I was contacted recently by a guy called Andy Beverley who wrote: Hope you don’t mind me contacting you about one of your old blog posts “what gives with dban”. Thought I’d let you know that I forked DBAN a while ago, and produced a standalone program (called nwipe) that will run on any Linux …
Category: privacy and anonymity
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/04/15/boot-and-nuke-no-more/
Feb 12 2014
checking client-side ssl/tls
At the tail end of last year I mentioned a couple of tools I had used in my testing of SSL/TLS certificates used for trivia itself and my mail server. However, that post concentrated on the server side certificates and ignored the security, or otherwise, offered by the browser’s configuration. It is important to know …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/02/12/checking-client-side-ssltls/
Feb 12 2014
policy update
An exchange of emails with Mark over at bsdbox.co a day or so ago made me realise that my privacy policy needed updating. Not, I hasten to add, for any fundamental reason, but simply because a couple of the references in that policy were out of date. I have therefore amended it and version 0.2.0 …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/02/12/policy-update/
Feb 11 2014
privacy matters
The Open Rights Group here in the UK has been campaigning against mass, unwarranted surveillance by GCHQ since the Snowden revelations first emerged in summer of last year. Two of its current campaigns are: “don’t spy on us” and “the day we fight back“. I have signed both of them. I have also written to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/02/11/privacy-matters/
Jan 22 2014
dis-unity
The “cloud” is achingly trendy at the moment and new companies offering some-bollocks-as-a-service (SBaaS) keep popping up all over the ‘net. Personally I am extremely unlikely to use any of the services I have seen, I just don’t trust that particular business model. I checked out the website for one of these companies today following …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/01/22/dis-unity-2/
Jan 11 2014
strip exif data
I have a large collection of photographs on my computer. And each Christmas the collection grows ever larger. I use digiKam to manage that collection, but as I have mentioned before, storing family photographs as a collection of jpeg files seems counter intuitive to me. Photographs should be on display, or at least stored in …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2014/01/11/strip-exif-data/
Dec 26 2013
getting close to the nsa
Since my last post there have been a couple more entrants to the Tor logo competition. Neither, strictly speaking, meets the original requested criterion that they be suitable for inclusion in Tor Project team presentations, but each has its merits. The first image below was posted by “David”. I think it captures rather nicely the …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/26/getting-close-to-the-nsa/
Dec 24 2013
merry christmas
As I have noted before, 24 December is trivia’s birthday. My first post dates from 24 December 2006 so trivia is seven years old today. As is now becoming traditional I therefore post again today. And as a reflection of the story which has come to dominate trivia over the latter half of this year …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/24/merry-christmas/
Dec 14 2013
tor boost
Moritz Bartl has just posted some good news. Torservers.net, a volunteer run organisation spread across eight countries which provides high bandwidth Tor servers to the network, has just been awarded $250.000 over two years by the Digital Defenders Partnership. According to Bartl’s press release, with this additional funding: participating Torservers organizations will be able to …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/14/tor-boost/
Dec 10 2013
an historical perspective
El Reg commentards can get worked up about a whole range of topics. That is one of the reasons I so enjoy reading it. Back in May 2009, El Reg posted an article about the then Home Secretary’s decision to place the right wing US Radio commentator, Michael Savage, on a persona non grata list …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/10/an-historical-perspective/
Dec 10 2013
ssl cipher check
My recent explorations of how to strengthen the ssl/tls certificates I use on both trivia and my mail service have given me cause to look for tools to help me test my configuration. The Calomel firefox plugin and sslabs site are very useful for checking HTTPS configurations, but they are fairly specifically aimed at that …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/10/ssl-cipher-check/
Dec 08 2013
no more akismet
In common with (probably) all wordpress based blogs, trivia has the aksimet plugin in place. Akismet is shipped by default in the base wordpress installation and new users are encouraged to sign up for an API key. On first configuring the blog’s plugins, users are greeted with the following commentary about akismet: Used by millions, …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/08/no-more-akismet/
Dec 08 2013
where are you now?
The ongoing revelations from Snowden continued recently with reporting in the Washington Post about the NSA’s program to track mobile ‘phone location data. Reporting here and elsewhere suggests that the NSA is gathering nearly 5 billion records a day on the whereabouts of cellphones around the world. That reporting, and its obvious implications, reminded me …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/08/where-are-you-now/
Dec 03 2013
data is imaginary. this burrito is real
As usual, Randall Munroe over at xkcd has his own take on the NSA/GCHQ snooping reportage. My thanks as always.
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/12/03/data-is-imaginary-this-burrito-is-real/
Nov 27 2013
necessary and proportionate
Yesterday I received an email from the Open Rights Group asking me to sign an on-line petition set up in collaboration with nearly 300 other organisations. The email said: In 2013, we learned digital surveillance by governments across the world knows no bounds. Their national intelligence and investigative agencies capture our phone calls, track our …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/11/27/necessary-and-proportionate/
Nov 26 2013
more ninjastiks
In July I noted that a company calling itself Ninjastik had popped up selling what looked to be essentially the Tor Browser Bundle on an 8 Gig stick for $56.95 or a 16 Gig stick for $69.95. As I expected, we have now seen one or two more companies attempting to sell products which leverage …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/11/26/more-ninjastiks/
Oct 25 2013
Oliver Stone on PRISM
I am a big fan of Oliver Stone movies. Outside the pages of the Guardian and its sister paper the Observer, the level of comment in the UK on NSA/GCHQ surveillance capability remains bizarrely muted. In the US they are at least having a conversation. Whether that conversation results in any sensible decisions, and then …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/10/25/oliver-stone-on-prism/
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/
Oct 05 2013
the guardian on tor
My last post noted that the Guardian had posted a series of articles on the Tor network and Snowden’s latest revelations about how the NSA has been attacking that network. All those posts are worth reading, but my favourite is the one by Bruce Schneier explaining how the NSA has attacked Tor users through browser …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/10/05/the-guardian-on-tor/
Oct 05 2013
good news for tor
The past couple of days have seen a flurry of news stories about Tor. Some of the news has hit the mainstream media, some of it hasn’t. Yet. A couple of day ago, a rather plaintive post to the tor-talk mailing list read: “looking for a way to contact silk road.Site shut down.money at stake.” …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/10/05/good-news-for-tor/
Sep 20 2013
that’s another password I have to change
Michael Horowitz has posted an interesting article over at Computer world. In it he points out that, by default, most android devices (tablets and ‘phones) routinely ‘phone home to Google to back up Wi-Fi passwords along with other assorted settings. Google sells this option as a convenience to help you regain settings after you upgrade …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/09/20/thats-another-password-i-have-to-change/
Sep 17 2013
Naughton’s ten tips
Back in July I commented on one of John Naughton’s “networker” columns in the Observer. Last Sunday, Naughton wrote another nice article titled “10 ways to keep your personal data safe from online snoopers”. Naughton begins the article by recalling that Tim Berners-Lee called the technology he devised a “web” of interrelated documents. He notes …
Permanent link to this article: https://baldric.net/2013/09/17/naughtons-ten-tips/
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/