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Windows no longer obstructs my view.
Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes -
That's cool, I think if I was going to rely on a piece of software to interpret me I'd want it to be open source... you could build in so many malicious features to something like that if you wanted to. -
And would you examine the code for yourself, or presume that "someone else" must already have?Comment
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I appreciate the point you're trying to make... but if I was using it to translate eye movements into speech or text and I had no other way of communicating, then yes I think I would!
Plus, it's quite a niche thing, so the chances that someone else has reviewed it are pretty small. And I'd be looking for malicious features (reasonably easy to spot), not exploitable security flaws, which would presumably be more difficult to spot.Comment
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Hawking's advantage is that he is neither deaf nor blind. So he can verify that the tool's output matches the input he fed it, and that malicious features aren't (immediately) obvious. But imagine for a moment that he were deaf. Then he'd have no choice but to trust that the tool's audio output matches his input, and hasn't been maliciously modified to say things he didn't say. Note that this isn't a new problem at all: those who rely on foreign language translators must operate under the exact same trust model, as do those who are deaf and observing someone signing.
Rarely does the introduction of technology actually introduce new threats. Consider identity theft: what a silly phrase. No one can "steal" my identity and prevent me from being me anymore. "Identity theft" is actually an impersonation attack, and humans have been performing this attack for, well, as long as we've been on the planet. Technology just helps the attack scale better.Comment
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That's true, but he's an influential public figure, and a top physicist, I'm sure he gets involved in some "classified" projects. Say for example you wanted a "kill switch" in case he said something you didn't want the public to know about. It could even be automatic: when he tries to say/type something with certain keywords in, it could say/type something else entirely. He wouldn't know until he tried it.
On a more personal level, eventually, he might get to the point where his disease gets so bad that he wants to choose euthanasia. If someone is asking you about that question you want to be damn sure your piece of software, the only method of communication you have with the world, isn't giving the wrong answer!
I agree about "identity theft", it's a dumb name. It's a good point about technology in general too, I was thinking along the same lines talking to my gran recently, she had a phishing email pretending to be some account or other and saying she needed to change her password. She's pretty smart and would have no problem spotting a scam if someone came to her front door and asked for information like that, but she wasn't sure this time and it really worried her. I guess some people doubt themselves when it comes to computers because "the computer knows best" and some companies and programs have bad practices that make people think it just might be the real deal.Comment
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That scares the shopt out of me. Why not just implant kill switches into every person who's born, then, for the same reason? I don't think you're advocating this in general, are you advocating it for Hawking?Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View Post
A option he has both advocated and briefly considered.Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View Post
It's good she at least paused to think about what was in the email -- many people don't. Phishing continues to be a major threat, even to large organizations. Spear phishing has lately become quite good.Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View PostComment
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I'm not advocating it EVER, for anyone. I just think it's a foreseeable risk (but unlikely), given that some people and organisations do evil things.Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
I'd want my pacemaker software to be free too if I had one, for the same reason. Every time there's a study into the security of devices like that it's bad news!
Even more important that he gets his true message across if the time ever comes then!A option he has both advocated and briefly considered.
Yeah I was reading about that recently... when it makes it to mainstream news you know it's bad:Phishing continues to be a major threat, even to large organizations. Spear phishing has lately become quite good.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-30278356Comment
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How could you doubt me?Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
In stores soon: Google "I", the enhanced eyeball.I predict we'll start seeing articles about hacking humans sometime in the next five years.Comment
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Looking back, I think it was your sentence structure that threw me: "I'm sure he gets involved in some 'classified' projects. Say for example you wanted a 'kill switch' in case he said something you didn't want the public to know about." I read that as problem -> solution. "Hawking might possess confidential information, we'd better install a mute button."Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View PostHow could you doubt me?
Noooooooooo! Keep it awayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View PostComment
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Well you've got to think like a bad guy to know what you're up against, right? I should have prefixed it with "Imagine you work for a government agency..."Comment
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But I do work for a government agency! 😳Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View PostWindows no longer obstructs my view.
Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock HolmesComment
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Indeed. When people ask how to learn about information security, my response is, "You have to learn how to think like a bad guy without falling into the spell of becoming one."Originally posted by Feathers McGraw View PostComment
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The way some Americans go on, you'd think yours was the most evil of them all!Originally posted by Snowhog View PostComment
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