[incomethax]

That's exactly what Doctorow is arguing. He says that we don't actually have a way to make a computer capable of only running specific applications, we just have general purpose computers that are loaded with spyware/malware to prevent running every program as an approximation to a specialized computer.

[amitparikh]

Yup. I was just pointing out the misuse of the terminology. Specialized computers certainly are, as you say, just general-purpose computers with restrictive software. But calling all of the restrictive software 'spyware' or 'malware' is unfair to a multitude of devices that are intended to operate in a specialized way. I think it's scare-tactics and a failure of the author to generalize all restrictive software as 'spyware' or 'malware'

[wladimir]

That's only a minute technical distinction. It is spyware, because the only way to prevent users from doing general purpose computing is to spy in them. Spying, in this case, is defined as "remote surveillance and control". For example, forcing a firmware upgrade when a way is found to get around code signing restrictions.

It is very simple: If you are not in control of a device, someone else is.