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"The first thing that's wrong with being a science-fiction writer today is that the present has caught up with the future and surpassed it."
- Peter Watts
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| SchoolBook | ||
| A standard-issue laptop computer for school use. |
Doctorow takes the ideas about inexpensive laptops for students and schools that insist on providing each student with a laptop, and combines them with the administrator's desire to control and surveil,
| I got back to class and sat down again... I unpacked the school's standard-issue machine and got back into classroom mode. The SchoolBooks were the snitchiest technology of them all, logging every keystroke, watching all the network traffic for suspicious keywords, counting every click, keeping track of every fleeting thought you put out over the net. We'd gotten them in my junior year, and it only took a couple months for the shininess to wear off. Once people figured out that these "free" laptops worked for the man -- and showed a never-ending parade of obnoxious ads to boot -- they suddenly started to feel very heavy and burdensome.
Cracking my SchoolBook had been easy. The crack was online within a month of the machine showing up, and there was nothing to it -- just download a DVD image, burn it, stick it in the SchoolBook, and boot it while holding down a bunch of different keys at the same time. The DVD did the rest, installing a whole bunch of hidden programs on the machine, programs that would stay hidden even when the Board of Ed did its daily remote integrity checks of the machines. Every now and again I had to get an update for the software to get around the Board's latest tests, but it was a small price to pay to get a little control over the box. |
| Technovelgy from Little Brother,
by Cory Doctorow. Published by Tor Teen in 2008 Additional resources -
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More Ideas
and Technology from Little Brother
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and Technology by Cory Doctorow
Tech news articles related to Little Brother
Tech news articles related to works by Cory Doctorow
SchoolBook-related
news articles:
- Students Surveilled By School Phone Apps
- Doctorow's SchoolBook Computers Created By Australian Govt
- School Surveillance Via Student Laptop Webcams
- Woolim DPRK Surveillance Tablet And Doctorow's 'Schoolbook'
| Great. Now AIs Have Access To Hacking Tools |
| Tongue-Controlled Tong Wearable Mouth Computer |
| Interpol Launches Metaverse For Law Enforcement |
| AVATECT Prevents Spoofing Of Avatars |
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'BY PUSHING AGAINST THE LITTLE MARTIAN MOON WITH OUR ROCKET SHIP, WE HAD LESSENED THE CENTRIFUGAL SPEED THAT HELD IT BALANCED IN THE SKY.'
'... he had tightened the chest to gain maximum pumping action from the motion of breathing.'
'...a prayer wheel swung into view and began spinning at a furious pace.'
'And are all the people willing to be governed by a machine?'
