[107449] in Cypherpunks
Re: AUCRYPTO: Furby spies infest the NSA.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Thu Jan 14 12:12:42 1999
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:53:16 -0500
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
--- begin forwarded text
Resent-Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 08:20:47 -0500
To: 0xdeadbeef@substance.blackdown.org
Cc: bostic@bostic.com, proff@iq.org
Subject: Re: AUCRYPTO: Furby spies infest the NSA.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 08:17:56 -0500
From: glen mccready <glen@qnx.com>
Resent-From: 0xdeadbeef@substance.blackdown.org
Resent-Sender: 0xdeadbeef-request@substance.blackdown.org
From: Matthew Miller <mattm@infinet.com>
> Forwarded-by: William Knowles <erehwon@kizmiaz.dis.org>
> Forwarded-by: Julian Assange <proff@iq.org>
> By Vernon Loeb
> Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 13, 1999; Page A21
...
> "Personally owned photographic, video and audio recording equipment
> are prohibited items. This includes toys, such as 'Furbys,' with
> built-in recorders that repeat the audio with synthesized sound to
> mimic the original signal," the Furby Alert warned NSA workers.
Er...either this story is bogus or government people are even stupider
than I thought. Furbys can neither record nor play back speech -- all the
words they `learn' are pre-programmed. They *do* receive and send out
infrared signals (this is how they interact with each other), which may
itself compromise security. Check http://www.phobe.com/furby/ and
http://www.homestead.com/hackfurby/ .
Matthew Miller -- mattm (at) infinet (dot) com
--- end forwarded text
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@philodox.com>
Philodox Financial Technology Evangelism <http://www.philodox.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
