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[voice] Have You No Idea That You're In Deep? (plus a Comms PSA)
[It's been a while since L has addressed the network in any capacity: he's been occupied with one thing and another. Today he sounds unusually weary, but people who see him on a daily basis know that this has been a frequent state for him for the past two months: there have been highs and lows, and they've been extreme on both ends.]
This is Ryuuzaki, speaking on behalf of Communications. I'll be discussing several things today.
We'd like to remind you that your private communications should never be considered completely private. For the past few months, we've all been using a different style of encryption than the one that was previously available. Communications now believes that we have a good understanding of how the new style works. If we can figure it out, someone else certainly can, if they're determined enough.
[It rankles him to have to admit this, but the people who are worth hiding the information from probably don't need to be told to be careful about secrecy to begin with, and letting everyone else know is a matter of good PR. Aside from that, if he doesn't, it's very likely that someone else will.]
Following on that, we still haven't been able to create any encryptions of our own that the rebooted network will accept. If you find that you're able to do that yourself, it's possible that we could use you in the department.
On another note, I've heard some concern that van Rijn's people are eavesdropping on our network. While I can't guarantee that they won't hit the archive if they're ever to gain control of the ship, the method of their contact two months ago didn't utilize this network at all. It was a direct external signal to the communicators themselves. It's extremely unlikely that they're following our current internal discussions -- I think if they were, we'd have heard from them more and in a different way.
[He pauses, and when he speaks again, his tone has shifted in a way that indicates a change in topic.]
I don't think any of us can deny that there have been several important developments in the last few months.
There's always some value in sitting back and trying to determine what we know -- and those of you who are new here should certainly direct your attention to the documents which Support posts in the first few days after a jump. It's vital that you're up to speed. I've attached some useful information to this message.
However, I'd like to propose a different question:
What don't we know?
What are we still trying to determine? In which areas are we lacking information? I'm looking for specific questions, not broad subjects -- try to break them down. Likewise, if you think you can answer one of these questions -- definitively, no wild guesses -- please do so, so we can remove it from the list. If you have information you'd like to share, leads, that might also be helpful. It's always a good idea to use the network to document anything you learn.
These questions could determine new avenues of investigation, or if we receive further outside contact, we may be able to pursue some of those subjects in that way. Even if that turns out not to be the case, it may help us coordinate our efforts.
I'm afraid I'll have to apologize in advance to a few of you -- Ward, Resnik, Charlotte, our smiling friend -- it's possible that we may be discussing you as if you aren't here. [His tone turns slightly wry.] Try not to take it personally.
[He has never in his life cared, not even in the least, about that sort of thing: he'll call someone a murderer when they're in the same room if the evidence fits the accusation. He'll even relish it. But he understands that any of those three could chime in on this conversation, and that the situation is different, because he's calling not for their arrest, but for a discussion that may touch on details that they'd rather were private.]
[OOC note: About the network and hacking! Regardless of what L is looking for, user-created encryptions no longer work on the network as of 1 November 2014 -- and they may never work again. It's a change in game mechanics! A single, extremely robust level of security is available to everyone, simply by marking messages as private before sending them.
It will take even a top-level, technopath-type hacker at least three months of full-time effort to figure out how to hack a message marked as private under the new system, and they will flag SEC several times in the process. Working as a group (dealing with other duties and fluctuations in character availability), it has taken Comms about four months. The amount of time it will take someone to decrypt a single message after they've spent several months working on figuring out how the encryption itself works will depend on the hacking character's level of skill and the length of the message in question, but it will be very slow work even for the best of the best.
L's search for encryptions that aren't built into the system is probably in vain, but characters who are interested in trying may still be interested in joining Comms. They can also make the attempt on their own time, of course!]
This is Ryuuzaki, speaking on behalf of Communications. I'll be discussing several things today.
We'd like to remind you that your private communications should never be considered completely private. For the past few months, we've all been using a different style of encryption than the one that was previously available. Communications now believes that we have a good understanding of how the new style works. If we can figure it out, someone else certainly can, if they're determined enough.
[It rankles him to have to admit this, but the people who are worth hiding the information from probably don't need to be told to be careful about secrecy to begin with, and letting everyone else know is a matter of good PR. Aside from that, if he doesn't, it's very likely that someone else will.]
Following on that, we still haven't been able to create any encryptions of our own that the rebooted network will accept. If you find that you're able to do that yourself, it's possible that we could use you in the department.
On another note, I've heard some concern that van Rijn's people are eavesdropping on our network. While I can't guarantee that they won't hit the archive if they're ever to gain control of the ship, the method of their contact two months ago didn't utilize this network at all. It was a direct external signal to the communicators themselves. It's extremely unlikely that they're following our current internal discussions -- I think if they were, we'd have heard from them more and in a different way.
[He pauses, and when he speaks again, his tone has shifted in a way that indicates a change in topic.]
I don't think any of us can deny that there have been several important developments in the last few months.
There's always some value in sitting back and trying to determine what we know -- and those of you who are new here should certainly direct your attention to the documents which Support posts in the first few days after a jump. It's vital that you're up to speed. I've attached some useful information to this message.
However, I'd like to propose a different question:
What don't we know?
What are we still trying to determine? In which areas are we lacking information? I'm looking for specific questions, not broad subjects -- try to break them down. Likewise, if you think you can answer one of these questions -- definitively, no wild guesses -- please do so, so we can remove it from the list. If you have information you'd like to share, leads, that might also be helpful. It's always a good idea to use the network to document anything you learn.
These questions could determine new avenues of investigation, or if we receive further outside contact, we may be able to pursue some of those subjects in that way. Even if that turns out not to be the case, it may help us coordinate our efforts.
I'm afraid I'll have to apologize in advance to a few of you -- Ward, Resnik, Charlotte, our smiling friend -- it's possible that we may be discussing you as if you aren't here. [His tone turns slightly wry.] Try not to take it personally.
[He has never in his life cared, not even in the least, about that sort of thing: he'll call someone a murderer when they're in the same room if the evidence fits the accusation. He'll even relish it. But he understands that any of those three could chime in on this conversation, and that the situation is different, because he's calling not for their arrest, but for a discussion that may touch on details that they'd rather were private.]
[OOC note: About the network and hacking! Regardless of what L is looking for, user-created encryptions no longer work on the network as of 1 November 2014 -- and they may never work again. It's a change in game mechanics! A single, extremely robust level of security is available to everyone, simply by marking messages as private before sending them.
It will take even a top-level, technopath-type hacker at least three months of full-time effort to figure out how to hack a message marked as private under the new system, and they will flag SEC several times in the process. Working as a group (dealing with other duties and fluctuations in character availability), it has taken Comms about four months. The amount of time it will take someone to decrypt a single message after they've spent several months working on figuring out how the encryption itself works will depend on the hacking character's level of skill and the length of the message in question, but it will be very slow work even for the best of the best.
L's search for encryptions that aren't built into the system is probably in vain, but characters who are interested in trying may still be interested in joining Comms. They can also make the attempt on their own time, of course!]
video;
Not so sure this has anything to do with anything, but I wanna know if anyone's ever managed to crack open one of those stasis pods before. If anyone wants to chime in on that, great, but I think we oughtta figure out how to safely do it, just in case.
text;
Where/when/what have we been?
What happened where we went?
How long will it be until we get to our destination?
Can a river ever run uphill?
Is communications permitted to break into private communications? That seems unfair somehow. Are you looking at my private messages, Ryuuzaki? Is Laura Roslin?
[text forever]
Anyone who has the capability can break into a private message. Life is unfair, I'm afraid. As a matter of course, Communications doesn't.
Is there something new you're worried about being caught at? You've already held two different workers in Communications hostage and tampered with our systems.
[voice forever!]
I don't know about that, but it's a good question. It's possible that Tsang can answer it. There used to be pods elsewhere in the ship... it's too bad they're inaccessible now. They might be useful for experimentation.
Anything else?
not here
[he saw that]
also not here
video;
So you can read our messages.
You do realize how not cool that is, right? Invasion. Of. Privacy.
[voice]
[voice]
Still- pretty fucked up.
What else can they do? Watch us while we sleep? Shower?
no subject
I haven't heard of anything like that.
[We can't even manage to set up a camera to watch the nanite tanks for further sabotage! How can we live like this?]
You're aware that some of our past thoughts and experiences have been revealed to other people on the ship, however, aren't you? It may have been caused by the nanites, or the stasis fluid... it's hard to say.
no subject
[That would be. Bad. For her, at least. Though she was gonna pretend she was totally chill with this idea. Look at her! She's pretending! SO CHILL.]
no subject
[Are they ever lucky? Maybe they're lucky that things aren't any worse. That's not a comforting thought.]
It might be useful to familiarize yourself with past events, so you understand what we're really up against. While I can assure you that Comms isn't reading your messages in an official capacity -- in point of fact, we hacked into messages that I created for the express purpose of learning how our security works -- things you would prefer to be private may come to light with no action on the part of any of your fellow passengers. The links I attached to the initial message here might help.
[voice]
[okok not really, they've been doing a lot better than the day they started this whole charade.]
The list of passenger numbers that's cropped up on the network in the past. Anyone cracked that mystery yet, or is it still up in the air?
Also going by what you just said, suppose it's safe to assume that we haven't heard any word from Joshua or Lina since before the thirty-ninth jump?
no subject
If we've heard from either of them, no one has come forward to say so. It's possible that we were able to leave them behind, at least temporarily -- the jump just after they made mass contact appears to have been a long one.
Another question might be: what causes the variations in jump duration? I suppose that's tied in some way to where the ship is heading.
no subject
All this has happened before and will happen again.
[ Oh look completely ignoring the other topic. ]
no subject
no subject
Wait- hold up, what happened to those pods? Where were they, why can't we get to 'em?
voice.
[GOOD TO HEAR YOU L BRUH.
Even if your news usually isn't chipper.]
voice.
But the experiences that people have in the hallways, is that some kind of complicated technology centered effect, or something a bit more supernatural in origins?
And who is responsible for the murals cropping up anyway?