U.S. Government Hires Company To Hack Into Video Game Consoles 121
An anonymous reader writes "The U.S. Navy is paying a company six figures to hack into used video game consoles and extract sensitive information. The tasks to be completed are for both offline and online data. The organization says it will only use the technology on consoles belonging to nations overseas, because the law doesn't allow it to be used on any 'U.S. persons.'" Should be a doddle.
I was thinking a late April Fools joke. (Score:4, Insightful)
What could THE NAVY possibly get from used game consoles?
And why go that route to get it?
not your property any more (Score:4, Insightful)
Not that I support the Navy (?? what? why Navy?) doing this stuff, or paying so much, but there is possible precedent. It's been pretty clear for a long time that anything you throw out in the trash is no longer your possession. So, before you toss that old game console, take a hammer to the memory bits.
Re:Sensitive information? (Score:4, Insightful)
Not necessarily, you can buy XBL time cards for cash, also...that's what I do, I refuse to give them my CC#. Ditto with PSN (you've got to be insane to trust them with your CC#, after all that bullshit last year [consumerist.com].
As long as there is an alternative to using my CC#, I'm going to choose that. When they get rid of that ability, I stop spending money with them. It wouldn't really bother me much, anyway, to be honest; 99% of my gaming is on PC these days.
Uh, yeah... (Score:4, Insightful)
As if that ever stopped them before. **rolls eyes**