One thing that would prevent the dissemination of fingerprints to authorities would be to hash the output of the mathematical fingerprint transform. Like passwords on a Linux box, a hash will (almost always) allow an instance of a fingerprint to be matched to a person without giving the exact fingerprint itself. In addition, don't store any other data about the person. To resolve late fines/missing books, require all graduating students to go to the library one last time and get a sort of "This person returned all their stuff" slip signed by a librarian (which, of course, would require said person to return all their books and pay their fines).
OnStar themselves can do several things like disable your engine, track your car, open the doors, etc. I would expect that it's theoretically possible (though unlikely) that a person could hack into your car via that method. It would certainly be quite a feat of hacking, but I believe it is possible.
I don't think it is either an "awesome museum" or "crappy amusement park." I would call it an awesome fun-house/jungle-gym with some museum qualities about it. If you would stop running & climbing like crazy for a second and look around, a lot of older industrial themes are present. Add two jet fighters and other add-ons and it definitely has a bit of a museum air about it. It is definitely not the type of museum that you would visit to learn a lot about a given topic (maybe in this case the limitations of your body). However, compared to other amusement parks, the value of admission is well worth it (personal experience). Just bring sturdy clothes and schedule a massage for the next day.
I think they should go for statistical rigorousness with this one. You need a large sample size to invoke the "Law of Large Numbers." I am all in favor of additional boobquake days to help formulate a theory.
An alternative to the PIC is Texas Instrument's MSP430. It is a pretty good target for C, USB-based developer kits run for $20 for regular boards & $50 for boards with wireless transmitters, and one of the cooler things is that it is meant to run off of two AAA batteries.
There is a related technology that shows great promise for rural medicine, especially in poor and remote places. The concept is based around a small, chemically-treated piece of paper (okay, not technically just a piece of paper, but it helps to visualize it that way) about the size of a postage stamp. A small sample of urine or blood (depending on the type of test) is placed on a receptor point and the blood is sucked across traces to several pads with special chemicals. These chemicals act as basic tests. For example, two urine tests could be for glucose levels and protein levels. The pads will change colors across a spectrum, giving a range of possible readings for each test. The pad can then be photographed with, say, a cellphone with a higher-resolution camera, then that picture can be sent to a computer elsewhere for analysis. The tests themselves are ridiculously cheap compared to typical 1st-world lab tests.
I wonder if this can somehow be extended to other forms of data scrubbing besides two-dimensional color images. I've got a waveform capture of a really small, and really noisy, electric motor current that I want scrubbed without losing the shape I think I'm supposed to get out of it.
That works on drag racers (the kind that are dozens of feet long and have engines that put out thousands of horsepower, not simply people with average cars driving in a straight line). They spin their tires to both lay down rubber and to heat the tires. The average street racer gets no straight-line acceleration/speed benefit from spinning tires.
Small addendum: some cars have enough power to spin any set of tires when the driver stomps his foot down. One point of skill for people who own such cars is to be able to launch your car from a halt as fast as you can without spinning the tires.
And a bunch of us (well, technically I'm an EE, but still a fan od Porsche) who do like Porsche consider their latest two hybrids (see also the Cayenne) to be sort of a "sell out." Then again, they've been breaking from their expected image a lot in the past decade: an SUV, two hybrids, a {gasp} 4-door (see Panamera).Whatever is this world coming to?
One alternative to consider, as unlikely as it may be, is this: China [already] has a really bad rep among the online communities for openness and free speech. Some third party comes along, having assembled a botnet, and wants to further smear China's name. So they tell their botnet to attack the webpages of those who oppose China's rights abuses. The world assumes it was China and hates them all the more.
Now, before a flood of hate-replies come, let me say a few things. (1) It is less likely than not that the above scenario happened. Anyone wanting to oppose China's rights abuses wouldn't attack those pages. ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality.) The perpetrator would have to hate China but not care about the rights abuses. (2) I personally think that China is responsible. This post is just a small attempt to keep people thinking rationally instead of letting their emotions take over completely. (3) We probably will never truly figure out who really did it anyways.
Another point of how the social contract affects us is privacy laws. Many of the laws regarding a person's privacy are based upon a "reasonable expectation of privacy." With the popularity of social networking and other web-based activities, I believe that the amount of "expected privacy" is going down over time. How soon before it's expected that you have no privacy (and the laws change in the government's favor to reflect that)?
It could very well be deliberate that they are making identity theft easier. Think of this scenario: political blogger U. B. Scammin posts something about how Pres. L is promoting bad stuff (oppression of free speech, unlawful arrests, whatever else he's done in the past, just pick something). He posts on a blog. Instead of just the standard arrest/torture/execution or whatever, Pres. L decided to get back at the person and ruin their life. He sends one of his agents to find Scammin's account number and then go do horrible things with it (con little old ladies from their life's savings, host sites of kiddie porn, pick something). Now wait a little bit, then expose his "horrible actions" to the public. Instant shame and a good excuse to lock him up.
I've read several of the posts so far and have noticed a few people relating how this is no different from Western countries, that there is a great similarity between them. I do not profess to be an expert of law in any country, but I did notice one difference with regards to current US law:
With Belarus, you are automatically tracked. Once you do something, it's logged and [probably] viewed by the authorities. In the US there is a slight difference: in order for a law enforcement agency to observe the activity of a specific person, they [usually and ideally] have to subpoena it or provide a warrant for the information to an ISP. This is an extra protection of rights offered in the US that is not apparently offered in Belarus.
( Yes, I acknowledge that certain agencies {cough}...NSA...{cough} have the capability to and probably do go around the system anyways. And yes, due to the amendments to FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), they can monitor the public as a whole as long as they are not targeting a specific person (i.e. looking for something rather than someone). )
Quite so. A good topic to research (in addition to side-channel attacks) for more information on is TEMPEST (protecting against "spurious emmisions" that may leak information). From there you can find information on many, many methods of side-channel attacks. Examples include measuring the emag field from keyboard presses, monitoring CPU times & power consumptions, reading screens in reflections, and many more.
Again, this article highlights that all the software in the world can't protect against some hardware attacks. (For example, a hardware keylogger between the keyboard and the computer.)
The manufacturing of said batteries, in addition to being expensive (working against the return-on-investment aspect of the house battery), is rather detrimental to the environment (kind of like solar cells, especially the old ones). One has to wonder whether building and using this system will result in a net benefit to the environment, let alone your pocket.
Well, Congress is moving towards banning the production of incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact flourescent bulbs (and LED bulbs, but they're a bit further away from practicality). Indeed, whatever will be next?
A little addendum: the final fine may vary from the stated amount. According to the document, the maximum fine may be increased to twice the amount illegally gained by the company or twice the amount of loss suffered by the victims. While 860 million USD seems a bit low, I expect the final number to be higher. (Or the given number could be a sort of "plea bargain" amount. I'm not sure.)
Kernel Butler: Would you like a defragmentation this evening, sir? Document: No thank you. I would however like an integrity scan. Kernel Butler: Right away sir. Anything for Mrs. Backup? Backup: No thank you. I just got all my bits redone at the BZip2 fitness center. I've been trying to watch my size and nothing's been working until - Document: Oh, do be quiet. You've been prattling on about your size for ages. Nothing's wrong with size. I've just cleared 1MB and I'm none the worse for it. Kernel Butler: Anything else, sir or madame? Document: No, that will be all. Kernel Butler: Thank you. I will schedule your scan immediately, sir. Goodnight.
Slashdot Mirror
One thing that would prevent the dissemination of fingerprints to authorities would be to hash the output of the mathematical fingerprint transform. Like passwords on a Linux box, a hash will (almost always) allow an instance of a fingerprint to be matched to a person without giving the exact fingerprint itself. In addition, don't store any other data about the person. To resolve late fines/missing books, require all graduating students to go to the library one last time and get a sort of "This person returned all their stuff" slip signed by a librarian (which, of course, would require said person to return all their books and pay their fines).
(Am I missing anything?)
OnStar themselves can do several things like disable your engine, track your car, open the doors, etc. I would expect that it's theoretically possible (though unlikely) that a person could hack into your car via that method. It would certainly be quite a feat of hacking, but I believe it is possible.
You'll certainly appreciate the sedative effects of the alcohol after you've spent more than a few hours there.
I don't think it is either an "awesome museum" or "crappy amusement park." I would call it an awesome fun-house/jungle-gym with some museum qualities about it. If you would stop running & climbing like crazy for a second and look around, a lot of older industrial themes are present. Add two jet fighters and other add-ons and it definitely has a bit of a museum air about it. It is definitely not the type of museum that you would visit to learn a lot about a given topic (maybe in this case the limitations of your body). However, compared to other amusement parks, the value of admission is well worth it (personal experience). Just bring sturdy clothes and schedule a massage for the next day.
I think they should go for statistical rigorousness with this one. You need a large sample size to invoke the "Law of Large Numbers." I am all in favor of additional boobquake days to help formulate a theory.
Sheeple
An alternative to the PIC is Texas Instrument's MSP430. It is a pretty good target for C, USB-based developer kits run for $20 for regular boards & $50 for boards with wireless transmitters, and one of the cooler things is that it is meant to run off of two AAA batteries.
http://focus.ti.com/docs/toolsw/folders/print/ez430-rf2500.html
There is a related technology that shows great promise for rural medicine, especially in poor and remote places. The concept is based around a small, chemically-treated piece of paper (okay, not technically just a piece of paper, but it helps to visualize it that way) about the size of a postage stamp. A small sample of urine or blood (depending on the type of test) is placed on a receptor point and the blood is sucked across traces to several pads with special chemicals. These chemicals act as basic tests. For example, two urine tests could be for glucose levels and protein levels. The pads will change colors across a spectrum, giving a range of possible readings for each test. The pad can then be photographed with, say, a cellphone with a higher-resolution camera, then that picture can be sent to a computer elsewhere for analysis. The tests themselves are ridiculously cheap compared to typical 1st-world lab tests.
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_whitesides_a_lab_the_size_of_a_postage_stamp.html
They call that a service pack?
Remember who "they" is. Of course they call it a service pack. Wouldn't want any expectations raised now, would they?
Alright. So who wants to put down bets on how many service packs are eventually released for 7?
The F1 key threat isn't that bad. It's the power button that creates a real vulnerability.
Another one bites the dust...
Good for them, but I still don't see a noticeable reduction in my spam mail. Gotta keep working at it, guys.
I wonder if this can somehow be extended to other forms of data scrubbing besides two-dimensional color images. I've got a waveform capture of a really small, and really noisy, electric motor current that I want scrubbed without losing the shape I think I'm supposed to get out of it.
That works on drag racers (the kind that are dozens of feet long and have engines that put out thousands of horsepower, not simply people with average cars driving in a straight line). They spin their tires to both lay down rubber and to heat the tires. The average street racer gets no straight-line acceleration/speed benefit from spinning tires.
Small addendum: some cars have enough power to spin any set of tires when the driver stomps his foot down. One point of skill for people who own such cars is to be able to launch your car from a halt as fast as you can without spinning the tires.
And a bunch of us (well, technically I'm an EE, but still a fan od Porsche) who do like Porsche consider their latest two hybrids (see also the Cayenne) to be sort of a "sell out." Then again, they've been breaking from their expected image a lot in the past decade: an SUV, two hybrids, a {gasp} 4-door (see Panamera).Whatever is this world coming to?
One alternative to consider, as unlikely as it may be, is this: China [already] has a really bad rep among the online communities for openness and free speech. Some third party comes along, having assembled a botnet, and wants to further smear China's name. So they tell their botnet to attack the webpages of those who oppose China's rights abuses. The world assumes it was China and hates them all the more.
Now, before a flood of hate-replies come, let me say a few things. (1) It is less likely than not that the above scenario happened. Anyone wanting to oppose China's rights abuses wouldn't attack those pages. ("The enemy of my enemy is my friend" mentality.) The perpetrator would have to hate China but not care about the rights abuses. (2) I personally think that China is responsible. This post is just a small attempt to keep people thinking rationally instead of letting their emotions take over completely. (3) We probably will never truly figure out who really did it anyways.
Another point of how the social contract affects us is privacy laws. Many of the laws regarding a person's privacy are based upon a "reasonable expectation of privacy." With the popularity of social networking and other web-based activities, I believe that the amount of "expected privacy" is going down over time. How soon before it's expected that you have no privacy (and the laws change in the government's favor to reflect that)?
It could very well be deliberate that they are making identity theft easier. Think of this scenario: political blogger U. B. Scammin posts something about how Pres. L is promoting bad stuff (oppression of free speech, unlawful arrests, whatever else he's done in the past, just pick something). He posts on a blog. Instead of just the standard arrest/torture/execution or whatever, Pres. L decided to get back at the person and ruin their life. He sends one of his agents to find Scammin's account number and then go do horrible things with it (con little old ladies from their life's savings, host sites of kiddie porn, pick something). Now wait a little bit, then expose his "horrible actions" to the public. Instant shame and a good excuse to lock him up.
I've read several of the posts so far and have noticed a few people relating how this is no different from Western countries, that there is a great similarity between them. I do not profess to be an expert of law in any country, but I did notice one difference with regards to current US law:
With Belarus, you are automatically tracked. Once you do something, it's logged and [probably] viewed by the authorities. In the US there is a slight difference: in order for a law enforcement agency to observe the activity of a specific person, they [usually and ideally] have to subpoena it or provide a warrant for the information to an ISP. This is an extra protection of rights offered in the US that is not apparently offered in Belarus.
( Yes, I acknowledge that certain agencies {cough} ...NSA...{cough} have the capability to and probably do go around the system anyways. And yes, due to the amendments to FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), they can monitor the public as a whole as long as they are not targeting a specific person (i.e. looking for something rather than someone). )
Quite so. A good topic to research (in addition to side-channel attacks) for more information on is TEMPEST (protecting against "spurious emmisions" that may leak information). From there you can find information on many, many methods of side-channel attacks. Examples include measuring the emag field from keyboard presses, monitoring CPU times & power consumptions, reading screens in reflections, and many more.
Again, this article highlights that all the software in the world can't protect against some hardware attacks. (For example, a hardware keylogger between the keyboard and the computer.)
The manufacturing of said batteries, in addition to being expensive (working against the return-on-investment aspect of the house battery), is rather detrimental to the environment (kind of like solar cells, especially the old ones). One has to wonder whether building and using this system will result in a net benefit to the environment, let alone your pocket.
Well, Congress is moving towards banning the production of incandescent light bulbs in favor of compact flourescent bulbs (and LED bulbs, but they're a bit further away from practicality). Indeed, whatever will be next?
A little addendum: the final fine may vary from the stated amount. According to the document, the maximum fine may be increased to twice the amount illegally gained by the company or twice the amount of loss suffered by the victims. While 860 million USD seems a bit low, I expect the final number to be higher. (Or the given number could be a sort of "plea bargain" amount. I'm not sure.)
perfect environment for electronic documents
Kernel Butler: Would you like a defragmentation this evening, sir?
Document: No thank you. I would however like an integrity scan.
Kernel Butler: Right away sir. Anything for Mrs. Backup?
Backup: No thank you. I just got all my bits redone at the BZip2 fitness center. I've been trying to watch my size and nothing's been working until -
Document: Oh, do be quiet. You've been prattling on about your size for ages. Nothing's wrong with size. I've just cleared 1MB and I'm none the worse for it.
Kernel Butler: Anything else, sir or madame?
Document: No, that will be all.
Kernel Butler: Thank you. I will schedule your scan immediately, sir. Goodnight.