Therewerelandlinesbuiltin a fewpartsofthecountry, butabout 90% ofthemwereconnectedtogovernmentofficesorotherstate-ownedenterprises, andevenforthoseintheNorth
国土の一部に固定電話は敷設されていたが、その約9割は官公庁や国有企業に接続されていた。
Koreangovernmentwhocouldafford a phone, gettingoneinstalledwas a lengthyprocesswithstacksofpaperworktojustifythephone's purposeandtheowner's plantopayforit.
Therewas, briefly, a periodfrom 2002 to 2004 wherethegovernmenttested a smallmobilephonenetworkcalledSunetusingsecond-handequipmentfromVodafoneHungary, butitwasonlypubliclyaccessibleforabout 18 monthsbeforeKimJong-Ilverynearlygotblownupin a trainaccidentneartheChineseborder, andtheyshutthewholethingdown.
Fastforwardto 2008, andNorthKoreatakesanothercrackatcreating a state-controlledmobilephonenetwork, andbycreating, I meantrickinganEgyptianinfrastructurecompanyintobuildingthem a mobilephonenetworkandthenimmediatelystealingit.
WhatKoryolinkdoesprovideaccessto, however, isNorthKorea's completelyisolatedintranet—Kwangyang.
しかし、Koryolinkがアクセスできるのは、北朝鮮の完全に孤立したイントラネット、光陽である。
Thisisbasicallyjust a privatenetworkofabout 5,000 orsostate-sanctionedwebsites.
これは基本的に、約5,000ほどの国家公認のウェブサイトからなる私的なネットワークに過ぎない。
Youcanreadthenews, book a flightontheirtinyterribleairline, watchpropagandafilmsontheirnationalstreamingservice—reallyanythingyoucouldfindonthenormalinternetexceptforfreeexpressionandNeopets… theystillhaven't crackedNeopets.
Butofcourse, beingabletoaccessthisveritabletreasuretroveofsweet, sweetcontentisn't worthmuchwithout a smartphonetoviewiton, so, in 2014, theDPRKreleasedtheseimagesofKimat a brandnewsmartphonefactorytoannouncethattheyweremanufacturingtheirveryfirstsmartphone—theAS-1201.
MywriterBensomehowfound a versionofNorthKoreanAndroidrippedfrom a phonecalledthePyongyang 2407, andhemanagedtogetthisscreenshotand a folderofthesewallpapersbeforethishappened.
Fortunately, hedidn't havetodothatatall, which I toldhimlikefivetimes, because a groupofGermanresearchershadalreadymanagedtogetitrunningwithoutbreakingtheircomputers, andpublishedalloftheirfindingsyearsago, sohere's whatweknow.
Well, fairwarning, we'regoingtoget a littletechnicalhere, so I'm goingtoputon a royalty-freefootballgamereallysmallinthecornerforeveryoneinmyaudiencewhohatescomputers.
Essentially, theversionofAndroidrunningoneachofthesephonescheckseverysinglefile, everyphoto, everysong, everyapplication, for a specialkindofencryptedsignaturebeforeitcanopenit.
Theotherkindofsignatureiscalled a Selfsign, whichcanonlybeaddedbythedeviceitself, like a photousingthephone's camera, andconfirmsthatthefileoriginatedonthedeviceandnotfromanywhereelse.
Thissignaturesystemisthen, inturn, protectedbyanotherprogramcalledRedFlag, whichconstantlyrunsinthebackgroundtocheckthatthesignaturesystemhasn't beenremoved, andalsotakes a screenshoteverytimethatanapplicationisopenedandputsitin a folderthatcanonlybeaccessedbythegovernment.