The ‘kill switch’ is an automatic release in the event of his death... more properly called a Dead man’s switch... that’s my guess.
Tell me about the hash markings... sounds interesting.
These are md5 checksums. Commonly used when downloading Linux files, including when you download a full operating system, the md5 checksum is also often posted along with the file, it’s used to verify that it is the authentic file and you got an uncorrupted download. Basically just a text file, compared with the one embedded in the download.
What some people are mistakenly referring to, dead man switch, is entirely different. If Assange were actually dead, we’d most likely be looking at every file he had uploaded online immediately. Something like those used in movies sometimes, you’ll see the character with something in his hand that looks like a simple switch, if he quits holding it down, kablooooie...
I’m willing to bet Assange has a digital version, my guess would be if he doesn’t check his computer and input a specific security code at specific times every day, it’s automatically distributed. So if and when he dies, he misses the next check in time and we’ll have everything at once, or a notice will be sent to associates for them to either immediately distribute in full or take over scheduled delivery.
Could be done by physical means too. Hold this, do not touch. If you read my obituary, let it loose. One 2TB external hard drive could hold millions of the emails we’ve been seeing. Maybe billions. Most text emails are so small a hundred can fit on a floppy. 1.14MB is a floppy. 1GB is a thousand MB. 1TB is a thousand GB...if your average email is less than 200KB...usually a lot less...this entire text message, if pure text, wouldn’t be 100KB.
More about the hash...
SHA-256 operates in the manner of MD4, MD5, and SHA-1: The message to be hashed is fi rst
(1) padded with its length in such a way that the result is a multiple of 512 bits long, and then
(2) parsed into 512-bit message blocks M(1) ; M(2) ;...;M(N).
The message blocks are processed one at a time: Beginning with a fixed initial hash value H(0) , sequentially compute
H(i) = H(i1) + CM(i) (H(i1));
where C is the SHA-256 compression function and + means word-wise mod 2^32 addition. H(N) is the hash of M.
The SHA-256 compression function operates on a 512-bit message block and a 256-bit intermediate hash value. It is essentially a 256-bit block cipher algorithm which encrypts the intermediate hash value using the message block as key. Hence there are two main components to describe: (1) the SHA-256 compression function, and (2) the SHA-256 message schedule.
Anything else you want to know?
It's not a hash marking. Just a hash.
A file (or any linear set of data) is run through a mathematical algorithm, to produce a single value (usually 64 bits).
If you make any change to the file, the resulting hash changes. So, as long as the hash is the same as the published value, you know the file hasn't been changed.
It's not a hash marking. Just a hash.
A file (or any linear set of data) is run through a mathematical algorithm, to produce a single value (usually 64 bits).
If you make any change to the file, the resulting hash changes. So, as long as the hash is the same as the published value, you know the file hasn't been changed.