Speculation/Checksum

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[edit] Speculation

Speculation on 'Access Point/Key Field' codes

The messages 'APUS:01-05' and 'CHAMAELEON:13-23' have been established through decoded two QR codes. One contained within PHPChatUser5's Twitter profile image and the second on PHPChatUser2's recovered device in Malak0's possession.

This theory relates to the meaning of the numbers contained within the message.

Checksums In data transmission across computer components and networks, check-summing is used to provide validation that a message has been received correctly.

Relating this to the QR Codes that have been found, it would be important for the reciever of the messages to know that they have understood it correctly. The PHPChatUsers would logically try and keep discussion to a minimum to avoid attention. It also seems that they have chosen Twitter as their place to transmit 'Access Points/Key Field Codes" to PHPChatUser5.

When we initially discovered the first QR Code, a few early readings indicated a different result from APUS - This was due to a few pixels in the cleaned up image being out of place. What's important here is that the QR Code still returned a valid result - there was no error message. Although according to wikipedia QR Codes do have some error checking capability, there evidently remains potential for corrupted messages to come through.

The numbers in the result could serve a useful purpose in ensuring that the recipient doesn't have this problem. If a rule involving the numbers as a way to validate a message is established before hand, someone could send PHPChatUser5 a message and after solving this checksum they would know that they've understood it correctly.

In the codes we have found so far; APUS:01-05 5 - 1 = 4, which is the length of the message 'APUS'.

CHAMAELEON:13-23 23-13 = 10, which is the length of the message 'CHAMAELEON'.

Consider what would happen if during transmission or decoding of the code some data went missing. APS:01-05 The recipient would immediately know something was wrong as the message is only 3 characters rather than 4.


Sequence Number

If we assume that each PHPChatUser is to post their own 'code', it might be necessary for PHPChatUser5 to know what order to place them in to get the needed information. For example, the messages 'FACE LEFT, GO FORWARD 5, FACE RIGHT' would yield completely different results if followed in a different order.

The numbers in our clues, 01-05 and 13-23, could suggest in what slot to place the messages APUS and CHAMAELEON. This would mean that there is a gap - 06-12, which would fit a message of 6 characters in length. There would be room after 23 for further messages.

Also consider why this way of informing the recipient is needed. If the code simply read "APUS:4" (4 to mean the correct length of the message), what would happen if the '4' became corrupted or changed to another number. The recipient would not know that


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