There's a joke which goes something like this, I'm not sure of it's origins, but I heard it as a local (russian) one, so it might not be only a USAF rule.
A cadet in an air force school is trying to pass an exam and gets the following question: "What must a strategic bomber's pilot do upon receiving a Code Red announcement?" After some thinking, he paradoxically replies, "Go to sleep!" "Why?!" "According to the regulations, strategic bomber's pilot must have at least eight hours sleep before takeoff."
You are completely right, however, I'm keeping a watch on this story with Feedster. So far, it has been retold about five times, and in two of them, the actual cause of the problem was not clear. Next cycle, the cause will be totally omitted. Next cycle, all references to the original story will be lost... In a few more cycles DDR will be cited as the primary cause, mark my words.
DDR is a good game, and not only for kids. But journalists will do anything to be seen as the saviors of society from evil.
Or at least, just about everybody did until DivX came about and necessitated the distinction because they wouldn't play without installing the codec - and many people do to this date.
Re:Obligatory Credit Card Fraud Quote
on
RFID MasterCard
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· Score: 1
It's been reported on the news a few times - a police truck with a camera and a laptop inside it can check the whole set of plates moving through it's stakeout. There are no stationary systems for the purpose though. It reportedly allowed to find quite a few stolen cars already.
This is probably not that much of a bad thing, IF the data is not kept for eternity after being collected, I'd say. And I don't know if that is the case.
Why? Oh, simple. I've long since realised that people who want to make sure my cellphone is unusable, either by taking it away from me or jamming or whatever are my sworn enemies. Now it gets proven to me again - this time, not on personal experience.
My folks just got scammed out of a rather large sum of money solely by the virtue of someone posing as a law official and convincing my brother to turn off his cellphone - with undeniable malicious intent, since they used this fact to convince my father that his son's in trouble and he can help by providing the aforementioned sum.
This was, in the current circumstances, quite a plausible story they told. And it was trivial to confirm it or deny by merely calling my brother on his cellphone.
And that was the thing that was made impossible by turning the thing off!
The instant I see a jamming device like this one, I'll jam something sharp into it. My cellphone is first and foremost the device I need to call for help. People who stop me from calling for help are my enemies.
Thankfully there's an equal number of annoying laws that don't contradict the constitution, but nobody gives a flying fuck about enforcing them either. In the end, so far, it's been kind of a balance. It probably won't be for all that much longer though.
P.S. They just turned the encryption off. No 'wiretapping' took place, since if they had switchboard access, they wouldn't need to turn off encryption.:) Just radio.
Yes, there is such an "ukaz", number 334, which means just a president's decree. It demands using only certified encryption in any communications with the government and in any communications with the central bank (which is the part that gets executed) and demands to prohibit any unlicensed crypto for anyone. (which is the part that is supposed to get executed somehow, but isn't) You see, an "ukaz" is not really a law per se - the president does not have direct lawmaking powers in this country. It can only directly affect organisations subservient to the government. There's also the FAPSI law which creates FAPSI and mentions licensing and certifying encryption, essentially giving FAPSI some power over encryption use in general. This clause, however, is very much open to interpretation, which interpretation, so far, is largely missing as well.
Unlike the constitution, neither of these two is a direct action legal truth - and the 334 ukaz also directly contradicts the constitution, making it essentially invalid in the parts where it does. This makes Russian encryption law, what little there is of it, a complete legal fiction, totally ignored in practice. For the fiction to become reality, specific regulations must be issued, which, so far, have failed to materialise. You cannot get anyone busted for using SSL until clear regulations exist detailing when and how this is to be done. (The constitution's supposed to be direct-acting legal reality, but in practice it isn't - for example, it allows alternative non-military service for those eligible for draft if they cannot do army service for whatever reason. It took quite a few years for appropriate regulations to show up, and they still aren't executed a lot of the time.)
For government insititutions, yes. Government-owned corporations may only use certified encryption technology, and only GOST is certified. (It's not a bad standard for strong private-key encryption, but not very popular either.)
It is not clear if the specified regulations actually apply to private citizens or to private-owned companies, but there is no article in Penal Code about illegal use of encryption. It is clear that this law (as well as many other evil laws) was never actually enforced. (Thank God!) The fact that everybody, including government, uses SSL in daily practice due to using existing OS and browser software incorporating it is quietly ignored.
In real life, unless you actually find anyone getting busted for this, you should ignore the rumors and use crypto if you feel you need it. Practice is much more of a criterion than written law in this country. For example, there's no law prohibiting the usage of GPS devices for purposes other than construction work, but people do get in trouble for using them anyway, on the grounds of misinterpretation of the existing regulations - like the absurd notion that all geographical coordinates more precise than 200 meters are classified.
You, gentlemen, are suspiciously easy to terrify. Here in Moscow we had people blow up houses and subway cars, fast food joints and phone booths, we had hostages taken on a musical showing, people call in with bomb threats every other day, but I hardly see anyone at all terrified to sleep at night or ride a subway, or eat a big mac, or go to a theater, and nobody even shrugs anymore when there's another bomb threat.
That might be very irrelevant, but somehow I feel it's very to the point. If you are terrified of a single guy with a trojan just because he caused ten to twenty more 911 calls out of thousands, I guess he could be a terrorist, alright...
You haven't been to Moscow in a while, have you?:)
You have to carry your papers always in this city for the last five years or so, without an ID you can end up in loads upon loads of trouble. That's the way the city government keeps out illegal immigrants.
Oh, there's a good point though - they don't call people "comrade" any more.
RF implies radio frequency. One interesting homebrew radio project that I've discussed back in the days when I was more into wielding the soldering iron than I am now, was a handheld single-use jamming grenade, protected from tampering and disarming by a thermite charge. By putting together numbers and some chip parts we figured that we could put a watt or two power, maybe more, into the air in the frequency ranges we want, and effectively disrupt the communications we desired for a few hours. We didn't get to the practical experimentation stage however, mostly because we didn't have a good use for the thing at the time - we were more interested in listening to signals than jamming them.
Now, from what I understand, the frequencies RFID tags can use to transmit information are more or less specific, due to antenna constructions and sizes. Suppose we have such jamming devices in abundance - they can be made from totally innocent parts. Can they be used to protect yourself from scanning? Can they be used to disrupt scanning on a larger scale?
There's a very specific reason - Bruce Campbell is one of the very few actors in modern american cinema capable of portraying a goofy protagonist the RIGHT way.
It is a rare and treasured by many character stereotype, which requires special skills and some very important personal qualities few people posess. That leads to people who do this best concentrating in a large part on those kind of roles. For example, Onosaka Masaya, a japanese voice actor for animation, is best known for his roles of Icchan (Angelic Layer), Vash the Stampede (Trigun) and Takakura Takeo (Mahou Tsukai Tai) all of which are major characters, sometimes leads, who combine being serious and funny in a seemingly incompatible ways.
Bruce Campbell can do that too, do that well, and from time to time, he does, and these are the movies for which he is remembered most. Judging by what was said in this news posting, I suspect this new movie won't be the last among them.
And you can't forget that being so witty as he is on his own website commands some admiration also.:)
Oh yes. I had a combo TV+VCR once. The VCR segment died. TV segment didn't work until we pulled the thing apart and unplugged every wire that went to the VCR segment.:)
Seriously, this is interesting, but I can't help but wonder if there's a future in such appliance-like combo devices. Unlike the honest-to-god simple game consoles, which survive through their software, these seem to go obsolete much quicker.
Back in my regular lecture-listening years, I used to skip the lectures in their entirety for most if not all of the year, instead devoting time to things which actually enhanced my capabilities perceptively. Like hanging out with the professors, talking to them about their research, helping them get the paperwork ready and understanding how they do this whole thing. Gave me an entirely different perspective on what science is and how is it actually done, by the way.
I used to come to the exams on the first day, pilfer lecture notes from those who have already passed, study them overnight and then come in the next day. If they did not notice they see me for the first time in the term, I'd pass with flying colors.
Funny thing is, it often turned out the next year that I know the subject better than most of those who sat through the whole lecture cycle.
Only Windows software is described on the site. I wonder, what will happen when Win crashes or locks up (which happens invariably to me at least) and the user won't even be able to push the reset button?
But that's beside the point. Since you have already had hands-on experience with the device and the company that sells it, could you tell if they will provide low-level technical documentation, so that it would be possible to make use of that in Linux? That sounds like one of those projects I've always been drooling over doing but lacked appropriate hardware.
Well, maybe not soviet, but in Russian copyright law any contract clause that restricts the creator from creating any kind of works in the future is plain illegal. Says so in the law in plain text.
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A system which uses a camera and a program to recognise other cameras with a few lasers under it's control would be possible though.
There's a joke which goes something like this, I'm not sure of it's origins, but I heard it as a local (russian) one, so it might not be only a USAF rule.
A cadet in an air force school is trying to pass an exam and gets the following question:
"What must a strategic bomber's pilot do upon receiving a Code Red announcement?"
After some thinking, he paradoxically replies, "Go to sleep!"
"Why?!"
"According to the regulations, strategic bomber's pilot must have at least eight hours sleep before takeoff."
You are completely right, however, I'm keeping a watch on this story with Feedster. So far, it has been retold about five times, and in two of them, the actual cause of the problem was not clear. Next cycle, the cause will be totally omitted. Next cycle, all references to the original story will be lost... In a few more cycles DDR will be cited as the primary cause, mark my words.
DDR is a good game, and not only for kids. But journalists will do anything to be seen as the saviors of society from evil.
Or at least, just about everybody did until DivX came about and necessitated the distinction because they wouldn't play without installing the codec - and many people do to this date.
Where's that from, though?
It's been reported on the news a few times - a police truck with a camera and a laptop inside it can check the whole set of plates moving through it's stakeout. There are no stationary systems for the purpose though. It reportedly allowed to find quite a few stolen cars already.
This is probably not that much of a bad thing, IF the data is not kept for eternity after being collected, I'd say. And I don't know if that is the case.
Why? Oh, simple. I've long since realised that people who want to make sure my cellphone is unusable, either by taking it away from me or jamming or whatever are my sworn enemies. Now it gets proven to me again - this time, not on personal experience.
My folks just got scammed out of a rather large sum of money solely by the virtue of someone posing as a law official and convincing my brother to turn off his cellphone - with undeniable malicious intent, since they used this fact to convince my father that his son's in trouble and he can help by providing the aforementioned sum.
This was, in the current circumstances, quite a plausible story they told. And it was trivial to confirm it or deny by merely calling my brother on his cellphone.
And that was the thing that was made impossible by turning the thing off!
The instant I see a jamming device like this one, I'll jam something sharp into it. My cellphone is first and foremost the device I need to call for help. People who stop me from calling for help are my enemies.
Simple, trivial logic.
Thankfully there's an equal number of annoying laws that don't contradict the constitution, but nobody gives a flying fuck about enforcing them either.
:) Just radio.
In the end, so far, it's been kind of a balance. It probably won't be for all that much longer though.
P.S. They just turned the encryption off. No 'wiretapping' took place, since if they had switchboard access, they wouldn't need to turn off encryption.
Yes, there is such an "ukaz", number 334, which means just a president's decree. It demands using only certified encryption in any communications with the government and in any communications with the central bank (which is the part that gets executed) and demands to prohibit any unlicensed crypto for anyone. (which is the part that is supposed to get executed somehow, but isn't) You see, an "ukaz" is not really a law per se - the president does not have direct lawmaking powers in this country. It can only directly affect organisations subservient to the government. There's also the FAPSI law which creates FAPSI and mentions licensing and certifying encryption, essentially giving FAPSI some power over encryption use in general. This clause, however, is very much open to interpretation, which interpretation, so far, is largely missing as well.
Unlike the constitution, neither of these two is a direct action legal truth - and the 334 ukaz also directly contradicts the constitution, making it essentially invalid in the parts where it does. This makes Russian encryption law, what little there is of it, a complete legal fiction, totally ignored in practice. For the fiction to become reality, specific regulations must be issued, which, so far, have failed to materialise. You cannot get anyone busted for using SSL until clear regulations exist detailing when and how this is to be done. (The constitution's supposed to be direct-acting legal reality, but in practice it isn't - for example, it allows alternative non-military service for those eligible for draft if they cannot do army service for whatever reason. It took quite a few years for appropriate regulations to show up, and they still aren't executed a lot of the time.)
"If fascism ever comes to America, this will only happen because the Americans voted for it."
:)
-- commonly ascribed to F.D. Roosevelt.
Isn't this what happened already?
P.S. Sorry, couldn't find the original quote, (I wonder why) this is a backwards translation from Russian.
For government insititutions, yes. Government-owned corporations may only use certified encryption technology, and only GOST is certified. (It's not a bad standard for strong private-key encryption, but not very popular either.)
It is not clear if the specified regulations actually apply to private citizens or to private-owned companies, but there is no article in Penal Code about illegal use of encryption. It is clear that this law (as well as many other evil laws) was never actually enforced. (Thank God!) The fact that everybody, including government, uses SSL in daily practice due to using existing OS and browser software incorporating it is quietly ignored.
In real life, unless you actually find anyone getting busted for this, you should ignore the rumors and use crypto if you feel you need it. Practice is much more of a criterion than written law in this country. For example, there's no law prohibiting the usage of GPS devices for purposes other than construction work, but people do get in trouble for using them anyway, on the grounds of misinterpretation of the existing regulations - like the absurd notion that all geographical coordinates more precise than 200 meters are classified.
You can use Zamyatinian then. Zamyatin's "We" was first published in 1924, so it's harder to get a grubby hand on. :)
You, gentlemen, are suspiciously easy to terrify. Here in Moscow we had people blow up houses and subway cars, fast food joints and phone booths, we had hostages taken on a musical showing, people call in with bomb threats every other day, but I hardly see anyone at all terrified to sleep at night or ride a subway, or eat a big mac, or go to a theater, and nobody even shrugs anymore when there's another bomb threat.
That might be very irrelevant, but somehow I feel it's very to the point. If you are terrified of a single guy with a trojan just because he caused ten to twenty more 911 calls out of thousands, I guess he could be a terrorist, alright...
Depending on the meaning of the word 'to flash', I think this could well be arranged. :)
You haven't been to Moscow in a while, have you? :)
You have to carry your papers always in this city for the last five years or so, without an ID you can end up in loads upon loads of trouble. That's the way the city government keeps out illegal immigrants.
Oh, there's a good point though - they don't call people "comrade" any more.
But which of those and in what proportions make the gundanium alloy? :)
RF implies radio frequency. One interesting homebrew radio project that I've discussed back in the days when I was more into wielding the soldering iron than I am now, was a handheld single-use jamming grenade, protected from tampering and disarming by a thermite charge. By putting together numbers and some chip parts we figured that we could put a watt or two power, maybe more, into the air in the frequency ranges we want, and effectively disrupt the communications we desired for a few hours. We didn't get to the practical experimentation stage however, mostly because we didn't have a good use for the thing at the time - we were more interested in listening to signals than jamming them.
Now, from what I understand, the frequencies RFID tags can use to transmit information are more or less specific, due to antenna constructions and sizes. Suppose we have such jamming devices in abundance - they can be made from totally innocent parts. Can they be used to protect yourself from scanning? Can they be used to disrupt scanning on a larger scale?
There's a very specific reason - Bruce Campbell is one of the very few actors in modern american cinema capable of portraying a goofy protagonist the RIGHT way.
:)
It is a rare and treasured by many character stereotype, which requires special skills and some very important personal qualities few people posess. That leads to people who do this best concentrating in a large part on those kind of roles. For example, Onosaka Masaya, a japanese voice actor for animation, is best known for his roles of Icchan (Angelic Layer), Vash the Stampede (Trigun) and Takakura Takeo (Mahou Tsukai Tai) all of which are major characters, sometimes leads, who combine being serious and funny in a seemingly incompatible ways.
Bruce Campbell can do that too, do that well, and from time to time, he does, and these are the movies for which he is remembered most. Judging by what was said in this news posting, I suspect this new movie won't be the last among them.
And you can't forget that being so witty as he is on his own website commands some admiration also.
Oh yes. I had a combo TV+VCR once. The VCR segment died. TV segment didn't work until we pulled the thing apart and unplugged every wire that went to the VCR segment. :)
Does it have a kitchen sink too?
Seriously, this is interesting, but I can't help but wonder if there's a future in such appliance-like combo devices. Unlike the honest-to-god simple game consoles, which survive through their software, these seem to go obsolete much quicker.
Planned for the future is good enough - gives me time to save up the money. :)
Back in my regular lecture-listening years, I used to skip the lectures in their entirety for most if not all of the year, instead devoting time to things which actually enhanced my capabilities perceptively. Like hanging out with the professors, talking to them about their research, helping them get the paperwork ready and understanding how they do this whole thing. Gave me an entirely different perspective on what science is and how is it actually done, by the way.
I used to come to the exams on the first day, pilfer lecture notes from those who have already passed, study them overnight and then come in the next day. If they did not notice they see me for the first time in the term, I'd pass with flying colors.
Funny thing is, it often turned out the next year that I know the subject better than most of those who sat through the whole lecture cycle.
Only Windows software is described on the site. I wonder, what will happen when Win crashes or locks up (which happens invariably to me at least) and the user won't even be able to push the reset button?
But that's beside the point. Since you have already had hands-on experience with the device and the company that sells it, could you tell if they will provide low-level technical documentation, so that it would be possible to make use of that in Linux? That sounds like one of those projects I've always been drooling over doing but lacked appropriate hardware.
Well, maybe not soviet, but in Russian copyright law any contract clause that restricts the creator from creating any kind of works in the future is plain illegal. Says so in the law in plain text.
...I mostly listen to J-Pop and they don't, as a rule, have blondes. :)
But you can't replace typographic design with a blonde anyway. ;)