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Non-programmable calculators were fine - computers were not. A programmable calculator is basically a computer. In a computer you could store data that they c
by clamprecht 7y ago
Non-programmable calculators were fine - computers were not. A programmable calculator is basically a computer. In a computer you could store data that they couldn't access (encryption, even if it's very basic). Could be a list of gambling debts, escape plans, or other horrors. Most prison rules are "written in blood", so to speak.
- make3 7y agoI mean you could store some dumbly ciphered information on a sheet too, but I guess it's not as convenient
- morpheuskafka 7y agoA microcontroller with a decent CPU (a Zilog Z80 in this case) could, given enough time, run some serious AES-256 encryption. The storage is minimal but it could be good enough. Of course, you could always use a paper one-time pad, and if you can get the pad distributed without interception, there's no way they can ever break that.
- rajibsingh 7y agoonce you've gotten to this level, you're pretty much guaranteed an A regardless
- travisjungroth 7y agoNot sure if you caught the convo swapped to prison lol
- CobrastanJorji 7y agoSome prison rules are written in blood. Most prison rules are written in bureaucracy and profit motive. No prison escape movie ever ended with the guard preventing future escapes by instituting a new "no sleeveless shirts when visiting an inmate" rule.
- brokenmachine 7y agoForgive my ignorance, but how do sleeveless shirts help facilitate an escape?
- pg_is_a_butt 7y agoYou want to get out to see the rest of that side-boob.
- zhte415 7y agoPerhaps a reference to Prison Break, where a character had a map of the prison tattood to his body? Just a guess.
- xnyan 7y agoThey are talking about visitors to prisoners. See my post above, but these dress codes are what dress codes are always for - control and/or shame.
- mandelbrotwurst 7y agoI could be wrong, but I think they're saying they do not, but many prisons have a rule against that anyway.
- Cthulhu_ 7y agoI'd argue it's something to do with decency, appearance, atmosphere, given that (at least in my culture) while T-shirts are fine, sleeveless shirts are seen as rather trashy.
- xnyan 7y agoI agree with you. I do find your choice of word "decency" troubling to me. Dress codes are often about control and shame of the poor and in a prison visitors lobby that seems about right. This seems less about decency and more about telling poor people their clothes are not nice enough for a prison which is kind of funny considering prisons are purpose built to be among the worst places in existence in our society. Trashy is sort of a slur on the poor. Not trying to call you out or anything, maybe there's a better word that trashy aka saying a person is like trash.
- ronsor 7y agoToo bad you can do encryption using pen and paper (even RSA).
- matthewmcg 7y agoOr playing cards! https://www.schneier.com/academic/solitaire/ https://www.schneier.com/academic/solitaire/
- VLM 7y agoIts easy for a guard to find pages of paper with uuencoded RSA keys handwritten on them during a random search, and then the investigation really gets started. However its hard to train every guard on every piece of digital technology that can theoretically contain data.