Of all the messages they could have sent they chose the most boring.
lets play a game HN, what would be the best alert to send? mine would be something scifi, like "ALIENS HAVE LANDED" or "PLUTO DECLARES WAR"
Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
51–60 of 142 posts
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#52The power to send mass messages to a whole country is the worst thing google/apple have given to governments across the world.
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#53"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…
You - and Eric Raymond, who believes he’s an incarnation of the god Pan - are both using a meaning of the word that has only ever been used in a relatively tiny subculture. That meaning has no bearing on its broader use.
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#54misantropia é um perigo rapaziada
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
It might have been the Ringworld "Well?"Nessus began to pace the floor. "Many disqualify themselves by obvious bad luck. Of the rest, none seem to be available. When we call, they are out. When we call back, the phone computer gives us a bad connection. When we ask for any member of the Brandt family, every phone in South America rings. There have been complaints. It is very frustrating." https://www.naneahoffman.com…
“ When we ask for any member of the Brandt family, every phone in South America rings.” That sounds like the computer had a bad solution to “find a Brandt.” The comment with the request to find this reference had me thinking it would be a single phone number misconfigured to call a large population.
It was the luck of either Teela Brown, or Mr. Brandt depending on how you read the genetic trait of luck.
If you haven't read ringworld, you should. It's really quite good.
But stop before you get to ringworld's children or whatever it's called. Niven's furry fetish is in full force later in the series.
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#56Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#57The power to send mass messages to a whole country is the worst thing google/apple have given to governments across the world.
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#58TBH phones in Poland allow to call you "from" an arbitrary number (i.e. display it on your phone). Also send SMS with arbitrary source. This is being used by scammers who call you and tell they are from police bank etc
(I recently purchased an esim and was surprised to see it exiting poland instead of the country the mobile provider (Bell) resides in)
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
“ When we ask for any member of the Brandt family, every phone in South America rings.” That sounds like the computer had a bad solution to “find a Brandt.” The comment with the request to find this reference had me thinking it would be a single phone number misconfigured to call a large population.
It actually had nothing to do with a computer! It was the luck of either Teela Brown, or Mr. Brandt depending on how you read the genetic trait of luck. If you haven't read ringworld, you should. It's really quite good. But stop before you get to ringworld's children or whatever it's called. Niven's furry fetish is in full force later in the series.
Re: Unauthorized alert sent to cell phones across Brazil
#60"The message sent was of the ‘Extreme Alert’ type and contained the word ‘misanthropy’ – which means hatred towards humanity. It is probably a hacker attack,” the agency’s statement said." As this happens whenever there is an intrusion reported in the press, the word "hacker" is often misused: "There is another group of people who loudly call themselves hackers, but aren't. These are people (mainly adolescent males)…
-- The UNIX Terrorist