Comments on: Comments on 13944

Post number 13944

Irontom — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 10:38:05 -0800

Exploding Silicon Laptop thieves beware! We can now make your ill-gotten loot explode on command...

By: howa2396

howa2396 — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:22:29 -0800

"This machine is stolen and will self-destruct in ten seconds ... ". I think it would be more effective in preventing future thefts if no warning were given. Thats just my opinion though.

By: Hildago

Hildago — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:23:36 -0800

Yay, now all digital electronics can be destroyed from a distance! This has only positive implications!

By: adnanbwp

adnanbwp — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:25:48 -0800

well good, another great idea for to-be-terrorists.

By: Shadowkeeper

Shadowkeeper — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 12:27:11 -0800

A new process that will destroy data and render a computer unusable? Looks like Microsoft is set to dominate yet another market.

By: ilsa

ilsa — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 13:26:23 -0800

This idea will last until someone considers what would happen if a stolen exploding laptop injured a child.

By: yesster

yesster — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 14:19:01 -0800

response 1: Punishment without trial; guilty until proven innocent (or injured, whichever comes first) response 2: get THAT past airport security response 3: virus writers' dream come true

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 16:46:15 -0800

Why would you assume it would be stolen before it blew up? Having worked on a laptop help desk (Zenith Data Systems), I can only imagine the dialogs: Hi. I, uh, my laptop, uh, just blew up. And I can't see. How do I fix this? Oh, my presentation is in half an hour.

By: KirkJobSluder

KirkJobSluder — Thu, 17 Jan 2002 22:54:21 -0800

I sincerely hope they left the beer outside when they were pulling the exploding silicon trick. Although given the small scale of the explosion, I have doubts that it will do much damage to a thief. Although just to throw in aside issue, laptop theft is a really good argument for the availability of strong cryptography. After all, it would really suck if the thief got not only your laptop, but the calling card number stored in your modem settings, your accounts, and any other potentially embarrassing or potentially profitable information stored on your hard disk.