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  1. Re:Lost Cause on Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day · · Score: 1
    Maybe I read too much of science fiction, but dictators work with people very well, better even than an average /.ter :-) They know how to motivate people - sometimes with fear, sometimes with pleasure.

    To comment on your specific example: the opponent only needs to spread a rumor that you are working on a new, nasty, deadly nanoassembled virus because you are a doomsday cult follower. Next morning you will find yourself hanging on a rope provided by your friendly neighbors.

    This alone would take care of you, and there would be no need for an arrest or a trial. But if that fails, before you see Cuba you will see and hear a number of offers that you can't refuse. Dictators need scientists and engineers too, or else who will be designing new super-guns and spaceships for their conquests? "Would you, sir, like to be a boss, enjoy unlimited funding, work with talented subordinates, and have a most interesting problem to work on? Or maybe you'd rather die, piece by piece?"

    But of course if you happen to be too stubborn, well, to the Haven you go, since Body Banks are always in need. (That's what I am reading these days.)

  2. Re:hmm...yea.. on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 2, Interesting
    This study is awfully obsolete. It applies only to simplest, manually routed designs. A modern synthesis tool will make the RTL of your design completely unreadable, and you will have a lot of trouble even if you can see it. For example:
    // 128-bit secret key generator
    module KeyGenerator(clk,reset,out);
    input wire clk, reset;
    output reg out;
    reg [127:0] state;

    always @(posedge clk) begin
    if (reset)
    state <= 128b'1100101010...0101; // Secret
    else begin
    out <= state[127];
    state <= {state[126:0],1b'0};
    end
    end // always
    end // module

    This Verilog module (may or may not compile, I didn't try) produces the serialized key, bit by bit. The trickiest part is where the 'state' register is initialized. This can be done in many different ways, and the synthesis tool can do many optimizations; you don't even know -where- the bits of the register will be physically present on the chip (unless you have the complete design in your hands and run Chip Viewer.)

    This all means that it is -very- difficult to reverse engineer the design, especially if you don't just want to copy it "as is" but want to understand how it works.

    If anything, you'd be better off making a machine (seriously parallel processing!) where a you throw very many keys at a large number of SVPs under test. You can do that much easier than the microscope and the rest. If the chip is fast enough, and if you have several hundred chips, then you can even hope to crack the key before you expire yourself :-)

  3. Re:hmm...yea.. on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1

    Not only to the pirates. TFA says that the encryption code is based on device + product + time. This means that you may have a legitimate product (a movie) that can not be played at your parents' house or by your buddy - or that can not be played two weeks later (just when you return from a vacation). The conversion into another format will fix all that, and may become a necessity for some just to exercise their fair use rights, whatever is left of them.

  4. Re:hmm...yea.. on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1
    Won't have to: place a camcorder on a tripod, point at a HDTV screen, press two buttons... two hours later plug the Firewire cord and post the MPEG on the Internet.

    This is most likely because most avid users of {MP,RI}AA products are younger people who have more time than money. With regard to quality, HDTV source will be good enough for most. And if someone doesn't like it, go and buy your own DVD :-)

  5. Re:Lost Cause on Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day · · Score: 1
    Hitler called his party the Socialist Workers' Party

    His party, of course, had nothing to do with workers or socialism. It was just another piece of propaganda. The name was chosen to appeal to the working class; but the capitalists knew better, that's why they supported Hitler completely.

  6. Re:Coming soon to DirecTV... on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1
    Times 10 million subscribers, thats $50 million dollars.

    Peanuts - these 10M subscribers pay $300M monthly for the programming. The company can definitely spend 1/6 of its monthly revenue for a major, infrequent, upgrade.

    With regard to shipping, AOL somehow managed to mail millions of their CDs for free, so why some other company can't ship the same size item to its paying customers? I'm sure USPS can offer a great deal here.

  7. Re:hmm...yea.. on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1
    You can write the VM, but you won't be able to guess a valid key...

    Very true, since we know that DVD CSS was never broken...

  8. Re:Coming soon to DirecTV... on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1

    Don't worry, the subscribers will pay for the new card. It won't cost more than a few dollars anyway, assembled somewhere in China.

  9. Re:hmm...yea.. on SVP : More Video Anti-Copying Technology · · Score: 1

    Especially if it doesn't have to be in real time. Overnight is just as good.

  10. Re:Lost Cause on Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day · · Score: 1
    You are forgetting the fact that the power, not the money, is the ultimate lure. Now the more money you get, the more power you wield.

    But as soon as infinite wealth comes and computers/robots start satisfying people's wishes for free, how can you maintain your dominance over them? You can't.

    This is exactly the problem of your scenario. Too many people are now in power and love it. They are not going to give it up. Look, for example, at oil vs. renewable sources of energy. Today oilmen promote gas-guzzlers and more oil drilling (along with the Saudi "issues") instead of installing solar energy collectors and a network of hydrogen / fuel cell / all-electrical stations for hybrid and electrical cars. Why? Because one who controls the oil has the power. If an atomic battery is invented, good for continuous 1 TW output for 1,000 years, in AAA size, then be sure that current energy barons will bury it.

  11. Re:Lost Cause on Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day · · Score: 0
    its remains fall into hardcore socialism

    Not socialism but fascism, just because the latter is far more profitable, and the current profiteers have plenty of control to have it their way.

    Socialism in Russia came to be just because the capitalists, who hasn't escaped, were mostly shot. It didn't happen in Germany because the capitalists there ran the show.

    But outside of this little difference, both outcomes promise equally little to an average citizen. In both cases The State 0wnz him in any way it wants.

  12. Re:Finally! on Savebetamax.org National Call-in Day · · Score: 1, Insightful

    But that "somebody" will be not a senator, but just a lowly sysadmin. And that sysadmin will not even report the problem upstream because then he will be blamed for inadequate maintenance and configuration...

  13. Re:Scary ... to say the least! on Warez Suspect To Be Extradited, After All · · Score: 1
    It made noise a few years ago because women were being raped on a couple of particular ships with some frequency, and there was mass confusion about what to do

    Did they try not to go on a cruise?

    This actually may be a good idea, not just because of safety but also because the negative publicity and declining revenue will force the cruise line to clean the house. Just lay off the whole crew until the perpetrator is found. It's probably legal - the ship can't sail if it is unsafe, which it is. No judge would go against the ship owner on that issue.

  14. Re:Scary ... to say the least! on Warez Suspect To Be Extradited, After All · · Score: 1
    No need to involve Internet here.

    Imagine a guy on a boat 1 foot behind the official border if a country (USA or not does not matter). This guy takes a rifle, shoots and kills someone within the borders. How will that be qualified (aside from real piracy)? Will he be arrested, assuming coast guard is right there? If arrested, will it be an abduction? And so on.

    I think it is obvious that a crime can be committed remotely. I think the court should first decide where the crime scene is, and then assume that the suspect somehow appeared on the scene, did the crime, and similarly left. Existing laws cover that already, since that's what all criminals do all the time.

  15. Re:This is all to increase profits on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1

    No, they already have young Camaro owners cornered, drawn and quartered. That's not the reason. I believe they just want to renege on more insurance claims than usual. The black box will never be used in your favor; it will be always used against you.

  16. Re:Lots of data, but still not enough on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 2, Interesting
    it's always going to come down to a judgement call based on less than perfect knowledge of the circumstances.

    And that's exactly why only a human, either an eyewitness or an expert, may be allowed as a witness against you; and you must be allowed to defend yourself in proper legal manner. That's how it is today - the police officer is a trained specialist, but if you disagree you can take the dispute to the court and argue there.

    A primitive computer may not be allowed to be a witness against you. If someone holds a knife in a crowd it may be because he is a maniac or because he is eating at a restaurant. How a computer would tell one from another?

  17. Re:This could be a GOOD idea, hear me out.. on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1
    as far as I knew there was no long-term or permanent logging?

    One day you bring the car for maintenance and the mechanic reflashes the box with the "new, upgraded" software - which includes unlimited logging. When the box runs out of memory then only the worst records will be retained, of course, the rest will be freed up for more logging.

    Tivo does it all the time, and cell phone companies also have this upgrade feature (I used it once myself on my old Nokia phone.)

    Once 802.11 (or another convenient mechanism) is in place, you don't even need to go to the dealer. Just drive a couple of times through that toll plaza or this bridge... and the box will collect a complete set of new firmware and reflashes itself. Modern MCUs do that.

  18. Re:we may be 'created equal' but are not the same on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1

    This also means that if my car runs on three cylinders out of four, can outrun a sleepy snail (sometimes), and the brakes are so bad I must start braking three miles ahead of intended stopping point ... hey, that makes me the safest driver on the road! :-)

  19. Re:Give em and inch, they'll take a mile on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1
    Yes, I recognize that what I am writing is idealistic

    Not really. There are plenty of streetcars in Toronto, and they work exactly as you described :-)

  20. Re:If it can be used to truly identify the idiots. on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1
    Why, yes, I would leave it to the police officer and to the court to decide if I was right or not.

    Imagine, a section of a road is being repaired. The posted speed applies to the whole road, but there is a temporary sign leaned against a pole, and a worker directing the traffic through a maze of cones. How would the black box know about the sign, about the worker, about the cones?

    No police officer would accuse you of driving too slow in such conditions. But the black box will, and it will be used against you as evidence of your bad driving habits. Good luck proving yourself right; you have no evidence, but the box does.

  21. Re:If it can be used to truly identify the idiots. on Insurance Companies Try Out Auto Black Boxes · · Score: 1
    If your data recorder shows you are not safe on the public roads

    ... and here lies the root of the problem: you will be judged on the spot by a machine, and you can not defend yourself. Do you want that?

    Myself, I have no illusions: this scheme is just a device that insurance companies will use to drop your claim (and maybe you too) on a technicality.

    This must not be allowed. If anyone has anything against your driving, let it be settled between people, not between a man and a stupid machine. How would a machine know that you don't drive the speed limit on a highway on-ramp? How would it know that you couldn't brake hard on that patch of ice on a downhill road and thus exceeded the posted speed by 3 mph for a few seconds? How would you know that the reason you floored it that night was that when passing someone you suddenly saw an oncoming vehicle way too close for comfort?

  22. Re:227897203778383 is not prime on SETI Finds Interesting Signal · · Score: 1

    I typed it randomly, as an example. It takes a /.ter to check it for being a prime :-)

  23. Re:1 is not prime on SETI Finds Interesting Signal · · Score: 1

    Hmm, that really cuts into the heart of my argument :-)

  24. Re:Every time... on SETI Finds Interesting Signal · · Score: 1
    Actually, the larger the prime becomes the more rare it is. There are many primes near zero (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11 etc.) but very few in range of 227897203778383, as an example. And I'm sure no ET would be transmitting the number in unary code :-)

    Two long primes one after another would be a definite proof of an intellect behind the signals, because it is not even possible to come up with such numbers without some science and technology.

  25. Re:Use a big antenna on SETI Finds Interesting Signal · · Score: 1
    Probably such antennas are just too big to build

    That's why such antennas should be constructed in space, out of thin metallic film. The size there is not so difficult to achieve; you probably can use pressure of the sunlight to stretch and pull the film as necessary.