[OLPC Security] Anti-theft and Anti-Sale ideas for Nepal

[Bryan Berry]

>This is exactly how P_THEFT is already specified; normally we _also_
>provide a lease expiry system.

Basically, I am trying to say that the expiry system wouldn't work for Nepal
because of connectivity issues.


>> 2) We could hard code a national identifier into the laptop's MAC
>> address.  The laptop could periodically check it's national identifier
>> against it's Internet gateway.  If it is no longer in Nepal, say Bangkok
>> or Delhi, it disables itself.

>This is technically trivial, should a country request it, but has a
>bunch of social implications. What if the kids go on a field trip, for
>example?

Ivan, thanks for your reply

Nepali kids in public schools don't have any school field trips, as far as I
am aware.  This technically trivial solution could seriously dampen the
resale market for XO's.  Kids in private schools could get XO's w/out this
country specific feature.

>> Perhaps community groups should be put
>> in charge of reporting stolen laptops instead of teachers.

>Another decision for the countries/regional authorities to make. From a
>technical point of view, we can support almost any reporting structure.

We in OLPC Nepal will shape these local decisions so we need to discuss
them.

On 2/18/07, Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> wrote:
>
> Bryan Berry wrote:
> > There are a lot of malnourished kids in Nepal's countryside.  If we give
> > them XO's they will sell them immediately for food or as soon as food
> > becomes short.  However hungry kids w/ out schooling, provided they
> > don't starve, will grow up to be unskilled adults, perpetuating Nepal's
> > cycle of poverty.  Is this an intractable problem?  Perhaps not.
>
> Right, we're quite aware of this difficult social problem. Being a
> social issue ipso facto renders it unsolvable by technical means alone;
> I'm counting on social pressures here (by the teachers and to some
> degree peers) to help make this an unpopular outcome.
>
> > 1) If Nepali child's laptop is stolen, they report it as stolen and an
> > oversight body adds the serial # to the online anti-theft registry.
> > When someone does use the stolen laptop to connect to the Internet, the
> > laptop checks its own serial # against the online anti-theft registry.
> > Note: this is a only a slight modification to the P_THEFT protection
>
> This is exactly how P_THEFT is already specified; normally we _also_
> provide a lease expiry system.
>
> > 2) We could hard code a national identifier into the laptop's MAC
> > address.  The laptop could periodically check it's national identifier
> > against it's Internet gateway.  If it is no longer in Nepal, say Bangkok
> > or Delhi, it disables itself.
>
> This is technically trivial, should a country request it, but has a
> bunch of social implications. What if the kids go on a field trip, for
> example?
>
> > Perhaps community groups should be put
> > in charge of reporting stolen laptops instead of teachers.
>
> Another decision for the countries/regional authorities to make. From a
> technical point of view, we can support almost any reporting structure.
>
> Cheers,
>
> --
> Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> | GPG: 0x147C722D
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.laptop.org/pipermail/security/attachments/20070218/3aebda37/attachment.html