RE: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
Justin wrote: I don't believe the article when it says that smart guns are useless if stolen. What do they have, a tamper-proof memory chip storing a 128-bit reprogramming authorization key that must be input via computer before allowing a new person to be authorized? And what's to stop a criminal from ripping out all the circuitry and the safety it engages? The 'stolen gun' problems most of the so-called 'smart gun' proposals are trying to address are the situation when a cop's own gun is taken from him and immediately used against him, or a kid finding one in a drawer. A determined and resourceful person can, given time, defeat them all. After all, a 'determined and resourceful person can build a gun from scratch with a small machine shop, and many do (its not automatically illegal). I link below to an absolutely bizarre proposal - apparently real and claimed to be existing in prototype - by an South African inventor to make an unstealable gun. Amongst other weirdness, it fires the specially manufactured cartridges by firing a laser into the glass-backed primer. As a result removing the electronics would make it unusable. You'd have to hack it instead. http://www.wmsa.net/other/thumb_gun.htm This is a typical example of what I meant when I said that 'smart gun' proposals all come from people with zero knowledge of how guns are used. I strongly suspect that the gun in the picture is a non-working prop. Peter Trei
Adware for Windows Media Player spreading by P2P
http://www.theregister.com/2004/12/31/p2p_adware_threat/ According to an article in The Register, Overpeer is spreading adware-infected Windows Media Audio and Windows Media Video files via P2P. PC World Magazine did some research, ran Etherpeek, and found that the adware was going to Overpeer, which is owned by Loudeye, who strongly defend the practice, saying music pirates deserve what they get. Of course, what the article isn't mentioning is that this means that the WMA and WMV file formats have features that can be used with the Windows Media Player to support adware, so a good chunk of the blame belongs back in Redmond. (Remind me again why closed-source DRMware is a good idea?) Now, it wouldn't bother me if the Windows Media Player's silly trippy visuals that you get when playing audio that doesn't have a video track were replaced by some advertising video, as long as it's all self-contained and doesn't phone home to tell advertisers what I'm listening to. But this one seems to be pretty chatty. Bill Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
Justin wrote: On 2005-01-11T10:07:22-0500, Trei, Peter wrote: Justin wrote: I don't believe the article when it says that smart guns are useless if stolen. What do they have, a tamper-proof memory chip storing a 128-bit reprogramming authorization key that must be input via computer before allowing a new person to be authorized? And what's to stop a criminal from ripping out all the circuitry and the safety it engages? The 'stolen gun' problems most of the so-called 'smart gun' proposals are trying to address are the situation when a cop's own gun is taken from him and immediately used against him, or a kid finding one in a drawer. A determined and resourceful person can, given time, defeat them all. from the article: Guns taken from a home during a robbery would be rendered useless, too. That statement, in the OA, is not a quote - it's either something the author dreamed up, or (in context) BS fed her by a NJ cop So, we've established that a NYT journalist, writing on a subject she probably knows nothing about, will regurgitate any naively plausible bullshit she's fed. What else is new? My statement that there are a significant number of cops killed by their own guns, and a small but tragic number of people killed accidentally playing with improperly stored guns they find, remains true. These 'smart guns' could reduce that problem, but making them mandatory is a threat to freedom. The South African Smart gun... http://www.wmsa.net/other/thumb_gun.htm Totally useless. Failure modes and various other complaints: I laughed when I saw this (my first thought was How could anyone practice enough to maintain proficiency?) I was later appalled when I found a colleague using it as an example in a presentation on biometrics. I also strongly expect that Mr. van Zyl does not have a functioning device - this is vaporware of some kind. Peter Trei
RE: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
Justin wrote: On 2005-01-10T15:04:21-0500, Trei, Peter wrote: John Kelsey Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire By ANNE EISENBERG I just wonder what the false negative rates are. Seem like a A remarkable number of police deaths are 'own gun' incidents, so the police do have a strong motivation to use 'smart guns' if they are reliable. The NJ law specifically exempts the police from the smart gun requirement (which for civilians goes into effect in 2007 or 2008). Regardless, the legislature doesn't need to get involved for law enforcement to change their weapons policy and require smart guns. Cynically, I'm not the slightest bit suprised that the police are exempted: 'safety for the government, not for the people'. False positives may also present a problem. If the only way to get an acceptable identification rate (99%, for instance) is to create a 50% false positive rate for unauthorized users, that's reduces utilitarian benefit by half. A 1% false negative rate is too high. A 50% false positive rate is *much* too high. Smart guns are a ploy to raise the cost of guns, make them require more maintenance, annoy owners, and as a result decrease gun ownership. If it's combined with a rule to ban the transfer and/or ownership of 'dumb' (ie, reliable) guns, then it's also a backdoor gun confiscation policy. I'm afraid that they may get away with it. Here in MA, the only handguns which can legally be bought new are those on a fairly short list compiled by the State Attorney General which meet his arbitrary 'safety standards'. If I wanted, say, a Pardini (a very expensive special purpose .22short target pistol) I'm SOL. In fact, it's almost impossible for MA residents to participate in some of the shooting sports competitively, due to the AG's list. Peter Trei
Re: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
On 2005-01-11T10:07:22-0500, Trei, Peter wrote: Justin wrote: I don't believe the article when it says that smart guns are useless if stolen. What do they have, a tamper-proof memory chip storing a 128-bit reprogramming authorization key that must be input via computer before allowing a new person to be authorized? And what's to stop a criminal from ripping out all the circuitry and the safety it engages? The 'stolen gun' problems most of the so-called 'smart gun' proposals are trying to address are the situation when a cop's own gun is taken from him and immediately used against him, or a kid finding one in a drawer. A determined and resourceful person can, given time, defeat them all. from the article: Guns taken from a home during a robbery would be rendered useless, too. The South African Smart gun... http://www.wmsa.net/other/thumb_gun.htm Totally useless. Failure modes and various other complaints: -cannot connect to cellular network -cannot receive GPS signal -out of batteries -laser diode craps out -fingerprint scanner takes more than 0 time to use. -ammunition is more expensive -window in ammunition can be dirty or fogged, causing failure -any sort of case failure will probably destroy the electronics -will never be as small as subcompact firearms -if smartcard is stolen, gun won't fire (other smart guns use rings) -all the electronic tracing capability requires gun/ammo registration I'd almost rather have a taser. What assurance do I have that the circuitry won't malfunction and fire when I don't want it to? What if a HERF gun can not only render the gun useless, but make it fire as well? -- War is the father and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free. -Heraclitus 53
Re: Google Exposes Web Surveillance Cams
Riad S. Wahby [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I love how all of the coverage leaves out the actual search strings, as if it's hard to discover what they are at this point. A fairly comprehensive list of search strings per camera/manufacturer can be found here: http://www.i-hacked.com/Computer-Components/Software-Internet/Finding-Online-Webcams!.html A! -- == anton l. raath http://raath.org/ == Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. -- Dylan Thomas ==
Re: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
On 2005-01-10T15:42:47-0500, Tyler Durden wrote: And we'll probably have many years of non-Smart-Gun type accidents...eg, Drunk guy at party put gun to his head and blew his own brains out, assuming it was a smart gun, or, trailer park momma gives gun to toddler assuming its a safe smart gun. Some gun accidents are suicides reported as such to avoid embarrassment to the family. Similarly, I think a few of the gun accidents involving real children, which are extremely rare to begin with, go like this... Son, why don't you take this gun and pretend to go shoot daddy? It's not loaded. Or, Son, why don't you take the gun, put it to your head, and pull the trigger? It's not loaded. I don't believe the article when it says that smart guns are useless if stolen. What do they have, a tamper-proof memory chip storing a 128-bit reprogramming authorization key that must be input via computer before allowing a new person to be authorized? And what's to stop a criminal from ripping out all the circuitry and the safety it engages? -- War is the father and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free. -Heraclitus 53
Re: Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire
On 2005-01-10T15:04:21-0500, Trei, Peter wrote: John Kelsey Ready, Aim, ID Check: In Wrong Hands, Gun Won't Fire By ANNE EISENBERG I just wonder what the false negative rates are. Seem like a A remarkable number of police deaths are 'own gun' incidents, so the police do have a strong motivation to use 'smart guns' if they are reliable. The NJ law specifically exempts the police from the smart gun requirement (which for civilians goes into effect in 2007 or 2008). Regardless, the legislature doesn't need to get involved for law enforcement to change their weapons policy and require smart guns. False positives may also present a problem. If the only way to get an acceptable identification rate (99%, for instance) is to create a 50% false positive rate for unauthorized users, that's reduces utilitarian benefit by half. Batteries go dead. Solder joints break. Transistors and capacitors go bad. Pressure sensors jam. This is not the kind of technology I want in something that absolutely, positively has to go boom if I want it to. For handguns, I'll stick with pure mechanical mechanisms, thanks. Smart guns are a ploy to raise the cost of guns, make them require more maintenance, annoy owners, and as a result decrease gun ownership. -- War is the father and king of all, and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free. -Heraclitus 53
Call for Papers hack.lu 2005
== Call for Papers hack.lu 2005 == The purpose of the hack.lu convention is to give an open and free playground where people can discuss the implication of new technologies in the society. hack.lu is a balanced mix convention where technical and non-technical people can meet each others and share freely all kind of information. The convention will be held in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg in August or September 2005 (soon to be defined). The convention is open to everyone. === Scope === Topics of interest include, but are not limited to : * Software Engineering * Honeypots/Honeynets * Electronic/Digital Privacy * Wireless Network and Security * Attacks on Information Systems and/or Digital Information Storage * Electronic Voting * Free Software and Security * Assessment of Computer, Electronic Devices and Information Systems * Standards for Information Security * Legal and Social Aspect of Information Security * Software Engineering and Security === Deadlines === Abstract submission : 1 March 2005 Full paper submission : 15 May 2005 === Submission guideline === Authors should submit a paper in English/French up to 5.000 words, using a non-proprietary and open electronic format. The program committee will review all papers and the author of each paper will be notified of the result, by electronic means. Abstract is up to 400 words. Submissions must be sent to : hack2005-paper(AT)hack.lu Submissions should also include the following: # Presenter, and geographical location (country of origin/passport) and contact info. # Employer and/or affiliations. # Brief biography, list of publications or papers. # Any significant presentation and/or educational experience/background. # Reason why this material is innovative or significant or an important tutorial. # Optionally, any samples of prepared material or outlines ready. The information will be used only for the sole purpose of the hack.lu convention including the information on the public website. If you want to remain anonymous, you have the right to use a nickname. === Publication and rights === Authors keep the full rights on their publication/papers but give an unrestricted right to redistribute their papers for the hack.lu convention. === Sponsoring === If you want to support the initiative and gain visibility by sponsoring, please contact usby writing an e-mail to supportus(AT)hack.lu === Web site and wiki === http://www.hack.lu/
