OLPC project has a remote "kill switch" for resold laptops
By Paul Miller 
posted February 16th 2007 10:44AM
posted February 16th 2007 10:44AM
Perhaps it says something about a project if there's a likelihood the handouts will be resold for something actually useful, like food or shelter, but have no fear: Nick Neg and his OLPC crew even have a solution to that potential "problem" facing future owners of the XO. According to the recent Reuters report on the project, the laptops can be remotely shut down to help prevent the selling the devices on the black market, though details of exactly how this works aren't forthcoming. We suppose there's always the danger the laptops could be stolen, and this could prove a bit of a deterrent to that, but there's always going to be some value to the actual components of the laptop even if the locking code proves impenetrable -- which seems unlikely. "For people earning one dollar a day the temptation to sell it for $300 will be very strong," says Wayan Vota of OLPC News. Heck, who couldn't use a quick $300?[Via Techdirt]
If there's going to be a remote kill switch on these computers, then wouldn't a cottage industry start up around buying these computers, cracking the software to disable the kill switch and then reselling them?
mr. ethan hunt youre olp - xo - whatever is goung to selfdestruct in 5 seconds! ^^
So what would be wrong with selling a piece of hardware? Are the governments going to be actually giving them to people or aren't they? If it's theirs to keep, why not let them decide what the best use of it would be? Why not give them the option of turning it into cash should the need arise?
And anyway, if the huge numbers of people are getting these things, won't that tend to suppress demand and therefore price, thus lowering the incentive to sell? And in an economy where the average person makes $1 a day, who is he going to sell it to for $300??
I just hope this turns into something useful for the countries involved, rather than a sudden waste of money into an unofficial blackmarket "eBay Africa" with the true winner being a developed company receiving subsidies. C'mon education use!
I agree with Takagawa. These things will be cracked before you know it- just like everything else.
I truly believe these laptops will do a lot of good, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it's only a matter of time until there's a news report of drug dealers or terrorists using these to orchestrate their wrongdoings. After all, that hand crank would work great in an Afghani cave or a Columbian drug hut.
OMG this is the most inane project I've ever heard of... you don't have any clothes,live in a hut, your toilet is your front yard, and you ate your dog last week, but hey let me show you the magic of the Internet! You can't bring a 3rd world country into the information age....you're skipping a couple of steps. Please stop doing this.
"will be resold for something actually useful, like food or shelter,"
It's slightly disingenuous to say this considering that NickNeg has repeatedly said that this laptop will not be going to countries where there isn't infrastructure for basic needs (or in cases where corruption is so rampant that they would never get to their intended recipients). Perpetuating the myth that these laptops would just get jettisoned off into black market land isn't really fair or accurate.
"Perpetuating the myth that these laptops would just get jettisoned off into black market land isn't really fair or accurate."
If I got one of these for free right now I would sell it for $300 in a heartbeat.
I'm not rich and I'm definately not poor but I have no desire for one of these, so if I were handed one I would pawn it off for something I do have a desire for, money.
They don't have to be sold on the black market for essentials. One might sell it in order to buy a Gameboy DS or a PSP
You can bet that some of these are going to go to kids who would rather have something else, and that is all it takes for someone to try to sell one.
so, unless this is somehow embeded in the ethernet and wifi hardware itself, it should be pretty damned easy to disable given the openness of the device. and given that many chipsets these days are easily flashed, and some even require loading the firmware via the driver before it works at all, I'd say it won't be in the hardware.
If anyone would like to check out the security platform (bitfrost) which will be deployed on the OLPC platform. You can find all the details here http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Bitfrost . There is a section concerning theft protection, which will most likely also provide sale protection.
I guess, but since it's critical to the educational programs of these countries and students will be required to have them as a part of the curriculum, taking one and selling it on some sort of black market (if you're a student) is a silly thing to do if you're interested in getting educated. If you're not . . . I suppose it's possible. Lucky you: you get a PSP or a DS that you can't afford any games for. Huzzah.
Moreover, the selling it for food analogy doesn't hold because it's not going to nations with that level of poverty. They have other priorities, as well they should.
Again, your "black market" idea ignores some of the underlying cultural aspects of the countries that they are going to. They're going to places that are relatively stable that have an interest in improving their educational systems.
The idea of a child selling one of these laptops is plausible, I suppose, but considering that EVERY child in that country will have one, the market for them is going to be relatively small . . . Unless it's so important for you or someone else to have one that they're will to buy it . . . which I think is weird.
wow, a novel concept, if they are resold or stolen. so with that $300 they could feed the whole family for over a year. So why do they need a pc again? What a waste of money when they cant eat or get medical needed.
the details:
http://dev.laptop.org/git.do?p=security;a=blob;hb=HEAD;f=bitfrost.txt#l968
basically, it tries to phone home once a day, and if it is either remotely disabled or it has failed to phone home after a given length of time, it locks itself down.
unless you stick the magic usb key in it. any bets on how long it takes for "olpc unlocker" usb keys to start appearing in the wild?
This was one of my first thoughts when I saw this idea (OLPC). We will see a video of someone using the laptop to put under the tire of their familys truck to get it unstuck, to get to the market for food or hospital. If someone is given something for free it's usefullness is going to be directly related to it's value in their situation. i.e. a PC might be seen as usefull as a cinderblock and used as such, depending on the persons environment.
X.O. phone home.....
While Ivan Krstić's Bitfrost sounds like it will be hard to crack:
http://www.olpcnews.com/software/operating_system/bitfrost_security_platform.html
I still say there will be OLPC's on eBay. Why not just flash Ubuntu on it?
http://www.olpcnews.com/people/negroponte/ebay_olpc_sales_inev.html
Before Bitfrost ruins the fun, there is a content to win a resalable OLPC XO as part of the Game Developer's Conference http://www.olpcnews.com/content/games/win_olpc_xo_laptop_game.html
STFU you bunch of idiots!
Have you even been to Brazil? Do you think they are a bunch of people running around in loin cloths and a wifi access outside there huts? I just cannot fathom how someone does not get this project, of seems to think everywhere outside of the USA is a starving shit hole.
Educate your damn selfs about the world, you can damn well be sure these kids will be.
Ryan are you from Brazil? Are you there now? I'm not the one that lumped Brazil in with Libya and Rwanda, the OLPC project did. I just suggested that a laptop will do little for someone who doesn't have their basic needs covered...and that goes for anyone whether they live in (*strums a banjo*) the USA or another country.
If this Bitfrost technology is so great, why don't they install this into regular laptops to deter theft?