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What Does Your Dead Man's Switch Do?
LqdEngineer asks: "How many of you use or have used a Dead Man's Switch designed to perform some action if you don't check in for a certain amount of time? Recently, I decided to put one together using MySQL and some cron jobs, but I wanted to see what others have their switches set up to do in the event you fail to check in. E-mails to loved ones? Send encryption keys to friends/family? Hate mail to your boss? Has anyone ever been on the receiving end of the results of such a system?"
From TFS:
I'll counter with my own ask-ask-slashdot: why would you use MySQL? It's only one more component to fail after you've expired.
My advice: lose the extraneous components; and get a wife, too: they come with a redundant dead man's mechanism.
Nothing for you to see here. Please move along. How fitting.
Blow up the building.
I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
When I take my foot off, it slows the car to a halt. Just kidding, cruise control gets around the situation.
Grump
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
Duh. Activate the rings and release the black hole from it's omni-magnetic retainer so it can eat Earth. No traces left.
Shh.
My deadman's switch is programmed to create a series of new deadmen's switches, each more complex than the last.
delete all the porn!
Monstar L
What happens when five years from now, after the thrill of having something like this setup, you forget to check back in? Now you've got passwords and emails going around saying you've passed on? I'm sure grandma will love that email. Why not just use a system that isn't triggered until your death certificate becomes available. Set it and forget it.
It stops the train when I'm dead.
I expect my Dead Man Switch to come back to life singing "I Heard It Through The Grape Vine" before keeling over again.
I've always thought that a Dead Man's Switch held too many problems. Unless you have people that are 'out to get you' and your switch is your leverage, then it's not much use.
What happens if you get into a severe accident and end up in the hospital without the ability to 'check in' with it? What happens if you are stranded at an airport with a snowstorm? What if you are stranded at a ski lodge in the mountains in the middle of a snow storm? etc...
If you were ever unable to check in with the switch, then you would probably regret hate mail to your boss or other nasties that you had planned to send to people you hate. It would also be an unwelcome surprise for friends and family to get 'letters from the dead' just to find out that you really aren't dead. It would definitely be a detriment to you if you had it setup to donate all of the money in your bank accounts to charities....
The Dead Man's Switch has too many if's in it. It makes more sense to just put together a will and make sure you entrust someone you deeply trust to execute it.
It's hooked up to my personal suicide machine.
Why not make a system that, after you've passed away, pretends to be you from beyond the grave?
Maybe it checks your email contacts (most people will know you've passed on of course) and sends out randomly generated messages about how great heaven is?
"You'll never believe it! The Mormons were right!!"
http://outcampaign.org/
I havn't had any false alerts thanks to another semi dead man's safety, which sends me an email 15 days before my actual switch turns on.
I basically have 7 emails to ppl really close to me. One of my password go in one of those emails and that has access to all my email/personal passwords. I havnt put any banking data since I dont think thats going to be too difficult to get, if I am legally dead.
My deadmans switch is a simple cron job and I need to reset it once every 3 months.
Is that you, lilo?
http://outcampaign.org/
1. Teleport without error to my own pocket dimension
2. dispell all negative effects on me
3. teleport a friendly cleric in to rez
On a little more realistic scale, how about you make a will?
IN THE EVENT OF DEATH EACH PERSON NAMED WILL RECEIVE THE ENCLOSED USB DRIVE WITH THEIR NAME ON IT... not overly difficult, and there are real legal comebacks if it is processed and you are not in fact deceased, instead of just looking like a tool.
...
-rw-r--r-- 1 2949120 Oct 3 13:55:12 2006 c2900xl-c3h2s-tar.120-5.WC16.tar
MD5 (c2900xl-c3h2s-tar.120-5.WC16.tar) = 637679bdc798d3ff64c55f5c6b3ee217
-rw-r--r-- 1 1811940 Sep 21 16:01:18 2006 c2900xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin
MD5 (c2900xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin) = b0cd0a8499dc654a8bebcea1a2249ef8
will know in two minutes...
I helped out for a few months in a place where the sysadmins and most of management had to be marched out the door by security for various expensive reasons. The place seemed full of dead man's switches but it reality was probably just a finicky cobbled together collection of systems that required intervention when cron jobs/scheduled tasks could have done it (and later did).
Currently the stuff that is being trialed would stop and someone would have to look at the tape schedule - but I thought the whole idea of working as a sysadmin was to set stuff up so everything else goes smoothly while you are sorting out the problem of the day, trying out new stuff, or reading slashdot.
My switch nukes everything from orbit.
It's the only way to be sure.
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
If my deadman's switch doesn't receive telemetry from the handset after 1/50th of a second, it halts all rotors and scuttles the heli. Extreme? Sure - but given the alternative could be death for anyone nearby, it's sensible. It also stops anyone from trying to engage the robot without having a control console inhand (with additional killswitch).
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
If I don't check in with my Jewish mother every few days she'll go crazy and call everyone I might have once talked to.
I didn't set this up, it was genetics.
The only cases I used one was to debug stuff that potentially locks the computer up. I.e. kill a process or reboot the computer after a certain time if nothing happens. Don't know if that counts....
It send the contents of a folder to friends, family, media, governments, corporations, etc. (all defined in a list, or course)
The contents of said folder include the most incriminating of information and encryption keys.
Also, said folder may contain up-to-date security footage and audio taps.
This tends to discourage the trigger-happy-brain-dead-mob types from doing anything painful.
Now, in order to be most effective, this system is actually activated on servers across the world and distributes links and encryption keys so that the email doesn't get rejected as a result of the size.
Really though, just send the contents of a file to the email addresses listed in another file. You can even use multiple file sets for different groups.
-Tim Louden
I love that movie (Aliens for those who didn't get the reference). Speaking of James Cameron, he is currently working on his first feature film in a decade. It is called Avatar. I read an article in the Post about it the other day.
I actually thought about starting an online service to do just that, but I decided my security skills weren't up to par with the level of attack that *might* come about. I mean, the business plan is to collect a pittance a month from a few thousand tin-foil-hatters, but the reality is that if a service is designed well enough to attract the tin foils, then one day it'll probably actually attract someone with a real and determined enemy.
Ignoring for the moment any issues of inability to push the button, how would one handle such a case? The two objectives are (a) secure the data against any & all attacks (which includes maintaining the means to deliver it to the desired parties under any circumstances), and (b) prevent any inadvertent public disclosures of said data.
I'd imagine that Gnutella, Usenet & TOR could each play a part in a highly redundant, distributed storage system. But even assuming you only needed to run services to send decryption keys & magnet links to the intended recipients, how would you guard the ability to do that against a potential attacker that's heavy on resources, time & motivation?
Pi Ran Out
FairTax baby!
What if after your death your relatives just walk in and happily unplug your Linux boxes (having no idea how they even work) before your cool scripts even get a chance to run. :S
Lets see... mine is set to program a robot with a digital representation of my brain, updated yearly. This can be done as often as needed...
Is big lever. Connects the lightning conductor to dead man!
Yes master! We will create Liiiife!!!
It welcomes our new life-eradicating switch-flipping overlords. Seriously though, its called a w-i-l-l.
Ginga no Rekshiya Mata Each page.
No matter how inflated our egos, after a few tears and a small feast for the worms, the planet will continue as if we never even happened. Why complicate matters with a dead man's switch?
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Took my cue from Snow Crash and got my dead man's switch wired to a W80 warhead.
Ok it sounds paranoid but on several occasions I've met up with someone from the internet.
I usually have a few details about them but given I'm into the alternative scene (and I don't mean music) you don't usually just pass these details to a friend.
Never the less, meeting up with someone like this for these kind of activities is down right dangerous, taking a few precautions is always sensible.
I usually put together a zip file filled with every piece of contact information I have for this person and use a cron job to email this in 48 hours if I dont stop it.
I also send a text message to myself prior to entering anyones house that I am meeting like this - the uk mobile phone companies will store location information for up to 3 years.
Ok its paranoid but I know several people (though usually women) that have been raped meeting like this - worse things could possibly happen as you are taking your life in your hands doing though. I'll admit that being a guy I am probably less vulnrable - but its better to be on the safe side and atleast give yourself some backup.
Its never gone off before... but its nice to know its set up - just in case.
Well, we just sit up all night in the middle of the Pacific, trying not to touch anything, hoping it'll go off ..... :)
(yes, they have them on aeroplanes now ... )
N
Resurrects the person who uses it.
I often take part in political protests, and have on occasion been arrested and held for days.
So, I put together a quick routine using perl and chron that dispatches email to my workplace, the local legal rep contact, and some friends. The later includes directions to a hidden key and asks them to feed my cat until they hear from me. I only enable the system when I'm expecting a significant risk of arrest. Once it's started, if I don't either log into the machine or send myself an email containing a specific string once every 24 hours, the alarm goes off.
Turns out it's never actually been used (except when testing.) I did get caught up in a surprise arrest not too long ago, but since my girlfriend was going to be at home and able to take care of any problems I didn't turn on the system.
But, if you ask me, trusting life-changing information to a php script is a really, really scary idea. Even my trivial "please feed my cat" letters included disclaimers explaining that they may have been falsely triggered.
Now, on the other hand, the possibility of spoofing dead man's letters from other people *does* sound promising.
A vast series of Rube Goldberg devices which are mostly comprised of AOL cd's. At the end of the device, it presses the speed dial on my phone and plays a prerecorded message. I really want to test it out! I can only dream of the day...
Good day for this story. somethingawful has a great article about this today. Quoth the website:
Go and read it.
This seems a little foolish to me. If you're anything like me you'll forget to check in one day, maybe when you go on holiday. What kind of failsafes have you built in? Does it attempt to contact you in a variety of ways before assuming you're dead? Leaving it to an overly logical machine seems dangerous - there are several things which could well happen:
1) It fails to recognise your bucket-kicking and doesn't send out any of the vitally important information, so none of your friends get the passwords (or turn up to your funeral);
2) Somebody else overrides it, physically or electronically preventing it from recognising your checkin, and stealing your data;
It falsely thinks you've dropped off the plain, through a bug or human failure, and prematurely sends out all the vital data to everyone, and your wife discovers that you're dividing your fortune amongst your mistresses a little earlier than you'd like.
These reasons seem to me an overwhelming argument for using the old-fashioned approach of a trusted (or legal) person holding a will and other data. They're more likely to make sensible decisions in unexpected situations (like, if you're in a coma for a month, come round and find your computer has automatically wiped your pr0n, God forbid)
At work we have processes so that if I fall under a bus or whatever, people can get hold of the passwords etc. The processes are all properly documented so the only hassle they'll have is a bit of short term cover whilst they recruit a replacement.
As for family & friends, I guess they'll find out the same way people always have and as for special messages, if it's that important they already know and if it's not, why hassle them when they've got more important things to do like get me boxed and shipped out.
Sorry but I just don't get this whole dead man switch idea at all.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
* Release all the footage of the corrupt politicians.
* Release all the evidence against the Mob, the Yakuza, the Mafia.
* Release a few exploits for MS Vista.
* Let my pet AI out of his virtual cage and onto the 'net.
* Release pictures of various Celebs doing "Very Wrong Things(TM)"
* Release information about how various Government Contracts _REALLY_ got awarded.
* Release evidence that the Bible, Quoran and various other religious books are fakes.
I think that's about all of it.
Damn, when I die there's gonna be a lot of people in deep du-du
8-)
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/
http://davesboat.blogspot.com/
How sad is it that you would need a dead man's switch, instead of friends and family to notice that youve disappeared.
Sad.
But, if you ask me, trusting life-changing information to a php script is a really, really scary idea
of course it's scary - you should use Perl.
If i don't check in every 10 minutes on slashdot i automatically send first post messages
to every new subject...
kind regards,
My dead-man's switch simultaneously emails, faxes, and snail-mail's irrefutable proof of intelligent alien life to EVERY major blogger in the world. Naturally, major news outlets aren't worthy of this information once I've passed on.
... and in the DRM, bind them.
I'm writing a virus for the windows that finds and trigger you 'dead man switches' so soon one day you will wake up to find out all your sins are belong to us, your confessions relived to loved ones etc. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Please configur you dead man switch to be transferring money now to me swiss bank account to prevent dms virus from triggering you dead man switch. When it stop sending money, you switch will automatically trigger... and this is the service we provide to you.
If I die and I have no family members and no friends, why should I care what is going to happen to my PCs, my servers, or my bank accounts?
Deltree's c:\progra~1\common\xerox\porn
Installs Lotus Smart Suite so my family have a use for the PC.
Reveals the true identity of deep throat to the CIA.
Emails my girlfriend and tells her to invest in SUN - those Java terminals coming out in the new millennium look amazing.
Telnets into my workplace and installs a firewall for their own good. One of these days people will listen to my security concerns!
Sends a letter to Tony Blair thanking him for all the time and effort he's spend ensuring the economical success of our country, education and health services. It also warns him about radical MP plans for Private Finance Initiatives and how they might bankrupt the NHS and MOD.
It might be a little out of date.
Matt
Might I suggest a button that you have to push once every 108 minutes? You could even link it to a computer and enter a sequence of numbers in to reset the timer...
PocketGamer.org - For the gamer on the go!
My dead man's switch would simply install bunch of viruses to all my windows workstations on the intranet, reconfigure corporate firewall to allow all traffic in and from internet and then make all unix servers to fill their harddisks with random data while randomizing root passwords and erasing backup tapes on the tape archiver, perhaps even upload all sensitive projects and source code to public servers. That will teach'em...
- Raynet --> .
You insensitive clod!
All rites reversed 2010
Mine is a little expensive and selfish, but has huge political implications - roughly outlined:
Build a huge particle accelerator/container/bottle, feed it antimatter until it reaches its containment limit. Set it up so that a slow bleed of the contained antimatter is not possible. Then, if power to the system is cut and containment is breached - goodbye cruel world!
Who says you can't take it with you?
About six years ago I had the misfortune of working for a company where our lead developer was a complete fruitcake. He wore all black every day, put his cigarettes out on his keyboard, you name it. He was one of those die-hard, born-in-the-soup hackers who started out configuring the household appliances to kill his family.
A genuine genius, and impossible to work with.
Well, one week he had happened to catch some variant on the face-melting death. I'm talking about the kind of influenza which turns your various facial orifices into creeping faucets of mucus. His wife assured me of a fever which would kill a lesser being. Sweat sheeted off his face like a rainstorm on a greenhouse roof. Needless to say he took some time off.
I get a call on Friday afternoon and it's him. The sounds coming from his end of the call were like the elephant throwing up and trying to talk into the little voice scrambling doohickey from the movie Scream. "You have to come get me," he says. "Why?" I reply. "Because I'm in no shape to drive, and I need to login to my computer there." Empathetically, I told him to stay there if he was sick. "You don't understand," he barfed, "If I don't login once a week..."
Yes. He had a DMS on our key development machines. One which he explained would lock up everything tighter than [gratuitous image deleted].
I was unthrilled to say the least, and refrained from chewing him out as he brought his barely clothed mass of plague into my beautiful car, coughed plumes of virii and bacteria into our office, made my boss practically bust a vein in his forehead as I led his nearly-blind ass to his computer-- all because he refused to share his password with us to access and protect company property --then finally have the nerve to croak a child-like plea for McDonald's from my back seat on the way home.
Once he was fully recovered we had the intervention and asked the usual questions, Why do you think this is necessary? What are you hiding from us? How screwed would we actually be if he actually died? Etc. In his paranoid, seen-the-Matrix-too-many-times universe, there was nothing wrong with installing some 'basic security'.
I did mention this guy was a genius, right?
The boss caved completely, and to be honest, we all knew there was no way in heck we could find whatever weird little bombs he'd hidden in our own system let alone the machine he'd practically joined to at the spine 12 hours a day. I quit the company that June, Mr. Maniac is still writing all their code and the company is quite successful.
So, yeah, DMS... Why send email to the unworthy after you're claimed in the Lord's rapture, when you can just grab your entire company by the nuts and twist?
(Posted as AC because I'm at work.)
Would be cool to hook a dead man's switch to some sort of biosensor or biofeedback device that monitors you whether you're alive or not.
;)
It automatically;
* Publishes the source code of your closed source software that you developed.
* Makes a post on your blog.
* Wipe sensitive/private data such as cookies, browsing history, etc.
* Fires ICBM or a MIRV at Redmond.
My "man's switch" isn't dead, you insensitive clod!
What's up with the Mod Gnomes today? How is a funny pop-culture reference is marked as "Insightful".
If you're really worried that if you die there will be a need for notices to be sent, then you are either full of vanity or you have not led much of a life. Especially if you're an IT person.
Christ, if I died 400 idiots would call on that day and be pissed that I was lacking the courtesy to hold off dying until their problem was fixed. Soon, people who never knew what post-it notes and pens are would be forced to get new email hosting. Order would break down for everything from dog groomers to realtors. Yeah... it would be bad. But, there would be no need to issue a notice. Obviously, the other use for a dead man's switch constitutes a crime in most countries. And, again, you may need to get a life if you feel you need it. After all, it is immature and unprofessional to leave a job and leave an automated piece of malware behind. In summation, all forms of interest in a dead man's switch are strongly indicative of the need to grow up and/or get a life.I scream. You scream. I assume that means we're both acquainted with the problem. We proceed.
How did you know my 'man switch' was dead!?
Oh yeah, slashdot.
Assuming someone will notice, try a will. Filled with the state, it will be executed upon your death.
Just remember - if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
"Every Setpember, 16 Mexicans have a great party celebrating the revolution of Mexico but the fact is, that the revolution was not complete. " Is it the same 16 Mexicans every year? If you are one of only 16 Mexicans to attend this great party, you really need a Dead Man's Switch giving some one else your party spot!
I've been thinking about deadman switches, myself, for some time. My problem is not so much what I want it to do; but more what's the best and most robust implementation of one? I've come up with several ideas, but many seem to fail with the unpredictivility of a realitively low points of failure without you being able to do anything about it .... well execept the lawyer route, but where's the fun in that?!
Code softly but carry a big magnet.
me$ su executor ./will
executor$
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I don't have a DMS of my own, but the one at work is pretty cool. If you don't hit it in time, it nukes our entire biohazard research lab. The thing is, it's at the top of this freakishly long elevator shaft that's guarded by lasers. It's sort of a drag when the elevators are out and you have to climb the whole shaft while trying to avoid being fried. Still, I wouldn't trade the job for anything- we get free UV tanning sessions every time we come to work!!! Is that great or what?
It strikes me that if I made a dead man's switch programed to send emails every thursday morning to my boss saying "The project is coming along well, we are still having trouble getting the needed data from the client, but everything on our side is on schedule", I could probably snag a few extra weeks/months/years paychecks for my family before he caught on....
Not much, I know, but it's the nearest I can easily get to nuking civilization from orbit.
Seems these dead songwriters had a similar idea.
Reduce, reuse, cycle
Because we're all somewhat similar, and things would suck mightily if nobody gave a thought to the world after their death. I suppose caring what people think of you is just a reflection of that. It's kind of like the Prisoner's Dilemma; sure, it may profit you to be a dick, but if everyone did it, we'd be in serious trouble.
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Sounds like someone needs some deniable encryption. Strong vs court orders and some guy beating the shit out of you with a rubber hose!
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
Well, it is the only way to be sure.
It's not his fault. They don't teach programmers how to implement stateful software without a RDBMS anymore. It's too hard for the teachers and the students. You'd have to teach parsing, and all sorts of other theoretical computer science. Why do that when you can just learn SQL?
My Dead Man's Switch detonates a small thermonuclear device that I have hidden somewhere where my enemies are abundant...:-)
Dear Dept of Homeland Security official, this is a joke.
Whenever I'm close to computers and electronics, everything works smoothly. If I leave for more than a few days, the whole environment starts coming down, and it's not something I programmed, just something that happens.
My first job, I got fired, the next week the whole AD environment went down for hours on end
My second job, I quit, the next week, all firewalls went into some type of crash, the network was overloaded by a broadcast-zombie and there was some type of virus
I left home, went living somewhere else, the computer of my dad smoked, he had to buy a new one
Another job, I was a freelancer, I left, next week I got bunches of nagios alerts
Another job, I was a sysadmin, I got laid off, next week, nobody could receive e-mail and some type of update made it that networking got in trouble
Last job, I was a sysadmin, I got fired, yesterday somebody told me that the whole network was down (>30000 nodes)
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
...will encrypt all my personal data with quadruple-ROT13. That'll show'em!
I hadn't known there were so many idiots in the world until I started using the Internet -Stanislaw Lem
> Now, on the other hand, the possibility of spoofing dead man's letters from other people *does* sound promising.
Genius!
And with a disclaimer at the end: "I designed this system to only trigger in the event of my *actual* death. Anyone pretending to be me, and saying that I'm still alive, should be ignored."
I'm wearing a DMS of sorts right now. It's a bracelet that contains post-mortem instructions to chill my body to 10 C, do CPR, push an anticoagulant, and the 800# of the cryonics company with which I'm signed up.
:-)
Of course, the most important single word on the bracelet is "REWARD".
I've also made sure that my wife (who is in the process of signing up) and my friends (some of whom are also signed up) are on board with this, and willing to go to bat for me if the coroner decides to get uppity.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
Nothing lives on after you except your deeds and your software.
/usr/sbin/cron valhalla
See you all in
The truth is an offense, but not a sin.------R. N. Marley
Dear Mom,
If you are reading this message it means that either
(a) I am dead. Sorry, I love you, and tell Dad I'm sorry we always fight. I never told you... I am a gay pedophile. I couldn't find a way to tell you, but now that I am dead I suppose I'd rather you know the truth. Also, Dad has been cheating on you with Mrs. McCartney for years. Don't take that shit from him any more. Tell him to stop it or leave him! You deserve better!
or
(b) I have a bug in my dead-man's-switch script. If this is the case, please ignore this message.
- For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat
After the Asian Tsunami we knocked up http://www.sendansos.com/ to help travelers register their travel intentions. A user creates one or more contacts, then enters a travel plan (including a return date). If the user doesn't sign in by the return date the system sends an SMS (or email) SOS message to their contacts. You might be shocked at the size of the user base!
I hadn't really thought about this until the question came up, but it sounded like a fun mental challenge so I came up with a few ideas for improving the concept:
Multiple Activation Stages The first thing that came to my mind was a DMS to warn you that your main DMS will be triggered soon if you don't "check in". A second stage would send a similar warning to a few other people, encouraging them to find you and to personally warn you about the DMS themselves. You might want to disguise that one as a "request for critical maintenance" from a system which sounds important. Secure Check-In Protocol Have your DMS send you a unique check-in ID which you must use in your response. Or if a first-stage DMS has already been triggered, require a special password for deactivation of the continuing DMS sequence. Multiple Triggers More than one trigger input, in combination and/or in sequence, to more robustly define the conditions for activation. For example, if you haven't checked in recently AND several check-in reminder messages have bounced.Ultimately though, if it's something important then I think a human being should be part of the process. A person would be a good sanity check. Nobody writes bug-free software, and I'm guessing that it could be pretty difficult to test a complicated DMS.
Given that all of it happens when you leave (on your own volition or by invitation) it appears to be safest not to ever employ you in the first place. Good for your karma, crap for your bank balance unless someone hires you to get you employed by the competition :-).
You may consider yourself fodder for the nematodes, but I have no intention of ever shuffling off this mortal coil.
I have had two experiences with dead man switches, one for myself and one I was on the receiving end of.
Lke many
The DMS I have sends work related information including passwords, file locations and contact information to one of my employers if I don't reset it once a week. I work from home in another state from my bosses on that job so this is actually useful. The rare times I am doing field work I change the reset interval to 48 hours. My work for this job is 99.99% boring but that last
The one I was on the receiving of end was just plain odd. My bosses called me and I took the day off from my regular job. I took the information my bosses gave me to a lawyer and then the key from the lawyer to a bank and processed what I found in the safety deposit box. Another researcher in the state who I had never met had died, natural causes, he had a system similar to mine and I was the only other employee in the state with the background to handle his documents. Weird, weird feeling as I am not the super spy type to be meeting lawyers, going to strange banks and opening strange safety deposit boxes.
As I got about one hour notice it was fun trying to explain to my day job bosses why I had abruptly taken the day off. My day job bosses were very nice but not entirely happy with me vanishing for a day on zero notice and my only answers being, "It was a suprise to me as well, I don't expect it to happen again. It was work related for one of my other jobs. Yes it was important enough for me to take a day off from work so abruptly and no I can't talk about it since I signed the confidentiality agreement. No I am not a spy and my work is mostly intermittent, boring occasionally important."
For death related stuff I have a lawyer for the legal stuff and a trusted friend to handle the local stuff, whose responsibilities are backed up by the lawyer in case the friend and I both kick the bucket at the same time.
I'd like a DMS activated deathray or something but I am not confident enough in my programming skills to guarantee it wouldn't go off by accident from a chron job error or some other glitch.
I can think of 2 scenarios for a power outage.
1. The DMS is controlled from my local PC, and it doesn't go off if I die during the outage.
2. The DMS is at a remote location, and I can't cancel it because my power is out.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Posting anonymously for obvious reasons.
I used to do sex-work. Before I'd go out on a call, I'd put all the information I had about the client/call, put it in an envelope, and leave it in a prominent place in my apartment.
Not a technological one, but still, same concept.
What if your wife is the one that killed you? Due to my overt geekiness I'm sure mine has come close. Asside from that I'm not entirely certain my wife's memory doesn't operate from a perl mysql interface.
And worse than that: the jerks who bitch about the bastards that complain about the people who constantly moan about grammar nazis!
...the Dutch!
And, you know, there's only one thing worse than them...
(but dude, seriously, learn to spell.)
---GEC
I'm but the humble pupil, seeking to snatch the scratchbuilt pebble from the master's fully articulated hand
I see lots of talk of illegal stuff on my drive and going to jail. To set matters straight, the drive is my SOHO server. It contains my Turbo Tax returns, all my banking information including account numbers, routing, card numbers, pin's, bank contact information including passphrases.
This is stuff that I want to die when the alarm goes off. Home robberies do happen and easy access to all that information is not something I want laying around unencrypted. If I am truly dead, it being locked is not a problem. My will in the safe deposit box takes care of it. If I am gone for a while and I have a break-in, the data is secure. If there is a court order for the data, at least I know who gets the information.
Don't assume data security equals illegal activity.
The truth shall set you free!
several TB of porn.
Nice idea, but that is not near as much of a problem as my tax returns, all my bank and credit card details including passphrases, pins, account numbers, contact numbers, etc.
If I am gone and the home alarm goes off, it drops power to the SOHO server locking the filesystem. Home burglaries do happen. Having someone get your porn collection is not a big deal. Having someoone steal your identity is a big deal.
The alarm interface is simple. The alarm output operates a relay between the SOHO server and the UPS.
don't assume data security equals illegal activity
I pratice prudent data security.
The truth shall set you free!
Does my life insurance count as a dead man's switch? I don't have to check in on a regular basis, so maybe not...
-Rich
But then it would emit all of your data to the entire universe as x-rays.
"Those who consume the bulk of goods are those who make them. We must never forget this secret of our prosperity."
Egad man. You've thought way too hard about this problem. The guy robbing your house is looking for a quick buck by stealing your ipod. Rather than lugging a server and searching it for hidden accounts and password-protected, he's better off grabbing your garbage if he wanted to do identity theft.
and some futuristic high level data encryption
And a weapon of some destruction targeting whichever google server/s have my emails on them
Rather than lugging a server and searching it
My server isn't that big.
http://www.simpleshare.com/
It isn't always the thief you worry about. It's the buyer of used hard drives on e-bay. Many times they buy drives to datamine.
The truth shall set you free!
No matter how inflated our egos, after a few tears and a small feast for the worms, the planet will continue as if we never even happened. Why complicate matters with a dead man's switch?
Bah! You and your pathetic, egocentric obsession with the ephemeral nature of organic life.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").