[BC] Re: HD receiver/future device

[WFIFeng@aol.com]

In a message dated 02/13/2007 5:38:15 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
Xmitters at aol.com writes:

> Where there is a will, there is a way. I will modify this well known line 
to 
> 
>  bring it into the 21st century: Where there is a profit, there is a way. 

Yes, and as I said, the hackers will be salivating profusely to get their 
hands on it! They will have it sitting up, rolling over, running LINUX, and 
barking upon command in no time. ;) There's no way Big Brother at the Mafiaa is 
going to allow complete copies of the entire musical works of Mankind into 
millions of portable little devices. No way. I suspect that the Internet-based 
delivery system will continue to flourish, expand, and improve. This way, Big 
Brother still maintains a measurable amount of control over the keys to the 
library. Ya's wan' dat song? Ya's gotta pay "Guido".*

( * "Guido" is not meant to impugn any person, ethnicity, or national origin.)

Just as an example of how incredibly prolific hackers can be, someone got a 
device that had no accessable I/O port to transmit the entire contents of its 
internal ROM... accoustically... via it's internal beeper! Placed next to a 
microphone, under a pillow, the thing beeped away for several hours, until the 
entire contents of it's memory was transferred to the computer... one single BIT 
at a time. Once done, it was only a matter of disassembling the code and 
finding a way to "wake up" the buried I/O port... which they promptly did. I wish 
I had bookmarked that article. The effort and achievent were absolutely 
amazing.

Nothing... and I do mean *nothing* is hack-proof. I think we all know that. 
The best we can do is delay the hackers and involve third parties into the 
chain, and keep them alert. As the hackers try to break into a server, for 
example, they can be actively repelled by another human/software team. Put a helpless 
little device into their clutches with a booty so valuable, and they *will* 
get access. Count on it. It will simply become a race to see who can hack it 
first.

Willie...