We can have usably cheap long-range weapons with the destructive powers of nukes but without the long-term risks? The end-of-days religious people must be wetting their pants. Maybe I should call up that old Jehovas pal just to be on the safe side...
Does this mean you could construct Batman's body armor in reality? A full-body flexible armor suit like one of those cow-hide things some motorcyclists wear? That would be nice, to say the least. At the moment you're limited to aramid-weave clothing, this takes knives but doesn't stop bullets or blunt force.
While I agree that democracy isn't the ideal form of government, fascism will not really work while humans are in charge, as humans are. That would take a Deus-Ex-like "philosopher king" scenario with either transhuman rulers/subjects or hard AI or both. Alternatively, the second coming might work to the same effect... Anyone here have any spare nukes and don't mind spending the rest of eternity in a lake of fire? I don't really mock him, though, he seems to be in favor of nuclear power and he doesn't really come off as a total crackpot. And haven't everyone here felt that they really are "surrounded by fools", and that those running the country should at least be better people than themselves? Seeing decision-makers bicker like little children and express racist, egotistic and sexist comments when they think they aren't recorded is really depressing.
It sounds to him that he expects that he (and his buddies, perhaps) should just be able to walk up to congress and dictate how things are done. Even if one does subscribe to the idea that the educated elite should make the decisions, with people that are competent in a field making the decisions relevant to their knowledge, actually doing things that way would lead to revolt.
The movie executives would throw that one right out the window. Like the "human batteries" in the Matrix series? Yeah, in the original script that was a form of distributed organic computing, combined with the machines (actually quite nice?) take on morality by not actually wiping out the human race, but imprisoning them in a dreamworld instead.
Seriously, did anyone else hear the summary in the voice of an old-style B-movie narrator, complete with over-the-top sound effects? This might have creepy implications, one battery powered implant and a bit of training and you could turn anyone into an assassin. But what would happen if you did something heinous, and then turned the implant off? Granted, it seems like this only affects people's ability to judge moral intent, the article doesn't mention anything about losing your morality altogether. Although, the flip side of not being able to judge moral intent might be to do stupidly evil things without being able to intuitively understand the consequences? But the subjects judged the moral outcomes accurately based on the consequences, so perhaps this is just a form of artificially induced utilitarianism? Also, they mention "theory of mind", but before you get all worked up this probably does not correspond to any neurological effect of the autism spectrum... Or perhaps any common naturally occurring brain abnormality?
Following the "Evil" alignment in the NWN games/DnD in general make you more of a villain protagonist than an anti-hero, really. The neutral choices/alignment "What do I get for my time? I have bulk discounts if it involves more than 50 heads. *lights cig*" is more constructive anti-hero material IMHO.
I don't see how you make that connection? All cases of death from heat stroke I've heard about have been outside of hospitals, usually involving the very old or infants dying in isolation, and from Wikipedia it seems like none of the treatment methods but (in severe cases) hemodialysis require electricity. Not to say that things wouldn't go south quickly if all the hospitals in a region lost power and the supply routes of diesel where cut, of course.
Also, they where hired by the companies themselves to conduct the testing. As a professional, you release only what the client wants/allows you to release, or you're both breaching contract and burning your chances at ever working in the field again, especially with such a high-profile client. Isn't that obvious?
Yeah, I considered that. But who in hell would go to such lengths for harassment? I've researched the methodologies of thieves a bit, and it seems like the basic philosophy is "quick, quiet 'n brutal", even in premeditated home invasions. They don't pick the lock, they drill it open or break a window. And the kind of thieves that would do that don't stick to petty home invasion.
All critical systems have emergency backup generators, and I doubt that major installations requiring bulk power use the same systems for supplying power as homes; the power company probably doesn't want or need the ability to cut power to places like that. Intuitively, it would be like comparing one of those ISP-provided DSL modems/routers to a Cisco backbone router.
You seem to have mistaken the methodology description for the report; the report is basically the slides in the second PDF. The methodology report is obviously written after the research phase but before testing. And there's not really much of anything in there that could be taken as FUD or unprofessional behavior, in my opinion... keeping in mind that I've never worked professionally in the field.
I've read through both PDFs, and they really go into a lot of detail on the experimental methodology. The main thing they seem to be concerned about (and the only vulnerability they detail) are extracting the encryption keys from the meter firmware ("some" meters) and reverse-engineering the command protocol. While this could be a threat, being able to turn off/manipulate individual home meters isn't going to have any far-ranging effects beyond that. It also, obviously, requires a lot of reverse-engineering skill. I'd be more concerned with someone packaging this into a bluebox-style solution for manipulating your own meter, giving you free power? Earlier in the methodology report they talk about IR ports and similar being unsecured due to the perceived unlikelihood of attacking them, but they don't detail anything about that in the presentation PDF. That would be easier to exploit, though, so they might be keeping a lid on the more critical vulns?
This is it, the essential example. It should be plated with gold and kept in a requilary. I had a teacher like this once. Later in life, when I was reading up on Asperger, I realized she was a textbook case; the world is unpredictable and besides the most shallow emotions people are inscrutable black boxes, so just follow the rules and no one will blame you. I also realized this was basically how I had functioned up to my mid-teens.
It may come off like that, but you missed my point. It's unethical, yes, but it's negligible. That the artist receives no "compensation for his efforts" in my individual case is, to me, irrelevant because of the small sums involved. Like a person walking down the street after me, and finding the candy wrapper offensive to his sensibilities. Even if I where in the same position as the artist/coder (and I expect to be), I wouldn't take action against personal use copyright infringement because even a slightly-harshly worded letter would be ethical overkill. I wouldn't even think about it in terms of individual people; it would (will) be meaningless.
The above words are not a defensive rant, I'm actually trying to convey my view of the ethical issues.
It's probably a gut reaction to the article/summary being written with a humorous slant. As for _my_ ethics, well... These guys made money by assisting what is effectively digital pickpocketing. Myself, I consider ignoring copyright for personal use about as unethical as throwing a candy wrapper on the street. A million people ignoring copyright for personal use may make certain parts of the arts unviable as career choices, globally, but you cannot place that burden on any one of the infringers. These people basically made magical gloves for lifting cash out of people's pockets, and then sold them to criminals with no other motive than an effective upfront share of the loot. They are directly complicit in theft.
He's either dodging the question, or he really didn't think about what he was doing? Most people in the malware authoring business probably at least understand the consequences of what they do, even if they don't care. Akin to these guys: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11476
No. See, computer cracking, unlike most all other technical vocational skills save perhaps demolitions and practical forensics, runs on Narrativium. You either have it or you don't, and thinking that a megacorp outfit could beat a street deck^^H^H^Hhacker is foolish at best.
Seriously though, yes, it can be taught. As in, if you are a good programmer already you could probably get up to speed in a couple of weeks, unless you have some weird mental blocks on the bit twiddling aspects. A "security researcher" additionally needs to be able to grok an arbitrary system just like a good non-security hacker but (importantly) is focused on grokking it just enough to exploit/secure it, which i guess could slow some people down. The core problem is that the information is spread out and unorganized due to the organic growth that led up to the modern "security scene", and making sense of this is what occupied most of my initial time when I tried to get my head around the subject. There are a few good introductory books on the subject (The Art of Exploitation, etc...) and if you're a programmer already they should make you able to sift through the chaos. "The security mindset", effectively instinctive (aggressive) paranoia, helps a bit; but if you have at least a little sense you shouldn't need it. Sorry if I'm rambling, but I woke late today and the concerta (ritalin) hasn't really hit yet. Also, not affiliated with krakowlabs.com, just a freak coincidence.
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HAAALLELUJAH!
HAAALLELUJAH!
HALLELUJAH!
*BOOM*
We can have usably cheap long-range weapons with the destructive powers of nukes but without the long-term risks? The end-of-days religious people must be wetting their pants. Maybe I should call up that old Jehovas pal just to be on the safe side...
Seriously? Is people who think like this a large enough fraction of their market base that they actually feel like they have to appease them?
Does this mean you could construct Batman's body armor in reality? A full-body flexible armor suit like one of those cow-hide things some motorcyclists wear? That would be nice, to say the least. At the moment you're limited to aramid-weave clothing, this takes knives but doesn't stop bullets or blunt force.
A crack team of shadowrunners can't fix.
It *would* lead to revolt, right?
While I agree that democracy isn't the ideal form of government, fascism will not really work while humans are in charge, as humans are. That would take a Deus-Ex-like "philosopher king" scenario with either transhuman rulers/subjects or hard AI or both. Alternatively, the second coming might work to the same effect... Anyone here have any spare nukes and don't mind spending the rest of eternity in a lake of fire? I don't really mock him, though, he seems to be in favor of nuclear power and he doesn't really come off as a total crackpot. And haven't everyone here felt that they really are "surrounded by fools", and that those running the country should at least be better people than themselves? Seeing decision-makers bicker like little children and express racist, egotistic and sexist comments when they think they aren't recorded is really depressing. It sounds to him that he expects that he (and his buddies, perhaps) should just be able to walk up to congress and dictate how things are done. Even if one does subscribe to the idea that the educated elite should make the decisions, with people that are competent in a field making the decisions relevant to their knowledge, actually doing things that way would lead to revolt.
That's not even slanting, that's pure fabrication? And people actually read this?
The movie executives would throw that one right out the window. Like the "human batteries" in the Matrix series? Yeah, in the original script that was a form of distributed organic computing, combined with the machines (actually quite nice?) take on morality by not actually wiping out the human race, but imprisoning them in a dreamworld instead.
Seriously, did anyone else hear the summary in the voice of an old-style B-movie narrator, complete with over-the-top sound effects? This might have creepy implications, one battery powered implant and a bit of training and you could turn anyone into an assassin. But what would happen if you did something heinous, and then turned the implant off? Granted, it seems like this only affects people's ability to judge moral intent, the article doesn't mention anything about losing your morality altogether. Although, the flip side of not being able to judge moral intent might be to do stupidly evil things without being able to intuitively understand the consequences? But the subjects judged the moral outcomes accurately based on the consequences, so perhaps this is just a form of artificially induced utilitarianism? Also, they mention "theory of mind", but before you get all worked up this probably does not correspond to any neurological effect of the autism spectrum... Or perhaps any common naturally occurring brain abnormality?
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/02/20/
Eh... linked directly from the summary. :P
Stuff like that really breaks the immersion. But too realistic emotional reactions would make most games creepy.
Following the "Evil" alignment in the NWN games/DnD in general make you more of a villain protagonist than an anti-hero, really. The neutral choices/alignment "What do I get for my time? I have bulk discounts if it involves more than 50 heads. *lights cig*" is more constructive anti-hero material IMHO.
I don't see how you make that connection? All cases of death from heat stroke I've heard about have been outside of hospitals, usually involving the very old or infants dying in isolation, and from Wikipedia it seems like none of the treatment methods but (in severe cases) hemodialysis require electricity. Not to say that things wouldn't go south quickly if all the hospitals in a region lost power and the supply routes of diesel where cut, of course.
Also, they where hired by the companies themselves to conduct the testing. As a professional, you release only what the client wants/allows you to release, or you're both breaching contract and burning your chances at ever working in the field again, especially with such a high-profile client. Isn't that obvious?
Yeah, I considered that. But who in hell would go to such lengths for harassment? I've researched the methodologies of thieves a bit, and it seems like the basic philosophy is "quick, quiet 'n brutal", even in premeditated home invasions. They don't pick the lock, they drill it open or break a window. And the kind of thieves that would do that don't stick to petty home invasion.
All critical systems have emergency backup generators, and I doubt that major installations requiring bulk power use the same systems for supplying power as homes; the power company probably doesn't want or need the ability to cut power to places like that. Intuitively, it would be like comparing one of those ISP-provided DSL modems/routers to a Cisco backbone router.
You seem to have mistaken the methodology description for the report; the report is basically the slides in the second PDF. The methodology report is obviously written after the research phase but before testing. And there's not really much of anything in there that could be taken as FUD or unprofessional behavior, in my opinion... keeping in mind that I've never worked professionally in the field.
I've read through both PDFs, and they really go into a lot of detail on the experimental methodology. The main thing they seem to be concerned about (and the only vulnerability they detail) are extracting the encryption keys from the meter firmware ("some" meters) and reverse-engineering the command protocol. While this could be a threat, being able to turn off/manipulate individual home meters isn't going to have any far-ranging effects beyond that. It also, obviously, requires a lot of reverse-engineering skill. I'd be more concerned with someone packaging this into a bluebox-style solution for manipulating your own meter, giving you free power? Earlier in the methodology report they talk about IR ports and similar being unsecured due to the perceived unlikelihood of attacking them, but they don't detail anything about that in the presentation PDF. That would be easier to exploit, though, so they might be keeping a lid on the more critical vulns?
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reliquary
This is it, the essential example. It should be plated with gold and kept in a requilary.
I had a teacher like this once. Later in life, when I was reading up on Asperger, I realized she was a textbook case; the world is unpredictable and besides the most shallow emotions people are inscrutable black boxes, so just follow the rules and no one will blame you. I also realized this was basically how I had functioned up to my mid-teens.
It may come off like that, but you missed my point. It's unethical, yes, but it's negligible. That the artist receives no "compensation for his efforts" in my individual case is, to me, irrelevant because of the small sums involved. Like a person walking down the street after me, and finding the candy wrapper offensive to his sensibilities. Even if I where in the same position as the artist/coder (and I expect to be), I wouldn't take action against personal use copyright infringement because even a slightly-harshly worded letter would be ethical overkill. I wouldn't even think about it in terms of individual people; it would (will) be meaningless.
The above words are not a defensive rant, I'm actually trying to convey my view of the ethical issues.
It's probably a gut reaction to the article/summary being written with a humorous slant. As for _my_ ethics, well...
These guys made money by assisting what is effectively digital pickpocketing. Myself, I consider ignoring copyright for personal use about as unethical as throwing a candy wrapper on the street. A million people ignoring copyright for personal use may make certain parts of the arts unviable as career choices, globally, but you cannot place that burden on any one of the infringers. These people basically made magical gloves for lifting cash out of people's pockets, and then sold them to criminals with no other motive than an effective upfront share of the loot. They are directly complicit in theft.
He's either dodging the question, or he really didn't think about what he was doing? Most people in the malware authoring business probably at least understand the consequences of what they do, even if they don't care. Akin to these guys: http://www.securityfocus.com/news/11476
No. See, computer cracking, unlike most all other technical vocational skills save perhaps demolitions and practical forensics, runs on Narrativium. You either have it or you don't, and thinking that a megacorp outfit could beat a street deck^^H^H^Hhacker is foolish at best.
Seriously though, yes, it can be taught. As in, if you are a good programmer already you could probably get up to speed in a couple of weeks, unless you have some weird mental blocks on the bit twiddling aspects. A "security researcher" additionally needs to be able to grok an arbitrary system just like a good non-security hacker but (importantly) is focused on grokking it just enough to exploit/secure it, which i guess could slow some people down. The core problem is that the information is spread out and unorganized due to the organic growth that led up to the modern "security scene", and making sense of this is what occupied most of my initial time when I tried to get my head around the subject. There are a few good introductory books on the subject (The Art of Exploitation, etc...) and if you're a programmer already they should make you able to sift through the chaos. "The security mindset", effectively instinctive (aggressive) paranoia, helps a bit; but if you have at least a little sense you shouldn't need it. Sorry if I'm rambling, but I woke late today and the concerta (ritalin) hasn't really hit yet. Also, not affiliated with krakowlabs.com, just a freak coincidence.