Exactly. I have the skills and equipment to perform basically any modifications required. I don't mod consoles because of the legal liability.
If I'm modding my own for [insert purpose], that's one story. I take the risk of bricking my console and losing $300. That's my choice.
If I'm actively selling the service for cash to strangers, that's another thing altogether. That goes from "personal use" to "commercial purposes with direct financial gain".
You could probably argue a grey area if you're doing it as a personal favour for a friend or family member, but it gets iffy if you're charging them cash.
Playing off backups? Well, if you buy a lamp and knock it over, Wal-Mart doesn't owe you a new lamp.
I think the theoretical minimum is about 3%. That represents people who are piss-poor at finding work, people who are actively transitioning (willing or not) and those just entering the workforce.
Stores in my city are occassionally closed "due to lack of staff".
I've got a Bachelor of Engineering, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies. I had a B average. (6ish out of 9)
I lost my job in January when the place went bankrupt. I got a new gig in April -- making $15k more than that old job and $25k more than my first job when I graduated in 2004.
approach to fighting cell phones. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)
(X) Emergency calls and other legitimate cell uses would be affected ( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money ( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks (X) It will stop callers for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it (X) Users of cell phones will not put up with it (X) Motorola will not put up with it (X) The police will not put up with it ( ) Requires too much cooperation from cell phone users ( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once (X) Many cell users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers ( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
(X) Laws expressly prohibiting it ( ) Profit-minded mentality of wireless carriers (X) RF uses beyond cell phones ( ) Asshats (X) Jurisdictional problems ( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes ( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money ( ) Huge existing infrastucture investment in cell technology ( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than TDFM to attack ( ) Willingness of users to install Flash games on their phones ( ) Armies of worm riddled SMS-hacked cell phones ( ) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches ( ) Extreme profitability of cell phones ( ) Technically illiterate politicians ( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who use cell phones ( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering (X) Facebook
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
(X) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever been shown practical (X) Any scheme based on forced failures is unacceptable (X) Blacklists suck ( ) Whitelists suck ( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored ( ) Countermeasures should not involve phone fraud or credit card fraud (X) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks ( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually ( ) Sending text messages should be free ( ) Why should we have to trust you and your phone company? ( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses ( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem ( ) Temporary/one-time phone numbers are cumbersome (X) I don't want the government listening to my calls ( ) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(X) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work. ( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it. ( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your house down!
2) Our building doesn't have the infrastructure for the other networks - we're civilian contractors.
One could point out that if you're naming names on a public channel that those names aren't particularly secret. My clearance level is sufficient for my work.
Marine One is usually a Sea King. The first deployment dates back to 1961, so the designs are even older than that, and has dozens of flavours.
Could a layperson tell the difference between the plans for the S-61NR (A civilian search-and-rescue model) and the VH-3A The POTUS zips around in? I doubt it. Makes for a good press release, though.
I work with military... stuff. When we have a classified or higher document, it doesn't go on our normal computers, like the one I'm using now. It goes on The Secret Computer, which is in its own room, on no networks, and it requires a key, a passcard, and supervision. Things like USB are locked out. It's a secure station. You can't hack it because there's no access to the device. Social Engineering won't work that well because you've got to be vetted every 5 years to maintain your access. Plus, we're all psychologically tested, have credit checks, and are generally very well looked after.
That is for that rare slice of documentation that is classified and is allowed on a computer. It's a nightmare to get a copy of a classified document -- do you think they would allow you to just hit "print" and get a second (or hundredth) copy? These files are very often (and yes, it's 2009) paper only, sent via special channels. You don't just email Secret documents off to whomever has a.mil email address. Generic workstation + classified document = security violation = jail.
Now, the WHOLE ARTICLE IS BULLSHIT
IT IS A PRESS RELEASE BY A COMPANY THAT STANDS TO MAKE MONEY FROM A MONITORING CONTRACT
Things like the nuclear document are just bullshit. If it's sensitive, it's Classified. If it's not sensitive, it's not. The End. If it was sensitive and improperly declassified, then that's a Monumental Fuckup. You can't say "oh noes nukelar secrets on lemonwire! give us teh monitoring contract!" What are the details, mailing addresses?
(Note for the pedantic: I'm using "Classified" as an umbrella term for anything that requires a security clearance because I didn't feel like typing out the various levels of document classification over and over again.)
Yes, that is all I'm saying. It would just be a DoS.
There's nothing extraordinary going on with what I described, and it certainly doesn't require an iPhone. There are International Laws regulating this sort of behavior already.
Heck, I could build the whole thing from components by adding 2 days onto the time. There's no way a law against doing something with any phone, or even every phone, could prevent me - or people who have my skills - from building something like this. The parts would be easier to trace than a stolen phone programmed by a computer bought for cash at an auction, but that's about it.
Actually, no, on second thought, it wouldn't, because people would panic when they saw the blinking lights and call in the bomb squad.
Actually, I know a lot about this type of system, and they might have a point.
My experience is developing a system for first-responder radios. I am an Electrical Engineer, and one day I found a flaw in the architecture. (I was fired for repeatedly calling the safety of the system into question.) I imagine the system is similar.
There is a simple way to completely fux0r the system with: a) a handheld radio, b) a computer, and c) knowledge of the control channel message layout.
Your cell phone has points a) and b) in one convenient package. It also has point c) inside, as a black box. You don't have to know it if the phone "knows it".
If I had a cell phone, I could probably set it up so that it generated random numbers as its ID and sent that to the control channel repeatedly. I'd guess that it would take me the better part of a day, and then any cell tower within range would be rendered useless because it would spend all day responding to my crapflooding.
I inspect ships for the Navy. That job's not going to be outsourced any time soon; neither could it be a telecommuting job. Someone has to go in and see if the contractor has installed the right stuff in the right place. Someone has to go check out the proposed changes to make sure they can fit into the ship after it's been out at sea and modified by the crew over the last 10 years.
One could, I suppose, point out that if your job is one such that you don't actually have to go in, then the length of the digital tether could reach to India just as well as it could reach to the coffee shop.
"Sycraft-fu had to eat cat food after he lost his job" is believable and could thus be libellous.
"Sycraft-fu eats cats and wears the fur as a decorative suit" is not believable, and can not be considered libel.
This is just a SLAPP*. Since it's in the US, the twittering tenant will be out a few grand defending a frivolous lawsuit. If she sues after the victory, she'll be out even MORE going after her legal costs.
*If I'm misuing the term, sorry. It's not something we have up here. So sue me.
When I was playing Dragon Fire I remember thinking, "well, they're wrapping up every loose end -- this is The Last One." When I realized that, I played it a lot mroe carefully - looking for all the easter eggs, exploring every map, purposefully messing up puzzles and plot devices, all to see what else they'd crammed in there.
Furthermore, QfG got a GOOD ending; one that suited the series. (I'm looking at YOU, King's Quest 8.)
I'm an Engineer, and my logbook must be kept for 6 years after my death for legal reasons. If all goes well, that'll be in 70+ years. It is unlikely at best that anything written on a computer will be readable in that time frame.
In order to fire weapons on a ship, you must physically connect them. That requires a key which is held by the CO / XO. It is physically impossible to breach that with software. The "weak link" is a person with a military career, solid clearances that get reviewed every 5 years, and a substantial pension.
Press the "fire" button or flag all day; without the weapon's physical switch being in the "ACTIVE" position, all you'll get is a big bag of nothing.
That's for a conventional system. I don't have the clearance to even know about how the nuclear systems work. If you think a bit of software would get the nukes to launch, you simply don't know enough about how the systems work.
Good luck tampering with the classified communication system. They make any security measures that you've heard of look like the unsecured free wifi at your local deli.
The 30 minute jog isn't burning calories? The extra bulk in your arms hasn't burned off more fat while you sleep?
I tend to do the fee jog for the first 30 minutes of a movie or TV show. I still can't break 4 stars.
But yes, I attribute the vast majority of the weight loss to biking. That's how I lost the rest of it. My wife does go jogging 3x a week and works out at lunchtime 2x a week.
Stella's injuries wouldn't have been severe if she hadn't allowed the soaked sweat pants to remain in contact with her skin for the 90 seconds she did.
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. I have the skills and equipment to perform basically any modifications required. I don't mod consoles because of the legal liability.
If I'm modding my own for [insert purpose], that's one story. I take the risk of bricking my console and losing $300. That's my choice.
If I'm actively selling the service for cash to strangers, that's another thing altogether. That goes from "personal use" to "commercial purposes with direct financial gain".
You could probably argue a grey area if you're doing it as a personal favour for a friend or family member, but it gets iffy if you're charging them cash.
Playing off backups? Well, if you buy a lamp and knock it over, Wal-Mart doesn't owe you a new lamp.
I think the theoretical minimum is about 3%. That represents people who are piss-poor at finding work, people who are actively transitioning (willing or not) and those just entering the workforce.
Stores in my city are occassionally closed "due to lack of staff".
I've got a Bachelor of Engineering, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies. I had a B average. (6ish out of 9)
I lost my job in January when the place went bankrupt. I got a new gig in April -- making $15k more than that old job and $25k more than my first job when I graduated in 2004.
Yes, it does.
Passive means it's a Faraday cage, meaning it'll work or it won't. It'll block EM radiation.
Firefighters have man-down alarms on their radios. They operate in the VHF range for now, with updates into the 800 MHz UHF band in the near future.
How can I put this... ah, I know!
Your post advocates a
Your post advocates a
(X) technical ( ) legislative ( ) market-based (X) vigilante
approach to fighting cell phones. Your idea will not work. Here is why it won't work. (One or more of the following may apply to your particular idea, and it may have other flaws which used to vary from state to state before a bad federal law was passed.)
(X) Emergency calls and other legitimate cell uses would be affected
( ) No one will be able to find the guy or collect the money
( ) It is defenseless against brute force attacks
(X) It will stop callers for two weeks and then we'll be stuck with it
(X) Users of cell phones will not put up with it
(X) Motorola will not put up with it
(X) The police will not put up with it
( ) Requires too much cooperation from cell phone users
( ) Requires immediate total cooperation from everybody at once
(X) Many cell users cannot afford to lose business or alienate potential employers
( ) Anyone could anonymously destroy anyone else's career or business
Specifically, your plan fails to account for
(X) Laws expressly prohibiting it
( ) Profit-minded mentality of wireless carriers
(X) RF uses beyond cell phones
( ) Asshats
(X) Jurisdictional problems
( ) Unpopularity of weird new taxes
( ) Public reluctance to accept weird new forms of money
( ) Huge existing infrastucture investment in cell technology
( ) Susceptibility of protocols other than TDFM to attack
( ) Willingness of users to install Flash games on their phones
( ) Armies of worm riddled SMS-hacked cell phones
( ) Eternal arms race involved in all filtering approaches
( ) Extreme profitability of cell phones
( ) Technically illiterate politicians
( ) Extreme stupidity on the part of people who use cell phones
( ) Bandwidth costs that are unaffected by client filtering
(X) Facebook
and the following philosophical objections may also apply:
(X) Ideas similar to yours are easy to come up with, yet none have ever
been shown practical
(X) Any scheme based on forced failures is unacceptable
(X) Blacklists suck
( ) Whitelists suck
( ) We should be able to talk about Viagra without being censored
( ) Countermeasures should not involve phone fraud or credit card fraud
(X) Countermeasures should not involve sabotage of public networks
( ) Countermeasures must work if phased in gradually
( ) Sending text messages should be free
( ) Why should we have to trust you and your phone company?
( ) Incompatiblity with open source or open source licenses
( ) Feel-good measures do nothing to solve the problem
( ) Temporary/one-time phone numbers are cumbersome
(X) I don't want the government listening to my calls
( ) Killing them that way is not slow and painful enough
Furthermore, this is what I think about you:
(X) Sorry dude, but I don't think it would work.
( ) This is a stupid idea, and you're a stupid person for suggesting it.
( ) Nice try, assh0le! I'm going to find out where you live and burn your
house down!
Great!
Your movie theater will burn to the ground when it catches fire because the FD will not enter a building where there are known radio problems.
RF is a vital link, and thinking that cellphones are the only thing that uses the link is stupid at best.
Just get the teachers to TAKE AWAY THE DAMNED PHONE if there's an issue.
Maybe Firefly was too close to the truth...
"[Shut down Firefly or we wipe out the planet.]"
"[What? It's a good show, and the ratings are...]"
"[NOW!]"
Joss Whedon doomed us all with Serenity.
Two things:
1) I oversimplify for /.
2) Our building doesn't have the infrastructure for the other networks - we're civilian contractors.
One could point out that if you're naming names on a public channel that those names aren't particularly secret. My clearance level is sufficient for my work.
Marine One is usually a Sea King. The first deployment dates back to 1961, so the designs are even older than that, and has dozens of flavours.
Could a layperson tell the difference between the plans for the S-61NR (A civilian search-and-rescue model) and the VH-3A The POTUS zips around in? I doubt it. Makes for a good press release, though.
I work with military ... stuff. When we have a classified or higher document, it doesn't go on our normal computers, like the one I'm using now. It goes on The Secret Computer, which is in its own room, on no networks, and it requires a key, a passcard, and supervision. Things like USB are locked out. It's a secure station. You can't hack it because there's no access to the device. Social Engineering won't work that well because you've got to be vetted every 5 years to maintain your access. Plus, we're all psychologically tested, have credit checks, and are generally very well looked after.
That is for that rare slice of documentation that is classified and is allowed on a computer. It's a nightmare to get a copy of a classified document -- do you think they would allow you to just hit "print" and get a second (or hundredth) copy? These files are very often (and yes, it's 2009) paper only, sent via special channels. You don't just email Secret documents off to whomever has a .mil email address. Generic workstation + classified document = security violation = jail.
Now, the WHOLE ARTICLE IS BULLSHIT
IT IS A PRESS RELEASE BY A COMPANY THAT STANDS TO MAKE MONEY FROM A MONITORING CONTRACT
Things like the nuclear document are just bullshit. If it's sensitive, it's Classified. If it's not sensitive, it's not. The End. If it was sensitive and improperly declassified, then that's a Monumental Fuckup. You can't say "oh noes nukelar secrets on lemonwire! give us teh monitoring contract!" What are the details, mailing addresses?
(Note for the pedantic: I'm using "Classified" as an umbrella term for anything that requires a security clearance because I didn't feel like typing out the various levels of document classification over and over again.)
I didn't even HINT that the system would be legal.
You'd be looking at serious fines and jail time when you got caught.
Yes, that is all I'm saying. It would just be a DoS.
There's nothing extraordinary going on with what I described, and it certainly doesn't require an iPhone. There are International Laws regulating this sort of behavior already.
Heck, I could build the whole thing from components by adding 2 days onto the time. There's no way a law against doing something with any phone, or even every phone, could prevent me - or people who have my skills - from building something like this. The parts would be easier to trace than a stolen phone programmed by a computer bought for cash at an auction, but that's about it.
Actually, no, on second thought, it wouldn't, because people would panic when they saw the blinking lights and call in the bomb squad.
And besides - if every AT&T tower melted into a heap of slag tomorrow, wouldn't we all be cheering?
That wouldn't scare the fuck out of you?
Actually, I know a lot about this type of system, and they might have a point.
My experience is developing a system for first-responder radios. I am an Electrical Engineer, and one day I found a flaw in the architecture. (I was fired for repeatedly calling the safety of the system into question.) I imagine the system is similar.
There is a simple way to completely fux0r the system with:
a) a handheld radio,
b) a computer, and
c) knowledge of the control channel message layout.
Your cell phone has points a) and b) in one convenient package. It also has point c) inside, as a black box. You don't have to know it if the phone "knows it".
If I had a cell phone, I could probably set it up so that it generated random numbers as its ID and sent that to the control channel repeatedly. I'd guess that it would take me the better part of a day, and then any cell tower within range would be rendered useless because it would spend all day responding to my crapflooding.
That's with one phone.
I draw the line at complete rat genocide.*
After all, you've got to leave at least one breeding pair so you can restock for the next round of experiments.
*I don't know if "genocide" applies to rats but I think you get the idea.
I inspect ships for the Navy. That job's not going to be outsourced any time soon; neither could it be a telecommuting job. Someone has to go in and see if the contractor has installed the right stuff in the right place. Someone has to go check out the proposed changes to make sure they can fit into the ship after it's been out at sea and modified by the crew over the last 10 years.
One could, I suppose, point out that if your job is one such that you don't actually have to go in, then the length of the digital tether could reach to India just as well as it could reach to the coffee shop.
The statement must also be believable.
"Sycraft-fu had to eat cat food after he lost his job" is believable and could thus be libellous.
"Sycraft-fu eats cats and wears the fur as a decorative suit" is not believable, and can not be considered libel.
This is just a SLAPP*. Since it's in the US, the twittering tenant will be out a few grand defending a frivolous lawsuit. If she sues after the victory, she'll be out even MORE going after her legal costs.
*If I'm misuing the term, sorry. It's not something we have up here. So sue me.
At least QfG got an ending.
When I was playing Dragon Fire I remember thinking, "well, they're wrapping up every loose end -- this is The Last One." When I realized that, I played it a lot mroe carefully - looking for all the easter eggs, exploring every map, purposefully messing up puzzles and plot devices, all to see what else they'd crammed in there.
Furthermore, QfG got a GOOD ending; one that suited the series. (I'm looking at YOU, King's Quest 8.)
No, not from 1860.
Heh, yes, I'm using acid-free paper.
Thanks for the heads-up, though -- it's appreciated.
Nope, I can't use a printer. Good thinking, but it just won't suit legal criteria.
I am required to use a bound book. That means that pages cannot be added or removed without making it obvious.
I keep my weekly logbook in cursive writing.
I'm an Engineer, and my logbook must be kept for 6 years after my death for legal reasons. If all goes well, that'll be in 70+ years. It is unlikely at best that anything written on a computer will be readable in that time frame.
... I understand people don't read the articles, but did you even bother to read the summary?
I DONT READ THE ANYTHING I JUST POST PANICY THINGS IN THE HOEPS THAT SOMEONE REACTS.
please justify my existence.
Thank you. That's exactly right.
In order to fire weapons on a ship, you must physically connect them. That requires a key which is held by the CO / XO. It is physically impossible to breach that with software. The "weak link" is a person with a military career, solid clearances that get reviewed every 5 years, and a substantial pension.
Press the "fire" button or flag all day; without the weapon's physical switch being in the "ACTIVE" position, all you'll get is a big bag of nothing.
That's for a conventional system. I don't have the clearance to even know about how the nuclear systems work. If you think a bit of software would get the nukes to launch, you simply don't know enough about how the systems work.
Good luck tampering with the classified communication system. They make any security measures that you've heard of look like the unsecured free wifi at your local deli.
The 30 minute jog isn't burning calories? The extra bulk in your arms hasn't burned off more fat while you sleep?
I tend to do the fee jog for the first 30 minutes of a movie or TV show. I still can't break 4 stars.
But yes, I attribute the vast majority of the weight loss to biking. That's how I lost the rest of it. My wife does go jogging 3x a week and works out at lunchtime 2x a week.
Stella's injuries wouldn't have been severe if she hadn't allowed the soaked sweat pants to remain in contact with her skin for the 90 seconds she did.
Old people move slower.