Commcodes and Commlinks, Where are other people's commcodes stored? Options

[Major Doom]

So I was flipping through SR4A and Unwired, and didn't find a direct answer to how commcodes of the people you interact with are stored. Are the the commcodes and addresses, such as an address book, stored locally on the commlink? Or does it get stored on the MSP?

[Blastula]

I would think they were stored locally on the commlink.

[LurkerOutThere]

Hmmmm that's actually not a bad question, the answer is probably both. The comlink knows it's comcode but the actual magic probably happens at the MSP which links up the targets comcode with their access ID and routes the call.

[Emperor Tippy]

It's stored wherever you feel like storing it. That could be on your MSP (for a real life example, look at Gmail; your contact list and e-mail information is stored on Google's servers and you simply log in), it could be on your device (for a few real life examples look at Outlook (your contact list and e-mail information is stored on your computer) or your cell phone (your address book is stored on your phone)), it could be your cybereyes, it could be your toaster, etc.

I, personally, always store such important information on my datajack and just push whatever specific comcode I need at the moment to my comlink and then wipe the records of said comcode from the comlink after I finish my call. It's probably the most secure but still convenient way to maintain your address book.

[Major Doom]

If player of Shadowrun, is not sure of such options for storing your address book of contacts, has a character that has their commlink stolen and destroyed, what would be a good call for the GM concerning such a situation? Would the contact list by default be stored on the commlink and therefore are lost?

[Emperor Tippy]

If player of Shadowrun, is not sure of such options for storing your address book of contacts, has a character that has their commlink stolen and destroyed, what would be a good call for the GM concerning such a situation? Would the contact list by default be stored on the commlink and therefore are lost?

Probably. That isn't to say that there isn't any number of places the same information could be stored (the MSP that they used to route com calls would have a list, if a commercial comlink with commercial software than the corp that built the OS, firewall, and other programs almost certainly has a complete copy (do you really think corp ware doesn't mirror everything it does to the corp servers?), etc.), just that the players probably would have a hard time accessing that information.

This is also why you store a copy of critical information on a datachip that you have hidden somewhere secure.

[ShadowDragon8685]

If player of Shadowrun, is not sure of such options for storing your address book of contacts, has a character that has their commlink stolen and destroyed, what would be a good call for the GM concerning such a situation? Would the contact list by default be stored on the commlink and therefore are lost?

The best way to secure your contact list against events like that is to use a fantastic invention called an "inkpen" and some pressed, fibrous material that can be written upon; loose paper works, but the ideal would be a booklet of some sort, consisting of a number of pages bound together flexibly enough to open and use, but firmly enough to close and store securely.

[FuelDrop]

The best way to secure your contact list against events like that is to use a fantastic invention called an "inkpen" and some pressed, fibrous material that can be written upon; loose paper works, but the ideal would be a booklet of some sort, consisting of a number of pages bound together flexibly enough to open and use, but firmly enough to close and store securely.

Which of the holy corps' makes this fantastic device?

[ShadowDragon8685]

Which of the holy corps' makes this fantastic device?

Well, of the megas, of course, and probably a fair few of the smaller corps as well.

[e]Also, there's an alternative to the inkpen called a "pencil." A rod of graphite bound up in a thin tube of pressed wood pulp which is ground away carefully to create a point of graphite, which evenly distributes itself onto paper when drawn across it. Sometimes it breaks, it often needs to be re-ground again using a device called a "pencil sharpener," and will be worn out eventually, but it has the advantage of not washing away the way ink does, and it's easier to erase by drawing a rubber nubbin across the paper, allowing for easier correction of errors.

Also made by all of the megas, and many smaller corps.

[Major Doom]

So what about Fake SINs, and Fake Licenses? If they are associated with a commlink, and the commlink is destroyed, what happens to them? Are they lost as well since they may be issued one time only?

[Halinn]

[e]Also, there's an alternative to the inkpen called a "pencil." A rod of graphite bound up in a thin tube of pressed wood pulp which is ground away carefully to create a point of graphite, which evenly distributes itself onto paper when drawn across it. Sometimes it breaks, it often needs to be re-ground again using a device called a "pencil sharpener," and will be worn out eventually, but it has the advantage of not washing away the way ink does, and it's easier to erase by drawing a rubber nubbin across the paper, allowing for easier correction of errors.

That sounds positively prehistoric. Couldn't you just have an AR sheet that you write on with your thoughts?

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

So what about Fake SINs, and Fake Licenses? If they are associated with a commlink, and the commlink is destroyed, what happens to them? Are they lost as well since they may be issued one time only?

I would (and do) use Emperor Tippy's trick for those as well... Store the data on a Datajack (or some other piece of 'ware that is not actively wireless), and push when needed. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

That sounds positively prehistoric. Couldn't you just have an AR sheet that you write on with your thoughts?

You could... but where do you store that? An AR Sheet does not fit into your pocket very well... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Emperor Tippy]

So what about Fake SINs, and Fake Licenses? If they are associated with a commlink, and the commlink is destroyed, what happens to them? Are they lost as well since they may be issued one time only?

They are only lost is the runner is stupid enough to not keep a backup copy.

Think of it like this, the comlink is your account on these forums. Your SIN and licenses are your signature. You can change what they display at any time to anything you want.

Now, if you display the wrong SIN/License information then interested parties will notice but it's not like a SIN is hard coded to a single comlink.

[Mäx]

You could... but where do you store that? An AR Sheet does not fit into your pocket very well... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

If you have a way to create an AR contact sheet, then you also have atleast one place to store it into(most likely several)

[FuelDrop]

If you have a way to create an AR contact sheet, then you also have atleast one place to store it into(most likely several)

For female characters the fingernail data storage (from Arsenal) would seem to be a good place to store such a sheet.

[ScooterinAB]

This is an interesting topic.

Here's my take. Commcodes are stored as contacts both on and off the device. Current smartphones do this, and devices in Shadowrun deal with a lot of wireless storage. Whether you are signing into your 2070's version of Google to get the contacts or have them stored to a secure underground data farm, you should be able to access them from a new commlink. Of course, the sign in could leave a data trail.

As for SINs and licenses, I talked this over with a former GM. He made a convincing argument that these things are not tied to any device. Instead, you can easily move the info from device to device. It's not as if this info is actually saved onto the device (instead, the device just accesses a server with the info, which is why it is so hard to forge SINs).

Of course, this can all fall apart/cause problems if you are jammed or in a low-fi area. I would imagine that there is some local storage, but it may not have the full details of the SIN, and may only have the most used contacts (for example).

[Yerameyahu]

Yes, obviously nothing like this is device-specific. Not just contacts, licenses, and things, but programs, media, etc. are probably saved somewhere (or several somewheres). It's hard to imagine this not being true. The only like that I can think of is cert credsticks, for obvious reasons.

Ink and paper? That's just dumb. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Emperor Tippy]

Ink and paper? That's just dumb. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Those Resonance Realm searches can be a bitch. We once completed a run by finding out that the target regularly used a stable of technomancers doing RR searches to get the plans of those targeting them so we did all our planning with pen and paper and placed fake plans onto electronic mediums so that the target would be positioned how we wanted them.

[Yerameyahu]

I just ignore that crazy aspect of the game. Friggin' technomancers. But I meant that the truly paranoid wouldn't even write things down. You have to do everything with Atreides battle language or telepathy or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[FuelDrop]

I just ignore that crazy aspect of the game. Friggin' technomancers. But I meant that the truly paranoid wouldn't even write things down. You have to do everything with Atreides battle language or telepathy or something. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Nah, that one's too well known. You have to invent your own telepathic code that only your teammates know, then encrypt your thoughts to prevent mind-readers from stealing them.

Then, you need to *Removed for security reasons* after which you absolutely, positively have to *Removed for security reasons* the lemon. after that you take the beavers, the hand lotion and the particle accelerator, combine them with the *Removed for security reasons* and you're done. simple!

[Major Doom]

This is an interesting topic.

Here's my take. Commcodes are stored as contacts both on and off the device. Current smartphones do this, and devices in Shadowrun deal with a lot of wireless storage. Whether you are signing into your 2070's version of Google to get the contacts or have them stored to a secure underground data farm, you should be able to access them from a new commlink. Of course, the sign in could leave a data trail.

As for SINs and licenses, I talked this over with a former GM. He made a convincing argument that these things are not tied to any device. Instead, you can easily move the info from device to device. It's not as if this info is actually saved onto the device (instead, the device just accesses a server with the info, which is why it is so hard to forge SINs).

Of course, this can all fall apart/cause problems if you are jammed or in a low-fi area. I would imagine that there is some local storage, but it may not have the full details of the SIN, and may only have the most used contacts (for example).

Actually, I found some information in SR4A, page 266, under "Commlinks, Credsticks, and ID" which states that SINS, licenses, and other personal data are stored on the commlink in an encrypted format.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Actually, I found some information in SR4A, page 266, under "Commlinks, Credsticks, and ID" which states that SINS, licenses, and other personal data are stored on the commlink in an encrypted format.

A copy of them are, anyways... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)