Psi: Telepathy vs Data Retrieval

[cynner]

Gotta love power arguments - What would a Telepath have to do to be able to read files retrieved by a Cyberpsi using Data Retrieval?
Would the Cyberpsi had to have read the files?
What if they just quickly grab a couple files but have not read through them yet? ie; they read the file name and copied it quickly.
Would Deep Probe work for that?
What if they Mirror a drive but have not looked at the files yet?
Would they have no 'memory' of the data for the Telepath to look at until they do so?
What if it is in Binary? Can they use 'Universal' to translate it to read the file?
What if it is encrypted?
One assumes the Telepath could borrow skills to 'read binary'? Or to use Suggestion to make them start to look at the file so the Telepath would then be able to see what the file is.

[Not another shrubbery]

Note that with basic Mind Reading, the cyberpsi would have to be thinking about the contents of a file for the telepath to pick them up. Mind Probe should allow reading the contents [even a binary file, as long as the cyberpsi or the telepath knows Binary Translation], but it will be slow going. Not having a common language will make it more difficult, of course.

[cynner]

Thanks for your input 'Not another shrubbery'.

I suppose the first question is:
When the Cyberpsi uses 'Data Retrieval', do they actually 'retrieve' a copy of the file from the computer into their mind? Or do they just look at it and have a 'memory' of what they read in the file?

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by cynner

When the Cyberpsi uses 'Data Retrieval', do they actually 'retrieve' a copy of the file from the computer into their mind? Or do they just look at it and have a 'memory' of what they read in the file?

The latter looks like the most reasonable ruling to me, unless they use Mirror.

[cynner]

Mirror itself seems to imply that Data Retrieval is getting a file;

'Instead of retrieving one file at a time, you make a compressed
mental copy of the entire system.'

[cynner]

Just grabbed the Psis book - didn't have that one; this seems to clarify that you don't normally 'store' the data in your brain, as there is a perk that lets you:

Perks: Internal Memory*

* A new Ergokinesis perk: When you access data using an
ability like Data Retrieval or Netrunning, you may choose to
store any of the files internally. You can then access this data
freely, although this perk grants no special ability to interpret it
– only plain text is natively understandable. Your storage capacity
is based on your IQ and TL: (IQ¥10) bytes at TL0-5, (IQ¥10)
kB at TL6, (IQ¥10) MB at TL7, (IQ¥10) GB at TL8, and so on.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by cynner

Just grabbed the Psis book - didn't have that one; this seems to clarify that you don't normally 'store' the data in your brain, as there is a perk that lets you:

Perks: Internal Memory*

* A new Ergokinesis perk: When you access data using an
ability like Data Retrieval or Netrunning, you may choose to
store any of the files internally. You can then access this data
freely, although this perk grants no special ability to interpret it
– only plain text is natively understandable. Your storage capacity
is based on your IQ and TL: (IQ¥10) bytes at TL0-5, (IQ¥10)
kB at TL6, (IQ¥10) MB at TL7, (IQ¥10) GB at TL8, and so on.

Ah, I glossed over that one, as it's kind of hidden in the text of Hacker's Touch. The Mirror technique will give superior results, but the Perk is fairly useful for its cost.