OLPC Developers Boost Security

eldavojohn writes "The developers of software for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative are redefining security for the personal PC. Since the laptops have the potential of communicating with any other laptop, the developers have a unique opportunity to implement both virus protection on the kernel, master boot record and also the way in which the laptops deal with security and 'code-sharing.' The developers are currently seeking outside counsel from security experts and if you're worried about these security schemes posing only problems to the children, 'these security measures can be turned off by the PCs' owners. To protect against that leading to disaster, the laptops will automatically back up their data up on a server whenever the machines get in wireless range of the children's school. If a child loses data, the files can be restored by bringing the laptop within wireless range of the server.'"

Comments

Technology

[Anonymous Coward]

The concept that computer technology will improve the lives of children if they only could get access to it strikes me as inane. How does access to a computer help anything if poverty and social instability are rampant? The idea that you can shove a computer in their face and make it all better astounds me. I think there are much better initiatives out there.

And I am a software guy who loves technology and computers in general!

Re:Technology

[symes]

I agree with your sentiments. But one thig that can help is communication, access to the net. Giving kids these computer skills early on will mean that when it comes to later life choices they won't just look around at the local area and think, "well that's that then"... they might well look further afield and explore opportunities for education and employment which they may never have been exposed to otherwise. It's not a cure-all, but it might help make a difference.

Re:Technology

[singularity]

Definitely! These computer scientists, electrical engineers, and information technologies guys should be designing better crops so that the third world can produce more and better crops. Or coming up with economic packages that help develop their infrastructures to better distribute the crops and foodstuffs to the people that need it. Or do medical research to help design cheaper medicines to help with common diseases in developing countries.

Oh...

Wait...

They are not specialists in genetic engineering.
Oh, and they are not economists, and do not have a lot of political affairs experience.
Come to think of it, they also do not have the skills needed to do pharmaceutical research either.

Well, then, what are they good for? I suppose they should just sign over a portion of their paycheck to a non-profit group that might one day help. That is the American way, right? Donating money to resolve guilt about all of the world's problems?

Or maybe... Just maybe... They could volunteer their own time and expertise to do something in their own field to help, and then ignore anonymous people who criticize them for no other reason than the fact that the genetic engineers, the economists, the pharmaceutical companies and, most of all, the politicians are not doing anything in the meantime in their own respective fields.

Ehh, that would never work...

Re:Technology

[dapsychous]

John Fitzgerald published an interesting article a few years ago about some people's belief that because others are using computers successfully, that merely introducing a computer into a given situation will make the participants more productive, comparing it to the cargo cults in Melanesia many years ago.

Merely shoving a laptop in a child's face will not make them better, brighter, etc. If anything the laptop will server to function as a distraction, much as my TI-83 was in calculus class (all I ever did was play games on it). If you want to make your children more productive, limit their access to technology: computer an tv only after all classwork is done unless said classwork requires the computer or tv.

Granted, computers are useful for research, typing, cataloging, etc; and should definitely remain an integral part of the education system, I think that simply saying, "Here's your computer," will only be to the detriment of said student

Re:Technology

[holistah]

Also they won't feel intimidated by all the technology in the rest of the world and start feeling that it is beyond them, feeling like there is too much to learn to be a part of that society and give up.

Re:Technology

[gdek]

There are much better initiatives out there. Like the Millenium Project to end global poverty, or the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Are you contributing to them? I am.

But I'm a supporter of the OLPC project too -- because saving people from extreme poverty and disease is only part of the battle. The other part of the battle is giving them the tools to be competitive in a global marketplace. In a globalized capitalist world, every economy needs to figure out what their comparative advantage is. Many of the poorest nations in the world have limited natural resources, and little critical infrastructure (roads, power grid, etc.) to leverage the natural resources they do have. OLPC stands an outside chance of making *people* the comparative advantage.

It's not an either/or proposition. It's *and*. It has to be.

And I'm a software guy who loves technology and computers in general. :)

Re:Technology

[evilviper]

How does access to a computer help anything if poverty and social instability are rampant?

The same way books, education, and printing-presses do.

Re:Technology

[mcrbids]

The concept that computer technology will improve the lives of children if they only could get access to it strikes me as inane.

You think it's about the Technology??!?!?

OLPC isn't about exposing po' folks to kernels, compilers and binary code. It's about bringing the tremendous wealth of knowledge accessable on the Internet to everybody. In my household, (Myself, Wife, 5 children and usually a couple of their friends) the computers and Internet are a great combination of entertainment, news, and information resource.

"Some things are just not meant to be known. For everything else, there's Google!" is something I've said for years. Whether you're looking to buy a plane, learn Spanish, Latin, or Esperanto, or pick up a song on the guitar, the Internet is an invaluable resource.

Want to make a pump to get water out of the well so that you can water your crops? An Internet search can help you. Want to figure out how come your tomatoes aren't growing like they should? Literacy (and the Internet) can help you discover the proper PH of the soil, and what you could do about it.

Knowledge is power, and the Internet is the largest, most extensive, and most easily distributed form of knowledge mankind has yet invented. It's not a replacement for clean water or sanitation - it's an enabler for clean water, and a communicator of the value of good sanitation.

It's a political force, too. Never doubt the power that fax machines (cheap, rapidly communicated, written communication) had, for example, in the fall of the oppressive Soviet empire. Why else would the Chinese be so paranoid about its use and deployment?

Re:Technology

[grcumb]

John Fitzgerald published an interesting article a few years ago about some people's belief that because others are using computers successfully, that merely introducing a computer into a given situation will make the participants more productive, comparing it to the cargo cults in Melanesia many years ago.

I live and work in Melanesia, I can say for a fact that the cargo cults (and their mentality) are alive and well here. The impact of this mentality on development is significant. It's quite common for people to, for example, request a truck - or a computer - from a donor and then run it into the ground. No maintenance, no care taken whatsoever for its sustainability. Why? Because when it breaks, all they have to do is ask for another one.

It's pretty frustrating, to say the least. The attitude extends from the most remote islands (where some groups still dress in mock-US Army uniforms and parade in order to induce the heavenly powers to bring back the largesse that accompanied the Allied presence in WWII) to the highest levels of government. People here have come to expect easy profits from the developed world, and for its sins, the developed world complies.

That said, there's a real need for improved access to information and communications. People like me and my colleagues have been working together for years to improve the situation, and one of the ways to address the cargo cult mentiality is to stop giving things to people and start getting them to pay. Cheap laptops are a perfect vehicle for this.

USD 100 represents about 2 weeks' wages here (for the minority who are employed), and that's a pretty ideal price for something like this. It's an investment that parents are willing to make in their children's future, one which has enough value for them to insist that their children actually use them.

There's a tremendous interest in computers here. It's universally recognised that IT-related work is something that can create real economic wealth without as many problems as commercial agriculture, resource extraction and tourism. People can compete on the world market for employment and bring real prosperity into their communities for the first time.

The OLPC doesn't fill in every piece of this puzzle, but it's a damn good start.

Syncing work up?

[Mike89]

This sounds like a really clever idea. I'm suprised there's not more demand for it in school/colleges now, and it has taken a project like this to actual take steps to do it.

That being said, this project has been in the news for a LONG while now (at least it'd seem), are they any closer to actually reaching their goal?

Cautious Progress

[eldavojohn]

That being said, this project has been in the news for a LONG while now (at least it'd seem), are they any closer to actually reaching their goal?

I've been following this project pretty closely and I would like to say that everyone is very concerned that this is done correctly the first time. Bill Gates and India's government have already denied support to this project for reasons previously discussed on /.

I don't think this is a project that you want to rush and I am gratefull that they have been making many design changes and taking their time. For example, it was decided that the power generation being built into the hinge of the monitor/laptop was a design flaw. Since this is a piece that will experience the most motion, it was identified as being the biggest potential for wearing out or breaking. They instead modularized this component into something like two wheels you push around to generate energy.

Also, there are targets for energy consumption and communication that they wish to achieve before launching this project.

From what I have read, the people backing this are approaching with caution and I still expect it to be a 2-3 year longer effort before we start to see these things available for sale.

virus protection?

[joe 155]

These are running fedora which has very few viruses for it anyway, moreover it is a special form of fedora, which might not be vulnerable to all the viruses which linux anyway (and whose going to write viruses for these kids computers anyway, there is no money nor respect in it). So I worry about sticking virus protection in the MBR and kernel for fear that it itself might cause more issues and problems than if it was just left "open".

Re:virus protection?

[SiliconEntity]

Any computational system which is fertile for infection will eventually attract viruses. It's like a law of nature.

If this initiative is successful, Linux could become the most widely used operating system in the world, and would therefore be the biggest target for infection. Virus writers would turn their attentions from Windows to Linux. Our experience with Firefox has shown the falsehood of confident expectation that open sourced software would be immune to malware, and it's only got 10% of the market. Any system with the infection potential of these machines is going to be targeted and exploited.

Imagine a 0day exploit for the wireless driver like we saw a few weeks ago. These things hook up into mesh networks. You could start with a single point of infection which would spread from machine to machine, cover a whole city and then a whole continent within hours. The virus potential is extremely serious and deserves careful attention in the software design.

I'm curious how it will turn out

[OeLeWaPpErKe]

And I'll defineately buy one of the $300 versions, donating 2 others to people in the third world. Let's hope they can join the rest of the world faster using these laptops, or perhaps even, the internet.

Re:A simple solution to the wrong problem.

[rbarreira]

As many people will surely say, many of the countries targeted by this initiative don't have as many problems as you think they do. Of course the people aren't going to eat the laptops, but access to them and faster ways of spreading and accessing information helps with virtually everything... At the very least, it will make them more educated and capable of solving their country's problems...

Not all the poor countries are a mass of hungering people...

What part don't you understand?

[rbarreira]

What part of your thick skull is preventing you from understand the statement "hunger isn't necessarily such a big problem in at least some of those countries".

If that was so, they would not need us to supply the laptops.

Have you even read anything about the initiative? The laptops are sold to the countries. Are you suggesting that those countries could design and manufacture the laptops?

Re:Where are the apps for this platform?

[Marcion]

> but it strikes me that they are implementing many unique (not "proprietary", but same difference) technologies

This is a "good thing", this will be the first ever laptop designed around the needs of education. This is also the first ever laptop designed just for Linux, loads of legacy hardware (BIOS, Serial cable) is not needed.

The hardware, software and bundled books and homework ('content' if you like) are all being specifically re-designed.

>The Sugar UI, networking, now security, and probably a bunch of things I don't know about.

I am sure there are many good things that some people do not know about ;). Anyway these laptops are going to kids who have never owned a computer, so they do not have to be compatible with all the legacy crap that we own here in the rich west.

I think the Sugar UI is great. All the current desktop UI's, e.g. Windows Vista, OS X, Gnome, etc have the same metaphors as 'Lisa' in 1983. Now there is a UI designed for the Internet age, it has messenging and collobration as the core of the system.

>Where will they find apps for this platform?

It is still a Linux Distribution.I assume you are a Windows user (sorry if you are not), but most if not all the important sourceforge.net apps will work, because they are 'source', they will be recompiled for this Linux Distribution, not just by anyone, they have Red Hat behind them.

To get most apps working will just take: ./configure && make && make install

>Is there an IDE for OPLC? Other tools?

I think the plan is for as much as possible to be in Python,so you would just use the normal Python IDEs and tools.

> * Will OLPC supply all apps themselves?

Redhat and chums will provide the inital batch. Python apps will probably 'just work', some other apps may need some tinkering if the laptops do not have all the most famous libraries, for example, I cannot imagine them having both GTK and QT.

>Perhaps this has been long ago addressed, or I over-estimate the problems or challenges, but I would be interested in the answers.

I think you are overestimating a bit. It is Fedora Linux tweaked a lot, but it is still Linux. I think the users will run out of space on the device long before they run out programs.

Re:Good Idea

[Simon80]

I understood the FA to be saying that they'd be backing up data, as in docs and homework and stuff, and that they would be able to restore the data while connected to their school, not that the data would get involuntarily pushed to their computers. Some (or all) of the people designing and implementing this stuff are Linux enthusiasts, I don't think any of them are going to want to implement features that take away the user's control of the machine. In fact, the context for that backup feature was that they would like children to be able to take an interest and start tinkering with their systems, which is the opposite of taking away control, they want to put control in their hands, giving them with a real computer they can mess with, rather than some locked down education appliance. The FUD from MS and Intel calling these devices "gadgets" especially disgusts me, because it couldn't possibly be further from the truth, and they're deriding a good cause out of their own selfishness.