Re: Scientific Calculators

In article <1242242357@xxxxxxxxx>, throopw@xxxxxxxxx (Wayne Throop)
wrote:

:: Different. I was thinking about a laptop that is reimaged each time
:: (or only has read-only disk + your issued exam USB stick, etc), and
:: no networking. The moral equivalent of handing out ruled paper.

: Greg Goss <gossg@xxxxxxxxx>
: So we're talking about a $400 computer that is used for three or four
: one-week periods a year. I guess they could be set up somewhere
: (wired) as internet terminals for the rest of the year.

Well, you could say "you can use any laptop, as long as it can boot this
here CD" (or usb stick, or drive, or whatnot, or whatever). Install the
software you want there. Obviously, they *could* reboot back to their
own stuff, but then, but it doesn't seem implausible to trust-but-verify
on that point; for one thing, just have your installation keep a log of
activity, and arrange to obtain it after the test; hard to hide a reboot
in the midst of that.

Virtualization kills this idea quite dead. It's entirely possible, and
not even very hard, to provide an environment which can "boot" the
school-provided CD in a little boxed-off area, which looks just like the
real thing to the external observer, and still allow the student full
access to his real system.

A fundamental truth of computer security is that you can't trust a
user's computer. This is why copy protection and DRM schemes are doomed
to failure, and this is really just an unusual variant of that.

--
Mike Ash
Radio Free Earth
Broadcasting from our climate-controlled studios deep inside the Moon
.

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