Category: Soapbox

Soapbox style rants

Internet, Soapbox, technology, Web, Wisdom

Gawker fiasco and what we’ve learned about password reuse.

| be3n

Segment from Gawker's defaced site

Gawker Media (Lifehacker, Gizmodo, etc.) was hacked by a group calling themselves and their entire user database (as well as source code for the sites) was posted to a popular torrent site.  Downloaded already no doubt by hundreds or even thousands of would be nar do wells.  What does this mean?  what can we learn?  More then 50,000 users used “password” for their password.  Read the oficial statement here.  I did enjoy the irony of Facebook connect users being safe from this.  If you had an account on any of these sites, your information is compromised and i prey you don’t reuse your password.  Change it, change it fast.  Millions of user’s Data was exposed (names, emails, passwords). The ramifications of this breach will continue over the next few weeks as users accounts on other services begin to wreak havoc.

here is a humerious comic about password reuse:
http://xkcd.com/792/

Politics, Soapbox

Congress shall make no law . . .

| be3n

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Remember when this meant something?  Does no one else see our liberties disappearing?  Once journalists are no longer protected, then what?  who is next.  Land of the free?  not anymore.  R.I.P.

Corporations, Internet, Politics, Soapbox, technology, Web

Enemies of freedom don’t get my business!

| be3n

When amazon dropped wikileaks from it’s servers under government pressure without any actual criminal or copyright wrongdoing they showed where they stood in regards to the first amendment.  Anyone who disregards their principals at the approach of a powerful adversary is spineless.  Without proof, or at least due process, we are innocent in this country.    At least that is how it is supposed to be.  I encourage all holiday shoppers to avoid amazon.com.  These are scary times and we don’t need our interent providers abusing their authority and helping censor our internet.  Now dyndns.com joins the ranks of the enemies of freedom.  I did business with them for years, but no longer.  If you stand against freedom, i will vote in the most powerful way i have:  with my wallet.

When COICA came up it looked dangerous, however it turns out that it’s power was already granted inside the DMCA.  The government can already seize any website that they even suspect of copyright infringement.   however, the US government does not copyright its documents, and thus wikileaks was a terrible target.  These laws should not apply at all.  Using these methods to silence dissenters is NEVER effective.  especially in this: the information age.

Soapbox, television

Black Friday brings big TV!

| be3n

waiting in line to buy my new 60″. doing my part to keep the economy going. A wonderful follow up to a tryptophantastic thanksgiving. i got lots of little things free (after rebate) and some much needed junk. All around a great holiday. after this home and then nap.

Update
An unbelievable amount of beurocracy went into this purchase. Wow. The first problem was cashier i got was still in training. They couldn’t delete the warranty or an extra hdmi cable from my bill. I eventually had to return my imaginary cable and then go back to the cashier to get my cash. Including the checkout line, the whole process took nearly two hours.

Feeling much better after my nap. Watching Sorsorer’s Stone on the new TV. Fits and looks perfect in my living room. Reflection was my primary concern, but that proved to be nothing at all to worry about.

Politics, Soapbox, technology

EFF wins DMCA exemptions!

| be3n

Jailbreaking, DeCSS, and more LEGAL!  read all about it.

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26

“When one jailbreaks a smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses.”

“The Copyright Office recognizes that the primary purpose of the locks on cell phones is to bind customers to their existing networks, rather than to protect copyrights.”