SLN, and MAlign playing catch up with Manticoran superiority

Jonathan_S wrote:

ThinksMarkedly wrote:A microSD card today is smaller and has more storage than what Sci-Fi writers from the 1990s thought was possible! I don't think they're going to get any smaller because they become too tiny to handle. Our fingers aren't getting more dextrous than they are.

But you can subject people to searches to figure out if they are smuggling data out. This is not new.

A bigger difficulty would be for people like Honor who have cybernetics in their body, meaning they must have some data storage of some kind. What are they going to do, reset the firmware to defaults?

Though unless you're dealing with active spies -- in which case you've far more serious problems -- the workers may get sloppy but in general they should be in favor of keeping the base's location secret. (After all, they're the ones who'll get blown up if the wrong people find it)

So you shouldn't need to search them for any storage devices. It'd be more about making rules that make inadvertent leakage of data that might disclose the location less likely.

Things like restricting devices with cameras, limiting the observation areas, or applying censorship to messages home would go a long way. (Could someone smuggle in a camera or smuggle out uncensored information? Probably. But if you make the workers aware of why you're doing it that should sharply limit their interest in bypassing those security measures)

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

penny wrote:Also, even the lowest technician can look out of the windows on any observation deck and note the constellation. Their latest i-phone can capture images of the constellation as well. Someone might be able to recognize it because of who-knows-what.

Warships don't have portholes or observation decks. They'd be weaknesses in the hull.

But other personnel transports might, so may the stations and yards where the ships are being constructed. Whether you can see any useful constellations from inside the Refuge System's dust cloud is up for discussion. Given that medium- and long-range observations failed to see an inhabitable planet there at all, it's not impossible, but planets are much more difficult to see than stars.

As for captured images, I'm sure the same OpSec procedures that keep the navigation databases clean would apply to any other data storage carried by anyone. You don't bring any un-approved mass storage device with you and you're arrested if you try to leave with something that wasn't issued to you. What was issued to you is subject to censorship, the same way that sending emails aboard a warship would be.

You can't remove someone's knowledge (in the HV), but you can prevent them from taking high-fidelity data with them. The most that anyone not in the Top Brass should know is that:
a) it takes about a week to travel from the far terminus of the wormhole
b) the near terminus of the wormhole is a month's travel from Haven
c) the system is surrounded by a dust cloud
d) it's a binary star system with the bigger partner being a bright A-class star
e) there are five asteroid belts
f) the system has a native human population descended from a lost colony ship

No one but navigators and Top Brass need to know that the far terminus is the Calvin System.

The problem is that the native population is being educated and is working on the yards, along with the temporary expats, and those will know their history. They kept the Dark Fall saga alive for nearly 1500 years, and they must all know now that they are the descendants of the Calvin's Hope colony ship. It'll be impossible to contain that datum.

And that's not even considering Pritchart's promise to the native Sanctuarians that they deserve to be public in the Galaxy and have the freedom of travel, same as any other citizen of the Republic of Haven.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:

Daryl wrote:I recently put a new "hard drive" in my PC. A 4TB device that looks like a credit card. Sure you can restrict what people take out on phones and tablets, but an equivalent to our SD cards or such? A fingernail sized bit of thin film?

A microSD card today is smaller and has more storage than what Sci-Fi writers from the 1990s thought was possible! I don't think they're going to get any smaller because they become too tiny to handle. Our fingers aren't getting more dextrous than they are.

But you can subject people to searches to figure out if they are smuggling data out. This is not new.

A bigger difficulty would be for people like Honor who have cybernetics in their body, meaning they must have some data storage of some kind. What are they going to do, reset the firmware to defaults?

Jonathan_S wrote:

Theemile wrote:I saw the Navy blurb about the Electromagnetic drive - posted yesterday, April 1st. I think you mileage may vary with that article.

Yeah.

That is a tech that kind of exists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetohy ... mic_drive; but it's actually not silent (apparently it causes bubbles to form in the water - which are noisy when they collapse) and uses a stupidly large amount of power for relatively low thrust.
But I suspect that the article posted yesterday is just crossing up that actual drive with the movie version of Red October's caterpillar drive, for a quasi-plausible prank story about the USN.

ThinksMarkedly wrote:No one but navigators and Top Brass need to know that the far terminus is the Calvin System.

The problem is that the native population is being educated and is working on the yards, along with the temporary expats, and those will know their history. They kept the Dark Fall saga alive for nearly 1500 years, and they must all know now that they are the descendants of the Calvin's Hope colony ship. It'll be impossible to contain that datum.

And that's not even considering Pritchart's promise to the native Sanctuarians that they deserve to be public in the Galaxy and have the freedom of travel, same as any other citizen of the Republic of Haven.

penny wrote:And that Haven has a moral responsibility to do. Anything else would be considered inhumane, irresponsible, selfish and self-serving. Something I mentioned several times in the past. And that should read 'as any other citizen of the galaxy.'

Anything less reminds me of ... of ... hmmm Darius and Galton! Aka, the MAlign.

tlb wrote:

ThinksMarkedly wrote:No one but navigators and Top Brass need to know that the far terminus is the Calvin System.

The problem is that the native population is being educated and is working on the yards, along with the temporary expats, and those will know their history. They kept the Dark Fall saga alive for nearly 1500 years, and they must all know now that they are the descendants of the Calvin's Hope colony ship. It'll be impossible to contain that datum.

And that's not even considering Pritchart's promise to the native Sanctuarians that they deserve to be public in the Galaxy and have the freedom of travel, same as any other citizen of the Republic of Haven.

penny wrote:And that Haven has a moral responsibility to do. Anything else would be considered inhumane, irresponsible, selfish and self-serving. Something I mentioned several times in the past. And that should read 'as any other citizen of the galaxy.'

Anything less reminds me of ... of ... hmmm Darius and Galton! Aka, the MAlign.

No, the minimum standard is correctly stated as "same as any other citizen of the Republic of Haven". We have no idea if there is some "universal bill of rights", however that is unlikely. We do know that Sanctuary is under the control of Haven and therefore it is a uniform application of Haven's laws that is requested, after the military emergency is over.

penny wrote:To be clear, the minimum should be what any human being on God's green Earth and universe is due. From Pharaoh's slaves to America's slaves and their brethren. Apart from any government.

Anything else would be uncivilized.

National parks have specific regulations in place to ensure the safety of visitors, protect the environment, and maintain the natural beauty of these pristine areas.

penny wrote:At any rate, I cannot imagine the average person in the HV not being, at the very least, an armchair or hobby astronomer. And if that person has a photographic memory, all bets are off. Cybernetics, in which case -- though your notion is spot on and brilliant -- would not be needed. And photographic memories should be a lot more common in the HV.

tlb wrote:

penny wrote:To be clear, the minimum should be what any human being on God's green Earth and universe is due. From Pharaoh's slaves to America's slaves and their brethren. Apart from any government.

Anything else would be uncivilized.

It is significant that you have not enumerated those rights. But one was listed in the post that drew you response; so let's just consider the "freedom to travel", which you seem to imply is a fundamental right.

People everywhere (either individually or collectively) have the right to build walls, post and enforce "no trespassing" areas and create borders. So the "freedom" to travel means the legal right to wander wherever the ability to access has not been legally restricted. This "freedom" only exists in a negative sense, in that it is allowed where not prohibited and even then might be limited.

tlb wrote:or example: the National Park System in the US has rules and regulations that can limit access.

National parks have specific regulations in place to ensure the safety of visitors, protect the environment, and maintain the natural beauty of these pristine areas.

tlb wrote:

penny wrote:To be clear, the minimum should be what any human being on God's green Earth and universe is due. From Pharaoh's slaves to America's slaves and their brethren. Apart from any government.

Anything else would be uncivilized.

It is significant that you have not enumerated those rights. But one was listed in the post that drew you response; so let's just consider the "freedom to travel", which you seem to imply is a fundamental right.

People everywhere (either individually or collectively) have the right to build walls, post and enforce "no trespassing" areas and create borders. So the "freedom" to travel means the legal right to wander wherever the ability to access has not been legally restricted. This "freedom" only exists in a negative sense, in that it is allowed where not prohibited and even then might be limited.

For example: the National Park System in the US has rules and regulations that can limit access.

National parks have specific regulations in place to ensure the safety of visitors, protect the environment, and maintain the natural beauty of these pristine areas.