Daevinity Worldbuilding Info

[tau]

Wrote this earlier, people have said things since then, but leaving it here anyways:

RAM is where a computer it stores the stuff it's currently using/working on -- it's the computer version of "working memory" (yes guys I know I am simplifying a lot). So for any application running on your computer, everything related to the state of that program is stored in RAM. Such as, say -- what tabs I have open in the browser, what the URL is open in each of the tabs, what the current state of the webpage is in each of those tabs, etc. (Massively simplifying.) This includes the fact that every time I type a letter here in this textbox, there is a corresponding byte of memory written to RAM which the computer knows corresponds to this textbox (still simplifying). So if you want to type up a message to encrypt, as you type it there is a representation of that message stored in RAM in the computer.

But... if you can't get at the code used to encrypt it, then you probably can't get at older states of it before it was encrypted, then? Maybe? Do you know why the other thing is just shy?

[tau]

Well, even if it IS possible for demons to recall items in momentary states, there's still information-based ways of confusing things; you just need to build in some hardware-level obfuscation, such that the entire message is never available at any given time. It'd be somewhat difficult to arrange, but by tinkering with various momentary states and constantly overwriting your work, you could arrange streaming encryption schemes via which only tiny fractions of a message are available to be claimed at any given time. Cracking that would require you to create and analyze millions of sub-millisecond-different copies of a given computer, to dig the (probably audio) message out of the stream of random-ish data, under a framework specifically designed to maximize physical-layer obfuscation. Maybe not entirely impossible, with the kind of physical access worst-case-scenario demons could have, but it'd take an absurd amount of time and patience.

Depending on how paranoid Daevinity intelligence agencies are about the information-retrieval powers of demons, they may already be doing this.

So the problem with doing that is that the information altogether as a block _is_ available at any time, so long as your editor displays the entire message you're currently typing. You'd need to not display the message on the screen to get around that.

[Endovior]

So the problem with doing that is that the information altogether as a block _is_ available at any time, so long as your editor displays the entire message you're currently typing. You'd need to not display the message on the screen to get around that.

There's a reason why I suggested an audio stream rather than a typed message sitting in an editor. The message is getting encrypted in realtime as it goes out, there is no opportunity to edit the entire thing for quality, and there are no takebacks if you mess anything up. In the worst-case-scenario for demons, if you want anything resembling actual security, convenience needs to be ritually sacrificed to the gibbering gods of paranoia.

[Alicorn]

Audio messages probably do see a sizeable uptick in use in the Daevinity world.

[tau]

Oh, audio. Audio would work, so long as you didn't really want to let people go back and change what they said (but voicemail already exists, we do this anyways). You could do the same thing with a text stream, so long as you can't see what you're typing (this would be terrible). I suppose this is a lot of security though obfuscation, which isn't _supposed_ to work, but I suppose this is what you need in a world containing demons.

...actually, even better idea. Rather that using your local computer's RAM to send coded messages, use amazon AWS or something similar -- basically, use a server farm to create a virtual computer, send all your keystrokes/spoken words/whatever to the virtual computer, and have _it_ encode and send off the coded message. And the virtual computer is split up into tiny chunks all over a bunch of different parts on a bunch of computers in the server farm. That way you're not even using a computer associated with you. This sort of thing would be comparatively slow, and take serious engineering and coding to work but everyone would use it to send their messages, so it would make lots and lot money.

...and now I'm imagining someone finding a vulnerability in some widely used protocol, and everyone freaking out because all their _past_ messages are now vulnerable. (When we find vulnerabilities today we patch them and it's fine because hackers didn't know about it before, but in this world...) Sorry just having fun thinking about this.

[Kappa]

In the worst-case-scenario for demons, if you want anything resembling actual security, convenience needs to be ritually sacrificed to the gibbering gods of paranoia.

I want to marry this sentence.

[Endovior]

In the worst-case-scenario for demons, if you want anything resembling actual security, convenience needs to be ritually sacrificed to the gibbering gods of paranoia.

I want to marry this sentence.

Heh, glad you approve.

I should do more writing; I like having that effect on people. :D

[Alicorn]

Warning: liking the effects your writing has on people may be addictive.

[Nemo]

As a member of class "people," I'm in favor of that happening to both of you.

[Bluelantern]

Warning: liking the effects your writing has on people may be addictive.

We all know about your tear-drinking problem