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Comment by wkjagt | Hacker News Reader

I had the one with the TV/VCR remote functionality when I was in highschool in the 90s. During English class the teacher wanted to show Shakespeare plays on the VCR. I would pause the video, a friend of mine would walk up to the TV, and slap it on the side, while I unpaused it. We did this a couple of times until the teacher saw me do it and sent me to see the principal. Now that I'm more mature I realize how much that disturbed her class, and I kind of regret it, but maybe some people hold a fond memory of that moment.

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The Casio CMD-40

https://old.reddit.com/r/casio/comments/15n9anq/did_we_all_f...

I am wearing one right now - it has been my daily driver for literally decades

(While it has VCR controls built-in, it can "learn" infrared frequencies for "new" inventions like DVD players - copying from an existing IR remote control. Surprisingly, still compatible with modern TVs - at least for basic functions like volume control.)

It was once "futuristic"; collectors now sell them as "retro" and "vintage"

I had one, too, and in hindsight I regret what an ass I was to the poor substitute teachers who had one job to do for the day and couldn't because I thought it was funny to turn the TV off when they bend down to turn on the VCR.

I also had the one that could do IR messages with other watches, and that was a lot less disruptive and still pretty fun.

I had the calculator watch when I was in highschool. We competed who has the toughest watch by throwing it on the blackboard. It survived. When I got older I realize how stupid it was and how expensive it was compared to the digital watch on that era.

*It was the C-80 and it was the 80s, it was rubberized all over like the G-Shock of today.

I understand where you're coming from. On the other hand, there's a lesson to learn from the teacher's point of view as well. We always need to take a step back to understand the weakest links in security. A small piece of electrical tape or maybe even a strategically placed VHS cover could solve the issue. Hopefully, this hadn't happened again.

It also comes to: should a teacher "trust" their students not to be intentionally disruptive in interesting ways? Now I wonder if I should similarly trust my users (who are co-workers who are at least getting paid to not cause disruptions)...

I'd be willing to bet that's the only time the teacher had to deal with that specific skulduggery.

Is it actually worth it for a teacher to spend time red-teaming basic lesson equipment? I really think not unless the teacher has reason to believe her students are particularly mischievous.

A punishment may (or may not) be deterrent enough for the people who saw it. However, when you get a new class/userbase regularly or when new technology becomes available (including devices that can control your hardware remotely), an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Perhaps using your watch as intended doesn't seem particularly mischievous in the moment. In this way, legitimate users/sys admins/script kiddies get into trouble because a sys admin didn't have reason to believe their users would be "particularly mischievous".

Exactly. I did the same with my wrist remote in class. After the second time the TV turned off, without saying anything the teacher went to his desk, picked up a notecard, and propped it up over the remote sensor.

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