On Feb 10, 2009, at 9:51 PM, Robert J. Hansen wrote:
David Shaw wrote:
I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it a GUID as it is only
unique relative to the vendor and device type
Must be my luck, then -- the ones I've looked at have all had per-
device
serial #s.
I suspect the better-quality or brand named ones are more likely to
have real serial numbers. The ones that I have without serial numbers
are very much "no name brand".
There is also no guarantee that the host computer will log the device
serial number (modern Linux does, but you're more likely to find some
flavor of Windows in an internet cafe).
Yes and no, I think. E.g., China's internet cafes are being pressured
heavily to use the government-approved Red Flag Linux. There's also
been talk in the press about the Russian government pressuring
internet
cafes to give "more complete cooperation with law enforcement", which
sounds like it could cover a whole host of badness. On the other
hand,
you have the very lax regulatory situation of the United States, where
that sort of pre-existing relationship is hard to imagine.
Indeed. Of course, even if the host does log the serial number, the
log is less useful if the serial number is "FFFFFF" or the like. Not
that the lack of a serial number really changes the equation all that
much. There are half a dozen or more ways for someone to be traced
through an internet cafe if the person doing the tracing is
sufficiently motivated and capable. The Timothy McVeigh example from
earlier is particularly good here: the US government really, really
wanted to find him, and fast. That is certainly "sufficiently
motivated and capable".
David
_______________________________________________
Gnupg-users mailing list
Gnupg-users@gnupg.org
http://lists.gnupg.org/mailman/listinfo/gnupg-users
