John Naughton has an interesting column in his “networker” series in today’s Observer. In it he laments the fact that the majority of the world’s mainstream media seem more intent on reporting on Snowden the man than on what Snowden has revealed. He starts: “Repeat after me: Edward Snowden is not the story. The story …
July 2013 archive
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/28/repeat-after-me-snowden-is-not-the-story/
Jul 26 2013
soldier available cross magnet
I am in the process of changing passwords on a bunch of different systems/applications and have been pondering my algorithms, so to speak. Like my friend David, I have an internal model of varying password schemes which I can use in different places. This means that I can happily pick a password for a low …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/26/soldier-available-cross-magnet/
Jul 26 2013
how not to hide
I have written several times in the past about the tedious crud which hits my blog spam filters. Of late I have seen an increase in spam which looks, at first sight, plausible comment, but on closer inspection turns out to have the usual links to sites flogging cheap copies of western luxury goods. A …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/26/how-not-to-hide/
Jul 23 2013
this one is for dave
Our dear PM seems to have caved in to the obsessions of mumsnet and the daily mail. As someone in the grauniad pointed out today, at least we can be sure that Lynton Crosby has no connections to the pornography industry. Here’s one of my favourites….. It is interesting that whilst Dave thinks pornography on …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/23/this-one-is-for-dave/
Jul 21 2013
ubuntu forums compromised
Right now (21.00 today), the ubuntu forums site says it is “down for maintenance”. It appears to have been down since yesterday. The site reports: There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums. The Canonical IS team is working hard as we speak to restore normal operations. This page will be updated regularly …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/21/ubuntu-forums-compromised/
Jul 17 2013
save your money – just use tails
I suppose it was inevitable that the Snowden revelations would lead to greater interest in privacy and anonymity. I applaud that. I suppose it was also inevitable that there would be a rash of commercial products emerging from both “entrepreneurs” and the more established “security” companies to take advantage of that increased interest. That, I …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/17/save-your-money-just-use-tails/
Jul 15 2013
nokia lumia 1020
I have been a Nokia fan for many years. Like many people, I guess, my first mobile phone was made by Nokia. I have certainly owned more Nokia mobiles than those from any other single company. One of my favourite mobiles (which I still own as a backup) is the 6500 slide. I also still …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/15/nokia-lumia-1020/
Jul 15 2013
tor and https at eff
For those of you unsure of what might leak where and when using tor and/or https to protect your browsing, there is a useful interactive graphic on the EFF site. As EFF point out, the potentially visible data includes: the site you are visiting, your username and password, the data you are transmitting, your IP …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/15/tor-and-https-at-eff/
Jul 14 2013
base64 gets past omani deep packet inspection
Back in December 2011 Roger Dingledine and Jacob Applebaum of the torproject gave a talk at the 28th Chaos Communication Congress titled “How governments have tried to block Tor“. That talk focused on the arms race between privacy campaigners and technologists working on tor and the actions of oppressive governments. The presentation gave many examples …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/14/base64-gets-past-omani-deep-packet-inspection/
Jul 09 2013
bizarre searches
Today I stumbled across what appears to be a Vietnamese search engine called coccoc. The front page shows the typical search box as pioneered by google, but underneath that box is some text which seems to comprise text terms, mathematical formulae and (perhaps) chemical symbols. Sure enough, passing that page through microsoft’s on-line translator at …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/09/bizarre-searches/