dc0de’s & friends notes…

If the US Government, Department of Homeland Security (our KGB), has their way, Airports are going to be one day fitted with Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) systems, that will be a “walk through” polygraph system.  This system will supposedly tell a screener that you’re hiding something, not on your persons, but in your mind… and that’ll give them reason to take you aside for questioning.  The technology is based on today’s polygraph systems, and will not require you to wear any devices to pick up your heart rate, or other vital signs, but will instead use “touchless” technology to watch your facial expressions, blink rate, LIDAR to read your heart rate, and thermal cameras to detect temperature changes inside and outside your body…

“In the laboratory now, we have a success detection rate [percentage] of malintent or not malintent, in the mid-70s,” says Robert Burns, the DHS programme manager for FAST. “That’s significantly better than chance or what the trained people can do.”

Sorry, but just because I may be hiding something, or keeping secrets, and being nervous about my travel situation, isn’t quite enough for anyone to take me aside for questioning.
These systems would strip our 4th amendment rights, when traveling.   Of course, it’s all for our own good, so what’s the harm?

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

On what grounds does the government have to go into my mind, body, and make decisions based on how my body reacts to the stresses of what I know, and cannot disclose?

We all have secrets, we all have anxiousness to some level… what is “normal”?  The sad part is, it’s our tax money being frittered away to the tune of $10,000,000 per year on this project, according to the article in Nature News.

Could we spend that money more wisely? I think so…

Airport security: Intent to deceive? : Nature News.

Lieberman Bill Gives Feds ‘Emergency’ Powers to Secure Civilian Nets | Danger Room | Wired.com.

I wonder if this is going to effect his already abysmal approval rating?

Lieberman’s approval rating in a poll taken January 4–5, 2010, was 25% approve versus 67% who disapprove, making him one of the least popular Senators currently in office.^[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lieberman

Really, this isn’t new, it’s just another reach into the civil world.   The government doesn’t pay for the critical infrastructure, it just wants to control it.  Something here stinks…

This is why I'm not getting one...

The iPad may be “cool” but I fail to see the point.  It’s not going to be the “next big thing”, tablets have been out for YEARS people, and they are relegated to minimalistic roles in the computing industry.  Would I use a tablet? Sure, if I had a way to input information as fast as I can type, which at last test was in the 55/wpm range.  Voice recognition isn’t there, handwriting analysis isn’t there, so what is the purpose of a “tablet” based computer?  Here’s what I can see as a viable use for such a product:

• reading documentation (similar to a kindle & other ebook readers)
• drawing and sketching
• surfing the web with a mouse only, as typing is cripplingly slow on any tablet interface
• performing tasks that currently have specialized equipment, such as retail inventory systems and bar code scanning
• a new pretty interface for McDonalds(tm) POS terminals

Aside from those, this is just another pretty toy.  When you couple it’s fixed configuration and limited battery life, you’re going to be sending it to the scrap pile in 3 years, adding to the pile of trash that we as Americans produce.  I’m still not giving up my laptop or my netbook, as they are both upgradeable (to a point), and provide all of the same functionality that I could get with the iPad.  Until there is a fully upgradeable tablet computer with a full keyboard that has the battery life of my netbook, I really don’t need this toy.

Way to go Apple, another non-green product for our future.

how could USB Flash drives that exhibit such a serious security hole be given one of the highest certificates for crypto devices? Even more importantly, perhaps – what is the value of a certification that fails to detect such holes?

via NIST-certified USB Flash drives with hardware encryption cracked – The H Security: News and Features.

So we can’t seem to trust the FIPS 140-2 Level 2 certification any longer.  Who does this testing?  Who is responsible for this?  Someone needs to figure it out ricky-tick.

This type of vulnerability is going to make using USB devices simply unacceptable for everyone.

Official Gmail Blog: Today’s vowel outage.

In yet another blow of outages and problems for the Cloud Computing proponents, it seems that Gmail has suffered yet another problem.  Over the past year, Cloud Computing supporters have raged over the features and benefits of computing “in the cloud”, yet outages like these continue to occur in massive numbers.

Google‘s Gmail blog today noted that they are suffering problems with their flagship free email service.  The blog post states that the problem was noted at 6:01am Pacific time, and that it began spreading to other data centers in an almost virulent fashion.  The gmail blog goes on to state that the letters a,e,i,o, and u, are missing from the alphabet on their web servers.  Google has yet to determine why this is happening, and recommends that you track their blog for ongoing details.  (linked here)

The Gmail staff and Google headquarters have refused to comment on this outage, stating, “We do not discuss ongoing technical support issues.”

After the recent Pwn2Own contest, the Microsoft product manager Peter LePage spoke out about the two “features” that were completely sidestepped to hack a Windows 7 system. He stated, ”

Just days after a pair of researchers outwitted major Windows 7 defenses to exploit Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox, Microsoft said the measures AREN’T MEANT to “prevent every attack forever.”…

Pete LePage, a product manager with IE’s developer division, stood up for DEP (data execution) and ASLR (address space layout randomization), the security features that two hackers sidestepped to win $10,000 each at the high-profile Pwn2Own hacking contest last Wednesday

via Microsoft defends Windows 7 security after Pwn2Own hacks.

I find these comments from Mr. LePage a bit misguided, and very suspect.  How can a security “feature” so easily be sidestepped?  Two minutes?  I can’t wait until we get the details of the attack/exploit so that we can really see how this was done.

I just got around to reading this, it’s a great article, well stated. No matter if you love or hate Google, you need to check this out.  The Government is going to throw billions of US Dollars at broadband, and get us to a point where there is no competition in most markets, yet Google is going to drive much faster service to selected areas for a better price.

“…there is simply nowhere near enough competition in almost all of the markets in this country. In fact, under the new plan, some 85% of homes covered would have no choice when it comes to a provider. So while it’s great that just about everyone will potentially have broadband access in 2020, plenty likely won’t be able to afford it…”

“…The U.S. has the highest broadband prices among advanced nations, while countries like Japan and France get faster (and better) services, for a fraction of the price many of us pay. Again, it’s all about competition. So why do we put up with it? Because the U.S. government has no backbone and ruins its own ideas (such as the National Broadband Plan) because they give into corporate lobbyists…”

“As Benkler points out in his piece, Time Warner is quite pleased that it can set higher prices due to a lack of competition. Meanwhile, Comcast is raking in just about a billion dollars in profit each quarter thanks in large part to their pricing bullshit.”

Perhaps our government could take note of how Google is going to accomplish their feat  of providing 1 gigabit-per second connections to homes much sooner than the 100 megabit-per second connections that the National broadband plan promised by 2020.

Is it me, or does our Government have the reverse Midas Touch?

————————————————————-

Help Us Google, You’re Our Only Broadband Hope. (The Government Has No Spine.)

TechCrunch.com
Sunday, March 21, 2010; 6:24 PM

via Help Us Google, You’re Our Only Broadband Hope. The Government Has No Spine. – washingtonpost.com.

Simply put,

“Using java to manage a security device is like putting a pedophile in charge of a day-care center.”

Consumer borrowing declines for 10th straight month | Business | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

Is it any wonder? How about reporting on the OTHER side, BANKS AREN’T LOANING MONEY unless you have a near perfect credit score, and everyone related or friends with you co-signs.

WASHINGTON — Americans borrowed less for a 10th consecutive month in November, with total credit and borrowing on credit cards falling by the largest amounts on records going back nearly seven decades.

Could it be that Americans are finally learning NOT to live in debt?  I hope so… Moreover, if it hurts the banks, great.  They’ve long forgotten who their customer was with all of the spurious charges they dream up.  Add to that the increased transaction fees, long check clearing hold times, and general apathy by the bank employees to your needs, and *poof*, they’ve lost another customer.

I’ve moved all of my financial management to Credit Unions, where they actually care that you exist.  Find a small one in your area, and join it today.  You’ll be amazed at the customer service, rates, and “YES” attitude.

That is all.

Pi calculated to massive 2.7 trillion digits | NetworkWorld.com Community.

I just had to send this out… I love Pi!