5 ms·
There is something truly entertaining about the insistence they smash the hard drives. The number of computer-illiterate C-level assholes I have met all insist
by 616c 13y ago
There is something truly entertaining about the insistence they smash the hard drives.
The number of computer-illiterate C-level assholes I have met all insist on applying analog world logic to their digital decision making. When you try to properly correct them for wasting their time or embarrassing themselves to end up on sites like HN, they lose it. I find it funny how badly such people in positions of government corporate power need to prove to themselves they have any recourse in contexts or fields where they are too stupid to find a proper solution to their own dilemma.
- MattyRad 13y agoOn that note, I think the rise of Bitcoin will be particularly interesting (assuming it keeps rising). Already it has been introduced before Congress, as a money laundering mechanism, no less. With nothing to smash, I wonder how they might deal with such a technology.
- philangist 13y agoThe thing I like about bitcoin is that it's just the first of many. It's not perfect, but the fact that there's a decentralized cryptocurrency with major traction out there makes me giddy for what the future holds. We're living in a cyberpunk world.
- SkyMarshal 13y agoEasy, they'll order people to smash the Google instead of just hard drives. Problem solved.
- etherael 13y agoDang and blast it, foiled again by these fiendishly clever government chaps! Oh well lads better just get back to the slave mill the jig is up.
- handsomeransoms 13y agoYou could smash the drives that store individual's private keys, but beyond that - that's one of the benefits of a truly decentralized system.
- handsomeransoms 13y agoThis is not entertaining (or, reading into subtext, absurd) at all. It is widely accepted that complete physical destruction of hard drives is required to avoid future forensic recovery, which is what Rusbridger is referring to when he mentions "passing Chinese agents."
- lukeschlather 13y agoHe already made it clear that the data is replicated broadly, and so it is absurd, because physically destroying laptops only increases the desire to increase the integrity of the data. Increasing integrity against this sort of attack naturally compromises security, which means "passing Chinese agents" are more likely to have access to the data now.
- rdtsc 13y agoI think he should with a completely serious face comply, deliver the disk to them and then smash it with a sledgehammer right in front of their eyes. Now of course he should have copies spread in multiple locations. But, hey, they just asked for the information to be returned and destroyed, just comply, very easy. Sometimes it is worth taking pleasure laughing at the stupidity of those in power. That has to be exposed alongside malice and corruption.
- jmadsen 13y agoReminds me of the many times I emailed spreadsheet files to marketing, saying, "I need that back when you're done" Generally they got it, but it took some of them a while.
- dredmorbius 13y agoReminds me of the bad old days of locking VCS.
- grey-area 13y agoThat's exactly what he did.
- 13y ago