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Comment CGNAT has nothing to do with End-to-end (Score 4, Informative) 338

The end-to-end principle has to do with where network logic is placed, not which devices are reachable, routeable, or have an IP address. As simply as possible, the end-to-end principle means that we should have smart end hosts and a dumb network. This is why routers don't guarantee packet delivery -- its up to the hosts (with TCP, et al.) to ensure this. This is in contrast to telephony networks, where the network is responsible for almost everything.

There are good reasons to oppose CGNAT, but the "end to end principle" is not one of them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-to-end_principle
or, if you're inclined to primary sources:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/ana/Publications/PubPDFs/End-to-End%20Arguments%20in%20System%20Design.pdf

Comment Re:Wait (Score 1) 91

Didn't read TFA, per Slashdot tradition, but the system is likely protected by the use of public key crypto.

This system is secure because you can't feasibly obtain IBM's private key. Sure, you can provide an IBM certificate, but you can't complete a key exchange or any other communications if I send it to you encrypted with IBM's public key. Likewise, in theory you can't obtain a new certificate that says that you are IBM with a public/private key that you know from a certificate authority. In practice, obtaining a valid certificate is much less difficult than it ought to be.

Comment Re:Assuming It Is China (Score 1) 122

If they were concerned about national security, they would denounce the culprit (they know what country they're coming from), and work on hardening security.

In most cases, we can't tell where traffic comes from. Between botnets, Tor, and other proxies, the best we can do is say "it looks like the attacks are coming from IP addresses from Karblockistan." Attack attribution is difficult, if not impossible. Hypothetically, I can attack your network and make it look like it came from anywhere in the world. If I want to be extra convincing, I'll use Chinese language tools so that you suspect the Chinese. An attack from Chinese IP's doesn't mean the PRC had anything to do with it.

As for the rest of your comment, have you not seen the flood of news articles on how DoD et al. are trying to hire security experts in droves? Besides, information security is a lot harder than putting bars on the windows. In many cases, you cannot know where you are vulnerable in the software (and hardware!) until after a breach, and in some of the more prominent attacks, the method was spear-phishing -- social engineering. You can't patch (or harden) stupid. Security is, always has been, and always will be a non-trivial problem.

Comment Re:How can this work? (Score 1) 92

The answer is public-key cryptography, where I can send you a message encrypted with your public key, and only you (who knows the matching private key) can decrypt the message. A high-level analogy is sending everyone a box that they can close and lock, but only you have the key to unlock. It's impractical to obtain a private key given a public key. The tags or "secret messages" -- the colored notes in the analogy -- are messages encrypted with the public key of the Telex system in use. The initial analysis by the researchers indicates that it is infeasible to determine if the a tag is actually a tag or just a random number. Only a Telex server can tell if the field that holds the tag is a tag or not. Compromising the tag system in the way you describe would require compromising the private key from the Telex system. This would require quantum computing or espionage (stealing the key from the Telex system). It's a neat solution, actually.
Idle

Submission + - Dubai’s World of Islands is Sinking Into the (inhabitat.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Dubai's dubious building boom has spawned a new architecture of unparalleled excess — one needn't look further than the desert region's ski slope, refrigerated beach and proposed ice cube lodge to find proof. However as of late the emirate's blustery building pace has lost its muster, and the latest megaproject to go south is The World, an archipelago of manmade islands modeled after the seven continents that seems to have sprung a leak. According to a new report issued by a property tribunal, the crumbling series of ill-fated isles is sinking like Atlantis into the sea.

Submission + - Unix Epoch Day 15000 starts at midnight GMT

An anonymous reader writes: The 15000th day of Unix epoch time starts tonight at midnight GMT. More information about parties including a countdown clock are available at the official website for the event here and includes a countdown clock. A large main party is happening tonight at 7pm EST in Bloomington, Indiana to mark the occasion. The last 5000 day mark of epoch days happened a few months before Slashdot existed, so this will be the first time Slashdotters will be able to celebrate such an occasion. The next time won't be until 2024. And also unlike the last time, this time Mac users can join in the fun. Its also a great day to change your password.
Education

Submission + - Teacher Creates Microfluidics Using a Photocopier (gizmag.com)

Zothecula writes: Microfluidic technology, in which liquid is made to pass through “microchannels” that are often less than a millimeter in width, has had a profound effect on fields such as physics, chemistry, engineering and biotechnology. In particular, it has made “lab-on-a-chip” systems possible, in which the chemical contents of tiny amounts of fluid can be analyzed on a small platform. Such devices are typically made in clean rooms, through a process of photolithography and etching. This rather involved production method is reflected in their retail price, which sits around US$500 per device. Now, however, a high school teacher has come up with a way of making microfluidics that involves little else than a photocopier and transparency film.

Comment Re:Latency? (Score 1) 187

At GHz speeds, wire delay is pretty significant. Another part of it is electrical noise -- longer wires tend to act as transmission lines. I didn't RTFA, butI think the advantage of optical interconnects is that the throughput that you get beats the loss of waiting for data. You can afford to wait 10 nsec if afterwards you can fill your 1kbyte whole cache. (Not read it 64 bits/4nsec or whatever). Additionally, optical lines are immune to electrical noise (RF).

Comment Re:So should I unplug all my stuff or not? (Score 5, Informative) 220

Not to be pedantic, but telegraph operators did drop dead during the Carrington Flare, if only because they were more or less attached to massive "antennas." Moreover, the usual threat of solar storms is not radiation to people, but to the radio equipment that makes modern life possible. This one should only graze the

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