Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Huxleyed Into

  1. #1
    Whacker Knot WØTKX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lakewood, CO
    Posts
    26,758

    Huxleyed Into

    The Full Orwell

    "Anyone who wants to see this, hit this URL." She held up a sheet of paper with a URL neatly printed on it. She could have used a QR code, but everyone thinks of those as malware vectors. Anything written on a post-it in sharpie was too homely to present any real risk.

    A couple of the journos held back, but several loaded it up. She'd already stuck a SIM into her tablet. A second later, she turned it around.

    At first, the reporters couldn't figure out what they were seeing. It was a grid, showing low-rez, shakycam video-feeds of surprised looking faces. Their faces. She'd just pwned all their phone cameras and was now receiving a video-stream off of each one.

    "The bug that Kitty revealed was part of the Netflix stack, which you'll find in pretty much every browser on earth. It operates inside a framework specified by the World Wide Web Consortium, meaning that it can be zero-click installed on anything with a browser interface, from your thermostat to your car.

    "But because it's part of a DRM system that's supposed to protect copyright—to preserve the illusion that Netflix is somehow able to send you a 'stream' that's not an actual ‘download'—it's against the law to tell you that every device you own is sitting out there, waiting to be pwned by the NSA or just a garden-variety creep. That's what Kitty is in jail for: giving a presentation on this issue at a technical conference.

    "Just think for a moment about all the things you control with that phone. Any of you have an implanted defibrillator? A bluetooth hearing aid? Think about the mischief I can make now that I control your phone. Lucky for you, I'm nice." She tapped her tablet. "I've just nuked my installation, as well as your Netflix plugins, which'll auto-reinstall the next time you hit their site. Technically, I just committed about twenty felonies. But Netflix? They're in the clear, even if you lose the contents of your bank account and the alarm-code for your house because you got pwned by their plugin.

    "And for what? A little light entertainment? Dudes, we are Huxleying our way into the full Orwell."
    Go poke around that site. Cool short stories.
    "Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
    of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman



  2. #2
    Pope Carlo l NQ6U's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Maritime Mobile
    Posts
    29,875
    Just so no one panics, the above is fiction.
    All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.

  3. #3
    Whacker Knot WØTKX's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Lakewood, CO
    Posts
    26,758
    Oh. I did post in the Artists Guild, Your Sublime Spoilsportiness.

    "Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
    of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman



  4. #4
    Pope Carlo l NQ6U's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Maritime Mobile
    Posts
    29,875
    Quote Originally Posted by WØTKX View Post
    Oh. I did post in the Artists Guild, Your Sublime Spoilsportiness.
    I was just trying to head off the inevitable "The sky is falling!" post. There are people here who don't pay attention to the details.
    All the world’s a stage, but obviously the play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to tell if we’re living in a tragedy or a farce.

  5. #5
    Conch Master
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    6,072
    Interesting stories with enough reality that it makes you think.
    "Love Trumps Hate."
    "You Facist, Sexual Predator!"
    " I thought a lot about blowing up the White House"
    Uh Huh, What Love?

  6. #6
    La Rata Del Desierto K7SGJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    The Desert
    Posts
    16,791
    Quote Originally Posted by KJ6BSO View Post
    Just so no one panics, the above is fiction.
    Huh, I didn't feel any friction.
    A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory

    RIP ALBI-W3MIV RIP RUSS-W5RB RIP BOB-VK3ZL





  7. #7
    Master Navigator
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Posts
    1,329
    Quote Originally Posted by K7SGJ View Post
    Huh, I didn't feel any friction.
    He was addressing the virgins.

  8. #8
    La Rata Del Desierto K7SGJ's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    The Desert
    Posts
    16,791
    Quote Originally Posted by w0aew View Post
    He was addressing the virgins.

    These days, that would be the ugly 3rd graders.
    A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory

    RIP ALBI-W3MIV RIP RUSS-W5RB RIP BOB-VK3ZL





Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •