Word: packets
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Becoming part of a distributed-computing network is easy. You simply log onto a website and download free data-crunching software that doubles as a snazzy screensaver. Anytime you go online after that, the computer contacts a server that beams you a small packet of data for your PC to analyze. The calculations are performed whenever your computer is idle; the next time you log on, the results are beamed back to the server, where they are combined with those sent in by other PCs. Like any other screensaver, the system is utterly unobtrusive. Tap a key, touch a mouse...
...Having now witnessed the savaging of similarly ill-conceived applications, I have little trouble imagining the reception when my larger-than-life packet arrived: a roomful of rolling eyes and snickers. I can only hope it provided some comic relief. And I can only think of one explanation for my acceptance: I got my readers laughing so hard that they became senseless...
...countless short stories and novellas." Though the admissions officers were impressed with the other parts of Budding Author's application, they didn't quite know what to make of her creative writing. "Well it's not quite soft porn," said a confused Walbridge. Instead of receiving a fat acceptance packet, Budding Author was wait-listed...
Carnivore, a system that has already been used in more than 20 cases, is designed for such limited taps. Run on a standard PC installed on the network of an Internet service provider (ISP), Carnivore receives a copy of every data packet and picks out, in real time, incoming and outgoing e-mail addresses or Web requests for a given user. As a result, the government has argued that the system poses no threat to civil liberties--its strength is not in widespread surveillance, but in recording addressing information equivalent to the numbers dialed on a telephone...
...does get the ability to search e-mail addresses under the lesser standard of protection, the consequences could be severe. By claiming that certain information is relevant to an investigation, the government could get a court order to install a box on a network with access to every packet that passes through. The American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy advocates have called for the FBI to open the Carnivore source code to the public, and the FBI has recruited a university to investigate the program, but neither plan represents a real solution: Seeing the source code to one version...