25,000-Ton Amphibious Spam Relay
hormiga writes "The amphibious transport dock ship
San Antonio
incorporates the latest quality of life standards for the embarked Marines and sailors, including the sit-up berth, ship services mall, a fitness center and learning resource center/electronic classroom and
Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail. Now the Chinese can relay
their spam through U.S. military naval vessels." Well, Chinese spammers, anyhow.
Well if anyone tries blacklisting the ships, I guess there'd be a Tomahawk in their building in the name of national security :-p
But in all honesty, I'm sure (or at least I hope) more attention is given to the confidential systems than the SMTP server that the troops play around with...
...in bed
Right, but the distinction here is that the Email does not generally come delivered directly from the *ship*, but from some stateside server, probably part of NMCI (the Navy Marine Corps Internet). There are N firewalls between here and there, if for no other reason than the bandwidth from ship to shore is INCREDIBLY small (like: 256kbit for the entire ship, secure, classified, public, you name it). It would make a LOUSY spam relay.
You were using NIPRNET, which is connected to the Internet at only a few (very controlled) locations in the world...
Any sensitve IP communications are handled over SIPRNET, which is never (or should never be) connected to NIPRNET.
Hollywood isn't about technical accuracy - it's about making the stuff on the screen interesting by use of special effects, tricks, gags, mummery, and occasionally acting.
When you stare at the production script, there isn't a whole lot of detail there. The things like how many times a gun fires and damage effects and whatnot are not up to the writer in most cases. It's all decided by whoever they've hired to handle effects, or sometimes the director, and occasionally by someone with real expertise in the field, but more likely enough expertise in the field, but more expertise in keeping it interesting.
Or to put it another way
Technical accuracy is boring to most theatre-goers.
To celebrate the occasion of my 1000th post, I will post no more forever on Slashdot. Goodbye.
Right... except that (s)he had to fight through basic training/boot camp/etc also. Being a nerd doesn't get you a free pass on the difficult training.
They may not be risking their lives, but there are a ton of "fake soldiers" who will never be stationed in a war-zone but are absolutely imperative to ensure that "real soldiers" have the best odds of survival possible and the country has the best odds of victory.
Implying that the enlisted men and women who don't serve in combat aren't "real soldiers" is a cheap and ignorant thing to do... maybe why you posted as AC, perhaps?