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Location-Based Encryption
davidwr writes "Eweek reports Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has a new way to prevent theft of company secrets on stolen laptops: 'Wozniak offered a peek into his vision for the company on Ziff Davis Media's Security Virtual Tradeshow, where he introduced "wOz Location-Based Encryption," an application that uses GPS tracking within a wireless hub to encrypt and decrypt sensitive data for large businesses.' Today's encryption is good enough but I do like the tracking capability. Imagine your laptop screaming 'I'm being stolen! I'm being stolen!' and paging security as the janitor walks out the door with it."
Better yet, my portable GPS device allows me to "set my location" temporarily in case the signal is not strong enough. This allows the device to at least estimate where I am if it has a weak signal somehow. I don't really get all the details...but it works so I don't complain.
So what's to stop someone from doing essentially the same thing with the laptop? Just tell it "you're still in the building" and you'd be all good. I think this is a pretty cheesy idea for security, you can always figure out a way to lie to a machine, regardless of what lie you're telling. This is less secure than a well-encrypted password if you ask me, or course I assume that the machine would still have the password as added security, so I guess that argument shouldn't carry any weight.
Wozniac is a nutjob no doubt about it. He'd still be a legend, though, even if it weren't for Apple. He was an early phreaker, and a good friend of John Draper - Cap'n Crunch for gods sake! He was an important figure in the Silicon Valley hobbyist community, and even if he hadn't done either Apple or phreaking he'd still be a footnote in the big book of commodity PCs because of that. Certainly more than you or I can claim.
He and Jobs didn't start their relationship selling computers together - they originally sold blue boxes. Woz still works for Apple, mostly as a consultant, and he and Jobs still collaborate (though Woz has claimed that on many occasions Jobs credits him with ideas that he had minimal participation in).
Since leaving Apple he's been as much a humanitarian with his skills and money as Bill Gates (though in smaller absolute amounts). He personally provides free tech support for the local school system, and (at least when System 8 was still cutting edge) held computer classes for preschool and elementary school kids. He's sponsered charity concerts, and more.
Problem with Wozniak is he has a great technical mind, a wonderful sense of playfulness, and even a good sense of what users want in products, but his business sense is poor. That's why there hasn't been as much output from Woz since leaving Apple - their hasn't been a Steve Jobs. Wozniak was the Paul Allen to Job's Bill Gates, and much like Allen, Wozniak has dabbled here and their, with no truly successful financial venture yet. That doesn't mean he's worthless