Say Anything Blog

I guess I wouldn’t be bothered knowing that these things were insured to only come out with a valid search warrant. 

Assuming that they will fall into the wrong hands it’s very troubling that they are selling the devices.

It is somewhat likely someone will figure out how to imitate these doohickeys.  In that case I think Microsoft should be held strictly liable for the damages caused for not making this back door secure. 

I’d love to be on that Jury.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

Whistler,

This may provide the impetus for me to switch the household over to *nix (which will be a non-trivial task).

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

OK. So, who do I talk to about barring these doors? Any of y’all got a good geek for this kinda thing?

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

2H9,

If the article is accurate you have precisely two choices:

1.  Password protect both the BIOS and the Hard Drive of your system and shut down to a power off state whenever you are not actually using it.  Encrypting the hard drive may also help, but I suspect not.

2.  Move to a non-Microsoft OS such as one of the Unix or Linux distributions for PC’s.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

I wonder if there’s a way of thumb drive manufactures to make an 100% uncrackable piece.  Save stuff to that rather than your hard disk.

Plus there’s probably room for a browser provider to create a product that doesn’t leave any trace.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

This has potential:

http://www.thinstall.com/solutions/usb_apps.php

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

According to Jerry Pournelle you can already run open office and some other programs from your flash drive. 

Of course there’s more reason than espionage to want to secure those.  After all you might lose it.

What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.

2Hotel9 - OK. So, who do I talk to about barring these doors?

Your easiest bet is to go with an external hard drive connected via a USB cord while keeping your computer anonymous with few identifying characteristics. The external hard drive can also be an MP3 player, a cell phone, or a USB stick.

You’re not going to bar the doors. You can only hide from the attacker which in this case are the authorities from around the world, at least until it gets into the hands of hackers.

The external hard drives are fairly cheap nowadays. This is the one I use. I have to warn you that it runs a little hot, so it’s probably a good idea to check out another model. Keep in mind that they make them smaller and more portable, so if you have really sensitive stuff, it’s best to keep it completely separate from the computer. Easy portability is key. Assume that the computer will be physically compromised.

That answer your question?

I have a Western Digital external that I put all my large documents and PDFs and video clips into so they are not taking up space in the laptop. And Wifey has 2 externals for all the video and audio from her, er, activities.

Here is an article on this from BetaNews. Seems a bit o’two steppin’ is going on over at Microsoft.

Neither of us have anything that Jonny Law would find of any interest, anyway. It just pisses me off that this crap is happening at all.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Why is it a surprise that uncle Sam and uncle Bill are holding hands?

No, e. The question is why are Democrats not screeching&wailing about this obvious breech of civil rights? Why are they OK with this?

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Hey bud. Didn’t hear any republicans cying about it either.

Elinas,

I’d encourage you to enroll in a remedial reading comprehension course, but I suspect what actually ails you is not subject to remediation via education.  There is, after all, no educational cure for idiocy.

Out Here
Rodney G. Graves

Ceterum censeo Parthia esse delendam
Latin: “Furthermore, Parthia (Persia aka modern day Iran) should be destroyed.”

For the non-technically inclined, this means that anyone armed with one of these thumb drives can break passwords and encryption schemes on any system up and running with a Windows Operating system.

If they can break passwords, that means that the underlying encryption scheme for the passwords is vulnerable.  Given that this is Microsoft, that is easily to believe.

Another choice is MacOS.  Linux is actually more vulnerable than Windows. MacOSX on the other hand has yet to see its first true virus (trojan horses, which require a click from the user, don’t count).

Dearest Rodney. I meant to say politicians of the republican persuasion not bloggers. Forgive me.

Bullshit.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

Bullshit.
2Hotel9 on May 4, 2008 at 08:02 pm

Is that what comes out of your mouth?

It is what comes out of your head.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

I love you too, sweet pea!!!!!!