Month: April 2005
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New ClipBlog Site
My clipblog has moved to DashLog, a new clipblogging site. My clipblog gives quick pointers to interesting sites or pages, with only minimal commentary. It’s designed as a complement to this blog. New addresses for my clipblog: HTML: http://www.dashlog.com/logs/tinker RSS: http://www.dashlog.com/dash/feed.php?log=tinker
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U.S. Considering Wireless Passport Protection
The U.S. government is “taking a very serious look” at improving privacy protection for the new wireless-readable passports, according to an official quoted in a great article by Kim Zetter at Wired News. Many people, including me, have worried about the privacy implications of having passports that are readable at a distance. The previously proposed…
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Recommended Reading
Following the lead of other bloggers, I’ll be writing occasionally to recommend books or articles that I found interesting. Today, I’m recommending two books that could hardly be more different in topic and tone. The 9/11 Commission Report This book was a real surprise. I started reading from a sense of obligation, but I was…
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"Censorship" Bill Lifts Ban on Speech
The House has now joined the Senate in passing the Family Movie Act; the Act is almost sure to be signed into law soon by the President. (The Act is bundled with some unrelated provisions into a multi-part bill called the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act. Here I’ll focus only on Section 201, called the…
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Berkeley to victims of personal data theft: "Our bad"
Last week I and 98,000 other lucky individuals received the following letter: University of California, Berkeley Graduate Division Berkeley, California 94720-5900 Dear John Alexander Halderman: I am writing to advise you that a computer in the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley was stolen by an as-yet unidentified individual on March 11, 2005. The computer contained…
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Why Does Anybody Believe Viralg?
A story is circulating about a Finnish company called Viralg, which claims to have a product that “blocks out all illegal swapping of your data”. There is also a press release from Viralg. This shows all the signs of being a scam or hoax. The company’s website offers virtually nothing beyond claims to be able…
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Next-Gen DVD Encryption: Better, but Won't Stop Filesharing
Last week, specifications were released for AACS, an encryption-based system that may be used on next-generation DVDs. You may recall that CSS, which is currently used on DVDs, is badly misdesigned, to the point that I sometimes use it in teaching as an example of how not to use crypto. It’s still a mystery how…
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Texas Bill Would Close Meetings About Computer Security
A bill (HB 3245) introduced in the Texas state legislature would exempt meetings discussing “matters relating to computer security or the security of other information resources technologies” from the state’s Open Meetings Act. This seems like a bad idea. Meetings can already be closed if sufficient cause is shown. The mere fact that computer security,…
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Why Use Remotely-Readable Passports?
Yesterday at CFP, I saw an interesting panel on the proposed radio-enabled passports. Frank Moss, a State Department employee and accomplished career diplomat, is the U.S. government’s point man on this issue. He had the guts to show up at CFP and face a mostly hostile audience. He clearly believes that he and the government…
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RIAA Suing i2hub Users
Yesterday the RIAA announced lawsuits against many college students for allegedly using a program called i2hub to swap copyrighted music files. RIAA is trying to paint this as an important step in their anti-infringement strategy, but it looks to me like a continuation of what they have already been doing: suing individuals for direct infringement,…