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Scientist Infects Self With Computer Virus
superapecommando writes "A British scientist claims to have become the first human to be infected by a computer virus, in an experiment he says has important implications for the future of implantable technology. Dr Mark Gasson from the University of Reading infected a computer chip with the virus, then implanted it in his hand and transmitted the virus to a PC to prove that malware can move between human and computer."
just plain stupid
this sounds like that cyborg man retard from a few years ago.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
OK that's pretty stupid.
What a fscking moron
Or a show-off.
Or better, a fscking show-off moron
I couldn't think of anything more irrelevant, like, REALLY
I mean, this is Uri Geller type of BS
The mind boggles.
how long until
Infect chip.
Implant chip.
Get chip to infect computer.
How was it ever contracted, let alone transmitted by the human? You could wear the chip as a necklace, tie it to a paper airplane, or just throw it and get the same results.
All he showed was that a computer virus can be transmitted from an implanted computer to an external computer. The scientist did not infect himself with a computer virus, he infected a chip that he had implanted in himself. If it is news to you that a computer chip implanted in a person can be infected with a computer virus, then this is the wrong board for you.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Or was the good doctor merely going after being 'first' at something?
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We're still far off from GITS's brain hacking. His biological functions remain entirely unaffected, as he is merely carrying the infected chip with him. Effectively, he might as well just be keeping a passcard with an infected smartchip in his wallet, the result would be the same.
How is this different from transmitting a virus via floppy diskette, other than the fact that he carried it on the inside of his hand, and the read/write mechanism was RF instead of magnetic?
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
thats nothing - imagine all the STD's keyboard's would have if you could transmit human to computer virus....
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
The article is just worded poorly. It implies that he actually contracted a computer virus, just like any human virus.
All he really did was just implant a chip in his hand that had a virus on it. Then he demonstrated that the chip would actually transmit the virus. Which isn't really a huge shock, since he was using it to communicate with other devices in the first place. According TFA, he used it for security passes and his phone.
So, at some point, he turned this into: "Pacemakers are at risk"....which, since they're not communication devices...no, no they're not.
Sounds to me like someone lost their grant money or something, and was trying to justify eating doughnuts for 3 years and doing nothing else.
"No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing." -Emperor Claudius 10 BC - AD 54
I agree with everyone that this demonstration was stupid... But the bigger question here deserves to be discussed - implanted devices CAN be infected with viruses, and we have to be careful about that... Implanted devices are becoming more and more common - it's not just pacemakers anymore. There was an article in Wired recently about the drive to create a "smart" insulin pump, one that would sense your blood sugar level and then adjust insulin delivery accordingly. This will become more and more common as we apply technology to "curing" disease... Keeping that technology virus free should be a high priority, especially as this technology gets integrated in more complex ways.
Brawndo: It's what plants crave!
http://www.google.com/search?q=captain+cyborg
Ah, without clicking on any links (we have to stop feeding that fraud), google let me know this was the work of his sidekick, not him directly. Now, I demand that this fraud be fully identified in all future slashdot posts about him or his minions (an addendum to this thread would be wise, too), because HE'S A FUCKING CHARLATAN!
Seriously, he called himself the "first cyborg" for putting an RFID chip in his skin years after people have had pacemakers, cochlear implants, and fucking wires in their brains (for vision to the blind and computer communications for the paralyzed). All reporters who called him "the first cyborg" should be fired, all "news" outlet that published that crap should be fined and stripped of all journalistic-perks (press passes, immunity from certain police procedures, etc). He's an attention whore who pulls these stupid publicity stunts to promote his books, stop helping him with his frauds.
You can't take the sky from me...
. . . my body runs Linux afterall :)
Since when does being a Socialist mean 'someone who has a different opinion than me'?
That is probable one of the biggest piece of false-science I have ever seen in years. The exact same thing could have been done with any compromised wireless device; the fact that the chip is under his skin is completely irrelevant. People helping to carry computer viruses have been around for decades, remember those floppies of shareware with virus on them??? Come-on!
What we do not need in the IT security field is stupid publicity stunts.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I'm not one to complain about /. editors; but, come on!
This is "News for Nerds - Stuff That Matters." Did CN just hire some recent college grads that majored in Type-Writer Maintenance and wouldn't know the difference between HD Memory and computer memory?
Just....plain....stupid.
I'm never going to infect my computer with a rhinovirus, or a common cold, or polio. It's not going to get smallpox (even in the lab), chickenpox, or herpes.
When we start making computers out of biological components, then we can have this discussion. In the meantime, I could implant an infected chip in my shoe and make a claim.
Stupid.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
One that's wasting tax payer money on Dr. Who toys.
Anyone with a programable pacemaker, insulin pump or nerve stim is more of a cyborg than these jokers. I've had a programable device jamming the nerves in my face for more than two years.
Most keyboards are infected with muffin crumbs.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning