A Pact with the Devil

[Waitman Gobble]

Robert J. Hansen <rjh at sixdemonbag.org> wrote ..
> A fascinating paper just crossed my desk: Technical Report 666 from the
> University of Cambridge's computer science department.  Although it has
> no relevance to GnuPG, it is such a cunningly evil idea -- and presented
> so clearly, without any sophisticated mathematics -- that I think many
> people here will find it fascinatingly unsettling reading.  It's just a
> matter of time until someone takes this (very slight parody) of an idea
> and turns it into something disturbingly real...
> 
> http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-666.pdf
> 
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Hmm I dunno, ...opinion... this presumes an automated script can get 'bob's' attention, and either 'Bob' is dumb as a board or he's so compelled about the juicy details on 'Alice's' computer that he can't help but be naughty. It's presuming that Alice is 'talking' about Bob behind his back or talking to people whom Bob does not appreciate, ie secret cyber lover whatever. 

I'm brainstorming scenarios here:
the email you receive:

hey, did you know (alice) was saying 'that stupid jerk' about you, Bob. (but bob does not actually know alice)

hey, did you know (alice) was saying 'that stupid dork' about you, Bob. (and in this case maybe bob actually will take the bait)

hey, did you know that (bill gates) was just chatting about you, Bob. (ummm. yeah right. or even possibly in 2012 wtf is b.g. lol)


I suppose the 'Temptation' bit of this scenario is very weak, as it would take much effort and skill to carry out 'randomly' and the percentage of 'hits' would probably be low, not worth the trouble. 

{I'm presuming that reading a PDF with gv on FreeBSD is not susceptible to a virus one might possibly contract using Acrobat on a MS system. (I believe there has been at least one instance if memory serves me. If that is not correct then I suppose I fell for the bait.}


But maybe it would be a more likely scenario when computer chips are in brains and we are all truly connected, and we can get elaborate computer-brain viruses that pop right through our brain-firewalls. Unfortunately I doubt I'll be around when that stuff is happening. (Hmmm I guess, but you know what, now that I think about it - the guy who showed up this morning to clean the carpets definitely had something going on. Perhaps just a hangover.)

Then I suppose the scenarios I listed above might be more effective. (?)


-- 
Waitman Gobble
San Jose California USA