Interesting People mailing list archives
Insecurity demo theater: Tetris at the checkout
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 07:33:16 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Ted Nelson <tandm () xanadu net> Date: January 5, 2007 1:34:50 AM EST To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Cc: Ted Nelson <tandm () xanadu net> Subject: Insecurity demo theater: Tetris at the checkout Reply-To: tandm () xanadu net Hi Dave-- As we've seen lately (from the kid who made fake boarding passes last October), you can get in a lot of trouble if you go demonstrating that a system is insecure in a politically incorrect way. So the theatrics of such demonstrations becomes the new focus. It's one thing to know what the problem is; it's another to demonstrate it compellingly and theatrically and lovably, so that even the people who don't want your message to get out have to smile. One example: Feynman's dunking the O-ring in the ice water. Simplicity and humor made the truth impossible to evade. And now, two guys at the Other Place (Cambridge U.), Saar Drimer and Steven Murdoch, have demonstrated (with similar simplicity and good humor) the vulnerability of the UK's Chip-and-Pin terminals that want a four-digit number to validate a credit-card purchase. (Do you have them in the USA?)http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/04/chip-and-pin-terminal-cant-play- doom-but-tetris-runs-just-fine/
and for example http://www.emergentchaos.com/archives/2006/12/chip_pin_and_tetris.html This shows that the way to get the public alarmed about the Diebold voting machine isn't any more talking-head gloom and doom. Get it playing Grand Theft Auto at some very appropriate time. Cheers,Ted -- Theodor Holm Nelson Visiting Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute Visiting Professor, University of Southampton Founder, Project Xanadu ------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ipArchives at: Archives: http://archives.listbox.com/247/
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- Insecurity demo theater: Tetris at the checkout David Farber (Jan 05)