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"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson |
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Mike Lynn is a Whistleblower, he should be protected |
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Topic: Computer Security |
10:57 pm EDT, Jul 29, 2005 |
The EFF should support Mike Lynn in his defense against ISS and Cisco. If security researchers are not protected as Whistleblowers when they uncover major flaws, our critical communication infrastructure will be at serious risk. These are the Good Guys. Mike has taken on enormous personal risk to do the right thing. So far, the general impression in the blogs is that he is doing the right thing. The mainstream media coverage has been good as well. This is a departure from the past, and a good one at that. The headlines contain words like "Whistleblower" and "Coverup".. It is quite ironic that Cisco & ISS are taking the "Intellectual Property" tactic. Just to add some irony to it, here is a a post of Mike Lynn here on MemeStreams proving CherryOS stole OSS code from the PearPC project: just incase anyone didn't believe them already here goes the analysis (I do this sort of thing for a living) first off CherryOS.exe is what we call in the security industry "packed", that means that they have taken a compiled binary and run it through an obfuscator to make it hard to reverse engineer (or at least with hard if all you're doing is strings)...this is common for virus writers, worm writers, 31337 bot net kiddies, and on the legitimate side, game developers do this a lot...its not very common among the commercial (or free) legitimate software market (mostly because it doesn't work and doesn't do any good) so, the easiest way to defeat the packing is simply to let it start up (this one has several annoying checks for debuggers so its easiest to just attach after its loaded)... the eula for this thing says its a violation to reverse engineer it, but if you do disassemble it you find they never had the rights to license it in the first place, so I don't feel worried to put this here... I think I have made it clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that CherryOS.exe, shipped as the core of cherryos is nothing but a recompiled version of PearPC...it has at most minor changes, most to strip attribution, hide the theft, or remove debugging output...
The only way we can fault Mike's research is with petty things like not consistently using upper case letters in his posts. The technical end of his work is flawless. Both Cisco and ISS are attempting to spin Mike's research and make it look incomplete, but the truth of the matter is he demo'ed his technique in front of a room of people, and no one has found fault with it. If this tactic continues, it will approach a very transparent form of character assassination. It will backfire on Cisco. In the field of Security Research, Whistleblowing has always been a controversial issue. It is not a black and white thing. This article at CNET covers a number of the issues with disclosure of security problems that often come up. If you compare the ideas expressed in the article with what Mike actually did, you should come away thinking that Mike handled this ethically. Mike Lynn is a Whistleblower, he should be protected |
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EFF needs your help identifying printers with ID info |
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Topic: Internet Civil Liberties |
12:08 am EDT, Jul 28, 2005 |
In this preliminary research paper, we explain what we've observed so far, briefly explore the privacy implications, and ask you to print and send us test sheets from your color laser printer and/or a color laser printer at your local print shop. That way, we can watch the watchers and ensure that your privacy isn't compromised in ways that harm your fundamental constitutional rights. EFF needs your help identifying printers with ID info |
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Wired News: Cisco Security Hole a Whopper |
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Topic: Computer Security |
10:14 pm EDT, Jul 27, 2005 |
Wired just posted the best article so far.. Here are some of the highlights:Lynn likened IOS to Windows XP, for its ubiquity. "But when there is a Windows XP bug, it's not really a big deal," Lynn said. "You can still ship (data through a network) because the routers will transmit (it). How do you ship (data) when the routers are dead?" "Can anyone think why you would steal (the source code) if not to hack it?" Lynn asked the audience, noting that it took him six months to develop an attack to exploit the bug. "I'm probably about to be sued to oblivion. (But) the worst thing is to keep this stuff secret." "There are people out there looking for it, there are people who have probably found it who could be using it against either national infrastructure or any enterprise," said Ali-Reza Anghaie, a senior security engineer with an aerospace firm, who was in the audience. During his talk, Lynn demonstrated an attack in real time using his own router, but did not allow the audience to see the steps. The attack took less than a minute to execute. "In large part I had to quit to give this presentation because ISS and Cisco would rather the world be at risk, I guess," Lynn said. "They had to do what's right for their shareholders; I understand that. But I figured I needed to do what's right for the country and for the national critical infrastructure."
lolol@ the name recognition. :) I've seen one of those dudes running around here on memestreams somewhere....now, where'd he go? Wired News: Cisco Security Hole a Whopper |
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Secret Teachings of All Ages Index |
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Topic: Arts |
8:49 pm EDT, Jul 26, 2005 |
For once, a book which really lives up to its title. Hall self-published this massive tome in 1928, consisting of about 200 legal-sized pages in 8 point type; it is literally his magnum opus. Each of the nearly 50 chapters is so dense with information that it is the equivalent of an entire short book. If you read this book in its entirety you will be in a good position to dive into subjects such as the Qabbala, Alchemy, Tarot, Ceremonial Magic, Neo-Platonic Philosophy, Mystery Religions, and the theory of Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Although there are some questionable and controversial parts of the book, such as the outdated material on Islam, the portion on the Bacon-Shakespeare hypothesis, and Hall's conspiracy theory of history as driven by an elite cabal of roving immortals, they are far out-weighed by the comprehensive information here on other subjects.
An excellent book, regarded as one of the most comprehensive occult books ever. Now in the public domain, so enjoy! ------------------------------------------ I'll link to anything that openly and honestly discusses Mithracism. Secret Teachings of All Ages Index |
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Topic: Miscellaneous |
4:40 am EDT, Jul 25, 2005 |
In the wee hours of this morning, the house voted to extend and make permanent fourteen provisions of the sixteen provisions that make up the US Patriot Act. Surely Ben Franklin is achieving in excess of 10,000 RPM as he spins in his grave. -- Catonic Patriot Act Extended |
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Review - MARCH OF THE PENGUINS |
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Topic: Documentary |
3:41 pm EDT, Jul 23, 2005 |
http://www.apple.com/trailers/warner_independent_pictures/marchofthepenguins.html We drove into Atlanta to see this movie yesterday. It was playing in Buckhead. We went to a 3PM matinee and were suprised to find the theater nearly full. The cinematography is excellent beyond belief. The story was quite amazing. The main stars - the Penguins - were delightful! The movie chronicles what penguins go through in order to have and raise their young. They walk 70 miles, endure 80 degrees below zero weather together, and keep social order when grieving moms try to kidnap another's youngster. I think this would make an excellent date movie, or a great movie to take the kids to. Yes, you DO get to see penguin sex, but its not narrated, so the younger kids will just think they are playing, with the female laying down getting her neck bitten softly by the male. These little guys are nothing if not dedicated to their families, and are quite loving towards their mates. They rub beaks slowly and cuddle, penguin style! Its a visual treat that plays well on the big screen. The weak point in the movie was the narration. Morgan Freeman has an excellent voice, but there are times the script does not provide enough scientific facts - Just WHAT was that predator getting those babies? Just how does anything survive weather that cold? And at other times, you just want him to shut up and let you watch the pretties, because these creatures will amaze you, intrigue you, and make you appreciate their intelligence and struggle in all that they do, and you'll certainly leave glad you are human and not a penguin! |
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Topic: Society |
11:25 pm EDT, Jul 21, 2005 |
According to Love in Action's rules, posted on Zach's blog, clients must report sexual fantasies to the staff. The program specifies the exact length of haircuts and how many times men must shave each week (seven). Love in Action bars jewelry and clothing by Abercrombie and Fitch. The rules prohibit "campy gay/lesbian behavior and talk." New clients are not allowed to talk to or make eye contact with anyone for the first three days. Clients have to wear pajamas to bed and if they get too cozy they "must always have exactly one person between them." Clients cannot keep a diary, and all their belongings are searched every morning by the "Chain of Command." All secular media, including music and movies, are forbidden. Also, during counseling -- no "disgusting" faces. The Refuge program is "like a boot camp, but worse," Zach wrote. "What is it with these people? How could you support a program like this?" The Tennessee Department of Children's Services investigated the Love in Action facility for possible child abuse but discontinued it because of lack of evidence. The brouhaha exposed an oddity of the ex-gay ministries, which is that they are largely unregulated. Ministries claim they are not hospitals or any other facility that would typically require regulatory oversight or licensing. Love in Action spokesman Tommy Corman says the facility does not need to be licensed by the state at all because it is not doing anything "therapeutic." A bold declaration, considering the group promotes "the prevention or treatment of unhealthy and destructive behaviors facing families, adults, and adolescents," according to its Web site. Nevertheless, the ministries fall into a regulatory blind spot. "There has been some question of who licenses that facility," said K. Danielle Edwards, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. "This would not be under our jurisdiction. I have not been able to ascertain who licenses that facility." On July 11, the Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities sent a letter to Love in Action, warning the facility that it may be operating without a required license. Results of the investigation are pending.
This is the first really in-depth story that I've read about the Christian Conservative's movement to "deprogram" gays. No matter what stance you take on the matter, I highly recommend the article just so that you can know what it is that the group is trying to accomplish and what the hindsight view of some who have been through the program is. There are four parts to this story - I linked to the final installment since it has links to the first three at the top of the article. Turning off gays |
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Joseph Edward Duncan III's blog |
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Topic: Miscellaneous |
2:14 am EDT, Jul 19, 2005 |
I seriously think this guy is quite ill. Its a very interesting blog to me. As a mental health professional that used to work with forensic patients....I see WORD FOR WORD in this blog the same statements some of my former patients have made. 2 murderers, and one a child molester. It quite amazed me. Maybe this is why profiling works? I am very glad they did catch this guy. I seriously doubt he would have stopped on his own. impression is that he is one angry guy that HATES society. He's got a desperate lack of inner control, and his ego keeps dissolving on him- he has a very bad personality disorder, I think - obviously sociopathic, but also quite narsisstic. I think if you were too look at his break - and I do think his murdering was a psychotic break - just my opinion based only on the blog - its all there - the guy is very transparent - taking inspiration for Rameirez. (he turned it off, he didn't know what to think. Yeah, he really did.) Rameriz, if you recall, was dubbed the night stalker b/c he attacked at night like a vampire. (Just like the crazy person said he was, which helped make him feel more powerful, and fit in with his outsider identification.) The guys a sick messed up dude. Hate to say it, but I think he'll get a guilty but mentally ill judgement - which won't let him out of a sentence but might keep him from getting death. I hope they do execute him though, and fast. There's no cure for that kind of anger. Joseph Edward Duncan III's blog |
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Topic: Fiction |
4:49 pm EDT, Jul 16, 2005 |
This book is, as promised, a much darker book than the others have been. In this book, Harry Potter is 16, and about to come of age in the wizarding world. The themes are, at the same time, a strange mix of adolescent and adult worries and obsessions. It is not a book for small children. The charming magic of Hogwart's train and the beautiful castle diminsh beside a very complex story that at times is quite distressing with its pinch of reality. The language is tame enough, the worst word read was 'slut,' but there was a thread of the story to go with it that may not be for small kids. Harry Potter comes away looking less like the hero, and more like the lazy mediocre lad that Professor Snape often tells him he is. This is the most gruesome book yet. The dark lord has pretty much taken power, and there is terrorism everywhere. Security themes play a very large role in this book. There are many more murders in this book, and the magic and potions get a lot more serious, and much more deadly. There is a magic widely discussed that uses murder to commit dark unnatural amulets. I am sure the religious right will not like THIS book. I did enjoy the book, but JK Rowling does deliver - maybe too assuredly - on her promise to kill off a very important, loved character. |
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