.blog - periodic musings

It’s responsible citizenry..

2012-01-18T16:29:00.000-08:00

Right now several major websites are holding an Internet blackout over Congresses coquettish attempt at regulating the web for the IP industry. Sites like wikipedia have decided to ‘blackout’ their website in order to raise awareness about this issue. Maybe they’re succeeding, maybe they are not. At this point it doesn’t really matter.

Last weekend, in response to petitions made via We the People on WhiteHouse.gov the Obama administration clarified what they would and would not support in an anti-piracy bill; which means they wont be supporting the two bills that congress is debating (unless they are changed drastically). This is a good example responsible citizenry influencing policy, using tools available to express their will to their government. Effective democracy effectively killed these bills before sites like wikipedia could put together their high profile protest.

So rather than use the moment to highlight a bill that is already dead in the water, I’d rather use the moment to point out this tool.
For issues related to privacy, freedom of information etc, EFF generally has petitions that you can support. They make it easy for you and do the legwork. EFF.org and (http://blacklists.eff.org for this issues specifically)

"We the People" is an online tool that the White House set up to allow the citizenry to petition the administration to take action on any issue. Petitions with enough support are reviewed by White House staff, sent to appropriate policy experts, and garner an official response. You might also consider checking the Open Government Initiative website as it has links to Federal Agency websites that may have similar tools.

Three years to the date...

2011-09-09T07:28:00.000-07:00

I started the free-chrome project three years ago as a public service providing a binary of Chromium for others who couldn't...

At that time Chrome had a really terrible EULA. The agreement would legally "give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and nonexclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services." (story on gizmodo). They would essentially inherit rights to anything you posted or wrote using Chrome.

When I saw the legal implications of the EULA, I decided to compile my own version of Chrome from the Chromium source code. With the huge outcry about the EULA, it occurred to me that others might want to use Chomium as well. The free-chrome project was born. Later that month Google did the right thing and changed the EULA.

I provided binaries for Chromium until version five (sometime in 2009). This was before they decided to include flash player in the Chromium build. Once they put flash in Chromium the game was up. The browser was no longer the light, nimble piece of software that I had loved. It began to take on a trend... Chromium and Chrome in general became bloatware.

I toyed with the idea of just maintaining a branch of Chromium that only implemented security patches at version five. Updates and patches flood that project however... it was and is just too much for one guy to dive into... Eventually I lost interest in even considering it and haven't been able to rekindle interest since. It's been over a year and so it is time for me to admit that i'm no longer maintaining the project. Three years to the date..

VIM does not have spell-check

2011-09-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Back in 2008 I released a program called USB History Dump. It's a program that I wrote in C that is used to trace evidence of USB thumb-drive activity from the Windows Registry. It's one of the more useful pieces of code that i've written. Like most of my code it's written to be compiled in Pelles C (it uses some compiler specific string functions) and I wrote it in VIM (much preferable to the editor in Pelles C). I spent a bit of time on it using some more advanced techniques in C like linked lists and such.

Today I was reviewing the code (i'm considering updating it and maybe adding a feature or two) when I noticed the most embarrassing thing... and it's right in the beginning of my code..

/*
* usbHistory.c - USB History Dumb
* a tool to extract USB Trace Evidence
* (c) nabiy . http://nabiy.sdf1.org
* This program uses non-standard generic string functions
* compile with Pelles C http://www.smorgasbordet.com/pellesc/
* or switch them with standard strings functions.
*/

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
#define WIN32_DEFAULT_LIBS

Yeah you catch that? USB History Dumb, not Dump. What the heck... a few years and several thousand downloads later... how many people noticed that i wonder?

Mohammed Nabbous

2011-03-20T04:39:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning to the news of Mohammed Nabbous death. Like many people I had been following his livestream and catching his reports via twitter. He gave real coverage to what was going on in Libya, investigating, interviewing, gathering first hand accounts.

When Gaddafi declared a ceasefire, Mo drove around Benghazi to show the world that his words did not reflect what was really happening on the ground. I think this is a huge loss for not only citizen journalism but for journalism, Libya and the world. He quite likely would have been one of the new leaders in Libya. I hope things turn out well there and honor the sacrifice he and citizens like him are making.

genetic intolerance

2011-02-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

I read something today that really irritated me. It was an article on antisemitism (full article here). Actually, calling it an article is too generous. I'd call it a poorly written rant on 'Anti-Semitic Slurs'. Anyways, onto the portion that gave me grievance.

The economist: "All Jews have a certain gene … that distinguishes them from others." That remark, reminiscent of the master-race thinking of Nazi Germany, comes from Thilo Sarrazin, an economist who once sat on the board of Germany's central bank.

By implication, they are saying Jews do not have a certain gene that distinguishes them from others. This is hogwash. As a people, of course they have a gene that distinguishes them from other peoples! Genetic genealogy is built on this fact. Real genetic difference also has practical application in the medical field, even for those of Jewish heritage. This is real science. If someone says your racial heritage has a distinct gene by itself it is a statement of fact, not a slur.

This kind of prejudice and intolerance toward any science or remark that is remotely connected to Eugenics (a valid science) is just bigotry. The fact that it is published often in major liberal media groups is the quintessence of hypocrisy.

Is there a Santa Claus?

2010-12-21T10:43:00.000-08:00

Printed on September 21, 1897 in New York's Sun.

"DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
"Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
"Papa says, 'If you see it in THE SUN it's so.'
"Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

"VIRGINIA O'HANLON.
"115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET."

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Yes, there is. link on newseum.org

Condor Cluster

2010-12-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Now this is something cool... the Air Force has built a super computer out of 1,760 PS3's. Both cost-effective and energy efficient the Condor Cluster is a time-share computer at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Cluster computing is not just for the linux hobbyist any more.

netiquette and facebook

2010-12-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

In every society there is a need for social convention. Social interaction on the internet is no different. Some people respect it, some people don't. Having grown up on technology, experiencing everything from the local bbs scene (be kind to your sysop) to your global mailing list (remember when bugtraq was unmoderated?) I have a healthy respect for the civilities of digital society.

This want to be polite had me flummoxed this weekend on facebook. As you might know, facebook hasn't made it to RFC 1855 (that's right, there is an RFC on netiquette). Being new to facebook with no guidance from the RFC and no clear FAQ, I didn't know the right way to respond when several people wished me happy birthday on my wall. After a bit of digging on google it turns out that this is the one case where it is cool to post on your own wall.

6) Don't write on your own wall, it makes you look like a loser, unless you do not feel like sending out messages to all those that wished you well on your birthday.

Problem solved thanks to the facebook etiquette group. Now we just need to get this stuff added to the RFC...

ps.. don't give me any flak about facebook not deserving mention in the RFC. Any social mechanism on the internet that makes the leap from noun to verb (facebook me) deserves a mention in the RFC!

File sharing and copyright...

2010-11-27T08:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the guys behind thepiratebay (the nets leading torrent tracker) lost their appeal in a Swedish court. The Court found that "The Pirate Bay has facilitated illegal file sharing in a way that results in criminal liability for those who run the service." The gist of the defense argument in this dispute is that thepiratebay only shares information (trackers to torrents), not the actual content. Information is and should be free and no limit should be placed on it for the sake of copyright.

This story got me thinking about copyright in general. I think as a general rule, if you don't work then you shouldn't get paid. In practical terms, if you are a singer or musician, then you should sing or play for your money. Making an album then not working and expecting huge returns on some intangible content in the ether of the internet is unreasonable.

Singers have always gotten paid for singing. They have only very rarely (when taken in the context of music history perhaps only twenty-five years) gotten paid for things they have sung in the past. This same principle can be applied to other fields in the entertainment industry. If you are an actor, you get paid when you act. If you are a producer, you get paid when you produce. If you are a record maker, you get paid to make records.

You shouldn't get paid for things that you've done in the past. There should be no compensation for any representation of that past performance. You have sung your song, performed your act and taken your bow. How someone memorializes your performance shouldn't be your issue. If they make a near representation using a divx codec or an abstract representation by finger-painting, that is their business. It's over and you've gotten paid for it.

Our whole idea of copyright and the economy of the recording industry needs to wake up to this and needs to change. That industry needs to get back to work and forget about their twenty-five year heyday. Information and replication of information is here to stay with or without the existence of thepiratebay or dns (if they block file-sharing at the dns level be sure that another protocol will be invented). The problem is in our idea of copyright and the economy of Hollywood, not in the idea of freedom of information.

Youtube cracks down on jailbreaking community.

2010-11-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

Even though the jailbreaking debate is really over (i'm pretty sure it's legal under dmca) it seems youtube is censoring members of that innovative community.

take a look here http://www.youtube.com/ifortner2

You can help by subscribing to support the channel and also by submitting a ticket to get it restored. Details are posted on the link above. Don't idle while google censures our legal right to research and publish information. Legitimate information published by communities like these should not be censored by any company whose mission is "to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Why does this bother me?

2010-09-07T02:55:00.000-07:00

The FDA is set to approve genetically modified salmon for human consumption. "Food from AquAdvantage Salmon . . . is as safe to eat as food from other Atlantic salmon"... "It looks like an Atlantic salmon. It tastes like an Atlantic salmon." ( story here ).

On paper this sounds really good. They are developing advanced-hybrid salmon, trout, and tilapia designed to grow faster than traditional fish. Their salmon should reach market size twice as fast as normal salmon. These fish would be grown in inland fish farms and be sterile so they can't contaminate natural stock in the event of breach of containment (does everyone have a copy of their zombie survival guide?).

Really, this kind of stuff shouldn't bother me. I mean, it's nothing compared to imaginations of using a Replicator to pop out my next coca-cola. This is the way we are going - fully synthesized food via molecular assembly. So this genetically modified fish shouldn't bother me... is it the difference between creation and manipulation? In essence aren't they both the same thing?

Make your own luck... and spread it around.

2010-08-31T13:20:00.000-07:00

A while back I received a very surprising and welcome phone call from a friend with whom I had not spoken to in a very long time. As we spoke our conversation drifted from the earthly, to the divine; to science, to superstition. Somewhere along the line our conversation drifted to luck. My friend, the ever skeptical pragmatist, doesn't believe in luck; you really make your own luck through your own effort.

Now, I am a firm believer in things unseen; one of those being luck. So we had a bit of discussion on it. I certainly feel lucky and often the feeling is related to objects that I might find (a penny facing heads up) or something that I wear (my lucky shoes). It occurs to me, that feeling lucky is more of a frame of mind or an attitude of spirit that you find your self in. Since that conversation and realization, I've decided to focus more on putting myself and others in that lucky attitude of spirit. How can i do this?

I try to look around for what feels good. A pen that just feels right in hand, a pendant or necklace that feels right when worn. These are lucky items. Pickup a stone that feels smooth in your palm and fits well in your pocket... that is your lucky stone. What about the pocket knife someone gave you? That's a lucky knife. These little things that we find around that feel right can change the outlook of your entire day and shift feelings from unluckiness to luckiness, from pessimism to optimism.They put you in a lucky attitude of spirit. With that spirit, you really are making your own luck.

It is possible to spread that good fortune around. Perhaps, with a lucky token, pass it on to a friend or someone special and make sure they know what it means... It will pick up significance simply because you passed it on. Want to pass it on to a stranger? If you find a penny facing tails up... flip it. Someone else will eventually come along and find that same penny heads up, and it could change their day.

Chromium 5.0.375.127

2010-08-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded a new version of Chromium to the main site. We're now at Version 5.0.375.127. The most notable feature you'll see in this release is probably Sync, a feature that allows you to share your user data across computers via your google account. You can download this new version here.

Another Assault on Privacy

2010-08-17T09:41:00.000-07:00

I read a really good dissent today by Chief Judge Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit concerning privacy. The Ninth, has essentially said that Law Enforcement are free to bug and track citizenry via GPS. In summary he says,

I don’t think that most people in the United States would agree with the panel that someone who leaves his car parked in his driveway outside the door of his home invites people to crawl under it and attach a device that will track the vehicle’s every movement and transmit that information to total strangers. There is something creepy and un-American about such clandestine and underhanded behavior. To those of us who have lived under a totalitarian regime, there is an eerie feeling of déjà vu. This case, if any, deserves the comprehensive, mature and diverse consideration that an en banc panel can provide. We are taking a giant leap into the unknown, and the consequences for ourselves and our children may be dire and irreversible. Some day, soon, we may wake up and find we’re living in Oceania.

This is really a great read from beginning to end and makes staying informed painless (apart from agony at the loss of freedom). When it comes to civil liberties I believe that a constant vigilance on the part of an informed citizenry is the only way to maintain what we have. You can read about this on the Ninth Circuit Blog or view the dissent (in PDF format) here [PDF].

One Civil Rights, Nil Mob Justice

2010-08-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday i caught the decision by US District Judge Judge Vaughn Walker (a conservative appointee) striking down Proposition 8. It was decided that Prop 8 violated due process and the equal protection clause. Marriage and the ability to choose who you are going to marry is a fundamental civil right.

Whether or not you agree with a traditional definition of marriage you must agree that this ruling is a good thing for civil liberties. The majority of people voted to make an already exercised prerogative of a minority illegal. A legal right should not be left to the whim of public opinion. Score one for civil rights.

Download the decision from Scribd

Defamation of Religion

2010-04-13T10:20:00.000-07:00

A week or so ago I caught some news that the UN Human Rights Council has passed a new resolution banning the defamation of religion saying that defamation violates human rights. What made me take notice of this is that the story was followed shortly by another which seemed to imply that the Pope was implicate in a cover up of sexual abuse cases. These accusations against the Church and the Papacy have since been continuing news.

It strikes me that these news agencies should be mindful that defamation of religion does not only concern Islam. Any implication that the Pope was complicit in the appointment of a Pedophile Priest or participated in some covered up is now a violation of Human Rights according to this new "defamation of religion" resolution. In Catholicism, the Pope has a special position in the Faith as successor to Peter, the Prime Bishop and the Vicar of Christ (as are all Bishops). Because of this, maligning the Pope and his office clearly defames the faith of all Catholics.

If the Defamation of Religion resolution passes and stands, well.. where will freedom of speech stand again? Everyone should be concerned.

Chromium 4.1.249.1036

2010-03-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

I've uploaded a new version of Chromium to the main site. We're now at Version 4.1.249.1036 (build 42052). Features aside from security fixes include Browser Extensions, Browser Themes, and new Privacy Feature. You can download this new version here.

A browser specific web?

2010-03-02T11:22:00.000-08:00

The web is not supposed to be browser centric or designed to be displayed on any specific groups of browsers. It is supposed to be protocol specific and browser / program neutral. Protocols and design specifications are produced by the Internet Engineering Task Force. These standards take the form of RFCs (Request for Comments) and document the protocols, mechanisms, and procedures we use on the net. This whole process is quite open, anyone can influence and participate in the development of these standards. Groups like the World Wide Web Consortium work in conjunction with the process to define a neutral standards-based web.

The implementation of these standards is up to the individual programmer. If one is to design a website, you are supposed to design one that meets whatever standard you choose. The standard is announced in the header information you include in your web document. For example, Youtube.com includes the following information that tells us what standard (or DOCTYPE) their content follows:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" 
"http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/loose.dtd">

We should be able to display their website as long as we know how to interpret and display HTML 4.02 Transitional. This is how the Web is supposed to work.

Unfortunately, many larger companies (like Google / Youtube) seem to have forgotten this. Instead of designing a website that focus on the standards, they opt to design websites that focus on specific web browsers. If you were to view Youtube.com with a standard's compliant web-browser (like Chromium) that isn't in the top five list of modern powerhouses (Chrome, Safari 4, IE 8, Opera 10 or Firefox 3.6) then you're greeted with a message telling you that your browser is unsupported. To me, this is just a reminder that Google is a company and at the end of the day it's the bottom line that matters most not some idealistic good-guy notion of standards-compliance or open source.

Avatar

2010-02-06T03:31:00.000-08:00

A quick note. If you have not seen this movie what are you waiting for? This has to be the best film that I've seen in several years. I've seen it twice already (i never watch a movie twice) and I still get goosebumps watching the previews. It's more than worth the ticket price.

it's been a java filled holiday season

2009-12-28T15:25:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows that I love coffee... but that's not the kind of Java that i've been into recently. I've been doing alot of reading and some experimentation in Java programming. I can see some of my friends and C-enthusiasts cringing behind their keyboards right now. Two projects that i've been really interested in are Jmonkey and Project Darkstar. They might give you a hint about what I've got floating in my head this holiday season.

Cyber Monday

2009-12-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm a few days late (cut me a break, it's been how long since i've posted?). Did you know that this last Monday was "Cyber Monday"? According to all-knowing wikipedia

the term was coined based on research showing that 77% of online retailers reported a significant increase in sales on the Monday after Thanksgiving in 2004. In late November 2005, the New York Times reported that "The name Cyber Monday grew out of the observation that millions of otherwise productive working Americans, fresh off a Thanksgiving weekend of window shopping, were returning to high-speed Internet connections at work Monday and buying what they liked."

Millions of otherwise productive working Americans busy on their work day shopping online? Someone want to know why the economy is in trouble?

Microsoft Security Essentials

2009-10-05T06:03:00.000-07:00

[caption id="attachment_358" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Microsoft Security Essentials"][/caption]
Microsoft is offering a free antivirus program called Security Essentials. It includes protection against viruses, spyware and other malware. I've just begun testing it in order to see if I would recommend it. The installation was simple, hassle free and it seems like it runs smoother than AVG, especially when opening documents in Microsoft Word (AVG occasionally hangs when working with documents). Security Essentials also has a "very good detection score" of 98.4% according to this article on PC World.

You can download Security Essentials for free from Microsoft here.

A huge win for computer privacy

2009-09-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

A very important decision has come out for those involved in computer forensic's, law enforcement and computer privacy. The Ninth Circuit has ruled that search warrants for electronic files must be specific and segregation and redaction must be done by specialized personnel or a third party. Those people conducting the search are not allowed to confiscate files not specified in the warrant and the investigating authorities are not allowed to conduct the search themselves, being only privy to files relating to their case.

For example, in the past if the Government suspected someone of using your email server for illegal activities they could image the whole server and every file on that image would fall under the plain sight rule, meaning if it's there then it's there in plain sight. They would be allowed to look at your email, even though it is unrelated to their investigation because it is "in plain sight". With this new ruling however they would only be allowed to confiscate and examine email that is the subject of their investigation and would be required to leave any other email untouched on the server. This protection of privacy is the object of this extraordinary opinion by Chief Judge Kozinski

The advent of fast, cheap networking has made it possible to store information at remote third-party locations, where it is intermingled with that of other users. For example, many people no longer keep their email primarily on their personal computer, and instead use a web-based email provider, which stores their messages along with billions of messages from and to millions of other people. Similar services exist for photographs, slide shows, computer code, and many other types of data. As a result, people now have personal data that are stored with that of innumerable strangers. Seizure of, for example, Google’s email servers to look for a few incriminating messages could jeopardize the privacy of millions.

You can read the full opinion in pdf format here (pdf).

VALGOL

2009-08-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

I saw this when I logged into one of my linux machines today...


        THE LESSER-KNOWN PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES #5: VALGOL
From its modest beginnings in Southern California's San Ferna
VALGOL is enjoying a dramatic surge of popularity across the

Here is a sample program:
        LIKE, Y*KNOW(I MEAN)START
        IF PIZZA = LIKE BITCHEN AND GUY = LIKE TUBULAR AND
           VALLEY GIRL = LIKE GRODY**MAX(FERSURE)**2 THEN
                FOR I = LIKE 1 TO OH*MAYBE 100
                        DO*WAH - (DITTY**2)
                        BARF(I)=TOTALLY GROSS(OUT)
                SURE
        LIKE BAG THIS PROGRAM
        REALLY
        LIKE TOTALLY (Y*KNOW)
        IM*SURE
        GOTO THE MALL

When the user makes a syntax error, the interpreter displays

        GAG ME WITH A SPOON!!

The Hunt for Gollum

2009-08-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Hunt for Gollum is a wonderfully made short film, especially if you are a Tolkien fan. From their about page, "The Hunt For Gollum is an unofficial not for profit short film by a group of enthusiast filmmakers. As a Lord of the Rings Fan Film, we are not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate or New Line Cinema and are producing this project as an entirely non commercial film. As with other fan films we are making this purely for the enjoyment of the material and the experience of making a high quality low budget film." Check out the movie on their site here. Enjoy!