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Fun with Red Star OS

sizeof.cat

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Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#111

Post by reaperducer »

danielvaughn wrote: post #5
marcodiego wrote: post #3

"The system is absolutely network-silent except when you actively do something that requires network access, like using the browser. It does not call the mothership, not for updates, not for telemetry, not to let Kim Jong Un know the status of your internal organs. Spoiler, he doesn’t give a fuck about your hentai porn. " Take that, Microsoft!

In a former job, I had to inspect network traffic on my mac. So I install Charles, open it up, and start looking around. I was astounded how much network activity is going on that I had no idea about .

Macs have always had incredible network use, even way back in the dialup days when I started working with them.

The software seems to be designed to assume a perfect, exceedingly fat network connection at all times, and that all processes can do what they want with it.

In all the years I've been using Macs, as far as I can tell, there is nothing in the OS that says, "Oh, the person is sending e-mail over a crappy cellular connection. Maybe now is not the best time to download a multi-gigabyte software update."

I don't know what the situation is like on the Windows side, but I've always assumed that Apple bungs gigabit ethernet into the houses and cubicles of all of its developers, and they never have to connect to things in the real world.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#112

Post by hutzlibu »

whimsicalism wrote: post #64
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The KGB used to require all typewriters to be registered, so they could identify the authors of anything they found objectionable. Being able to track who produced an image that's doing the rounds spreading "propaganda" seems like it adds a lot of value (from an authoritarian point of view, at least).

LOL yeah the US does the exact same thing. I would pay to read a newspaper that (somewhat satirically) reported on the US the way we report on our adversaries. Complete with referring to police as "security forces", including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

Well, just try some russian or chinese newspapers.

I do it at times.

There surely is wild propaganda mixed in, but also some very clear analysis of a certain cituation. More so, if for example russia is reporting on US-China crisis. Or vice versa.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#113

Post by kenned3 »

typon wrote: post #92
emteycz wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it surprising that the top 1% programmers of an entire country (many of them probably with western education) can produce quality software when put under deadly threat?

I knew a South Korean prof who chose to live in North Korea (as a philanthropic act) and teach at their top university (His research was in Embedded Electronics). Conversations with him completely changed my mind on North Korea, because prior to that my only context was through American/Canadian mainstream media (read: propaganda). I still think its a dictatorial regime that needs to be abolished and the North Korean…

This.

If anyone thinks North America isn't actively involved in propaganda as well, they are delusional.

The amount of "anti-china" comments i come across on the internet is shocking, and I can tell the posters have never left the US, let alone been to the country of their targeted "hate". Where do these strong views come from if they haven't been there, and probably have minimal contact with people who have?

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#114

Post by nottorp »

niyaven wrote: post #97
zbonk wrote: post #91

Can someone please see the "view source" of this page and tell me if what I'm seeing is malware? I'm seeing a LOT of scary-looking UNIX code (PID, root, IPs etc.)there that doesn't appear on the site, is my computer now compromised?

Nothing to worry about, this is actually on the site. However the output is collapsed by default because it's very long. CTRL+F "View the original iptables rules" and click it, you will see what you saw in the source.

> However the output is collapsed by default because it's very long.

Top poster did not read the article :)

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#115

Post by handrous »

wikidani wrote: post #82
danielvaughn wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a former job, I had to inspect network traffic on my mac. So I install Charles, open it up, and start looking around. I was astounded how much network activity is going on that I had no idea about .

There was a linux distro I checked out a few years ago that routed every connection through tor and also asked for permission for every app connecting to the internet and I was similarly astounded by the fact that pretty much everything is sending some sort of data and people knew nothing about

Yeah, even Linux is crazy-chatty these days. I miss sniffing packets on a home or small office network and being able to follow what was going on without any filters. Now even on a smallish network, all your "idle" devices are spitting out packets constantly, so with "nothing going on" WireShark scrolls so fast with 20+ different interwoven conversations that it's impossible to follow. And god forbid you have any browser tabs open, since so many chat constantly in the background now.

Everyone decided that "telemetry" isn't spying and is totally fine (it obviously fucking is and it absolutely is not, respectively). Plus stuff like Bonjour came along.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#116

Post by jszymborski »

whimsicalism wrote: post #64
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The KGB used to require all typewriters to be registered, so they could identify the authors of anything they found objectionable. Being able to track who produced an image that's doing the rounds spreading "propaganda" seems like it adds a lot of value (from an authoritarian point of view, at least).

LOL yeah the US does the exact same thing. I would pay to read a newspaper that (somewhat satirically) reported on the US the way we report on our adversaries. Complete with referring to police as "security forces", including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

The issue I take with this point is that:

  1) There's plenty of criticism of the West from within its many nations borders
  2) There's far more from outside its borders
  3) Criticism of crushingly oppressive dictatorships is strictly forbidden from within
With that context, Western criticism of oppressive dictatorships serves a vital purpose, and so does fair criticism of the West.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#117

Post by reaperducer »

lostcolony wrote: post #101
tenebrisalietum wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How could a specific typewriter be tracked from a typed document?

So looking at a document, you'd not be able to know what typewriter it was written from, no. However, looking at a document, you may be able to tell the make and model of the typewriter, due to different typefaces and known mechanical differences across the make/model. That, coupled with a location or list of suspects, would allow you to examine specific typewriters. You may be able to determine a letter was written…

So looking at a document, you'd not be able to know what typewriter it was written from, no.

Actually, yes. Typewriters, especially well-used ones develop their own quirks. The "e" is a little higher or lower. The "o" gets a little filled with ink. It's mechanical, so parts wear, things get a bit off, and with enough use, each typewriter develops its own fingerprint.

It's been a thing in mystery novels at least back to the 1920's.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#118

Post by gjsman-1000 »

koffiedrinker wrote: post #72
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to Wikipedia, a South Korean magazine got a copy, but they never uploaded the disc images. However, they did takes a few screenshots. Red Star OS 4 is still MacOS-inspired but with a little more modern of a Mac look - think Mavericks (Red Star OS 3 inspiration) -> Yosemite (Red Star OS 4.0 inspiration). With a touch of Chrome OS and GNOME in there for good measure. https://www.nkeconomy.com/news/articleView…

Did they take photos of their screen because it was running on a computer they didn't own or did they really have access to the ISOs (and for some reason didn't take screenshots)?

No idea. Could have been a visitor to North Korea who took photos on the tour (North Korea now does sort-of permit photos in certain areas to tourists).

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#119

Post by shlurpy »

hutzlibu wrote: post #112
whimsicalism wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

LOL yeah the US does the exact same thing. I would pay to read a newspaper that (somewhat satirically) reported on the US the way we report on our adversaries. Complete with referring to police as "security forces", including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

Well, just try some russian or chinese newspapers. I do it at times. There surely is wild propaganda mixed in, but also some very clear analysis of a certain cituation. More so, if for example russia is reporting on US-China crisis. Or vice versa.

You have to take into account bias even then. Negative bias and propaganda can be just as strong. But yeah, I personally read German news or AL Jazeera or whatever.

Re: Fun with Red Star OS

#120

Post by zepto »

whimsicalism wrote: post #64
BuildTheRobots wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The KGB used to require all typewriters to be registered, so they could identify the authors of anything they found objectionable. Being able to track who produced an image that's doing the rounds spreading "propaganda" seems like it adds a lot of value (from an authoritarian point of view, at least).

LOL yeah the US does the exact same thing. I would pay to read a newspaper that (somewhat satirically) reported on the US the way we report on our adversaries. Complete with referring to police as "security forces", including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

> Complete with referring to police as "security forces",

The western press goes in to far more detail about how oppressive, brutal and unaccountable American police are than any other country. There is pretty much an unending stream of criticism of the police.

> including wild speculations about the backstabbing behind-the-scenes of their top politics, etc.

If you have never seen such speculation about American politicians, I assume you have never looked at a newspaper.

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