Something tells me that you're too dumb to know how to create a user account, AC. There are plenty of devices that require you to change the password the first time you log into them, there is absolutely no reason NOT to do that except for laziness.

It's not a Linux problem as such, but it is an OS programmer problem because they **allow** default passwords to survive first use without requiring that they be changed.

The simple fact that you can leave the device with a default password encompasses several levels of stupidity. 1) Programmers who do not require password to be changed, 2) Manufacturers who will install that firmware, 3) Customers who leave it that way. Level 3 shouldn't even be possible except for stupidity and laziness in Level 1 and 2.

Mosquito larvae are an important part of the ecosystem of non-circulating water deposits, eating bacteria and protozoa and providing food for dragonfly nymphs and other predators. There is no real replacement for them, and you can't have larvae without adults.

So are apples and cherries. For that matter wheat, cows and potatoes are as well.

I think you'll find that most embedded hardware has your "broken" IP implementation. Probably partly because it's more work to set it up correctly, but also because there are a lot of times where installers in the field or repair people in the shop have no way of knowing what the IP address of this stuff is supposed to be and need to be able to get at it. Devices that I have personally worked with would include a plethora of security cameras, Seimens I/O panels, Lantronix and Mercury TCP/IP to serial I/O converters, AMAG security hardware, two kinds of infant abduction systems, intercoms, and emergency alert systems. Some (most?) SCADA hardware is set up that way as well, I've been told. I suppose the reason why this isn't really considered a security issue is that you need physical access to the device to make it work.

Works, I've done it several dozen times. You're communicating at the physical layer. The exception would be if some absolute moron of a programmer hard coded an IP address for the source in the application.

Because the device isn't identified by its IP address at the physical level, but by the MAC address. Your NIC will first do a MAC broadcast to see if the target is on the same network segment. If you use a hub it will be forwarded to all the other ports and the other NIC will answer, if you're on a switch it **should** forward the packet, but sometimes they'll be flaky and ignore a MAC broadcast.

"for example 172.16.16.20" Example.

The arp command will work with any valid IP address, not just 172.x. I assume that the IP address is not hard coded into the app.

MAC addresses are assigned by NIC manufacturers, not the pump manufacturer (and I'll guarantee that a pump manufacturer has no clue how to build a NIC). Every NIC manufacturer has a set range of MAC addresses assigned to them, and each NIC gets its own unique MAC. I can look at a list of MAC addresses connected to a switch and tell you which devices are Lantronix boxes, which are Axis cameras, and which are Mercury access control panels just by looking at the MAC address ranges in use.

Won't make any difference until you make corporate executives legally/financially responsible.

The 13,000-16,000 number is a bit out of date. Humans are pretty reliably known to have been resident in South America by around 20,000 years BP, and possibly as early as 30,000.

So nuclear physics doesn't work on your planet?

The number of people who have no clue how paleontologists and archeologists work but feel completely competent to criticize it never fails to amaze me. If it's this bad on Slashdot then I can only guess how ridiculous it must be on sites like CNN and Faux News.

some ape or monkey type of creature

That's exactly what they're saying, that a very early hominid was making tools. Probably Australopithecus, considering the time period.