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US Navy Develops World's Worst E-reader
First time accepted submitter Dimetrodon (2714071) writes "It is an unspoken rule of military procurement that any IT or communications technology will invariably be years behind what is commercially available or technically hobbled to ensure security. One case in point is the uncomfortably backronymed NeRD, or Navy e-Reader Device, an electronic book so secure the 300 titles it holds can never be updated. Ever."
security > usability
No sir, that's just my Kindle. I didn't load classified files on to it, I swear!
What? Our secret base was compromised because Private Biff's iPad, which tracked everywhere we went, was stolen by a hooker at the last port?
It's not like they "forgot" that users might want to add new books, the inability of any updatable storage was a design requirement to prevent it from being used for espionage or as a channel to inadvertently bring malware aboard a ship.
This is to prevent it being used to smuggle secret military data ashore, take illicit photos, introduce computer malware or record covert conversations.
Though it seems that there are so many ways for a person to smuggle a MicroSD card into a secure area that an eReader is probably not a huge concern.
Assuming that all the books are in the MOBI or EPUB formats, which are quite compact, one can only assume that the designers really skimped on memory. My Kindle has hundreds more books with plenty of room left. And as this is a technology made to a military contract, one can assume that this device inferior to off-the-shelf consumer items costs much more than them.
"The company has already delivered similar gadgets to members of the US Army and other military personnel.
The brainchild of the Navy's General Library Program, the electronic ink Kindle-alike has no internet capability, no removable storage, no camera and no way to add or delete content. This is to prevent it being used to smuggle secret military data ashore, take illicit photos, introduce computer malware or record covert conversations."
Actually makes sense to me.....
I bet with all this slashvertising these things are going to become collector's items; every hacker will want one to see if they *can* change the content.
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
Can't have machines capable of transporting unauthorized files or tracking your fleet location on board. Would be idiotic.
This provides a way to give sailors a decent library of books to read without having to find a place to have a dead tree library on a cramped ship.
The concept is perfectly sound, despite obvious failings in the design/specs (only 300 books, and probably thousands of dollars each, hah)
The WSJ is marginally more informative on the contents:
"The content consists mainly of newer bestsellers and public-domain classics, as well as titles from the Navy reading list and other texts for professional development. Since publishing partners include Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Random House, the lineup is impressive, ranging from contemporary fiction such as A Game of Thrones and The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, bestselling non-fiction such as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and bonafide nerd favorites including The Lord of the Rings series, Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game, and Stephen King's The Stand."
Anyone have a list, or is it classified? Is 'Mutiny on the Bounty' allowed?
I think they could have put a larger library on it relatively cheaply, but other than that, it makes perfect sense that it can't be connected to a computer network.
Nope. Not so bad at all.
"Navy Invents E-reader that is Secure, Meets its Needs; Hated By People Who Will Never See or Use It"
--- Math illiteracy affects 8 out of every 5 people.
This is not the "Worst" e-Reader ever.
Why do I say that?
Because it is working as designed.
Frankly, for certain high-security situations this kind of "immutable" device is the only kind of device that would be allowed in. So it's either something like this, or books-on-tape/CD/paper/something else.
For slightly less-but-still-very-secure situations you could allow some type of external read-only, no-processor-chip-onboard "expansion pack" memory so that the book content could be switched out without getting a whole new device. I wouldn't use USB though, as that requires a processor on the stick itself.
Also, I'd make very sure the data format was really "data only" not something that could, in theory, be a vector for "code." This would rule out PDF and PostScript. In other words, it would be pretty limited.
The things you absolutely do not want for this type of device in a high-security environment are:
* Any ability to "run code"
* Any wireless
* Any ability to export data other than through the screen (you can't stop someone from photographing the screen)
* Any ability to "hack" the device without physical access and accessing it in a non-standard way (e.g. with a screwdriver). This means the software must be proven to never do anything "bad" other than "just die, requiring a reboot" if the operator is tricked into giving it even carefully-crafted/designed-to-do-bad-things bad data.
In some cases, you do not want it displaying anything other than what is "whitelisted." This can be done by either only displaying properly-digitally-signed files or, as in this case, by only providing a limited set of files and "sealing" the device.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Manuals generally can't be updated unless new sections are added or pages added.
Actually most technical manuals onboard ships that are still kept in paper form are designed to be easily updated. The pages aren't glued in place - they are three-hole punched and kept in binders. When an update to the manual comes out, they only need to distribute the specific pages which have changed. Each page has a revision number on it, and the manuals will contain a "List of effective pages" noting the most current version of every page in the manual.
This means you can now assign people to do nothing but go through paper manuals page-by-page and verify that every page is present and at the correct revision.
IIRC Email is far more insecure than any ebook reader.
This is not too different from commercial aircraft.
Take a Boeing 747. They've been in production for almost 50 years, been through dozens of iterations and tweaks, man different variations, and quite possibly no two are exactly alike.
You essentially need to be able to get the full manual as it applies to any given aircraft, because over time there's been upgrades, changes, recalls, and everything else you can imagine.
When you have a few million parts flying in formation, making sure you know which specific parts are in which specific plane is a Very Important Task.
And, compared to the cost of, say, an aircraft carrier of a submarine, the cost of that is pretty insignificant.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
NeRD is not a backronym. A backronym is when you take an existing word/name (Fiat) and create an acronym for it (Fix It Again Tony). I really doubt the Navy just stumbled on the name NeRD and later found the words to affix to it.
Also interesting to note, the submitter submits things from the same group of sites...
Naval-technology.com
Power-technology.com
Army-technology.com
Offshore-technology.com
Pharmaceutical-technology.com
Hydrocarbon-technology.com
There are articles about NeRD going back days. I guess these days news is more about rehashing someone else's news and getting traffic to your site.
like "The Importance of Avoiding Sexually-Transmitted Diseases In Port," "Heavy Maintenance On Carrier Launchers: Packing Steam Pistons," and "Don't Throw That Wrench."
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Yeah, which Bible? Which Koran?
Actually, there *are* no alternate versions of the Koran -- or at least there's not supposed to be. Any translation of the Koran is not considered an actual "Koran" for purposes of Islamic law or worship. Anyone who wants to read or recite from the Koran is obliged to learn seventh century Arabic.
So there are no disputes in Islam equivalent to Christian disputes over whether the King James or the Revised Standard Version are more accurate; whether 1 Maccabees or the Epistles of Clement are divinely inspired; on whether to base the Old Testament on Hebrew sources or the Septuagint (the 2nd Cenury BCE Koine Greek translation that Jesus himself would have used). There's just one version of the Koran, the one authorized by Caliph Uthman in 650 CE, and believed to be compiled by Abu Bakr two years following the Prophet's death.
Yet oddly this has not prevented radically different versions of Islam from arising. The cheerful liberal Sufi imam at the local mosque has about as much in common with Wahabbist firebrands recruiting for Al Qaeda as the local gay Congregational minister has with the Aryan Nation affiliated Christian churches. There might even be *less* in common.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.