I have just discovered, shamefully late, that Ross Anderson died at his Cambridge home at the end of last month. He was only 67. Anderson was Professor of Security Engineering at the Cambridge University’s Department of Computer Science and Technology. He had worked at the University since the early 1990s. Professor Anderson was famously rabidly …
Category: people
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2024/04/30/ross-anderson/
Mar 14 2023
postfix x-headers
In my post last week about the X-Clacks-Overhead HTTP header I mentioned that I had added the header to my postfix configuration as outlined in the advice given at gnuterrypratchett.com. As it turns out that advice does not work exactly as I wanted. Firstly, and most importantly, using the “header_checks” table is sub-optimal because it …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2023/03/14/postfix-x-headers/
Mar 09 2023
X-Clacks-Overhead
For some years now I have included the “X-Clacks-Overhead” header in trivia’s lighttpd.conf as a tribute to the late great Sir Terry Pratchett. I am a huge fan of Pratchett’s Discworld series. You may not see the header when you browse trivia, but it is there. Users of linux based systems can easily inspect the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2023/03/09/x-clacks-overhead/
Apr 29 2021
RIP Dan Kaminsky
I learned today that Dan Kaminsky died on Friday 23 April of complications arising from his diabetes. (I would probably have learned earlier if I followed twitter, but I don’t.) He was only 42. I met Kaminsky at an MSRC Bluehat Forum in 2009. He was only 30 at the time, but already widely respected, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2021/04/29/rip-dan-kaminsky/
Mar 26 2021
Stallman and Tor
This may be controversial. Yesterday, a member of the Tor relays mailing list posted the following to the list: “I’ve been running a relay/exit node for many years. Tor user since ~2004. To the extent that my voice means anything at all here, I would like to strongly condemn the Tor project joining the attempt …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2021/03/26/stallman-and-tor/
Apr 27 2017
free Dmitry Bogatov
Dmitry Bogatov, aka KAction, is a Russian free software activist and mathematics teacher at Moscow’s Finance and Law University. He was arrested in Russia on 6 April of this year and charged with extremism. He is currently held in a pre-trial detention centre, and is apparently likely to remain there until early June at least, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2017/04/27/free-dmitry-bogatov/
Feb 09 2017
this is what a scary man looks like
No, I mean the one on the right – the one Trump is pointing at. General John Kelly is just one of Trump’s controversial appointments (and not necessarily the worst) and I guess that by writing this now, I have finally nailed down the lid on the coffin of my ever returning to the US. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2017/02/09/this-is-what-a-scary-man-looks-like/
Jan 01 2016
a bad way to end the year
Sadly, I read today that Ian Murdock, the “Ian” in Debian, died on Monday, 28 December 2015. He was only 42 years old. Various reports indicate that he had been distressed for some time before his death. The tweets reportedly from Murdock’s twitter account shortly before his death are very disturbing. Murdock’s contribution to the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2016/01/01/a-bad-way-to-end-the-year/
Dec 13 2014
solidarity with the tor project
On Thursday 11 December, Roger Dingledine of the Tor project posted the following email to the “tor-talk” mail list (to which I am subscribed). I’d like to draw your attention to https://blog.torproject.org/blog/solidarity-against-online-harassment https://twitter.com/torproject/status/543154161236586496 One of our colleagues has been the target of a sustained campaign of harassment for the past several months. We have decided …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/12/13/solidarity-with-the-tor-project/
Oct 09 2013
Snowden paranoia
A recent exchange on the tor-talk mailing list about conspiracy theories elicited this gem from “Ted Smith” (obviously a Bob Heinlein fan). “One of the more Gibsonesque theories I’ve heard is that Snowden is a CIA operative working to destabilize the NSA’s surveillance system on behalf of the CIA and other elite that feel too …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/10/09/snowden-paranoia/
Oct 05 2013
that’s completely ludicrous
Glenn Greenwald on Newsnight. The full episode of Newsnight’s report including Greenwald’s interview and comment from Sir David Omand (ex Director GCHQ) can be seen here on BBC’s iplayer. Gordon Corera, the BBC’s Security respondent reports here on the Newsnight episode. As an aside, I was amused by Ross Anderson’s claim that many academics had …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/10/05/thats-completely-ludicrous/
Sep 11 2013
neil doesn’t get it
A couple of days ago I received an email from an old friend (let’s call him “Geoff”) which said: Following last Friday night discussion I have created a facebook page as a shared repository of our photos etc. I have kickstarted with most of mine. You can either make yourself a friend of this page …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/09/11/neil-doesnt-get-it/
Aug 23 2013
untrusted dod certificate
Chris Williams over at El Reg posted a nice article about the kind of crypto best practice you need to follow if you care about privacy. The article questions the wisdom of using David Miranda as what Williams calls a “data mule” to carry physical electronic media (possibly) containing sensitive data through Heathrow and goes …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/08/23/untrusted-dod-certificate/
Jul 28 2013
repeat after me – snowden is not the story
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 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/07/28/repeat-after-me-snowden-is-not-the-story/
Jun 15 2013
Edward Snowden
The revelations of the past week or so have been interesting to me more for what they haven’t said, than what they have. There are a few points arising from Snowden’s story which puzzle me and which don’t seem to have been addressed by the mainstream media – at least not the ones I read. …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/15/edward-snowden/
Jun 10 2013
Iain Banks
I first met Frank (the protagonist and narrator in “The Wasp Factory”) in about May or June 1990. I had taken my bike (then an FJ1200) in to the dealer for a routine service and tyre change and had wandered in to a local newsagent to pick up a magazine or two to read whilst …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/06/10/iain-banks/
Aug 28 2012
Neil Armstrong
I suppose it is inevitable that your heroes die as you get older. I was just finishing my O’ levels when Armstrong took his “one small step”. I can remember clearly looking up at the moon on that day in 1969 in awe that there were two human beings on that satellite at the very …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/28/neil-armstrong/
Aug 21 2012
you are at 2001:db8::ff00:42:8329.
Verity Stob is having trouble getting a new IP address. What with the IPV4 address exhaustion problem, it would seem that the only alternative is IPV6. This is causing Verity some grief. Stress brings out my unoriginal streak. I said: ‘Where am I?’ ‘You are at 2001:db8::ff00:42:8329.’ ‘What?’ ‘Your new IP address at 2001:db8::ff00:42:8329.’ He …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/21/you-are-at-2001db8ff00428329/
Aug 15 2012
the stainless steel rat bows out
I read today that Harry Harrison has died at the age of 87. Harrison was one of the greats of the SF glory years. Alongside Heinlein (whose work he spoofed mercilessly) Philip Dick, Asimov, van Vogt, Ray Bradbury, Bob Sheckley, Doc Smith and a host of others I grew up with in the 60s and …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/15/the-stainless-steel-rat-bows-out/
Aug 02 2012
outlook goes public – linus approves
Microsoft has (re-)launched its free public email service (previously branded “hotmail” and “windows live”) under the brand “outlook”. Outlook has been Microsoft’s email client on the corporate desktop for many years now, so they may be hoping that the new look email product will benefit from the existing brand’s goodwill. However, I noticed from a …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/08/02/outlook-goes-public-linus-approves/
May 25 2012
stupid hunt
According to reporting today, Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary Of State for Culture, Media and Sport, lobbied the Prime Minister in support of Rupert Murdoch’s bid for BSkyB. The report says: “The inquiry heard that the culture secretary drafted the email on his private Gmail account on 19 November 2010 despite being warned by his officials …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2012/05/25/stupid-hunt/
Nov 23 2011
the most influential people in UK IT?
This would be funny if it weren’t quite so tragic. A friend of mine has just pointed me to the Computer Weekly “second annual UKtech50” poll of “the definitive list of the real movers and shakers in UK IT – the CIOs, industry executives, public servants and business leaders driving the creation of a high-tech …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/11/23/the-most-influential-people-in-uk-it/
Oct 14 2011
mountain streams
In response to the news of Dennis Ritchie’s death, Ted Harding, a long time member of the anglia linux users group posted an interesting comment to the list this morning. Ted has kindly given me permission to link to that comment. Like Ted, I too hope we shall be seeing proper tributes to both Dennis …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/10/14/mountain-streams/
Oct 13 2011
Dennis Ritchie dies
Now this is getting depressing. It seems that Dennis Ritchie (the “R” in K&R, author and creator of the C programming language and genuine legend in computing history) died last weekend. Bell Labs reported yesterday, and confirmed today, that Ritchie had died after a long illness. He was 70 years old. As a unix fan, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2011/10/13/dennis-ritchie-dies/
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