Won't creating this system to protect people with lots of money be a bit of a tease to hackers out there.

Not like linux is 100% unhackable

i don't think ReactOS is ready for prime time. wine is still remains the number one choice if you want run windows software on linux. for the curious, there is an AppDatabase to check if your favorite software runs on wine: http://appdb.winehq.org/

diversity gives attackers pain. i would not want to be the one having to code my snooper so that it works on any exotic breed of linux. and yes, there is always a way into any OS -- there is no known way to reliably keep users from to clicking the link to see the dancing bunnies ;-)

but ..there is serious money to be made if you are into this. in 2008's Pwn2Own contest [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pwn2Own#Contest_2008 ] the ubuntu laptop could not be cracked while the windows and mac breeds where taken down. this gives me some confidence in the security of linux at least.

is the project still alive? website seems down.

A question for those of you who know a lot more about this type of thing than I do:

In a not-so-future environment where the proliferation and advances in bots and other real-time AI software are even more of a concern, leading perhaps to the point where real money play is no longer feasible, could a similar type of secure operating system be mandatory to use (and supplied by poker sites) in an effort to somewhat combat the software aids?

i think in the recent 'zomg trojans r bad?' it was mentioned, that this project wasn't continued b/c too few ppl were interested

Yes

Booting into a secure operating system to play internet poker would allow the site to control and monitor what other apps are running on each system. The secure system would also be more aware than it is now of what peripherals are connected to that system. It would use a bootable, strong encryption poker operating system so that nothing can run on it unless specifically authorized by the site. Each instance of it would be assigned a unique identifier, and it would "phone home" for authorization before displaying any game state information. Observers would not have a functioning operating system. There would be a public portal where observers and new players could have some limited interaction opportunities. It would prevent most bots from operating, The bot option of using a second PC to run the bot (via a split monitor signal) is almost never used because it is said to be more expensive (frame grabber and another PC) and would still require an interface back to the original PC to click buttons (or hotkeys). Additional monitoring of the video out parameters by the site would be practical from within the system. To the player, the additional step would be to put in a bootable CD or flash drive, and boot from it. And for that minor inconvenience, the reward would be that bots would be impracticable and expensive, data mining would stop, and "prohibited software" would actually mean that the prohibited software would not run. But never forget the huge outcry from players when they were concerned about poker sites taking screen captures of their computers. What we are contemplating here is complete ownership of the operating system.

skier's voice app could be run on a separate laptop and bypass this completely

while some players would do this, to make it safer to play, the majority of players - especially the recs - would hate any additional inconvenience. they want fast poker action ... ASAP. this is why Spin and gos are popular and why people still get hacked (even such simple stuff like PIN or SMS alert could prevent a lot of troubles).

so even this would be technically possible, and compared to a stolen bankroll or a big loss vs a bot, indeed a "minor inconvenience", any poker site that would make this mandatory would be out of business soon

We can file this along with flying cars and using icebergs to irrigate the desert.

Thanks.

Maybe it could be mandatory above a certain stake and/or for playing more than a given number of tables(?)

If ipads had a separate Stars player pool, wouldn't it basically achieve this?

I'd consider returning on that.

There wouldn't be enough players to get a game going, but it would be nice and secure I guess.

too bad. thanks for the response though.