Software Dead Man's Switch

Anonymous Coward writes "DaisyMan over on ArsWare has come up with a software based Dead Man's Switch that will, if you don't 'check in' every so often, post a message (presumably about your demise, but whatever you wish) to various message boards, send email (maybe that incriminating evidence?) to your friends, and encrypt specified files on your computer so that 'they' can't have them. Paranoia? Yeah, but they really _are_ watching you ..." Update: 06/22 12:57 GMT by T : The idea isn't new, but recently sparked a New York Times article.

Comments

Safe House

[smackdotcom]

This sounds markedly similar to the idea employed in the underrated TV-movie Safe House, where Patrick Stewart's character, a retired spook, employs a software failsafe based on his ability to recreate a Japanese alphabet character. If he is unable to complete this task every day by a certain time, incriminating information about his black ops "friends" would automatically be sent to every major news organization on the planet. It could be very handy if you think someone is out to get you...

How do you test it?

[falser]

Like, do I have to do a "trial death", spewing out messages all over the internet like "Hey I'm dead, blah, blah, oh by the way I'm just testing my death switch, you may disregard this message". I think after testing it out a couple of times nobody's really going care when you really do die to take notice.

Certainly the chances of an accidental death mode going off are high. So I think there should be different "death alert levels". If you don't sign in after a month, it starts sending out alert messages like "Hey I haven't been around for a while and I might be dead, please check whether or not I'm dead for me, Thanks bud!".

There should also be instructions given in an email to your friends/family so that they too can stop the death switch for you in dire or unusual situations (coma, kidnapping, laziness). And only then if another couple days pass it goes into full blown death mode.

Old DOS days

[brejc8]

I had a system just like this to protect the computer if it was stolen or I died.
If someone steals it and doesn't run a BBS program at least once a day then he system would encrypt most files and ring me.
Once I have the number of the person who stole my computer I would be able to get them.
The cool thing is that it run from boot block just like a virus so you would need to fully format the disk to get rid of it.

On a similar note... Fire Kits

[Xiver]

I have set up a fire kit that runs as an NT service on my laptop and our file server. In the even that my user ID is removed from the Domain my computer and the server will zip and FTP my personal files to me and delete my personal email.

I've considered adding options to wipe out my HD and user directories, but thought I might be liable if project data was lost.

Dead? Or just laid off?

[standards]

In my previous job for a large corporation, there was a programmer who decided that it would be a good idea to install such a switch. In the event he didn't update a particular file at least once within 30 days, a job would start slowly corrupting an accounts receivable database.

Unfortuantely for him, he was severely injured in a car accident and was incapacitated for several months.

Now that he is out of the hospital, he's in jail.

Was it his fault? You bet. But the company was also severely repremanded for having poor controls on sensitive computing systems.

Who could use this in RL?

[Bonker]

Who, really, has secrets that are keeping them alive or incriminating evidence that just might get them arrested, imprisoned, or killed. To most people, this kind of utility is a joke. To a few people, however, this is a godsend...

Like, for instance, RAWA. These are the women who ran an underground women's rights movement in Afghanistan while the Taliban were in control. You may have seen their website with its grotesque pictures. They lived and worked in secrecy, in constant fear of being imprisoned or killed by the Taliban. Wouldn't a dead-man's(or -woman's) switch be just the thing to send off a 'Farewell. This is the evidence of my capture at the hands of the Taliban' message?

It's not just them, either. Dissidents in China could also use a utility like this... especially all those guys who just got their internet cafes shut down. Suppose the 2600 guys got raided by the MPAA^H^H^H^HFBI and were all put in prison. I imagine that Emanuel Goldstien has some juicy information he'd like to share in the event of his capture or death.

The Gotti family has been in the news a lot lately. Suppose that you were a mob informant and had information on them that was all that was standing between you and 'Sleeping with the Sopranos after next season'. A dead-man's switch would go a long way to allowing you to release that last little bit of information, even if the mafia got to you first.