Archive for February, 2012

Wikileaks and Anonymous – Together Forever February 29th, 2012

tevans

Anonymous has increased its activity of late, with a number of hacks that have done serious damage to the credibility of corporations involved in actively suppressing the free flow of information. The most notorious example was the utter rout of HB Gary Federal, an information security firm which had been contracted out to attack Wikileaks, managed Astroturf campaigns against democratic institutions, and attempted to use social media to uncover Anonymous. Anonymous didn’t take well to any of this, and exposed the company’s internal emails proving that management was indeed involved in a number of nefarious activities. This immediately caused a number of former clients to distance themselves from the company and provided extremely damaging, even leading to the resignation of the CEO.

 

We are anonymous 300x300 Wikileaks and Anonymous Together Forever

Oh. Oops.

Given the overlap in worldviews and enemies, and the marked success of both parties, it was perhaps inevitable that Wikileaks and Anonymous would officially join forces to conduct more raids and releases in a similar spirit to that undertaken with HB Gary Federal. The most recent target? Stratfor, a private intelligence outfit – some might say spy ring – which deals with some of the largest corporations and governments on the planet.

 

Anonymous selected Stratfor for hacking partly for that client list and also, in part, because it was perceived as an easy target – which, for the talented operatives in Anonymous, it was. But what Anonymous has in hacking power, they lack in public access. That’s where Wikileaks comes in. Wikileaks has agreements with several major media outlets, and the global cachet attached to its name, to really get some distribution for the files. In addition, Wikileaks is able to mobilize the resources to analyze the files (just dumping the documents is important, but it’s the analysis that really starts to make a difference).

 

If the alliance is successful, Wikileaks and Anonymous have made no secret of the fact that they’re looking to continue to operate in tandem. Corporations and governments around the globe are nervous – as well they should be.

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The CIA Needs Your Software. But, You Know, Cheaper. February 23rd, 2012

tevans

The CIA has an awful lot on its plate. Terrorism, analyzing information, spying on the Russians or Iranians or Eastasians or whomever we’re at war with (we’ve always been at war with Eastasia, actually), and doing the James Bond thing all come to mind when you think of the CIA, and for some of you, things like JFK or Tom Clancy might also come to mind. But what rarely comes to mind for anyone when they think about the CIA is software licensing.

CIA The CIA Needs Your Software. But, You Know, Cheaper.

Except for when you don't license it but still somehow mysteriously have a full copy of it.

Yes, software licensing. Even the CIA has to do it, although I suppose if they weren’t, they’d have a way of making sure we never found out about it. But in this time of budget cuts and austerity, even the CIA is cutting costs, and as it turns out, the organization spends a surprising amount on licensing software (the exact amount, obviously, is classified). It’s been such a big drain on CIA resources that the agency is looking to switch its vendors over to a “pay as you go” system.

 

Budget savings aren’t the only motivation for the switch – the CIA deals with the cutting edge of emerging international threats, and in the computer era, that means extremely advanced computer technology. Bulk licensing simply sucks up too many resources and prevents the sort of flexibility required to fight modern threats. An a la carte option for licensing would leave enough give in the system for the CIA to better keep up to date with developing technologies (or so the organization believes).

 

Vendors are understandably balking somewhat – the stated goal is to make them less money, after all, and they also have very little recourse if the CIA decides to simply underreport its usage of their services – but it’s hard to believe that they won’t come around. Government agencies like the CIA may be cutting back, but national defense agencies still represent a massive chunk of the budget, which means there is plenty of money to be made by interacting with them.

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Even Duct-er Tape February 18th, 2012

tevans

If you want to stick something to something else, the industry standard for many years – ever since MacGyver, really – has been duct tape. The reason for this is because duct tape is fucking awesome. Mythbusters even tested whether or not a car held together exclusively by duct tape could still drive. The answer? Of course it can.

 

Duct tape car 300x198 Even Duct er Tape

Duh

Unfortunately, duct tape can’t be used in every situation. You can’t, for example, hold up your flat screen TV with it. Or more accurately, it’s not considered socially acceptable to use that much duct tape to hold up your TV, which is a little shocking and clearly indicates the depths to which our culture has decayed.
Fortunately, scientists have your back once again. The product is “Geckskin,” so named because it is based on gecko feet (the part where gecko feet are small and adhesive, not the part where they are green and scaly). Geckos can walk up just about anything and are just about as comfortable climbing upside down on a ceiling as they are on the floor or on a wall.

 

(You just looked at your ceiling to make sure there isn’t a gecko above you, didn’t you? Ok, NOW you looked.)

 

The device is small and functions similar to tape or any other adhesive, but has a lifting power dozens of times stronger even than duct tape, easily able to hold a 700 pound device on the wall while at the same time easily released and moved to another location, provided you can hold whatever weighs 700 pounds that was attached before you released it.

 

Geckskin is made with simple, easily accessible materials, nothing exotic and no power required, so it’s a simple matter to attach anything to just about anything else without having to spend a ton of money and without having to locate new materials. Though only just outside the prototype phase, it’s easy to see how this gets marketed and it’s easy to expect some pretty major sales of such an item. Investors take note!

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Wrath of Khan February 10th, 2012

tevans

The cost of tertiary education continues to escalate rapidly in the United States, exacerbated by an ongoing war on education funding by conservatives concerned that the United States might spend too much money teaching people to think, with all the consequences that would have on Republican electoral prospects.

 

The most distressing aspect of the story – besides the lack of access to quality education for ever increasing quantities of American students, that is – is that there’s really no reason for it. The actual expense of educating people should, by rights, be declining drastically in this age of digitization, virtual classrooms, and e-readers. In fact, you’d think you could get a college education for practically free by now.
Well, it turns out that you can, if you’re willing to put in the work. The Khan Academy is a not for profit organization built around the premise that human knowledge belongs to the world, and they’re offering that knowledge to students of all types, completely for free. A simple login process allows you to connect your Facebook or Google account to the academy, enabling you to keep track of your progress. The “school” is built around videos produced by some of the world’s foremost academics and containing information on a wide variety of topics which anybody with internet access can view and learn from.

You can also make use of the Academy’s information as a teacher, or a “coach” in their terminology. Coaches can link to their students through the site and build lesson plans and congregate virtually with their students to host “classes” of sorts.

 

Furthermore, the Khan Academy is expanding rapidly, seeking to partner with local educational institutions. It’s easy to see the value that Khan could provide for local educators facing increasingly compressed budgets and parochial school boards hostile to genuine science education. The videos cover most of the major academic subjects in varying degrees of depth, and new ones are being offered all the time (2,800 are currently online). It’s clear that Khan is anticipating a major market failure and addressing it.

 

screenshot large khan 300x256 Wrath of Khan

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Google Pays To Spy On You February 9th, 2012

tevans

Google’s been under fire for privacy concerns lately (well, it’s always under some fire about privacy, but it’s been especially heavy fire lately). Their new privacy policy has drawn the ire of privacy activists, even though it represents a pretty common sense approach to standardizing policies across a full constellation of product offerings and even though it makes clear that there is an easy opt-out selection (in fact, there’s a full control dashboard to remove or add demographic and interest categories – you can even misinform Google if you want to really obfuscate the issue).

allseeingeye 290x300 Google Pays To Spy On You

Not that Google won't find out.

It is perhaps this recent spate of catching flak that gave Google the idea of incentivizing its data gathering hordes with some rewards. The program – called “Screenwise” – hasn’t exactly been publicized by Google, but neither are they hiding it. It functions much like any other online data research panel gathering user information; simply allow Google access to your full web-browsing habits by installing a widget in your Chrome browser (it has to be Chrome, of course) and in exchange they’ll periodically send you five dollar Amazon gift cards.

 

It’s a pretty smart move on Google’s part – the clear implication is that their standard data gathering routines are not sufficient and they need to pay people to take part in allowing full access, which sends the message that there is a lot that Google is missing in day to day operation. And if there’s one thing Google can make use of, it’s additional data gathering, although I’d be willing to bet that the biggest benefit Google is gathering out of this initiative is the appearance of needing more data and, again, the implication that therefore it’s not collecting that much from non-Screenwise users.

 

It should be noted that Amazon isn’t an official partner in this program, despite the use of the Amazon gift cards. This is entirely a Google initiative. However, the use of third-party gift cards (rather than cash) is common for market research panel rewards.

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Anonymous Hacks The Cops (Again) February 7th, 2012

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Anonymous has made itself widely known over the past few years by fighting against oppression and standing up for freedom of expression and information in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt and more, where it’s activities have been widely lauded. When it makes the same stand in Europe and the United States, of course, it suddenly becomes criminal behavior (restricting the free flow of information to the populace is apparently not such a big deal when it’s done by corporations and Western governments). Consequently, members of Anonymous have been under investigation by the FBI, Scotland Yard, and who knows how many other government agencies. This has resulted in a few arrests, and a number of hilarious snafus courtesy of Anonymous, ever alert for entertainment opportunities.

 

The latest such prank may take the cake, though. Anonymous hacked into private emails of law enforcement officials pursuing its members, then listened in on a conference call between the FBI and overseas agents, recording the call and posting it (along with relevant emails from the hijacked account) to the internet. And lest you think it’s a hoax, you should know that the cops have already confirmed that, yes, the conference call is theirs and, yes, they’ve been punked and their secure email accounts infiltrated by Anonymous.

 

Anonymous1 300x240 Anonymous Hacks The Cops (Again)

First rule of the internet - do NOT piss off Anonymous.

Meanwhile, the SEC continues to offer waivers and exemptions for big banks who are guilty of the apparently much less pressing behavior of evicting homeowners and destroying families. Priorities!

 

At any rate, next time you’re feeling insecure, just remember that your government is doing its best to look after you by focusing time and money on a bunch of teenaged hackers scattered all over the nation and world – and it’s not even winning.

 

And now you know why it took 10 years to find Osama Bin Laden.

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Google Fined For Being Too Awesome February 3rd, 2012

tevans

How much does it cost to provide a free mapping service to the world? If you’re Google, the answer is now 515,000 Euros more than it used to.

 

google logo 300x125 Google Fined For Being Too Awesome

Tomorrow's Google Doodle will spell out "Fuck You, France"

The reason for the unexpected additional expense is a recent ruling by French courts, holding Google responsible for damages to competing map provider Bottin Carographes (as well as a relatively modest fine). Bottin offers mapping services very similar to Google Maps, but of course it charges for them. Fair enough, but why would anyone pay for something that they can get for free?

As it turns out, they won’t, and Bottin alleged that this meant Google was abusing its position and engaging in “unfair competition.” The crux of the argument apparently is that Google is too big and famous and so shouldn’t be offering quality products for free when other companies are offering perfectly good products of the same nature for a price. Nice work, if you can find it.

 

It’s hard to escape the conclusion that Bottin is simply rent seeking by going after an American company in a French jurisdiction. Google faces a different business model than Bottin does and makes its money by driving eyeballs to its array of sites, where it can then place ads in front of those users. Building a high quality mapping service and giving it away certainly makes sense within the confines of that strategy, but just because Google is good at it doesn’t mean that it’s an “unfair” method of competition. I’m all for fairness in the markets, but it has to be rational and reasonable.

 

Granted, half a million euros is pocket change for Google, but it’s an important precedent to face down squarely, or else every company that Google beats at its own game will start coming out of the woodwork to sue. Google has said that it is “reviewing its options” – hopefully that means an appeal and ultimately a victory for quality services delivered for free.

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Twitter’s Smart “Censorship” Policy February 1st, 2012

tevans

Twitter has been getting a lot of flack lately over its new “censorship” policy. Privacy advocates and human rights activists are bitter over its country by country blocking system, arguing that it gives repressive countries an easier way to shut down the service which has proven so essential to resistance movements and civil libertarians. And, in a sense, that’s true – nations can now tailor their Twitter policies individually.

at twitter Twitters Smart Censorship Policy

Twitter's logo has become ubiquitous

But the devil, as always, is in the details, and the details here are extremely positive in a lot of respects. First, Twitter cannot simply go around breaking the law. If a country outlaws Twitter, or makes the online situation so onerous that Twitter can’t break into that nation’s environment (as is the case in China), then activists and consumers have lost Twitter entirely. By offering censorship tools in a form similar to (and modeled on) DMCA “takedown” requests, Twitter allows the service to remain intact in those nations.

 

But it’s much bigger than that. Twitter doesn’t simply remove censored tweets, nor does it censor them globally. Instead, the censored tweets are only censored in the country of origin, not in the world at large. That’s big news for those using Twitter to get the word out. But it gets much better; Twitter leaves each censored tweet online, but boldly and clearly covers their content with a “CENSORED” label, making it clear that content has been censored. This also means that for those with the dedication and the (relatively simple) means, it is possible to read the censored content.

 

It’s understandable that the idea of any sort of censorship system gets some pushback from activists, but Twitter is not a law unto itself and must conform to the regulations of the nations within which it is used. This policy is an extremely forward thinking approach to meeting that requirement while still being true to the spirit of free speech and the internet in general, and should be viewed as such.

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