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I also liked his "liberation" speech. "I never have to worry about being mugged for my laptop". Actually, they're just as likely to mug you. They just won't get

I also liked his "liberation" speech. "I never have to worry about being mugged for my laptop". Actually, they're just as likely to mug you. They just won't get your data. Even then, all they have to do is beat you over the head with a hammer until you give them the password... and even then, all they have to do is put in a LiveCD to format your hard drive and they have a new computer. Not so liberating...

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
Your entire comment is predicated on him being concerned about losing the laptop. Clearly he isn't. Clearly he's only concerned about losing the data. After all, a laptop can be replaced. With that point of view your comment becomes rather less relevant.
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  Doctorow is a professional writer. Is it too much to expect he write what he actually means?
- visitor4rmindia 17y ago
  To be honest, who mugs people for their data!?! "Your bytes or your life!" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
  - RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
    I wouldn't suppose people would mug him for his data. But having got the laptop, the data may very well be trawled through for email addresses to spam, credit card numbers to defraud, salacious photographs for blackmail, etc. Someone who mugs you is extremely likely to pass the laptop to a fence, who will then make the most of it. Yes, the data will get wiped and the laptop sold, but the data will also be mined to see if it's of value. I assume the author doesn't want someone going through their underwear draw. In the UK computers must be recycled, but recycling companies are required by law to shred hard drives. It was extremely difficult to get them to save the magnets for a youth project robot building exercise.
codyrobbins 17y ago
The entire time I was reading this article I was wondering just what kind of data Cory Doctorow could have that is so important as to require this kind of thought be put into its encryption. Does he have access to some sort of nuclear secrets? It seems to me as though he's crossed the line between 'practical' and 'unnecessarily paranoid'.
- natrius 17y ago
  Stable governments ruling over free societies are a relatively new invention. How long do you think it will be until you are at odds with your government? This seems like his main concern. For others, corporate espionage should be a significant concern. (To the compilers of various watch lists: Peaceful odds. Peaceful.)
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  I'm envisioning a 22nd century Geraldo moment..."now, using this self-aware quantum computer we can finally, after many years, see inside the encrypted hard disks of Cory Doctorow, a mystery ever since a meteor fell on his lawyer's office during the reading of the will and destroyed the keys to his encrypted data! We're loading the files...it's a huge PDF! That was a popular 21st century file format, folks...let's read...hmmm....well, obviously this isn't as exciting as we had been led to believe...er...well, back to the studio!"
alexitosrv 17y ago
mandatory ref to support your assertion: http://xkcd.com/538/ http://xkcd.com/538/
oomkiller 17y ago
To handle this you could have a duress code that you could hand out that would make the system appear to be decrypted but only show the files you want shown when the duress code is used. That's the way most situations like this are handled. Now if they already know you have the data, then this won't work. If it was super-secure information (national security), you could give them another duress code that deleted ALL data, rendering you and the laptop useless. They might kill you for that though.

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

Your entire comment is predicated on him being concerned about losing the laptop. Clearly he isn't. Clearly he's only concerned about losing the data. After all, a laptop can be replaced. With that point of view your comment becomes rather less relevant.

anigbrowl 17y ago
Doctorow is a professional writer. Is it too much to expect he write what he actually means?
visitor4rmindia 17y ago
To be honest, who mugs people for their data!?! "Your bytes or your life!" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
  I wouldn't suppose people would mug him for his data. But having got the laptop, the data may very well be trawled through for email addresses to spam, credit card numbers to defraud, salacious photographs for blackmail, etc. Someone who mugs you is extremely likely to pass the laptop to a fence, who will then make the most of it. Yes, the data will get wiped and the laptop sold, but the data will also be mined to see if it's of value. I assume the author doesn't want someone going through their underwear draw. In the UK computers must be recycled, but recycling companies are required by law to shred hard drives. It was extremely difficult to get them to save the magnets for a youth project robot building exercise.

codyrobbins 17y ago

The entire time I was reading this article I was wondering just what kind of data Cory Doctorow could have that is so important as to require this kind of thought be put into its encryption. Does he have access to some sort of nuclear secrets? It seems to me as though he's crossed the line between 'practical' and 'unnecessarily paranoid'.

natrius 17y ago
Stable governments ruling over free societies are a relatively new invention. How long do you think it will be until you are at odds with your government? This seems like his main concern. For others, corporate espionage should be a significant concern. (To the compilers of various watch lists: Peaceful odds. Peaceful.)
anigbrowl 17y ago
I'm envisioning a 22nd century Geraldo moment..."now, using this self-aware quantum computer we can finally, after many years, see inside the encrypted hard disks of Cory Doctorow, a mystery ever since a meteor fell on his lawyer's office during the reading of the will and destroyed the keys to his encrypted data! We're loading the files...it's a huge PDF! That was a popular 21st century file format, folks...let's read...hmmm....well, obviously this isn't as exciting as we had been led to believe...er...well, back to the studio!"

alexitosrv 17y ago

mandatory ref to support your assertion: http://xkcd.com/538/ http://xkcd.com/538/

oomkiller 17y ago

To handle this you could have a duress code that you could hand out that would make the system appear to be decrypted but only show the files you want shown when the duress code is used. That's the way most situations like this are handled. Now if they already know you have the data, then this won't work. If it was super-secure information (national security), you could give them another duress code that deleted ALL data, rendering you and the laptop useless. They might kill you for that though.