Re: OT: RSA Shameless TV Show Pseudo-Mini-Commercial

I was channel-surfing, caught "NCIS", and heard one of the actors,
say:

"The DSA Uses RSA Secure-ID. It's a [hardware technology?] that
generates a token every minute."

If it were not for his demeanor, his pre-pause, the close up, his
drawn-out articulation of every single syllable as if the results of a
Miss Universe contest were being announced, I probably wouldn't have
noticed, but it is pretty obvious that he was advertising for RSA.

And no, I do not think this was one of those situations where a script
writer simply wrote something that makes sense after making a brief
consultation with someone who understands cryptography. I think that
there was active collusion by RSA and NCIS to make a mini-commercial
without paying for a commercial.

What makes you think that RSA didn't pay through the nose for product
placement like you described? I presume by "NCIS" you mean the
TV program and its producers, not the government agency.

RSA should know that most people who have the wherewithal to
understand basics of crypto are also probably resistant to low-brow
attempts to infuse advertising into TV shows without paying full price
for it.

I don't like it, but "not paying full price" isn't one of the
reasons. I also think it could backfire. What happens when the
NCIS team cracks RSA SecureID in 15 minutes? Using a single desktop
computer?

On another product placement issue, who wants to pay for product
placement on a new movie, Airport Disaster '09? An airline can
have its planes shown, but would they want to? A soft drink company
can have its drink featured, but since it's toxic soda that causes
the disaster, would they want to? A hotel can be featured in the
movie, but since the only people who go there are hookers and johns,
would they want that reputation? Even a hotel that caters to hookers
might not like the reputation that they get crashed on by airplanes
often. And what religion will pay to have their members portrayed
as terrorists?

.

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