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U.S. Government Hires Company To Hack Into Video Game Consoles
An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Navy is paying a company six figures to hack into used video game consoles and extract sensitive information. The tasks to be completed are for both offline and online data. The organization says it will only use the technology on consoles belonging to nations overseas, because the law doesn't allow it to be used on any 'U.S. persons.'" Should be a doddle.
They're looking for the high scores of Taliban insurgents or what?
Have gnu, will travel.
I guess I'd better hide my copy of Custer's Revenge, otherwise I could be on a one way ticket to Gitmo...
Woder what they are looking for.. Mostly wonder what can be found thats not already on facebook.
They're looking for clues to beat the Ironman Challenge in WoW.
What could THE NAVY possibly get from used game consoles?
And why go that route to get it?
Not that I support the Navy (?? what? why Navy?) doing this stuff, or paying so much, but there is possible precedent. It's been pretty clear for a long time that anything you throw out in the trash is no longer your possession. So, before you toss that old game console, take a hammer to the memory bits.
https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
But why do get the strong feeling they meant to say 'after PCs now consoles too'? Am I reading too much between the lines here?
Quite the opposite: you're reading too little.
They're interested in game consoles because they already have the capability to hack into PCs, just like every other script kiddie on this planet.
There's a hidden treasure in Python 3.x: __prepare__()
As if that ever stopped them before. **rolls eyes**
Im quite sure the kinect has a backdoor system built in. The Xbox can download files even while appearing off. im sure the kinect camera (not the IR field generator) can be turned on without the user knowing.
Good-bye
Microsoft says Xbox hacking claims are ‘unlikely’.
"A report emerged last week from a security researcher claiming Microsoft’s Xbox lacked important security features that might protect owners who sell used consoles from having personal information stolen. Ashley Podhradsky of Drexel University claimed to have purchased a used Xbox console and used readily available hacking tools to recover the prior owner’s credit card number and other personal information. “Microsoft does a great job of protecting their proprietary information, but they don’t do a great job of protecting the user’s data,” Podhradsky said at the time.
Microsoft has since responded to the researcher’s claims, stating that they are likely inaccurate."
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Let's take a look at some examples you just provided:
more invasion of privacy,
This makes no sense in relation to the article. The summary plainly states that the Navy is purchasing used consoles and hacking in to them. These are being sold on the very same free market that you claim to love so much.
more unauthorised behaviour
The only one who doesn't authorize hacking in to game consoles that are freely purchased and outright owned are the manufacturers of said consoles. However you repeatedly post that you want to see the end of all patents and copyrights, so you should not be defending companies that want to dictate how end users use their products, either.
more deficit and debt
That is a straw man argument, at best. At this point government deficit and debt are like global entropy - they can only increase.
more government jobs
No reasonable person would ever argue for more unemployment. Of course, you are known to not be the least bit reasonable.
Less real economic activity,
How is the government purchasing items and putting people to work less economic activity? Oh, yes, it isn't.
less freedoms
Nonsense. By your argument if the US Army sourced a new scope for a rifle, other than the one that it was initially purchased with, that would also be "less freedoms".
What's funny is people on this site saying that people consume too many resources, so there needs to be birth control done by government.
That would be an interesting argument, if the post you linked to actually made that argument. Too bad it made no such argument in any way, shape or form. Did you mean to link to a different post?
They want government to control every aspect of human life
Can you show an example of someone on slashdot saying such a thing? Yeah, I didn't think so.
The REAL drain on the system is GOVERNMENT.
You can say what you want about the government, but you certainly haven't demonstrated that claim. If anything, you have supported the ever-increasingly-hypothesis that you are indeed just a slightly-more-refined-than-average troll.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
They want you to believe that will help.... but it won't!
but doing it on consoles of other countries, it means it's actually an act of war (IMHO) as it's not something that is allowed by INTERNATIONAL Law.. but oh wait, the US doesn't give a rat's ass about international law unless it is in their favor.. So now if the US does it to our consoles, we are allowed to do it to their consoles...
I must disagree. Roads, schools, and other public works provide value to society, and are paid for by the government, who has workers at least overseeing these projects. Just because the value isn't monetary doesn't mean it has no value.
Payment for labour may not be profit directly, but it can be if the worker values their labor at a rate lower than what they are being paid. However, it is still an incoming fund to the worker. If you get money from any source, it is income. Is there a difference between revenue and income that I'm missing?
Earlier in the thread, you said:
The point is that under the definition of what income taxes are: they are taxes upon revenue or pre-tax profit...
(Emphasis added)
True, a goverment worker is not generating new income for the government(unless they're collecting fines, but I'm not going to look at that now). I don't see why any worker of the government needs to generate income, when the government is capable of generating more money on its own(inflation). Government should be spending the money it collects for the betterment of society.
That government worker is doing a job that the government needs done. How is that any different than a company worker doing a job the company needs done? They are getting paid for services rendered, and it really doesn't matter where that money comes from. For the worker, that money is income, revenue, payment, whatever you want to call it. That money will be taxed.
sent from my slashdot browser.