

Raytheon Sends Android To Battlefield - rglullis
http://www.forbes.com/2009/10/19/android-google-military-technology-wireless-raytheon.html

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iuybuyvvyu
Makes todays XKCD rather apt

<http://xkcd.com/652/>

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ynniv
And "Toys" [ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toys_(film)> ]. Warfare has become
a game of economics (for the winner, at least).

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ynniv
_Google_ Android, not an _actual_ android. Letdown.

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coderdude
Despite the (probably purposeful) lack of determiners in the title, I assumed
it had to do with the Android OS. That said, I think this is awesome. Defense
systems are an interest of mine, and a more-or-less standardized OS deployed
in defense hardware is something not often seen.

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robg
That's why I think Google has the long-term winner here. Open source makes all
sorts of innovation possible.

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sketerpot
In other news, Barnes and Noble is making an ebook reader that runs Android.
And a lot of cell phone makers are using it. And there are some netbook makers
adapting it to their hardware.

Do you see what's happening here? _Android is plumbing!_ It's becoming the de
facto standard way to put a slick GUI on a mobile device.

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TrevorJ
The security risks of giving such small, easily misplaced devices access to
that kind of info seems like a terrible idea. What happens when a soldier gets
captured? Having a device like this that is trivially accessible once you have
the password gives the enemy a lot more reason to use force to extract
information from a POW.

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imgabe
Have a fake code that actually wipes the device. When the POW is questioned,
he gives them that code and the device is rendered useless.

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jrockway
Well, the code should cause the device to return mostly fake information. If
it just stops working, you are going to make the person that threatened you
with force mad. I have never been a POW, but I am pretty sure I would want to
avoid that. (Note to future government that wants to draft me: You had better
believe I would give up the real code to save my own life. I would probably
even do it for some cash and a new passport.)

This concept would be good for consumer devices though. Customs officer wants
to illegally search your laptop? Just give him the "correct" password.

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TrevorJ
It's a good idea. Seems like security through obscurity though. Once the
scheme is widely known it is useless.

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fjabre
Yay Skynet..!

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pasbesoin
AVG gave me a malware warning on this link (could be a false positive -- just
noting).

