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HatterMadness
I was reading a Matrix Guide that someone compiled in hopes of making sense of the abstract or complicated parts of the matrix world....
I didn't get through the 5th page before i ran into something i utterly disagreed with.

The guide said that AccessIDs were provided by a Matrix service provider, and that Commcodes and AccessIDs were registered together and that you would have to talk to your provider to change your AccessID.

But my Understanding and interpretation: An AccessID is like a combination of todays MAC address and IP address, each node has one built in. And by that address you can be tracked online and followed back to your nodes location. And those with the skill can change that ID fairly easily.

The Commcode itself is really just a login name/email address (like on AOL). The commcode is a virtual mailbox. So why wouldn't a person be able to log into their email from any AccessID they want?
Rotbart van Dainig
For security reasons. rotfl.gif
hobgoblin
like SR matrix providers have any concept of security...

there would probably be fly by night MSPs that would allow you to access your mailbox from any accessid.
Rotbart van Dainig
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
like SR matrix providers have any concept of security...

The point of the pun: How to spoof an AccessID.
Redjack
QUOTE (HatterMadness)
The guide said that AccessIDs were provided by a Matrix service provider, and that Commcodes and AccessIDs were registered together and that you would have to talk to your provider to change your AccessID.

But my Understanding and interpretation: An AccessID is like a combination of todays MAC address and IP address, each node has one built in. And by that address you can be tracked online and followed back to your nodes location. And those with the skill can change that ID fairly easily.

QUOTE (PHB4th @ Page 215)
Legitimate accounts are protected with passcodes.

Passcodes protect the account and privileges to the account.

QUOTE (PHB4th @ Page 216)
Every wireless device, terminal, and wired jackpoint has a unique serial number assigned by the manufacturer (and often registered with the local telecomm authorities as well). This access ID...

It would probably be more correct to say that an Access ID is like an ESSID, though an ESSID is like a MAC address in that it is a unique address associated to the hardware.

The primary thing ignored in the definitions is first layer of the physical layer. Wireless is not just as simple as wireless. For example the two primary phone networks in the US use either CSM or GSM and are incompatible (think of them as the cell phone equivalent of 802.11). For simplicity, it appears Shadowrun assumes everyone has standardized on one wireless protocol.

So most people are turn on their coms and accesses TWO networks, not one.

First, it connects to the LTG (Local Telecommunications Grid) presenting it's ESSID and perhaps your passcode as a means to authenticate. Then you get your calls something like VOIP does. After connecting to the Grid, you register with your VOIP provider that you are online so that it can forward your calls and messages.

Second, using something akin to 802.11 mixed with bluetooth, it creates a PAN (Personal Area Network) that can interact with other PANs, nodes and subscribed devices.

You can access either, both or none. Each have a plethora of settings available. I could go on for hours about the possibilities and intertwining of various technologies that will be possible in 60+ years!!
hobgoblin
dont forget that wireless matrix in SR is described as a mesh network.

this means that you can in theory have only one physical layer, as each box will forward traffic for any other box within range.

so for a LTG, they can just dot the area with wifi antenna and forget about it. most likely something like what they did in parts of new orleans.

but all in all, you dont need to know that kind of detail to be able to play SR4. unless you work with it on a day to day basis and want to apply to real life tricks in the game. then it falls just as flat as the older rules. so leave your real life engineering degree at the door wink.gif
Redjack
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
dont forget that wireless matrix in SR is described as a mesh network.

Mesh is a pretty loose word. The current cellular, phone and Internet networks could also be described as "mesh", so that word really has no meaning here....
QUOTE (PHB4th @ Page #47)
meshed – adj. online, networked.

...but I understand your intent. It is not quite canon (see below before you flame me wink.gif ) however and it defeats the need for (or even the validity of mentioning) hardware serial numbers/Access IDs. Also, without high encryption and key-based authentication it is wholly un-secure.
QUOTE (PHB4th @ Page #206)
This network connects through numerous gateways and hardwired base stations to the local Matrix infrastructure; together, they form a telecommunications grid. These grids are, in turn, interlinked, forming the backbone of the Matrix itself.

There are still hardwired base stations and [commercial] gateways to route calls.
QUOTE (PHB4th @ Page #214)
Your commcode is usually registered with a paid Matrix service provider, though numerous free (if unreliable) and anonymous shadow-sites offer the same service.

This supports your theory of the availability to mesh via community networks, but lists it as unreliable. It also notes paid Matrix service providers as I alluded to previously... so in effect we are both right, but my definition is more the rule. grinbig.gif

It took me quite awhile to work through all the pages when I first started to get an understanding by pulling together all the disparate rules.
hobgoblin
the paid matrix service providers will probably be more like skype then the ISP of old. basically they provide you with serivces, like mail storage, matrix based tv and radio and other stuff.

as for meshed and hardware backbone, note my comment about dotting wifi spots. i forgot about going into detail about how i envisioned those.

some will be wired into the backbone of the LTG, others will be just static wifi spots that talk to the wired wifi spots and so on. and in between all that you have the comlinks of the users thats traveling in the same area in some way or other.

and yes you can call the older wired networks and the cellular system a mesh. but i think the book use it like cisco use it, to represent a self-rewiring network based on radio signals. as in, as long as more then two wifi points are within range of each other, loosing one should not result in the loss of data flow. and if more spots are introduced into the area they should, on their own, figure out the best routing of the data for all spots.

dont forget that more and more citys are going for city wide wifi supplied by the city. so i dont think there are many commersial gateways out there, at least not in the cellular sense. more likely they rent out their capacity to the ISP that then run their services over them.

as in, the ISP can be seen as a virtual construct, and the user will not care how they get a signal as long as they do.

so in effect it will be pointless to go into detail about there being multiple network types (cellular, wifi etc) as the user will not care as long as they get to place their calls, send their im and mail, and the other stuff that users do.

hell, it may well be that with the right software, morphable antenna, and some other tricks.

as for this being wholly un-secure, there is a reason why i made this statement:
QUOTE
like SR matrix providers have any concept of security...
bclements
QUOTE (Redjack @ Apr 29 2007, 07:02 PM)
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
dont forget that wireless matrix in SR is described as a mesh network.

Mesh is a pretty loose word. The current cellular, phone and Internet networks could also be described as "mesh", so that word really has no meaning here....

Not really. 'Mesh' used in SR4, as I've read it, means that, if you aren't in range of an access point, you can bounce your signal to someone that is, or that someone is saying that they can connect to someone that is, or that someone ad nausem.

Basically, a commlink is providing both wireless access (to connect to the AP) and a router (to connect to the next hop) in today's terms.
Redjack
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
a self-rewiring network  based on radio signals.

Do you mean RIP? That is not rewiring, that is dynamic routing.
There is no such thing a truly "self-rewiring".

QUOTE (hobgoblin)
dont forget that more and more citys are going for city wide wifi supplied by the city. so i dont think there are many commersial gateways out there, at least not in the cellular sense. more likely they rent out their capacity to the ISP that then run their services over them.

But at this point in time the municipality becomes the commercial provider, even if "free" (actually supported by taxes instead of service fee). That said, that model is still closer to the fixed nodes to the backbone model than a true mesh.

In any case, however the architecture will probably not really look like anything we imagine when you think that we first flee in 1907 and broke the speed of sound in 1947+/-, had the first computers in the 1950's and forty years later they were becoming household items, etc..

QUOTE (bclements)
Basically, a commlink is providing both wireless access (to connect to the AP) and a router (to connect to the next hop) in today's terms.

Yes, but that is a security nightmare worse that anything else... I guess we'll see if that comes to pass. Great idea, practice may be another thing entirely...

-RJ
Blade
About SR Matrix providers and security, I think that the security issue in the Matrix is not exactly the same as in the Internet.

The Internet was, and still is, a free network. It was made by scientists to freely share information.
The Matrix was made by corps. You can be sure the ida was far more commercial and far more "closed". That's why you can't search the Matrix if you don't have a browse program (or a subscription to a search engine). That also means that it is much more controlled, not only "automatically" (think DRM everywhere) but also through some Matrix Police.

So maybe spoofing an adress would be like forging money. Even if the basic method is really simple and hard to defeat, you'll need to use tools that are restricted and more or less expensive and you'll have to be careful about the police.
Aaron
QUOTE (blade)
The Internet was, and still is, a free network.

Free as in speech? That's true, at least for now. Free as in beer? Not so much. If you're getting online for free, please share your method; a lot of us would like to know.

But that's speaking modernly. Let's talk Shadowrun.

QUOTE (Blade)
The Matrix was made by corps.

Corp, actually. Specifically NeoNET. Their monopoly gives NeoNET a lot of leeway on how they want to design it. For example, they can make the connectivity to the Matrix free (as in beer) if their business model includes the rights to all interconnectivity devices, so that they receive royalties from not merely commlinks, but anything that connects via wireless, "from guns to toasters to clothing to sensors to cyberware." (Boyle et al. 304)

Consider a state's sales tax: a percentage of all goods and services sold in the state. The state of Wisconsin got over four billion dollars ($4,000,000,000) in sales tax revenue in 2005. That's just Wisconsin, and that's just 2005. Imaging being entitled to that kind of revenue all over the world, and without all the overhead of authenticating every single device that wants to use the Matrix. That's not even counting keeping all of the really good infrastructure business for yourself.

As to commcodes, it would appear that the commcode is just an email address or cell phone number (if you believe the big black book) that people can use to contact one another. Like an AIM screen name or a Skype account or ... you know ... an email address or cell phone number. Think phone number (but I don't think IP address).

An access ID seems to be linked to the device (according to the rules), which would suggest that it's more like a MAC address than an IP address. In order for really real wireless go-anywhere plug-and-play networking to work, you'd need something that can not only dynamically assign IP addresses, but dynamically assign autonomous systems and networks, too. If every device is cooperating in some sort of shared link-state protocol (call it TEP if you feel the need), this is manageable.
hobgoblin
QUOTE (redjack)
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
a self-rewiring network  based on radio signals.

Do you mean RIP? That is not rewiring, that is dynamic routing.
There is no such thing a truly "self-rewiring".


given that in this case the RF channels used are the cables, and the individual devices would first have to find each other there before they could agree on routing, i think re-wiring is closer to whats going on then "just" re-routing...

QUOTE
QUOTE (hobgoblin)
dont forget that more and more citys are going for city wide wifi supplied by the city. so i dont think there are many commersial gateways out there, at least not in the cellular sense. more likely they rent out their capacity to the ISP that then run their services over them.

But at this point in time the municipality becomes the commercial provider, even if "free" (actually supported by taxes instead of service fee). That said, that model is still closer to the fixed nodes to the backbone model than a true mesh.


well that depends on what you call a "true mesh", and i think we could argue about that eternally wink.gif and again, is all this really needed to play SR?

[quote]In any case, however the architecture will probably not really look like anything we imagine when you think that we first flee in 1907 and broke the speed of sound in 1947+/-, had the first computers in the 1950's and forty years later they were becoming household items, etc..[quote]

very true, not least given the first crash and the corp-controlled rebuild...
Demerzel
Okay, time to create SRP (Shadowrun Protocol of course). I want draft standards and TPS reports on my desk by end of day Wednesday.
kigmatzomat
Be sure to use the new cover sheet. You did get the memo, right?
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