Big Brother is Hacking You

Are We Addicted?

2007-05-06T22:49:00.000-05:00

I'm home from school for a week since the semester just finished and I don't move into my next place until this weekend. As per usual my mother complains about the amount of time I spend on my laptop or playing games on the Dell they have here and says she thinks I might be addicted and that it "bothers her." I mean, its not like I'm on them for hours at a time, but rather that I am constantly on and off...like a smoker stepping out for a break, checking slashdot, email, etc. Good thing my linux box is being stored at a friend's place right now, otherwise no one knows what I would get up to with all this free time....

This is not going to turn into a rant about home life or anything like that, I promise.

But rather, I have to ask when does one decide if this is an addiction? Sure, I can go on vacation or whatever and intentionally not bring my laptop with me (although I will check email for work/school/important stuff at cafes) and enjoy myself, without experiencing any "withdrawals." Is this just a huge part of our lives? Would people question us if we were out in the garage working on the car all day? Probably not. Keep in mind I am not playing games all the time, I do think there is ground for calling that an addiction with some people. While we are on that subject, I have *never* played World of Warcraft or any other MMO for that matter.

Is it a generation gap? Perhaps. Like I stated before, there would be less of an issue if this were a car for an actual highway and not the "information superhighway." I will be the first to say that a lot of kids these days should be outside instead of playing videogames all the time, ESPECIALLY on consoles. Kids learn nothing from that whatsoever. Hell, having to do DirectX and driver updates as a kid to get games to work properly and all that was where a lot of my interest started. Then I decided it was time for us to get another hard disk because of all my stuff, and getting that installed was quite an adventure at the time. So because of my computer nerdiness as a kid, I now get to work in a lab in the psych department (my major) doing lots of work with equipment and hardware because of my technical ability and aptitude.

But I digress.

When mental disorders are being formulated, the scientists ask if the ailments are: Deviant, Distressful, Dysfunctional, and Dangerous. So lets look that over:

Deviant: Some might call what we do eccentric, but this is probably the weakest of the four categories with regard to any problem, since it merely implies eccentricity. Perhaps being a computer nerd is "deviant." Having said this, the connotation of deviance is quite strong and not to be confused with the denotation.

Distressful: Nope, the only "distress" this has ever caused is the odd bit of social alienation being labeled as a kid, but really that doesn't bother me now since I'm quite functional. And then of course the aforementioned parental complaints.

Dysfunctional: Nope, these skills are why I can work for the University IT department and why I am getting more research opportunities in psychology.

Dangerous: Well, I am developing carpal tunnel...but I guess thats why I have an ergonomic keyboard. In all seriousness, this is actually a problem for me. That and I have some back problems. I do work out and go running, so I am not at threat of gaining weight or anything like that, but I know I will have some major joint issues when I am older. All of me can be cracked or popped.

So thats 1.5 categories...not really enough to qualify as a true disorder or addiction.

When asked the classic "would you rather be blind or deaf?" question, I respond blind in a heartbeat. I would never be able to *really* use a computer again like I do now. But if given the choice between a human voice and music or the glow of the monitor, the monitor would have to go, no doubt about it.

The BoobTube (part 1)

2007-04-23T19:05:00.000-05:00

So recently I discovered that an old family computer my roommate gave me to toy with wasn't broken from being knocked over last semester, but that the ram had just come loose and that was why it was beeping incessantly. So I started thinking: what can I do with it?

Build a computer solely for watching youtube and movies to plug into my TV? Yep, sounds like a good idea!

Unfortunately, the things CD rom drive has vanished, and I was using a DVD burner that is now in my main Linux box right now back when this thing was a xubuntu test box. I took an old 8 gig HD and threw it in the main linux box (HAL 9000), unplugged the other hard disks to prevent their MBRs and grub from being messed with, and installed Fluxbuntu on it. I chose fluxbuntu because I think fluxbox is pretty cool, but still has a long way to go if I am going to use it on a main box. Also, since you have to basically write the GUI configs yourself in fluxbox, it means I can make an interface to look more like a media center (like AppleTV or TiVo) than just a PC plugged into a TV.

So I take out the fluxbuntu HD and throw it in the other box, along with a 60gig HD I plan to use for media storage. Then I hit a hitch. It would not recognize the hard disks. Turned out this was a matter or rearranging cables and jumpers, and then it could see the 8 gig. No matter what I did, it REFUSED to see the 60 gig! This makes no sense since I know the thing works perfectly fine and used it just the other day to copy my music library from my ibook to HAL 9000. Anyway, so Fluxbuntu starts to boot and I get Grub error 5, which is a bad error to get since it has to do with MBR failure. Turns out more rearranging things in the case alleviated this.

So finally Fluxbuntu starts to boot....and it cannot access the root filesystem and I'm stuck at a command line. At this point it was 4am and I decided it was time for bed. Once I can get my paws on a working drive, I will reinstall fluxbuntu from there and see what happens. Here are the system specs:

PII MMX 266mhz
384 megs PC133 Ram
An assortment of HDs
GeForce 4 MX 400 64mb (S video out to TV)
2x Lan cards (we have to daisy chain sometimes in the dorms)

Anyway, I hate working on a TV screen, so thanks to the CLI intensive nature of setting up fluxbox and all that I will probably treat the box as being essentially headless and do the work on it via ssh.

I don't have any plans for buying a capture card since this is something I'm doing for fun with spare parts without spending money, and because I don't watch enough TV to justify it. That and I don't have enough HDs laying around to give me enough space to make it worthwhile.

And so slashdot links me...sort of.

2007-04-23T12:06:00.000-05:00

I submitted something to /. and got on.

The case in Texas here is quite disturbing. It goes without saying that millions of Americans have open WAPs and are apparently vulnerable to the whims of others. Having said this, there was a lot of evidence against this guy and he is getting what he deserves, but the precedent here is very disturbing.

EDIT: Oh, google analytics told me that I hadn't been getting any hits for a while, so I didn't bother checking for comments and apologize about the lack of response to comments on previous posts.

Things Going On

2007-04-16T12:00:00.000-05:00

So in light of all those carpal tunnel and joint type pains I have I decided to try to convert a keyboard to the Dvorak system. Dvorak, for those of you who don't know, is named after Psychologist August Dvorak who created a keyboard layout as an alternative to QWERTY which puts the most commonly used keys on the home row to reduce the amount of travel ones fingers have to do when typing. Some studies have shown that it can cut it in half.

I didn't feel like buying a new keyboard, I bought a black Belkin ergonomic keyboard (the only plain, noncheesey black keyboard I've ever seen) a few years back which has served me well. I dismantled an IBM keyboard I have (the black and blue kind you see often at public terminals and in the control room in Reno 911! Miami) but as I was putting the keys in their place I discovered that some of the keys would become stuck when reinserted and not spring up. Odd, I wondered if I had damaged them. Upon examining the keys and keyboard interior I couldn't see damage or any differences in the connectors. But then it hit me. On some tiny level invisible to the naked eye, *something* was different about the way the home row keys and other keys connect. I then got out the ergo keyboard but discovered the central keys were of a different size.

I will figure something out to try this new format. I might find a junk keyboard that is being thrown out by the university and reassemble it to the Dvorak standard or something.

Oh, and I have an HP Vista Home Premium upgrade disk a friend gave me he didn't want. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, and how much work it would take to trick it into thinking my custom box is an HP machine. Will post if/when I get that going.

Linux Rant

2007-04-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

So Sabayon Linux wasn't all I had hoped for. Having all the fancy AIGLX and Beryl running off the bat was sweet and looked really cool, but Gnome refused to accept me having dual monitors and KDE was buggy as hell with Gtk apps. And I hate KDE anyway. I could have given fluxbox another go, but it kind of defeated the point of Sabayon to do that.

So I decided to go back to Ubuntu, and while I was at it to upgrade from 6.06 (Dapper Drake) to 6.10 (Edgy Eft). The only complaint I have about installation is that it insisted on putting Grub into this old 16gb disk I have in there instead of the SATA disk where my operating systems are stored. The 16 gig HD in there is blank right now and I typically use it to test OSes, so hopefully whatever I put on there next will use grub so I don't have to reinstall grub.

My MAJOR complaint about Edgy Eft is this: sound. The fact that the OS does not support my card (Sound Blaster Live 5.1) is obnoxious, considering that it worked before and is a really popular card. While writing drivers is not the responsibility of Canonical (Ubuntu development), keeping a feature that is so important to so many is.

Looking around the internet and forums there are solutions that are quite complicated. I have no problem with doing some compiling, unfortunately some of the directions say I must uninstall Gnome-metapackage in the process! That is unacceptable. I wish Linux developers would come off of this "lets put out a new version every few months to be bleeding edge" thing and actually get their OSes working like they are supposed to.

...And I return

2007-03-29T10:54:00.000-05:00

I've been in personal crisis mode for the last few weeks and I think it has finally dwindled down. Since that happened, I've been behind in school. So this weekend will be catch-up, and then I'll have some stuff hopefully next week.

The Future Is Now, and by Now I mean 2008?

2007-03-08T00:38:00.000-05:00

A company by the name of Emotiv Systems has developed a device called "Project Epoc" which can "read your thoughts and emotions" to control a video or computer game, and is being demonstrated at the 2007 Game Developers Conference.

Quite a fascinating device, I would love to see a video of it in action. But I would like to make a few points clear: We really do not know all that much about brain functioning. This thing is not really reading your thoughts per se, it just relies on perceived brain activity to control whatever it is doing on screen.

It will be interesting to see how this develops and if it ever catches on. One poster on the slashdot thread which brought the article to my attention mentioned that a good neuro input device should be able to produce a high correlation between what the user wants and what actually occurs on screen.

I would love to get an opportunity to use this product or discuss with the developers exactly how it works. Something tells me it isn't quite all it claims.

Linux and I

2007-03-06T11:53:00.000-05:00

I want to recompile the nUbuntu Linux operating system for PowerPC computers. PPC is the architecture that pre-Intel macs (such as this iBook) are based on. nUbuntu (stands for network ubuntu) is designed for testing security....it includes lots of snooping devices and programs to "test" security on all sorts of networks. Needless to say this could provide me with hours of fun. I would want it on my iBook because it has a wireless card and bluetooth capabilities.

The problem? Despite being an open source project, they have no code for download on their site. This agitates me to no end. I've got half a mind to complain, but they are working on a PPC version of their OS, so perhaps they will save me some work in the long run.

I'm also going to install Sabayon Linux on my main desktop when I get back to the dorms. It is an OS originally just written for us 64 bit users, and installs 32 bit apps by default if the 64 bit version is unstable or non-existent. This will save me the hassle of doing --force-architecture installs and the dependency hell they can create. Sabayon is based upon Gentoo and uses the portage system for installing programs. In addition you don't have to compile EVERYTHING from scratch like in pure Gentoo, which is nice. I don't have enough space to download the DVD on my iBook at the moment, so I was going to ssh into my box at school but alas they have blocked port 22! I want to get it up and running before school starts, dangit. I'll probably have it download overnight Saturday while I'm out with some friends who will be in town.

You Get What you Pay For

2007-03-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

So I've been back up in the DC area for spring break, and using my Fonera since we don't have wireless. Here are my thoughts:

1. Lacks range. Mine is situated in our basement by the cable modem and router we already have. With the antenna it comes with, it cannot reach the ground floor, so I improvised this:

I think some tin foil and a 20mm Vulcan Shell from an F16 should give it more firepower. (Pun intended) Now it can reach the ground level.

2. Speed: About the same as other wireless networks I've used.

3. Setup: This is kind of odd. The Fonera creates two networks: FON_AP and MyPlace. When I first started using it I just got on MyPlace and it worked without a problem. Next time I came back to it I got stuck on the FON_AP and had to "register" the Fon. I could choose between being a "Bill" or a "Linus." I checked Linus. That's right, you can set this thing up to charge people to use your WAN. Although with the aforementioned lack of range, I don't think that is really a viable option. The idea is that small businesses such as coffee shops or whatever could charge, although in today's world that would probably just turn a lot of people off.

Another use for the thing is to be a portable wifi device. Take it on vacation and just plug in wherever so you and your friends/family can access the web. I suppose this is an interesting idea, but again these days there is wifi everywhere so it might not be worth carrying around another electronic gadget in today's security obsessed world while traveling.

According to their website, the makers of the Fonera want to create a global wifi network to create a free and open system. Sounds noble, but I will reiterate: the range of the device is simply not big enough for most of the purposes of this device outside of personal use. I would shop around when looking for a wireless router, as this is not to be a replacement for a proper linksys/netgear/your brand of choice's router.

EDIT: I also experienced problems where I would be disconnected and get errors trying to get back on until I went downstairs and unplugged the damn thing.

Default Router Passwords

2007-02-26T10:10:00.000-05:00

BoingBoing has put up a link to a list of default router passwords. This will be quite helpful to users of all intentions.

HP Hard Drive Lockdown

2007-02-23T10:26:00.000-05:00

So the other day someone I know has her machine die and needs data off the hard drive. Some of my CS/CPEN friends had taken it out and stuck it in their boxes, but her Windows user folder gave them an access denied message. They thought "oh no, encryption" or "it sees its a different motherboard" or something.

They gave it to me and said "Well, give it a go." I stuck it in my firewire enclosure and voila. It mounted and I got her music and data. Once she gets me some DVDs I'll connect it to my linux box and burn her stuff. I got the same errors they did when I plugged it to her new laptop, by the way.

I don't know exactly what the deal with the lockup was, or how exactly it was working. But if someone can hack it by accident (anyone could have thrown it in an enclosure and have no idea they got around something) then it is obviously a bit of rubbish security. This is a perfect example of a piece of technology that does little to protect against illicit activity and hampers legitimate users like her.

La Fonera!

2007-02-20T11:03:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I checked my dorm phone and discovered I had a message from Thursday (no one uses these phones anyway) and that I had a package. I was expecting it to be the free Solaris Install DVDs I had ordered a while ago (as in mid January) but instead it was my free Fonera router! Fonera is a movement starting in Spain for people to buy routers and set up a global wi-fi network. You can configure the thing to be a "Bill" (where you can actually charge people!) or a "Linus" where you leave it open. Needless to say, I'll be a linus. I *almost* got it working on the network here at school yesterday, but unfortunately the network stopped cooperating. There will be some major address spoofing going on in my room this weekend, which I will write about here, along with a review of the device.

So I know what I said last night.....

2007-02-19T10:02:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I'm slipping up and doing a slashdot link. Simply because this is too disgusting to go unreported.

The New York Times is reporting that RIAA is hiring hip hop artists to make mix tapes, and then showing up with swat teams and raiding their studios. There were people in RIAA jackets present who helped collect evidence and apparently coordinate the raid. I understand that other organizations have to alert government agencies to acts that they may not be monitoring, ie the RIAA/MPAA is more likely to find pirates than the Feds are. But now they are joining the raids. This is sounding like something right out of Jennifer Government.

I applaud the the DJs/artists that were arrested for not being "gangsta" and fighting the swat teams. The article says that despite the content of what they make, they live fairly normal lives. I'm more angry with the RIAA than with law enforcement, since they are doing their job and likely don't understand the evil they are helping perpetuate.

I am quite upset. Every day I feel like the US is collapsing into a fascist nation where the economy is more important than the citizens, and this is icing on the cake.

Here We Go

2007-02-18T15:01:00.000-05:00

Blogging is not an easy task. There are so many distractions and other things going on out there. Anyone who is interested in the sorts of things I blog about likely reads slashdot and or boingboing, and therefore it is hard for me to come up with stories they haven't already read about (as well as pages and pages of /. commentary). In addition, if I do see something exciting to write about, it can be old news by the time it gets on here. Google analytics shows me that people are reading this, some of them from all over the world. Its nice to see dots on their maps in places and countries where I can rest assured the reader is not someone I personally know.

So from now on, count on fewer and fewer links from slashdot, since there is already plenty of commentary there. You'll see more personal commentary on the state of online privacy, things going on in my own life which pertain to this blog, and so on.

First of all, I was back up in the DC area for a part of this weekend and my dad told me that three of the people in his office were fired for computer misuse. The decision "came from corporate" and the three in question apparently were not in violation of the law, but rather company policy. The violations were severe enough to warrant the old "resign or be fired" paradox, and not even a warning. He has been told not to contact them or bring it up, because whatever they did was "embarrassing." Now there is a sense of paranoia in his office, many of the great joke e-mails I get have his boss or coworkers addys in the FW line somewhere, and they all feel greatly uncomfortable sending each other jokes or other things. Its a shame, because maybe if they knew what the people did they could breathe a little easier. It also doesn't make sense to me that they cannot be told what they did, they deserve their privacy but since the violators were lower in the chain of command it would make sense for corporate to tell the boss what they did.

In other news, my fraternity (yes I am in a social fraternity) has agreed to set up Folding@Home machines as a community service project. We are looking for old machines and parts in the southeast VA area, so if you have got anything you don't need, let me know. I'll blog more about how that is going once we acquire some machines. Right now my Linux Box folds nonstop, except when I boot to XP for a game or two, and a brother has an old machine he said I can load a *nix system on to fold with.

2007-02-13T23:21:00.000-05:00

I swear I'm not dead....I've just had a test/paper in every single class this week and so on...there will be updates soon!!

Not a Good Day....

2007-02-07T21:52:00.000-05:00

Slashdot is reporting two things today which are upsetting:

1. The Republicans in the house want to force ISPs to keep data of all online transmissions their customers are making for up to a year.

The funny thing here is that a Democrat (albeit one from Colorado) is one of the top proponents. From reading this article, it is clear that the laws already on the books sound stringent enough, and make it easy for law enforcement agencies to observe those who are suspected of criminal activity. ISPs and Telecos have a good reputation for cooperation, and this would make things difficult for them and be a huge breach of privacy for their customers. The bill would also include logging IM conversations, something that is akin to wiretapping in my mind. The bill doesn't call for active spying on users, but I highly, highly doubt the information would go untapped for a year prior to deletion.

This is a part of a disturbing trend of outsourcing law enforcement. First the RIAA and MPAA go around demanding to search computers and monitor activities like they have the authority to do so, and now the government is expecting ISPs to spy on everyone and do their dirty work.

2. Things aren't looking good for Net Neutrality in Canada.

Although many MPs up there aren't sure about it, if it does go through it will set a bad precedent here in the US. The good thing is that many content providers are against it, and so long as this continues it will be harder for the telecos to take full advantage of a non-neutral network.

Woman Wins Against RIAA

2007-02-07T10:16:00.000-05:00

Another victory for decency. The woman who was suing the RIAA for her legal fees has won fifty grand. Hopefully this will set a precedent for future cases and slow down the RIAA's legal reign of terror. I don't think this is going to single handedly end this mess, but will at least get the ball rolling.

Jobs: Down with DRM!

2007-02-06T21:06:00.000-05:00

So it appears that Steve Jobs has had it with DRM and doesn't see the need for it any more. This is a great step in the right direction, the only thing holding them back is the music industry. Jobs' skill to perceive what customers want and giving it to them (and in some cases just telling them what they want) is to be commended here. He points out that very few songs on the typical iPod come from the online store, and that the record industry has little ground to stand on so long as they continue to sell far more CDs every year with no protection on them. Needless to say this will be a struggle for them, but as the EU and other countries continue to pressure Apple about DRM, it is likely they will have to cave eventually. Should the iTunes store become the first large scale non-DRM online store and be compatible with all MP3 players, Apple will continue dominance in online music sales, and rightfully so.

This has the potential to be the beginning of the end for all DRM, and a strong step in the right direction to digital freedom.

Updates

2007-02-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

Just an update I forgot to put up a few days ago: Ebay has exempted Second Life from its ban on cyber property auctions. I wonder why....

Also, I was looking around the post controls and stuff a second ago...and realized that I wrote up something back in November when I first started up on here which was accidentally saved as a draft! It's about a Wired article on murder in connection to myspace.

MySpace Worm Writer

2007-02-04T16:17:00.000-05:00

The kid who wrote a Javascrpit worm which spread him as a friend on MySpace and caused him to be "the hero" of his friends has completed his trial and has been sentenced to probation, community service, and is being denied internet access.

Here is what I said about it on Slashdot:

"Whenever I hear of people getting in trouble for exposing security holes, I always think of how in England (and many feudal societies, I'm sure) in the days of yore physicians could be executed for telling royalty just how sick they were. "Your Majesty, you are going to die" was considered a death threat. "hey myspace, your shit is broken" seems to yield a similar response, minus the gallows. As a previous poster said, (to paraphrase) "just because my house isn't %100 percent secure doesn't mean you should break into it to prove it." While I agree, how can one prove that there is a hole in a system's security without breaking into it? Perhaps an email just saying "hey, you left this port open and these lines of code are weak..." or something would suffice, but something tells me that would be a EULA violation."

Although I am not a MySpace user, I have a feeling this wouldn't have happened before Rupert Murdoch bought them out. The more technology and less business oriented entrepreneurs who start the current .coms (as opposed to those about 10 years ago) might take a more positive stance to those helping them expose flaws in their system. However, it can also be said that there isn't any evidence to show the kid was trying to help them, but rather thought it would be amusing to have 1 million+ friends who all call him their hero.

Sixteen year old stands up to RIAA

2007-01-31T20:02:00.000-05:00

A Sixteen year old victim of a RIAA lawsuit is unleashing a torrent of accusations against the RIAA, and is taking them to court over it.

I strongly applaud everything that this kid is doing, and wish him well in court. Only someone of this age would have the guts to do this, his mind untainted by the "real world" and "adulthood." To be honest it is one of the most adult things being done in this situation. If this kid wins, an amazing precedent would be set. There are ton of charges here, so I wouldn't be suprised that he won't win on all of them, such as "conspiracy to defraud the courts." However, he is bound to win on some of them, and is demanding a trial jury which is a very, very smart move. RIAA lawyers won't be as easily able to drown them in legalese, and they will likely be sympathetic to him (the first allegations of file sharing start when he was 11) based on the timing of the RIAAs accusations.

Good luck, kid.

DRM Hell

2007-01-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

Here is a good article on the potential damage DRM could do in the future. With Vista on the horizon, things can probably only get worse. It looks like DRM could be built into our hardware so that Microsoft alone gets to decide which parts will be compatible with Windows, sort of like how Apple does now. The difference however lies in that Apple users choose to buy apple products and (if they care) know they can go elsewhere and do what they want. If Microsoft leads us to a similar scenario consumers would be left with even fewer options when it comes time to purchase a new machine.

The third alternative - Linux - just isn't ready for the mainstream yet. Some distributions are almost there, like Ubuntu, openSUSE, Xandros and Linspire, but so long as DRM stops people from being able to watch DVDs and listen to MP3s without installing drivers from legally questionable sources, we're in the dark. That and one Linux distro must come out on top for mainstream usage so that we don't end up in a massive six sided OS war between Apple, MS and a few Linux distros.

Another terrible scenario would be if MS made it so that open source operating systems were locked out from using certified hardware. Surely this would bring down some sort of anti-trust case, but right now it seems like the US government doesn't care about the consumer and would rather support the corporations in the name of "the economy." I'm sure only having two camps of hardware to choose between would make it a lot easier for them to execute the title of this blog.

This isn't to say that we would be seeing Microsoft stores at the mall across from apple stores trying to sell you a Zune with that new laptop, but rather that OEMs like Dell and HP would be forced to use an even more narrow range of hardware which might be deliberately locked out against open source OSes. MS jumps through hoops to stop companies from selling machines without Windows, but Dell has the guts to stand up to them and is now selling Linux machines in China and wiped machines here in the states.

Best case scenario: Democratic President in '08 takes a more European stance and encourages the other branches of government to stand up for the rights of the masses and not the elite. And while we're at it, Vista fails and the "Year of the Linux Desktop" finally happens.

Clarification:
I use OS X, XP, and Linux. OS X is on my iBook, and is a great desktop OS. My desktop machine (mentioned a few posts back) runs Xubuntu 64bit (although I use Gnome instead of Xfce), XP Pro (just for games) and a hacked OS X. The hacked OS X is more for the challenge and fun of figuring it out more than actual use. Its only on an old 16 gig hard disk! My point is this though: I use everything and see the good in them all. But Vista really brings nothing to the table, especially since some gaming houses don't even plan on using DirectX 10.

Sweden to put Embassy in Second Life

2007-01-27T17:59:00.000-05:00

I couldn't believe it when I got on boingboing a few minutes ago and discovered that Sweden is building an official embassy inside of Second Life. This annoys me on so many levels. It is giving so much unnecessary legitimacy to that game. Sure it won't give you a passport, but the idea is still ridiculous. I don't even know what more to say about it. Hey, at least if the US or UK built an embassy in Linden it would give them a place where someone who actually might give a shit about their protests agains the war could hear them.*

In other good news, Ebay has terminated all auctions of virtual property. This means that you can't sell Second Life property or weapons/equipment from MMORPGs. This probably sucks for the people that play MMOs, but considering how more and more are starting to think Second Life is a Pyramid scheme it should slow some of that down.

*I am not making a statement about the Iraq War here, I'm just saying protesting in cyberspace in a game that I doubt many politicians or members of the administration play is a waste of time and likely preaching to the choir.

2007-01-26T10:08:00.000-05:00

So I stay away from the internet for the better part of a day....

AND NORWAY THREATENS TO BAN iTUNES OVER DRM!

The European governments have been complaining about DRM and have finally done something about it. I hope the trend spreads over here and to other forms of media as well. Don't get me started on some of the crap they are doing with next gen DVD players.....

CIA and Facebook

2007-01-25T11:30:00.001-05:00

According to Wired, the CIA is now using a Facebook group to recruit. I don't see why this is particularly harmful, but I must say that I am glad that this article reminds us that Facebook's policy is against allowing outside organizations to search for data. Naturally they would turn over information if there is a warrant. This further reinforces my belief that using Facebook as a way to spy on potential employees, etc, is unethical and illegal.

New York Violent Video Game Law

2007-01-18T23:28:00.000-05:00

Across the internet, there is a panic going on that New York State is trying to ban the purchase of violent video games to anyone under 30. This is not the case, they have misread the law which works to check ID to anyone who looks under 30, just like with alcohol it is simply a cutoff point.

I won't comment much on the law, I think you all know where I stand on censorship, and the minimum age to purchase a violent game is 18, and not 21 as some reports had said.

Vista and Bitlocker

2007-01-17T23:30:00.000-05:00

Microsoft plans to incorporate an advanced encryption program for Windows Vista called bitlocker. It encrypts a hard disk partition so that it can only be accessed from the original motherboard (by checking the BIOS or EFI) or by a USB flashdrive to serve as a key of sorts during the boot process.

The Catch?

MS has no plans to incorporate a back door. In the January issue of Wired (I will have a link to the story once they put it online) government agents are expressing concern that this will make hard disk searches impossible on computers where the bitlocker has been used. Specifically they are worried about child pornography. I am always reluctant to use the word "impossible" with regard to computers. Eventually someone will crack bitlocker. Whether its just a hacker or the government, it will happen. Either that or Microsoft will hand over some of the source to the DoJ or DoD (I believe they did give the DoD some of the XP source code) so they can use it to fight their battles and to appease the DoJ.

So what do you all think? I'm all for keeping Big Brother out of your system (as my blog's name implies) but I do feel kind of apprehensive about bitlocker. I also think that using it could be grounds for charges of destroying evidence.

Background to DRM Explained

2007-01-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

A Very Good article from Arstechnica on DRM that everyone should read. Sums up the history of the absurdity of DRM and how the MPAA once hated the VHS system with a passion.

2007-01-11T22:26:00.000-05:00

Apparently the MPAA is uploading fake torrents. There is actually a company that does this and gathers IP addys for them to sue people with. (Link from Slashdot)

Fortunately since the operators and users of bittorrent are smarter than the average pirate (A Jack Sparrow to Smee from Peter Pan, if you will) most search engines are blocking their IP range. Unlike certain RIAA attempts, the files are actually fake, meaning that the targeted user in question is not actually downloading copywrited material, but could still be sued for it. I hope that in the event any of this makes it to court it is thrown out for being ridiculous.

I have to say however, this does not take the cake as the most ridiculous thing the entertainment industry has tried. RIAA claims up to $150,000 per song, and are suing the legitimate Russian site AllofMp3.com (in a US court, no less) for over a trillion dollars after doing the math. It is quite clear that the RIAA is not trying to make up damages, but rather make profits off of the suffering and "criminal acts" against them. Greed never astonishes me anymore.

If the entertainment industry truly wanted justice, they would attempt to land pirates in criminal court. Why would I want to be incriminated instead of sued, you ask? I wouldn't. It's just a matter of legitimacy. It would be as if someone smashed the windshield on your toyota and was sued for a ferrari instead of having the offender replace the windshield or prosecuted.

2007-01-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

There's been so much going on lately, both out there in the world and in my personal life that I haven't had much time to write....copywright laws are going nuts everywhere...transmitters in American coins...the list goes on...

I'll be back at school next week, oddly enough I find more time to blog there than I do at home.

Anyway, I built a new computer over the break, here she is:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Biostar Nforce 6100 mobo
GeForce 7600GT
1 Gig PC3200 Ram
160 Gig SATA Hard Drive (got a few other old hard drives in there as well)
DVD ROM and R/RW
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Sound Card
Plugged into 2x 17" CRT Monitors
Runs an assortment of operating systems

Will be a good companion for the trusty iBook

The Matrix....Relived?

2006-12-30T23:38:00.000-05:00

So Slashdot is reporting on the International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies, who are in the process of creating something called the "Neuronet" which is a second network seperate from the internet for the purposes of virtual reality. As I mentioned in my previous post, this is another step towards living in pods.

Keep in mind that some people believe this to be a scam or hoax, and that we are years and years away from becoming pod people.

Second Life is Starting to Scare the Crap out of me

2006-12-21T17:05:00.000-05:00

While many games such as World of Warcraft have allowed for their users to simulate fantasy worlds in which they can become an Elf Wizard or whatever suits their fancy, Second Life allows for one to have, as the title implies, a second life in a virtual world. You can build a house, get married, and create anything you want. In this virtual world known as Linden, "Linden Dollars" are used to buy property, items, or whatever the player wants.

But when a real newspaper starts reporting on an event in the virtual world I start to worry. (Got the link through boingboing.com) Apparently Linden dollars have an exchange rate with real world currency, and so people actually spend money to acquire things in Linden. I remember in high school hearing about Everquest players who would buy special weapons or items on eBay they couldn't get themselves...and as odd as that seems at least one can say "well, having that sword makes the game less frustrating now so it was worth paying for." But now we have our first "virtual millionaire" on our hands.

We're getting one step closer to the Matrix. I think that if we ever live in tanks with mechanical caregivers, it will not be the forced enslavement envisioned by the Wachowski brothers. People are going to start going in willingly. It is possible in the future living in pods in a virtual world might be a good idea if the world is too polluted or overpopulated to live most of the time in the "real world." But this is for entertainment and escape. I don't get it. Why spend your time protesting something in a virtual world when there are enough problems in the real world that need to be dealt with? So some woman is a property mogul in a virtual world. Big deal. What about those people who are actually exploiting others? I just don't have any sympathy if people complain about problems in their "virtual life."

I play computer and video games, and I understand their entertainment value. I play them to go places and do things I can't do in real life. The old Ghost Recon games are so nerve racking at times that I have to pause after a heated firefight to calm myself down. Conquer Europe for Mother Russia? Fight aliens? All of that stuff I can't do in real life, so I do it in virtual worlds. I don't want to sound like a luddite with this post, but I honestly think Second Life is sending us in a sad direction.

Whose Honoring me now...and Who I'm Honoring Now!

2006-12-19T00:35:00.000-05:00

So apparently I am person of the year!! Score. Can't wait to hang up a framed copy of the latest issues of Time! Parents are so proud, kind of dissapointed they didn't get to write about it in the Christmas cards this year though....

Anyway, now I will honor Max Berry's "Jennifer Government" as a good book to read on the subject of Libertarianism, Anarcho-Capitalism, Consumerism, and all that good stuff. It came out in 2003, so why blog about it now? Well the answer to that is simple. If a book isn't an instant classic or turned into a movie (which Jennifer Government supposedly is going to) it is often overlooked. It takes place in the near future where the USA has annexed most of the world by economic means and corporations basically run the show. Many critics have noted that if 1984 is what happens when there is too much government, this novel depicts a world with too little government. I won't say much more about it, but it's a good read that is the right mix of thriller and dystopia. Imagine a future where the RIAA could hire the NRA to kill those who share files or bomb indie record studios, and you have Jennifer Government. Check it out if you are looking for a quick read to stimulate the mind over the holidays.

Oh John McCain....

2006-12-13T00:44:00.000-05:00

It has been kind of crazy around here lately, sorry I haven't updated. I'm also working on a bigger post right now.

Apparently Senator McCain wants to make busting pedophiles easier, which is great. Unfortunately, like most legislation involving the Internet, it is yet again treated like a series of tubes. Only McCain believes you can "dump something on it." Like the article says, its a slipperly slope. Fortunately when the new congress takes over in January, they hopefully won't stand for it and will ask for revisions that keep the rights of those who have nothing to do with child pornography in mind.

The article also says that the internet has been used less in the last five years by pedophiles to hunt minors. Good thing is that the study in question was done by the Center for Exploited and Missing children, meaning bias will not likely be called into account.

Video Game Censorship in Germany

2006-12-07T18:39:00.000-05:00

It seems like Germans haven't learned in the last 60 years to believe everything they are told.

I find it funny that Germany is still a leader in the world of censorship. They still have "Scientology" outlawed because they don't consider it a true religion. Neither do I, and as a student of Psychology, Scientology is about as far from what I believe as you can get. Apparently this minister still doesn't get the point. Sending people to jail for playing violent videogames is outrageous, and I for one hope his opinion does not reflect the will of the German people.

It says in the article that over %70 of Germans believe videogames lead to violent behavior. From a scientific perspective, the Jury is still out. There are so many studies that have been done but each one yields a different result or takes a different operational definition of "violent behavior" or "agression" to the point where they aren't necessarily comparable. Some scientists who have done studies such as Dr. Vincent Matthews may appear to be valid, although if you were to do further looking into his career, you would find that he clearly has an agenda. I will give this study credit for using physiological responses rather than behavioral ones to test the effects of gaming on the brain, although isn't behavior the issue at hand? I would like to read the published study, since those in the media don't really understand how to interpret the level of ambiguity that appears in scientific writing and so on.

Sometimes all Pirates Need is to be Grounded

2006-12-05T15:44:00.000-05:00

Oh, The Hypocrisy!

As much of a hypcrite as this guy is, I think it's all you should do to a kid who gets caught pirating music.

Honestly though, you'd think the kids would know better if their dad is the Warner CEO. The only thing that could top this? Jenna Bush joins Hezbollah.

Maddox Has a Point

2006-12-04T12:53:00.000-05:00

Maddox, who is known for his somewhat crude and often offensive humor has made a post in which he criticizes Sony for busting a store that sells Japanese PSPs in Europe.

He makes a good point though, Sony is losing money because of the PSPs, so it makes complete sense to sue people for selling them, right? I get so sick of how all these companies care more about details like where something is being sold and refuse to see that at the end of the day they are shooting themselves in the foot by cutting back on their own sales.

I wouldn't be at all suprised if the same thing will happen with PS3s, but it would be especially stupid since PS3s cost more to make than they sell for. They are sold at a loss, in hopes that the cost of games will make up the difference.

Is Your Cell Phone Secure?

2006-12-02T18:19:00.000-05:00

Today so many phones come with something called "Bluetooth" technology. Most often the term is used in reference to the little earpieces that you see people walking around with who appear to be talking to themselves.

However bluetooth is actually the radio tech used to transmit the signal from your phone to the headset. It can also be used to let your computer and phone syncronize to keep contacts updated, upload ring tones, etc. People don't realize this, sort of like how my mother still calls any video game system a "Nintendo."

The other night I was playing around with my new Razr phone and my iBook for the above purposes and I realized I could see someone elses phone on my list of items. Of course you can't just walk into someones phone, a code will pop up on the computer screen that has to be entered so the phone knows it isn't being broken into. But this got me thinking, and apparently bluetooth hacking, better known as "Bluesnarfing" is already a hot topic in the world of hacking and security. With the right programs, one can sit on a street corner with their laptop and start stealing people's information and even in some cases take control of their phones. In addition, if one builds a strong enough antenna setup (which can run about $200) they can get ranges of a few kilometers.

This isn't really new news, its something thats been going on for a few years now. Numerous updates to the technology have made bluetooth more secure.

My concern: The Government.

We all know about wiretapping. In theory they need a warrant to do it so it is unlikely this will be a problem on your landline. But imagine this: you're in a major city walking through a place that is a "likely terrorist target" such as a shopping center or major square, or you're going to a stadium for a concert or to see a game played. What if the government were to set up a system similar to the one above (albeit a more sophisticated one) to listen in on conversations
in these areas to prevent terrorist attacks. So when Terrorist 1 calls Terrorist 2 with the code word or sends him a text message the authorities know something is going to happen and take action.

The problem with this sort of system, if it were to come into place, is that it would not work. Terrorists would know about this, and find another way to communicate during their operations. This is the primary problem with so many elements to the "War on Terror," once the government pulls the rug out from under a threat, the citizens standing on this hypothetical rug fall down and the threat just leaps to another rug. It may sound silly to phrase it this way, but that is really what is happening. Eventually there will be no rights left. What would be said to those who have a problem? "Do you have something to hide?" "Don't use your phone in stadiums." etc.

How do you protect yourself? Get out your cell phone manual and turn the bluetooth off. There probably isn't much you need it for anyway. Even though this situation is purely hypothetical, it shows that if someone with $200 and some knowledge of computers and electronics can do it, the government can do it much better. That is quite scary.

MySpace And Murder

2006-11-29T16:23:00.000-05:00

In this Month's Wired there is an interesting article about a man who was murdered and the MySpace usage of his social circle and other parties involved.

His death is tragic, but unfortunately more stories like this are just going to hurt the internet's reputation even more. The murderer is clearly psychotic, even to a layman. The victim was involved with drug deals, illegal street racing, and so therefore I really don't believe it would be fair to blame MySpace for this. The article does a good job remaining objective and reporting the story without bias for or against social networking sites.

The thing I think is strange is how people are treating the personal pages of the dead as if they are still alive. I suppose it's the 21st century way of visiting someone's digital grave, the resting place for their online identity. Regardless, I still think asking someone known to be dead for advice on car repairs on their MySpace page is a tad morbid.

Unfortunatly as stories like this become more common, MySpace will be subject to more scrutiny. And if those in the government don't understand how this internet thing works then it will be decades before those who grew up with AIM, MySpace and the rest of the digital world are running the legislatures.

Facebook and Our Future

2006-11-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

I remember the first time I heard of facebook. I was a senior in high school and many of my classmates had been to visits and orientations at the colleges they were to attend in the fall. Many of them had received their .edu addresses, and were eager to get on this "thing sort of like myspace but only for college kids." I wasn't, I didn't have a myspace and even when I got to college it took a few weeks for me to bother to register.

At the time, Facebook was great because it was safe. Only college students could join, meaning there was less room for "weirdos" and other such problems associated with other sites. Then a few months ago, they opened themselves up to the general publich and businesses, and everything went down hill. Colleges had already been snooping around and punishing students for things they had done, including some RAs who were drinking under 21, albeit legally when they were on a cruise. (If anyone has the link to this, please comment with it, I can't find it) But now with regional and company networks, Mark Zuckerberg has given in to the almighty dollar and compromised the safety and exclusivity of facebook. They claim that regional networks make things safe, but there are loopholes such as letting friends-of-friends see private info that allows for outsiders to get information they shouldn't be allowed access to.

If it is illegal to ask things like religion, sexual orientation or political views in a job interview or on a job application, then why is it legal for someone to go and use dubious means to find this information out? In some cases an omission is an admission, like in sexual orientation. Facebook does not outright say "Straight" or "Gay" but instead allows the users to check off the genders that they are disposed towards. To many, a male leaving this blank and not checking "Women" is an admission of homosexuality. After all, they say, what straight man would not proudly annouce his heterosexuality?

And to all this, Zuckerberg just says that:

"when we expanded beyond Harvard, there was buzz on campus about how people were upset that it was no longer exclusive to Harvard. Then when we were at 60 schools, and we expanded to the next 15 or 20, there were articles in the newspapers at those new schools about how we were not as exclusive. The same thing happened when we launched high schools."

Sometimes this guy really annoys me. When the whole "news feed" fiasco occured, it made national news. A professor I know commented that Zuckerberg's telling us to "Calm Down, Breathe, We Hear You" message was quite arrogant sounding. The post itself was done in a polite manner, and I understand how difficult it must be to spent hours coding away and then have the whole world go "this sucks." It's just the title I have a problem with. The quote above does carry a valid point, however. No one is going to like everything. I still have mixed feelings about the high school networks, but I am firmly against regional networks for non college students. They are fine for college students, but I refuse to join them because I want to keep myself one more step removed from a potential problem.

The Start

2006-11-28T14:39:00.000-05:00

The internet is an amazing tool for our society. Unfortunately there are those institutions of government, business, and higher education which seek to use the internet to peer into the lives of those associated, or wish to be associated with them. In addition, organizations like the RIAA and MPAA abuse the internet for their own agendas.

Ultimately, it should be illegal to use the internet to find out things about the personal lives of others for institutional usage. The arguement most often heard regards pictures of drunken college students on Facebook or quasi-naked teenage girls on MySpace, but this goes beyond that. Things like political views, sexual orientation, and religion are mentioned on these sites and can be held against those who are being spied on without their knowledge. This opens up the floodgates to other things like taste in music ("Don't hire interns who listen to rap" said the boss!), as well as books and movies.

The new and soon to be classic saying is that "Don't put anything online you wouldn't want your grandmother seeing." To be honest, I am more comfortable about some things with my Grandmothers than with my own parents. In a recent dicussion I said "Well, what about just blocking your photos so only friends can see them?" and the response is often along the lines of "if its on the internet, they can find a way." Now at this point, laws are being broken. Whenever one decides to view something that is password protected without the proper authorization, they are likely breaking into a system somehow, which is highly illegal. Yet how can one enforce a law against that? No one will know if they are rejected from a college or job due to what is online unless they are told so.

How is going through someone's account in an unauthorized manner any different from breaking into their email accounts or raiding their mailbox? Ethically it is no different. Imagine if applying for a job involved someone going into your mailbox to see what sorts of magazines you read (to determine things like political views, religion, or sexual orientation) what bills you have for services, etc? Fortunately it is not this way since that is a felony.

But it is in a public domain, one might say. Wrong. Read any terms of use on a social networking site, and what is posted on there becomes their property. A part of the agreement with these sites is that what you place on there is between you, them, and your "friends" on the site. Not the government or your employer.

In addition, the vernacular of the internet is often lost between the generations or even regionally. An admissions officer at a university may not know what "Random Play" means on facebook under "interested in." When they turn around and ask a student, they may get a variety of responses varying from "Just hanging out" to "Random sex with strangers" depending on the school and the social circle that student is from. The same goes for poking, which to some is just a way of saying hi and to others a way of saying they want to wake up next to you this weekend.

There will be much more to come here. I'll keep updates on what's going on in the world of cyber law, privacy rights, technology and so forth, as well as arguements against the status quo of said concepts.