How readable are cortical stacks without actually re-instantiating the ego? Are ego bridges required to interface with the tiny diamond computer bits? Also, away from books, but are they the size of grapes or grapenuts (much tinier)?

MAD Crab wrote:

By RAW, only two things interface with stacks (three if you count brains): Ego bridges and Spares. It wouldn't be odd to include a purpose-built stack reader, but at the same time - the bridge is much more versatile. Technically I suppose it wouldn't be unreasonable for there to be a data jack on the stack, but I'm pretty sure it's never actually mentioned. Lastly, my group has always run that you can't just read memories off a stack - you actually have to step the ego forward and basically let it play the memory out for you. Which is just interrogation by another name.

To read a memory from a stack it either needs to be in mnemonic aug format which means its attached to ego in the stack like metadata and eidolons for infomorphs. This metadata also is supposed to contain the Ego ID, name and such minute little details. or instantiate the mind in some way, simulspace or some other emulation. Psychosurgery and interrogation programs must have functions like that. Due to interconnected nature of human neural map and our memories, to read the memory you would have to emulate a big part of the mind. Otherwise it is no different than a weighted graph (petabytes big graph but still). Ego bridges AFAIK are the size of a suitcase so they're not really portable.

There are weird spider-bots on Legba from The Devotees which go around reading the data from cortical stacks, so the tech to read them definitely exists in setting. However, they need to instance the ego inside in a server to get data from it, so reading the data accessed seems fairly involved. It's at the very end of page 15 if you want to find it.

SD, while I'm sure lots of people would like to keep their software when they die, it's not backed up by RAW and I'm not sure it's backed up by logic. In a universe of advanced and persistent (and deadly) digital threats, I don't think most people would actually want the backup of their brain mixed with anything else at all. Stacks are the lifeboat of last resort, keeping a couple gigs of blueprints just doesn't seem to justify the risk to me.

MAD Crab wrote:

SD, while I'm sure lots of people would like to keep their software when they die, it's not backed up by RAW and I'm not sure it's backed up by logic. In a universe of advanced and persistent (and deadly) digital threats, I don't think most people would actually want the backup of their brain mixed with anything else at all. Stacks are the lifeboat of last resort, keeping a couple gigs of blueprints just doesn't seem to justify the risk to me.

It is outside the balance of probability that any form of pervasive threat capable of infecting your mesh inserts to such an extent that it will continue to be a pervasive digital threat when you're reinstantiated in a secure environment, yet will [u]not[/u] have likewise affected your ego backup. Additionally, in the unlikely event someone has reason to believe your mesh inserts, files, or muse [i]has[/i] been compromised but your ego is clean, they can just - and this may be radical, bear with me here - [u]not[/u] load those parts of your stack's backup. Compare that to how boned the average person will be if they lose their mesh inserts totally - no muse? You've just lost the personalized AI buddy that's been your personal organizer, best companion, and personal therapist, probably for decades of your life. To say that losing your muse like that would be a major psychological trauma is not an understatement. Also, a lot of, if not more people, will be making their living in some way based on information they have originated, and if they lose that, they're hosed. And if you happen to be some kind of Operative, like a Sentinel, the evidence on your stack may be the only thing Firewall can recover to give them [i]any[/i] insight into what flavor of soul-devouring fucktardery you ran into. So, yes, your mesh inserts [u]will[/u] be backed up. If those recovering you deem it too great a risk, they'll torch your stack instead of reinstantiating any part of it.

Trappedinwikipedia wrote:

Cortical Stacks also have pretty limited input systems, you have to encode anything you'd want on it into the brain it uses. If you can recover a stack though, pulling mesh inserts should be doable as well. Mesh inserts and cortical stacks don't have any connections as far as I know. MAD Crab is right, it's a huge security risk. Come to think of it, hiding data in an ego would probably be a good way to send a really well hidden message, though it would be hard to read, and might really mess up an ego file.

Not really. Their input systems are the nanites that write to them. It's entirely plausible - even probable - that they have a tiny partition for your mesh inserts. I mean, compared to your mind, the data from your mesh inserts is [i]tiiiiiny[/i], and doesn't change [u]nearly[/u] as often. The biggest part of it will by far be your muse. As for it being a security risk, it's no bigger a security risk than the ego aboard a stack [i]without[/i] mesh inserts would be. If you have reason to believe that it's compromised, you just don't instantiate it.

Trappedinwikipedia wrote:

It only takes a conventional hacker with a well hidden backdoor to infect mesh inserts to that point. That's nothing like something which could effect the ego file. In any case, the book answers this question unambiguously:

cortical stack description wrote:

A cortical stack is a tiny cyberware data storage unit protected within a synthdiamond case the size of a grape, implanted at the base of the skull where the brain stem and spinal cord connect. It contains a digital backup of that character’s ego. Part nanoware, the implant maintains a network of nanobots that monitor synaptic connections and brain architecture, noting any changes and updating the ego backup in real time, right up to the moment of death. If the character dies, the cortical stack can be recovered and they may be restored from the backup. Cortical stacks do not have external or wireless access (for security), they must be surgically removed. Cortical stacks are extremely durable, requiring special effort to damage or destroy. They are commonly recovered from bodies that have otherwise been pulped or mangled. Cortical stacks are intentionally isolated from mesh inserts and other implants, as a security measure to prevent hacking or external tampering.

Thanks to that isolation, an infomatic threat attacking through the mesh inserts can't effect the stack without some serious extra work. (Using AR overlays to play basilisk hacks for example). Physically secure storage devices for mesh inserts make sense, but they aren't cortical stacks, they're more like Life Recorders. Life Recorders already access the mesh inserts so using them as a general mesh insert backup should be as simple as flashing the space-firmware.

A mesh insert backup that's been conventionally hacked is a nonissue; what [i]that[/i] means is that you can't read the data [u]off[/u] a stack by hacking the person's mesh inserts, nor can you, say, convince the mesh insert nanites to back someone [i]else's[/i] brain up onto the stack. If you're reinstantiating someone from a stack, running their mesh inserts' backup through some [i]vigorous[/i] infosec checks is going to be SOP. There is no way that hacking the mesh inserts will screw with the ego.

Quote:

The psychological trauma of losing a muse is really not a big deal compared to the psychological trauma of being violently killed, especially since most people probably back their muse up from time to time anyway.

No, the trauma of losing your muse will not be "not a big deal" compared to violent death. I would rate it at being only [i]slightly[/i] lighter; that muse [u]is a major part of your existence.[/u] That's not something you want to hit someone and then [i]compound[/i] the trauma of the last thing they remember was having their head violently separated from their body, then the world whirling as their head fell towards the giant spinny fanblade. And then you wake up, to have someone telling you "welcome back, now, who the fuck are you and how did your stack get stuck in a U-bend?" and oh yeah, your muse and all your files are gone because you didn't have backup insurance of any sort to kick in, and your entire life was on your mesh inserts, and you're trying to explain how you, you know, [i]work there[/i], only you work[i]ed[/i] there ten years and the Fall ago and nobody has any clue what's going on.

Or, since this is a world with wireless everything and arbitrary data storage... maybe you just assume as part of your backup insurance you have a Cloud Storage account?

True, and in practical terms I just kinda handwave the whole thing. Unless there's a very specific reason I need to get rid of their blueprints, not worth the hassle and annoying the players.

The question isn't really whether or not it's possible, it's whether or you, specifically, can do it, with this specific stack, in this specific instance. We already know data can be read off a stack somehow. We also know data can be searched out from inside an Ego. But reading that data would probably require specific data transfer protocols, searching an Ego for information requires a specific search method, and the Ego in question may not contain knowledge of where it's own backups are located physically. It is, essentially, a little bit of hard work for no guaranteed successes.

With this in mind, wouldn't it make sense to have these things be handled via a blind trust type setup? You buy access to the ego backup trust, but don't know which of the services the trust works with is actually handling the ego itself, and use the power of the panopticon and likely a legal team to get you recovered after death. With good security implementations it should be possible to hide which service a specific ego is using through the trust, or have a lot of redundancy. This might go a little above the basic insurance package, but anyone who you'd likely want to forknap likely can afford it.