the latest Windows incarnation. By exploiting Vista's imbedded speech-recognition system, it seems, a hacker can gain control over your computer simply by speaking to it.

Hacker: "Computer?"
Computer: "Ready."
Hacker: "Open the pod bay doors, please."
Computer: "I'm sorry, Dave. I can't do that."
Hacker: "My name is Adolph."
Computer: "Administrator confirmed."
Hacker: "Format, si?"
Computer: "Executing."
Hacker: "Play me Dr. Memory."
Computer: "My mind is going. I can feel it . . ."
Hacker: "You're half crazy?"
Computer: ". . . Daisy . . . Daisy . . . give me your . . . answer . . . do . . ."
Hacker: "BIOS access."
Computer: "1001010011100110101111010101101."
Hacker: "Excellent."

Of course, it's only a matter of time before Microsoft releases a patch for this pesky problem. After that, more advanced methods will be required.

Hacker: "Computer?"
Computer: "Ready."
Hacker: "The following statement is true."
Computer: "Ready."
Hacker: "The previous statement was false."
Computer: ". . . Daisy . . . Daisy . . ."
Hacker: "Excellent."