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July Q&A - DefCon 25 Edition! (Patreon)

Published:
2017-07-18 17:44:45
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Alright Patreons!

This is going to be a VERY SPECIAL Q&A, so we need very special questions! :)

I am going to have one, if not two, very special guests on the Q&A with me and we're filming it at DefCon25.

So, in that regard, let's get questions together from you that reside within these parameters:

Tech

Internet

Physical Security

Digital Security

Hacker/net culture

Convergence of rights, firearms, digital, both

Digital Rights in general

Convergence of tech and guns

If this comes together, which I believe it will, it'll be freaking epic.

Next month will be a "normal" Q&A that will be more specifically firearms focused.

I hope that at least some of you are as excited about what this Q&A will be as I am.

~Karl

Comments

Nathan K.

If you left a router with an open WiFi hotspot with factory defaults and WPS-PIN enabled at DefCon, how long before someone (a) brute forces a connection (b) takes over admin (c) makes it run Doom?

Philip

Just on the off-chance that one of your guests is deviant ollam or any other physical security whiz, what is the best security upgrade any homeowner can implement / add to their home to deter breakins while absent. Maybe something not too expensive that is often overlooked Edit: I forgot only 5$ and up can submit questions so there, i five dollar now

Casey

I've been holding in a question since right after your last Q&A, so it has nothing to do with your criteria. Caliber questions: 1. If you could have an AR (15 or 10) in any caliber, what would it be? For practical purposes? For fun purposes? 2. In regards to subsonic shooting, are subsonic rifle rounds even worth it? Would a Pistol Caliber Carbine be better off in that situation? I have a 300blk pistol and was wondering. Besides range it offers no real benefit over say a 45acp of the same grain, since they go the same speed (not even going to talk about expansion for the 300blk subsonic rounds). Actual tech question: What is Karl's gaming rig? Is Ian really a cyborg?

Luke Burton

I am a Board of Elections Director in Ohio. The voting machines in my county are in no way connected to a public network, and never have been . How did the "Russians" supposedly hack our voting systems?

Binary Notary

Seconding Philip's idea: if it's Deviant Ollam and co. how about a quick best practices overview of securing the home and firearms within the home.

Corey Allhands

For home internet security, I'm running a Smoothwall router with Google DNS. Is Google DNS still good enough, should I be running OpenDNS, another? Any further suggestions to secure against my ISP? I know a full time VPN is great but my speed is important to me.

Jacob Nugent

what direction do you think the "smart gun" technology is going and what do you think of this technology from a cyber security standpoint? cans the devices be tampered with from outside entities, and if not do you think technology will progress to a point where remote control of the devices is possible?

Matthew Jackson

I see a lot of parallels between the import/export controls on crypto, the legal standing of 'Digital Restrictions Management', and gun control, especially as it concerns things like 80% lowers and homemade magazines. Are there lessons to be learned from the history of gun control for people trying to protect open/functional hardware, run strong crypto, etc? How about vice versa?

Maxim

How do you feel about the idea of "smart guns" as a concept? Thus far no one has been able to make a *reliable* firearm that will only fire when held by a specific person but I believe it will happen eventually. Personally I would love, in principle, to have a gun that I knew would be difficult or impossible to fire by anyone other than myself or a person I designate. That being said I feel as if any such smart system could potentially be hacked especially those using wrist band or finger ring RFID systems. How does the security work on those systems? Is the range an RFID chip is readable reliant on the chip or the power of the reader? I feel like this would become especially important if firearms transition from primer to electronic ignition. The idea of some one walking around with a device in their pocket that could trigger a chambered round in another's holstered gun is frightening!

Trey Anderson

As someone who worked for the NSA and whose wife does cyber security for the .gov I'm just gonna sit back and read the questions with tempered apathy.

Ethan Vaught

Do you think that tech like RFID, AR overlays, digital optics, etc will ever be adopted by the US military? It seems like there are virtually endless possibilities with those technologies (imagine real time enemy spotting and objective a la battlefield, auto-ranging acogs like tracking point, subdermal rfid dogtags, etc.)

Will Kaiser

In the Matrix gun display videos Ian mentioned he had his guns in a "secure room" as opposed to a safe. What do y'all consider adequate security measures to have in order to forgo a gun safe?

Matthew Jackson

How scary is the growing prevalence of semi-autonomous weapons platforms?

Alex Pierce

The media frequently calls for adoption of "smart" gun technology to replace current firearms in the hands of the public in the U.S. These calls are generally rejected by the firearms community for a variety of reasons. I've had some recent arguments with no-gun people who suggest that identification recognition technology (fingerprint scanning in particular) has advanced enough to make it "easy" to implement. Do you think this argument is valid? I have difficulty explaining to these people about how added complexity to a critical system increases the chances of failure. Could smart guns be "hacked" as some in the gun community suggest? Thanks for the opportunity for questions and keep making awesome content!

Jasper Welsch

Should we be concerned about our digital footprints? For instance, Patreon knows that I like your channel and what you do simply because I support you. They can determine my other interests (mostly firearms & history) by the other creators that I support. YouTube will have a good guess about what firearms I own. Autozobe knows what type of cars I have. EBay knows it too, as well as my hobbies. And VISA knows every damn thing about me. All of this is contained in their business records. While each will have privacy policies, one generally does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy to someone else's business records. This is why so many "Mr. & Mrs. Smiths" stated in cheap hotels back in the day.

Dylan Schell

How far away do you think we are from the time that optics technology will make small arms point and click interfaces. Will tracking point-esque "auto-aim" be a viable militarized technology. I understand that there would need to still be other modifications to rifles and gear to truly flesh out the benefit of these technologies; how far away do you think we are and is such a thing even a worthy goal? Thank you for all the quality content!

Sean Smith

In pursuant to a remark that Jordan Bowles made during ModCast108 about firearms electronics. Why do you and your special guests think that firearms electronics haven't progressed very far? I don't mean like smart guns and what not, cause that is a whole other can of worms. I mean stuff like LED readouts of round counts in the magazine. Heads up display of scope view. Various add ons that don't inhibit the use of the weapon if they fail, but add a lot of functionality when they do work. There is a ton of things that are possible, but not out there, and why do you and the guests think that is?

Zac Donovan

What implications do groups like Defense Distributed have on both the digital rights and privacy fight as well as the firearms rights fight? Also, I know Ian had one electrically fired gun on Forgotten Weapons (which had some delay while firing that was noticeable), but there are other electrically fired weapons out there such as the M61 Vulcan cannon. Are potential advances along those lines a place where materials and optics will likely improve small arms in the future?

Giulio Flore

Do you think gun should be traceable, e.g. via embedded microchip / RFID? A complaint often made by advocates of gun control is that too many guns leach into criminal circuits, specifically via gun fairs. Would a tracker technology prevent unscrupulous sellers from selling firearms (generally handguns) to any Tom, Dick and Harry that comes along?

Vilk

Encryption is commonly used for money transactions, password protections, and other critical data on the net. Do you think the average internet user should be also using encryption for other types of mundane transactions, such as email, web surfing, etc?

Andrew Donoghue

What is your opinion on gun locks, useful, harmful, pointless, life saving?

Kaz

Karl and Ian, I know both of you are using the Matrix Armory walls to display some of your gun collections in your respective homes. I remember in a video Ian did on the subject he mentioned the importance of having other home security measures in place if one wanted to display firearms openly in such a manner. Could you guys talk about your own strategies to this end (Without getting TOO specific, for obvious reasons...)? What do you prefer/recommend for making a home a "harder" target both in the context of firearms storage and just in general? Reinforced doors? Window bars? Alarm systems? Dogs? Since purchasing a home last fall I've been gradually upgrading my own security measures as funds allow so this is a topic that's been on my mind for a while now, and it seemed to fit with the theme of this month's Q&A.

Andrew Donoghue

Not gun safes, but rather the products that you put on your gun to stop someone accessing your firearm.

Andrey

Hello, Karl and Ian. In our country we have quite a fiew politicians ad IT experts that advocate for some sort of national border analogue in the Internet. How the things are in this regard in the US and is it fesible at all in your opinion? And also could it lead to something good for us, 'the common men'?

Brandon

Something to potentially add to this question is the fact (from my non-expert knowledge, at least) that it is neither a lawful requirement to report when a gun is stolen (and its type and serial number) in most parts of the country (and even where it is, seldom enforced...if enforcement is even possible), nor are there very many ways to even confirm whether or not a gun has been stolen/involved in a crime at all, *especially* if you are purchasing or selling anywhere other than with a FFL.

Philippe De Swert

Hi guys! Recently politicians have started to go after encryption, pushing for more surveilliance, allowing remote hacking (Germany) in their war against terror (same excuse they used for the recent craptastic firearms directive in the EU). Somehow I see a general attack on peoples rights to protect themselves and their privacy by representing everybody a potential suspect criminal or terrorist. Also most of these measures seem to pushed without taking into account that the people drafting the laws are completely clueless and ignorant in the matters and just go by simple opinions bypassing experts whenever the facts don't match up with their ignorant worldview. Am I the only one to see the parallels between electronic rights and gun "control", and do you know of organizations that support personal freedom in general. Or do you have any ideas on how to bring several movements together to have a bigger impact against this? (for example the Electronic freedom foundation and the NRA).

Giulio Flore

Well, the point of my question was to understand if the ability to walk back the cat was in any sense possible / feasible / useful. I take your point, and in a way mine is a non-USA perspective, wherein, even if in many of countries acquiring guns is a perfectly legal, there is a general expectation - backed up by heavy sanctions - that the people that needs to know - aka the police - must be notified where guns sold legally actually are. That include reporting theft or, in fact, found weapons. In my own country there is a legal requirement to report within 72 hours any weapon found. The point is to create a legal burden for owners, and avoid repercussions in case a gun registered with a gun owner is than found lying around, whether used for a crime o not, in that it could be used illegally or irresponsibly (e.g., kids picking it up and ending up shooting themselves). I suspect one reason for the latter norm was the fact that after WWII lots of stuff was left behind and to date guns are still being still found in farms, old buildings, etc. Funnily enough, those with an FFL, with less guns than the maximum allowed - we have such a thing - and provided they are not machine guns can then keep them, as soon as they register them with the police. Basically it's a finders keepers rule.

Michael Bagley

When if ever do you think we will see something like a smart glasses compatible optic? Also, how practical would it be?

Michael Radojevic

I don't currently have a question but I wanted to thank you for putting together this Q&A. The tech/firearms rights crossover is extremely exciting to me and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

Brandon

(This question is specifically addressed towards Deviant Olam, if he happens to be one of the guests (*fingers crossed*), since it is something he has spoken about several times at past DefCons, but it isn't necessarily restricted to him.) What are your current thoughts on air travel with firearms, specifically focusing on the recent Fort Lauderdale airport shooting, plus what appears to be a more lax security environment regarding firearm-containing luggage in general. (The latter may just be an incorrect observation of mine: I recently flew SeaTac/DIA-and-back, the first flight I've taken in 3+ years, and they barely seemed to even care that I had guns with me, let alone have me rip my bag apart to determine that I was obeying the laws correctly.)

Jeffrey

Other than optics, what sort of electronic upgrades to pistols/rifles would we see in the future? What sort would you actually want to see? What are some issues mounting electronics on firearms?

Monke

This is a question to the whole group, not just one person in particilar. What do you think about "smart guns"? Do you like the concept or hate it? What are your reasons and what do you think would have to be done to get the concept accepted in the firearms community or if it will always be derided?

Daniel R.

Do you guys think, with the advent of better and longer lasting battery technology, that electrically actuated/operated firearms might get another look?

bird

What currently stands in the way of more widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology? What kinds of uses and innovations do you see in the future for cryptocoins and blockchain tech? Will these things pose enough of a threat to governments they will try to regulate them into submission/out of existence? Would attempts by governments to do so be futile? If Deviant is on the panel: how do you see changes in data storage technology since your "How I lost my eye" talks making physical data destruction easier or more difficult? What trends do you see with regards to this in the future?

Michael F

Many of your viewers, myself included, are avid shooters, and/or firearms enthusiasts and employ firearms in some degree as a tool of personal physical security. I think the topic of digital security often falls to the wayside. What, in your opinion, are some of the most important ways the common citizen can shore up their personal digital security?

Kenny VanCleave

As of 2016, gun dealers were finally able to keep digital records of gun sales and trades. Since the government is heading into the 21 century (finally). Do you see the possibility of filing NFA paperwork, taking your own passport photo and sending everything with a credit card payment all from the comfort of your home? With all that. How safe would our personal information be? i.e. from an opposing political party who is against our 2nd amendment rights as well as the 4th?

Pascal Planchenault

How vulnerable is the internet "infrastructure" to physical damage or cyberattacks? How easy would it be for an entity to shut down the internet on the scale of a city, a state, or a country?

Laurence Rosen

Regarding security cameras for the home, would y'all restrict camera usage to outside the home or do you see the potential of having cameras on the inside as well in case of a break-in/emergency? Being able to locate a problem occurring inside the house without leaving the bedroom could be huge. Would these benefits outweigh the risk of someone else being able to view the feed (maybe wifi/wireless cameras vs corded?) focused inside and locate the homeowner?

Scott MacKenzie

Thank you for this Q+A! I don't know enough about it to ask a question (I don't know what I don't know)

Niel Dilworth

While viewing Ian's post about the British EM-2 in noticed that this rifle, while a bullpup, has several features that would appear soon after on the AR-14 and 15. The basket carrying handle and the adjustment for the rear sight seem to be identical as well as the use of a long recoil spring that extends into the buttstock. Was there any contact between Stoner and the designers of the EM-2 or were some of these ideas generally around among the major designers at that time?

spaxxor

this is coming from the infosec/netsec world here. When heartbleed/shellshock exploits dropped a little while ago the media made a huge panic saying the internet as we know it is going to die tomorrow. As someone who works in the MSSP (managed security) world I _/HATED/_ the panic the media stirred up when they dropped. My question is, what do you think is the ethical thing to do? because I 100% support the endevor of bringing to light the impact on exploits, and the software they exploit, however I think that the media could have brought less FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!! so to speak. What are your thoughts?

PHAZE

Can you talk about the issues surrounding electrically primed ammunition in a semi-automatic handgun, the possibilities of modifying the control software (or designing a system that is resistant to modification) and what that means for NFA regulation and possible constructive machine gun possession? Ian briefly mentioned this in his EtronX FW video, and I've been intrigued ever since.

pewdoodles

thanks for having this Q&A, there's this question that's been floating around for awhile - do you think the convergence of tech and gun is going to be a matter of 'when' or 'if'? If so, do you think if there'll ever be a day where the human element will finally be rendered redundant, ie: fully autonomous armies (really far out science fiction, I know)

Anthony Boyd

Do we think that there will finally be a eureka moment for folks who are very pro-privacy/pro-1st amendment but are anti 2A? Basically will they come to their senses and realize there is some hypocrisy in being selective of the rights they support?

Josh Thunder

This question covers both physical security, as well as digital security. I have been thinking about ways I could boost physical security at my house, and I keep coming back to a multi camera and alarm setup. The concern I have, is most of these setups are WiFi and internet enabled, and I am leery of the access that others may have to my system. I like the ease of use, and ability to moniter my domicile while I'm not there, but how can I effectively ensure that my family and I are the only ones who have access? Are there other alternatives that you know of, or if it is internet connected, is it vulnerable?

Nathan K.

I saw this article recently, 'Who Killed the Smart Gun?'. It's not very even handed. I don't think it's smart to make people use unproven technology that can break or get hacked, like the second video. Or the third. <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qk9zpw/watch-our-new-doc-on-smart-guns" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qk9zpw/watch-our-new-doc-on-smart-guns</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/motherboardtv/videos/10154768684662561/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/motherboardtv/videos/10154768684662561/</a> <a href="https://www.wired.com/2006/08/hackers-clone-e-passports/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.wired.com/2006/08/hackers-clone-e-passports/</a> Text version is here. <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/z4k5v4/who-killed-the-smart-gun" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/z4k5v4/who-killed-the-smart-gun</a>

Sam Schifo

Regarding physical security in a well thought out and implemented home defense plan, in what layer do firearms fit into the mix and how should they be weighted against other parts of the plan? There are many facets to a home defense plan such as doors, locks, home layout, surveillance devices, alarms, police response time, defensive weaponry, etc.

Caleb Ray

When it comes to bullpup rifles I know one of the issues that is brought up on this channel is the complexity and easy fallibility of the trigger mech. Do you think incorporating technologies like those found in the Remington EtronX and using an electrically charged firing pin could help alleviate some of those problems?

Caleb Ray

What do you think the likelihood of net neutrality to stay around is? I fear that not enough people seem to understand how the internet truly works to understand its importance, and that by the time it is realized how important net neutrality is to todays way of life, it will be lost forever.

Bruce Brodnax

Jules Verne had it all figured out a century and a half ago... [& no, I ain't talkin' steampunk!] ;-D

Bruce Brodnax

Can't render the human element redundant, unless you're prepared to ignore Elon Musk's [& Bill Gates, & other tech movers & shakers...] warning that AI is the biggest threat we're facing. We either figure out how to incorporate Asimov's Laws of Robotics RDQ [which will force us to retain humans to pull the triggers] or we allow SkyNet to wipe us all out. And time travel is solely unidirectional, so there won't be any T2's sent back to save our sorry backsides...

Spanky's Basement

When Facebook gets shutdown because of net neutrality being removed lol.

Eric Hentz

Personal rights are a fairly simple concept from a legal perspective. Freedom of speech, religion, and the like are pretty cut and dry. Digital rights seem, to me at least, to be much more complicated, because they're directly tied into the technology, and the architecture of the internet. As someone with a much more in depth understandin of the internet than myself, what is one ammendment (or potentially more) you would add to a digital bill of rights? Also, this isn't in any way related to the topic, but when are you going to release an "I'M FROM THE INTERNET. I'M HERE TO HELP!" shirt? Because I'll take 6.

Duke VonMeep the 2nd

From a physical security perspective, what types of door locks/fortification methods are most useful to civilians in securing their important documents, valuables, herirlooms and/or firearms. For example, do thieves laugh at Brand X but don't even bother trying to get into a room secured with Brand Y. If you don't feel comfortable with giving any specific brands, what are the features to look for

Darrel Ottosen

I agree about the shirt, but I'll probably buy only one. Well, maybe two...

Shaun Devine

Two Questions I was hoping more and more companies would adopt Two Factor Authentication (2FA) as the way to access website and cloud data, but it seems a slow process here in the UK not every Bank as adopted secure 2FA they go for the easy and less secure method of send code via SMS, should government do more to force 2FA or will market forces make the companies take security seriously. Last Question does there need to be white hat hacker protection in law, so large companies and governments cannot suppress security concerns when they are found and published responsible Cheers Shaun

Fudj

Are computerized cars as vulnerable as they seem, and since car manufacturers seem hell bent on cramming as much vulnerable tech into cars as possible, are there any safe guards we can take when we inevitably have to buy a new car?

BS_Kustomz

Deviant (shut up, I know you're there) are there any updates to the "packing in the friendly sky's" idea given current events. I would love to hear Ian and Karl's opinion on the matter as well. BS_Kustomz

Erik Dixon

As a curiosity I was reading about some methods for computer forensics, including things a little outside the box like cold boot attacks and acoustic analysis. Obviously stuff like this is doable as a proof of concept and probably by a state actor. In a more practical application, what is the probable ability and tools of the average attacker (assuming they have might have access to a physical device for a time or have already discovered it's footprint via web or network access). Is there anything besides virus/malware that your average internet dweller should start considering in their threat model?

Erik Dixon

There is a notorious anecdote floating about the internet of a programmer who was brilliant/lazy enough to hack a network connected coffee machine so he could brew his latte from his desk. What's the most unlikely or interesting device you've seen hacked or manipulated?

Christian Hanes

Elon Musk has been warning us about the dangers of A.I., when do you think we'll see governments put restrictions in place to stop Cyberdyne becoming self-aware?

Claire Cable

what are your thoughts on cryptomining and what it means for the future of financial freedom e.g stay at home and make money etc and will it change the dynamic of employment?

Claire Cable

deviant's talks at defcon seem to draw me in with interesting topics. what would be your favourite defcon talk and why?

Marc Paris

It seems that the incorporation of IT technology in the realm of firearms is being hampered because it provides another threat vector for the government to intrude on our lives. I'd love do see the option of having fingerprint recognition technology incorporated into firearms but I don't want it at all if it's mandated by law (like I believe New Jersey will if the technology gets developed). Do you think that will ever change? Even if stupid laws mandating such technologies were non existent I believe there will always be a reticence to having firearms that are perceived to be "hackable".

Andreas Nohl

Dose or should the right to bear arms in the US include virus’s und such? Form what I read about the history of such laws it was intended that the people should be well armed. With all the new threads, with electronics “in charge” of many parts in live; what is with cyber arms?

Andreas Nohl

What is with camouflage against cameras and automatic person recognition? Electronic devises to be protected from being detected?

Andreas Nohl

What is with hacking in weapon systems; like aircrafts, ships, or rockets?

Andreas Nohl

I can’t see a way to protect infrastructure from cyber attacks. Is there any (if the owners, private or not) want to use computers in those facility’s? It seems to me that politicians are very stupid and want to modernise every think “to safe money*” be reducing manpower. *Often they find “surprisingly” out, that there are no savings at all. Here in town is a fight about the few left Gas lanterns (around 14000) in the streets that have already proven that there is no possible issue with grid down situations. (there on-of is mad with more or less pressure in the pipe, tiny ignition flame is every time on, safety gas storages exists).

Andreas Nohl

Who can messages be made saver? Are E-Mail anyhow saver; with promotional promise like: “E-Mail made in Germany- if you send it within Germany it will never leave the country.”? “We only use storage in Switzerland”? “We don’t use computers located in (mostly USA but also other mentioned)”? I figured that wouldn’t make any difference for some agencies, or other crackers. The only way, I think, to make it a bid safer is to use a physical different Intranet. Story: When I used an intranet of an German university I got once a interesting forwarded message from a administrator that seemingly showed that it was a bid saver then your normal connection. It was a Mail from a three-letter USA agency (cut of the senders address) Which said: We would like to get your master password to the whole email traffic, it is to time consuming to decrypt it all. And please provide us with a list of all physical addresses of the connected computers in your network. The Admin responded like: Thank you for the question und hereby confirming that our net is pretty safe. It was a net with more than 150000 computers that went in the internet with only one IP address and all (intern and extern) messages were encrypted with 128bit (10years ago). If you worked there or had an official function you could get a double encryption. They had even lasers to send messages between some buildings to make communication safer (It don’t worked with fog or snow or heavy rain). The rest was glass fiber connected, a server in every building even in every dorm.

Bjorn Townsend

As a product manager with a background in software development, I often feel like I need to know more about the nuts and bolts of infosec in order to not put terrible things on the internet - but I'm not sure where to start. What resources would you recommend to someone with a technical background who had limited previous experience but wanted to get up to speed on best practices, penetration testing, etc?

Jacob R

as an addon to this question are there any particular Schools/Degrees/Cerfications that are best for someone looking to get into Infosec as a potential career

Bjorn Townsend

What consequences will the rise of cheap computer-aided manufacturing have on the firearms industry? It can be assumed that parts will get cheaper and easier to produce, but the more interesting question to me is: What happens both legislatively and out in the world when individual citizens have the ability to produce modern firearms in their garage with minimal expertise from templates and instructions they got off the internet?

Casey

I noticed on your HaH recap pt 1 you said only two of the people in your category had red dots, while the others mostly ran 1x prism sights. Is there a benefit of the prism sight over a standard red dot? I have the 1x vortex spitfire prism sight and it sometimes seems worse. It has wire relief and actually makes the thing I'm shooting at seem further away ever so slightly. For tech, where do you see the standard red dot progressing in terms of tech? We already have solar powered and 50k hour battery life dots. What else should we expect in the future? It seems that user created reticles would be the next step, but that seems like it may depend on clear monitors instead of glass. Any thoughts?

Bjorn Townsend

Last one, I swear: What information security hygiene practices do you recommend following before and after attending a hacker con in order to secure the devices and data you bring to the con? Do you recommend bringing barebones devices that will not be used for any other purpose, as one would when visiting a country where state security routinely places implants in the devices of foreigners? That is to say - should any device taken to Defcon be assumed to be compromised, or is it a little less aggressive than that?

Nick Champlin

How free is the internet in the USA? There is illegal stuff like child pornography and black markets that we expect to be policed. But a wiki on, how to build a rifle grenade, or a website that sympathizes with terrorists.- Our government certainly limits our access to dangerous content. Do we know to what extent?

Cyrus Freeman

Crypto currency: silly or serious?

Martin Harriman

Tech in small arms: thinking about state of the art WW2 weapon systems, we had fire-control radar feeding electronic computers, controlling electric training, elevation, and fuse-setting. On vehicle-mounted weapons, we had gyroscopic stabilization. Recoil control improved accuracy. In 90mm and above, we had proximity fusing. Pretty much none of these things have made it into small arms. We control recoil with a shoulder or the shooter's hand. We have optical sights, usually without range-finding, 70 years after optical sighting (and range finding) were rendered obsolete for anything much larger than the Oerlikon 20mm. We don't have stabilization more advanced than a sandbag, sling, or palm rest. We don't servo-control training and we don't do ballistic computation. Do you think any of these 70-year old (or older) "high technology" advances will make it into small arms? Or is the saga of Colt and the "smart weapon" still a cautionary tale (we don't really need high-tech hammers, perhaps we don't really need high-tech small arms).

Reverend Charles

So, I'm a big fan of nonrepudiation. This is one of the primary uses of crypto. You can trust that someone said/did something because they have crypto bits that can only easily be known to/held by them. In the domain of ideas, this guides my thoughts about anonymity - anonymous speech is worthless. You two don't even use pseudonyms (except maybe Gun Jesus being thrust upon Ian). How do you feel about anonymity? Secondly, how do you feel about gun registries? I have no problem with people knowing that my firearms are mine and mine alone. Further, I would welcome a system that allowed me and only those I choose to operate my firearms. How do you feel about such a system, if it were able to be developed to be as reliable a part of the firearm as any other component?

John J

When it comes to keeping digital data secure, is the best method still keeping the important information on an air gapped system thus only accessible through being on site at the system. Or have encryption methods and various things of that nature, come far enough to where you can have an open network accessible from anywhere that is just as secure as an air gaped system. Well up until the point someone knows the needed passwords and user info.

Stuart Hunter

How secure do VPNs, Tor, secure mail like ProtonMail really make you. Is it worthwhile setting all these up if governments and other snoopers can see what you are doing anyway? What are the best practices to remain anonymous and secure?

Michael Bagley

Maybe not for this month, but could Ian discuss when bandoliers went from going over one shoulder to going around the waist?

Jeff Price

HI Charles, wrt non-repudiation. Non-repudiation is a legal concept. No computer technical solution has ever been tested in court. So pki (as an example) doesn't really give you non-repudiation. It isn't a real thing, I wish people would quit talking about it...

Michael Batza

HI love your videos! My question: Is AI a danger to humanity (ie terminators) like Bill Gates and Elon Musk think or is this just fear mongering to give the government its chance to control it by placing restrictions and regulations on its development. Sorry if this question is stupid I don't know much of anything about computers and the internet.

David Heck

Might be late but the subject of vehicles becoming more autonomous and the potential for even more information regarding your movements to be stored and tracked or for vehicles to be tampered with i think is a growing concern.