Greetings Fellow Comstoks! ([info]fengi) wrote,
@ 2007-10-25 15:12:00
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Nigel the 4th Amendment Fish didn't make the final version.
This is a joke:


This is not a joke.
Hi Kids! Welcome to the NSA/CSS Kids’ page.

We’re the CryptoKids and we love cryptology.

What’s cryptology? Cryptology is making and breaking codes. It’s so cool. We make codes so we can send secret messages to our friends. And we try to figure out what other people are writing about by breaking their codes. It’s a lot of fun.

On this site, you can learn all about codes and ciphers, play lots of games and activities, and get to know each of us - Crypto Cat, Decipher Dog, Rosetta Stone, Slate, Joules, T.Top, and, of course, our leader CSS Sam.

You can also learn about the National Security Agency/Central Security Service - they’re America’s real codemakers and codebreakers...Without NSA/CSS, they wouldn’t be able to talk to one another without the bad guys listening and they wouldn’t be able to figure out what the bad guys were planning.

We hope you have lots of fun learning about cryptology and NSA/CSS. You might be part of the next generation of America’s codemakers and codebreakers.
Hey kids, big brother is awesome and KEWL (yes, they actually do use that word).

Interesting side note #1: Apparently Cassandra Cat of Shylock Fox fame has a younger sister, Crypto, and she works for the feds.
If you could see the back of her low-rise jeans, you'd notice the slut-tag which includes the RSA algorithm.

Interesting side note #2: Check out the government-sponsored, not-at-all-dubious stereotyped styling of Rosetta Stone, their Japanese character.

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[info]mistersmearcase
2007-10-25 08:24 pm UTC (link)
Horrifying in so very many ways, not least the aesthetic.

(Reply to this)

Sorry about the anonymous, it was meeee
[info]foxfirefey
2007-10-25 08:28 pm UTC (link)
Guh, cryptology: don't go into it in the US.

I've had smart friends working on that stuff who have ended up wire tapped.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: Sorry about the anonymous, it was meeee
[info]foxfirefey
2007-10-25 08:43 pm UTC (link)
Also, in the parlance above, they were codebreakers.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]sabotabby
2007-10-25 09:17 pm UTC (link)
That's horrifying.

I think that Homeland Security would run a background check on Crypto and figure out that she has a serial fraud artist in her family. That sort of thing has kept relatives of friends out of the RCMP.

(Reply to this)


[info]sabotabby
2007-10-25 09:21 pm UTC (link)
LOL. The Asian stereotype fox is homeschooled. They had a lot of propaganda to cram in to one little site, I guess.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]fengi
2007-10-25 09:33 pm UTC (link)
Wow. I wonder what else is in there. Any of them members of a Promise Ring group?

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]pretzelcoatl
2007-10-25 09:55 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, something tells me that a Neal Stephenson novel with them as the main characters just wouldn't have the same appeal...

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]pretzelcoatl
2007-10-25 09:55 pm UTC (link)
...And now that I actually clicked on that "kewl" link... why is the TURTLE the one that has facial hair? I'm confused.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]mistersmearcase
2007-10-25 10:02 pm UTC (link)
Presumably to make him look more like a beatnik, because then the kids will think he's groovy.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]pretzelcoatl
2007-10-25 10:10 pm UTC (link)
Radical!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]mistersmearcase
2007-10-25 10:24 pm UTC (link)
Reactionary!

:)

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]pretzelcoatl
2007-10-25 10:28 pm UTC (link)
Actually, I was using it in the 80s/90s slang term sense. You Communist. ;)

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]dokuritsu
2007-10-25 10:46 pm UTC (link)
i kind of wish i could be outraged at this, but i'm not.

at the very least, the NSA is raising awareness about the importance of cryptography. in today's day and age, you need to have some measure of security for your sensitive data. teaching kids to keep their personal data secure can't be that bad of a thing.

but to claim that nsa/css are the "real" codemakers and breakers is pretty ridiculous. hopefully the cryptoKids will be able to outdo the nsa in the future. giving kids these tools is important. the scary part is if these kids would be so willing to hand over their innovation to BB.

(Reply to this)


[info]slammerkinbabe
2007-10-26 12:48 am UTC (link)
I know I'm oversensitive, but I don't like adults marketing phrases like "When there's a secret to be kept, you have to find a way to protect it!" to kids. It would be one thing if it were like, "Now you can keep all your secrets safe under lock and key!" or something - something that implies it's the kid's choice to keep the secret - a fun, voluntary game. But "when there's a secret to be kept, you have to find a way to protect it" gives me creepy vibes of sexual predators and freaks my shit out.

(Reply to this)


[info]spentpenny
2007-10-26 04:17 am UTC (link)
Are you still planning a trip to Austin end of October, beginning of November? The weather here is stunning and there are a million things I'd love to show you!

(Reply to this)

bleah
[info]ccjohn
2007-10-26 08:08 pm UTC (link)
I wish the government would go back to being boring, colorless and indifferent. Look at the IRS. They're scary, yes but they're OK with that and even we can live with it because they're predictable, basically indifferent, 9-5, unexciting, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. They haven't changed. They never change! They just sit there. Not all that different from Mom and Dad's IRS, they're like the post office, if they change it's marginally. I don't like the government doing new, loud, weird, creepy colorful things, & the only parts of the government that should reach out to kids should be healthy civics stuff vaguely reminiscent of the Boy Scouts, like Smokey the Bear reminding you not to be stupid, and to think of other people. Buckle your seat belt. Don't smoke. Etc.

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