NOTE:
Nothing on this blog reflects the actual ideas and opinions of myself.
Edward Paulson was a character I created for a University final project in the Winter of 2013.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
WikiLeaks Outrage Creats "A very middle class enemy of the State"
Here is the article that I will be referring to in this blog.
It is also the article that perfectly put into context how silly this WikiLeak witch hunt really is.
Because Sarah Harrison has a relationship with Julian Assange, mastermind behind WikiLeaks, she now fears that if she returns to the United Kingdom she will be detained and interrogated. And for what? Being an activist and spreading information?
"Activism is not terrorism" Sarah Harrison said in response to being asked about her exile from the UK by the British government. She feels she has been "spat out" and betrayed by the country she called home. Now she is called an enemy of the state.
Harrison escorted Assange to Moscow after he leaked several eye-opening United States and other Western nation's secrets. She remained by his side for forty days until Russian Presiden Putin finally granted him temporary asylum in the country, meaning that he would not be sent back to the United States in custody. Harrison however, was not given that same asylum and relocated to Germany.
Harrison is a firm believer that publishing and whistleblowing should not be seen as any sort of crime, let alone terrorism. Yet, under UK's Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, Harrison would likely be detained, her computer seized, and interrogated. What Harrison was doing was not terrorism at all. Her posts and thoughts behind posting on WikiLeaks was an act designed to persuade her government, and other governments of the world, to behave differently, which is activism. Not terrorism.
However, it seems, that because the UK and other governments were so embarrassed by WikiLeaks it has become their mission to seek out all those involved and destroy them. Never mind the centuries of freedom that some of these governments claim to offer, when it is their pride on the line, all bets are off. If journalists are not allowed to report on how governments are behaving incorrectly then there is no need for a freedom of press act in any constitution because limiting the press in any way is a clear breach of their so called freedom.
Even though Harrison is the subject of this modern day witch hunt, she claims that she would do it all again in a heartbeat. And for that, I praise her. The world needs more strong men and women to stand up to the wrong doings of our massive governments. Without these people all of us will soon regret the day we stood by and watched as the government began controlling our lives.
It is also the article that perfectly put into context how silly this WikiLeak witch hunt really is.
Because Sarah Harrison has a relationship with Julian Assange, mastermind behind WikiLeaks, she now fears that if she returns to the United Kingdom she will be detained and interrogated. And for what? Being an activist and spreading information?
"Activism is not terrorism" Sarah Harrison said in response to being asked about her exile from the UK by the British government. She feels she has been "spat out" and betrayed by the country she called home. Now she is called an enemy of the state.
Harrison escorted Assange to Moscow after he leaked several eye-opening United States and other Western nation's secrets. She remained by his side for forty days until Russian Presiden Putin finally granted him temporary asylum in the country, meaning that he would not be sent back to the United States in custody. Harrison however, was not given that same asylum and relocated to Germany.
Harrison is a firm believer that publishing and whistleblowing should not be seen as any sort of crime, let alone terrorism. Yet, under UK's Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, Harrison would likely be detained, her computer seized, and interrogated. What Harrison was doing was not terrorism at all. Her posts and thoughts behind posting on WikiLeaks was an act designed to persuade her government, and other governments of the world, to behave differently, which is activism. Not terrorism.
However, it seems, that because the UK and other governments were so embarrassed by WikiLeaks it has become their mission to seek out all those involved and destroy them. Never mind the centuries of freedom that some of these governments claim to offer, when it is their pride on the line, all bets are off. If journalists are not allowed to report on how governments are behaving incorrectly then there is no need for a freedom of press act in any constitution because limiting the press in any way is a clear breach of their so called freedom.
Even though Harrison is the subject of this modern day witch hunt, she claims that she would do it all again in a heartbeat. And for that, I praise her. The world needs more strong men and women to stand up to the wrong doings of our massive governments. Without these people all of us will soon regret the day we stood by and watched as the government began controlling our lives.
RICO Now Applies to Internet Organizations
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization.
Which in English means that if one member of a criminal organization such as the Mob, a Chicago street gang, or a drug cartel, is captured and tried, he or she can be tried for every crime committed by the organizations members.
That means that David Ray Camez, who was already serving a seven year sentence for fraud, is now going to be charged for every crime committed on Carder.su. Carder.su is a criminal Craig's list where vendors can sell illegal hacking or counterfeiting equipment as well as stolen credit card information on the website.
For more information on Camez's situation and RICO read THIS!
What I want to talk about after reading this article is how it pertains to the average Internet user and your right to be anonymous on the Web. Courts now have precedent to try any party on an illegal website. That includes but is not limited to any website used for illegal downloads, the silk road, and mirroring websites. That means if you use the website, you are a criminal because you are actively participating in the organizations's criminal activities. It is my experience that the United States government does not prefer to deal with anonymous criminals. Furthermore, I doubt that credible websites would want their users to be anonymous.
Here is what I'm thinking. Take ebay for example. Suppose a rouge group of ebay users begin to secretly use the website's hosting to buy and sell drugs. Ebay could then technically be held responsible for their actions and be tried in US courts under RICO.
Now I am purely speculating here, but that could mean that we soon could see a further push by websites to get users to sign up and verify or link their accounts using credible information. We have already seen this happening with Google. Google is doing a fantastic (some may call it annoying) job of ensuring that all of their user's profiles are linked together. It is very difficult to be anonymous and using a google account at the same time. Of course, there are work arounds to these google profile requirements, but at this point, it is normally easier to just make a real account than to deal with all of the hassle of remaining anonymous to use YouTube.
Thus, this evolves into yet another case of the government possibly intruding on our nation's privacy. However it also has other important effects. Forcing everyone to be "registered" on the Internet could pave the way for new Internet copyright legislation. If you have to post under a constant alias or user name on the Internet, in theory, it would be quite easy to sort out the thousands of copyright disputes currently going on because of content posted on the Internet.
Or it could have a much darker effect. Because of the constant fear of being sued for copyright, new Internet legislation could seriously cripple creativity and content posted to the Internet. Websites like 4Chan, Tumblr, and Reddit would lose much of their content and possibly collapse upon themselves due to the lack of content.
Either way, U'm only speculating. So none of this could happen, or all of it could. We will have to wait and see.
Which in English means that if one member of a criminal organization such as the Mob, a Chicago street gang, or a drug cartel, is captured and tried, he or she can be tried for every crime committed by the organizations members.
That means that David Ray Camez, who was already serving a seven year sentence for fraud, is now going to be charged for every crime committed on Carder.su. Carder.su is a criminal Craig's list where vendors can sell illegal hacking or counterfeiting equipment as well as stolen credit card information on the website.
For more information on Camez's situation and RICO read THIS!
What I want to talk about after reading this article is how it pertains to the average Internet user and your right to be anonymous on the Web. Courts now have precedent to try any party on an illegal website. That includes but is not limited to any website used for illegal downloads, the silk road, and mirroring websites. That means if you use the website, you are a criminal because you are actively participating in the organizations's criminal activities. It is my experience that the United States government does not prefer to deal with anonymous criminals. Furthermore, I doubt that credible websites would want their users to be anonymous.
Here is what I'm thinking. Take ebay for example. Suppose a rouge group of ebay users begin to secretly use the website's hosting to buy and sell drugs. Ebay could then technically be held responsible for their actions and be tried in US courts under RICO.
Now I am purely speculating here, but that could mean that we soon could see a further push by websites to get users to sign up and verify or link their accounts using credible information. We have already seen this happening with Google. Google is doing a fantastic (some may call it annoying) job of ensuring that all of their user's profiles are linked together. It is very difficult to be anonymous and using a google account at the same time. Of course, there are work arounds to these google profile requirements, but at this point, it is normally easier to just make a real account than to deal with all of the hassle of remaining anonymous to use YouTube.
Thus, this evolves into yet another case of the government possibly intruding on our nation's privacy. However it also has other important effects. Forcing everyone to be "registered" on the Internet could pave the way for new Internet copyright legislation. If you have to post under a constant alias or user name on the Internet, in theory, it would be quite easy to sort out the thousands of copyright disputes currently going on because of content posted on the Internet.
Or it could have a much darker effect. Because of the constant fear of being sued for copyright, new Internet legislation could seriously cripple creativity and content posted to the Internet. Websites like 4Chan, Tumblr, and Reddit would lose much of their content and possibly collapse upon themselves due to the lack of content.
Either way, U'm only speculating. So none of this could happen, or all of it could. We will have to wait and see.
The Feds are using a ground breaking hacking technique to catch criminals... Malware!
If you didn't catch the sarcasm in the title of this post, I'll spell it out for you, Malware is the oldest hacking trick in the book. And using it to attempt to catch criminals who are notoriously adept at covering their digital footprint is simply not going to work.
What has me so riled up about this you ask? I just finished reading this article. Most of you are probably familiar with the infamous 'Mo', but if now I'll give you a quick recap. In 2012, days after the Denver Movie Theater shooting, 'Mo' emailed police stations demanding the release of his "friend" otherwise he would detonate a bomb in a public place. Mo continued to make these threats to places like the University of Texas, San Antonio, Virginia Commonwealth University, a prison, and other public places. Obviously, every time Mo made these threats he sent the police and FBI into a scramble to attempt to verify the threats. No bombs were ever found.
Mo used pretty common techniques to cover his tracks. He used a virtual proxy to disguise himself from Google Voice and to falsify his gmail account. This virtual proxy creates a false location for the machine you are using so that it becomes very difficult to trace actions back to yourself.
Mo has also been able to keep himself hidden after emailing photos of himself to authorities as well as a realistic name. So you would think that if a person was capable enough to hide himself from authorities even after they became aware of his face, email accounts, and name would know not to click on emails filled with malware. I mean come on my twelve year old cousin knows what emails he isn't supposed to click. I'm hoping that the FBI has leaked this tactic to throw Mo off a little bit since it has yielded no results. Maybe if Mo thinks that all the FBI is capable of is spamming him with malware until he accidentally downloads surveillance software from Quantico then he will let his guard down and then the FBI can unveil their real hacking attempts. Maybe... Who knows though, maybe they'll hire some Nigerian Princes to help them out in their endeavor.
On a more serious note, this article raises some serious, if not worrisome, questions regarding the FBI and your lives. The article quotes Laura K. Donohue, a Georgetown University law professor, saying that
“You can’t just go on a fishing expedition, There needs to be a nexus between the crime being alleged and the material to be seized. What they are doing here, though, is collecting everything.”
Meaning that the FBI is still running into a lot of resistance when they attempt to roll out their malware full of surveillance software. In light of the recent Edward Snowden case, I wonder how many malware emails I have successfully ignored in my own life. However, It lightens my heart a bit knowing that so many oppose (or claim to oppose) a government that constantly spies on its citizens, and the rest of the world for that matter.
The NSA does have a duty to protect the citizens of the United States of America. However, no one can tell me that the most efficient way to gather information on potential terrorist acts is to run surveillance on EVERY SINGLE citizen in the United States of America. That is a tremendous amount of data to sift through.
To be clear, I do feel that there is a need for an organization like the NSA but I do not agree with the ways that they gather their intelligence. Perhaps I am just being naive, or perhaps everyone else was when it took a Edward Snowden to make people realize that the USA spies on other nations...
Anyway, the article also makes mention that the FBI also needs a court ordered warrant and the okay from a government official to spy on someone using their email account. So in theory, it isn't a cake walk for them to spy on us.
However, I'm skeptical of this. I don't have a hard time believing that the government has allowed much more serious surveillance efforts in light of more serious restrictions. Regardless, we as a nation need to think about how much freedom we are sacrificing for "security." It is one thing to live in a nation where you can always feel safe, I believe that is something that everyone wants, but if we need to be spied upon every minute of every day, then I don't think that approach is worth it.
What has me so riled up about this you ask? I just finished reading this article. Most of you are probably familiar with the infamous 'Mo', but if now I'll give you a quick recap. In 2012, days after the Denver Movie Theater shooting, 'Mo' emailed police stations demanding the release of his "friend" otherwise he would detonate a bomb in a public place. Mo continued to make these threats to places like the University of Texas, San Antonio, Virginia Commonwealth University, a prison, and other public places. Obviously, every time Mo made these threats he sent the police and FBI into a scramble to attempt to verify the threats. No bombs were ever found.
Mo used pretty common techniques to cover his tracks. He used a virtual proxy to disguise himself from Google Voice and to falsify his gmail account. This virtual proxy creates a false location for the machine you are using so that it becomes very difficult to trace actions back to yourself.
Mo has also been able to keep himself hidden after emailing photos of himself to authorities as well as a realistic name. So you would think that if a person was capable enough to hide himself from authorities even after they became aware of his face, email accounts, and name would know not to click on emails filled with malware. I mean come on my twelve year old cousin knows what emails he isn't supposed to click. I'm hoping that the FBI has leaked this tactic to throw Mo off a little bit since it has yielded no results. Maybe if Mo thinks that all the FBI is capable of is spamming him with malware until he accidentally downloads surveillance software from Quantico then he will let his guard down and then the FBI can unveil their real hacking attempts. Maybe... Who knows though, maybe they'll hire some Nigerian Princes to help them out in their endeavor.
On a more serious note, this article raises some serious, if not worrisome, questions regarding the FBI and your lives. The article quotes Laura K. Donohue, a Georgetown University law professor, saying that
“You can’t just go on a fishing expedition, There needs to be a nexus between the crime being alleged and the material to be seized. What they are doing here, though, is collecting everything.”
Meaning that the FBI is still running into a lot of resistance when they attempt to roll out their malware full of surveillance software. In light of the recent Edward Snowden case, I wonder how many malware emails I have successfully ignored in my own life. However, It lightens my heart a bit knowing that so many oppose (or claim to oppose) a government that constantly spies on its citizens, and the rest of the world for that matter.
The NSA does have a duty to protect the citizens of the United States of America. However, no one can tell me that the most efficient way to gather information on potential terrorist acts is to run surveillance on EVERY SINGLE citizen in the United States of America. That is a tremendous amount of data to sift through.
To be clear, I do feel that there is a need for an organization like the NSA but I do not agree with the ways that they gather their intelligence. Perhaps I am just being naive, or perhaps everyone else was when it took a Edward Snowden to make people realize that the USA spies on other nations...
Anyway, the article also makes mention that the FBI also needs a court ordered warrant and the okay from a government official to spy on someone using their email account. So in theory, it isn't a cake walk for them to spy on us.
However, I'm skeptical of this. I don't have a hard time believing that the government has allowed much more serious surveillance efforts in light of more serious restrictions. Regardless, we as a nation need to think about how much freedom we are sacrificing for "security." It is one thing to live in a nation where you can always feel safe, I believe that is something that everyone wants, but if we need to be spied upon every minute of every day, then I don't think that approach is worth it.
Monday, December 9, 2013
Seriously Cool Project, Seriously Dangerous Application
Despite what the media tells you, hacking doesn't always start with some evil mastermind sitting behind a computer plotting to start World War III.
In fact, most of the time hackers hack for knowledge, for fun, and simply to understand how things work. That is what true hacking is. It is the art of stripping a system down to its core, understanding how it works, and then manipulating its bits and pieces to make the system do what you want it to do, not necessarily what it was designed to do. Hacking always should start with the question "What can I make this do?" and end with "What's next?" because to me, true hacking is a constant process with no definite end. Its over when you've run out of ideas in your head, or when you're dead.
In fact, most of the time hackers hack for knowledge, for fun, and simply to understand how things work. That is what true hacking is. It is the art of stripping a system down to its core, understanding how it works, and then manipulating its bits and pieces to make the system do what you want it to do, not necessarily what it was designed to do. Hacking always should start with the question "What can I make this do?" and end with "What's next?" because to me, true hacking is a constant process with no definite end. Its over when you've run out of ideas in your head, or when you're dead.
You may be wondering why I'm going on and on about what true hacking is, and you'd have a valid point. I've just now seen a project on dangerousprototypes.com that is both an amazingly cool accomplishment and a horrifying innovation.
SamyKamkar, as he is known on the site, has developed a program that forces drones to surrender their control over to his device. I won't get into all of the technical jargon, because that is not what I am writing about today, but he accomplishes this by applying a Raspberry Pie computer to a small drone that anyone can buy for roughly $300. These drones are extremely easy to use and are operated by iOS and Android devices. Really, any device that supports WiFi can control the drone. On SamyKamkar's computer, there is a program that searches for other drone's signals as Samy flies his drone around. Once Samy's drone finds a signal, it logs off the original user and secretly logs in Samy as if he were the original user. After that, Samy has complete control of the drone and can command it to do whatever he likes.
As you're reading this you can probably see why I am so concerned about this application. The first thought that came to my mind was that this procedure could easily be used for terrorist attacks. Especially with the United States Government increasing their use of unmanned air craft both abroad and nationally. However, I'm positive that the US Military has a much more complex security system than the household drone that Samy is demonstrating with. Where my concern lies is that as I continued to think about this project, there were no beneficial applications. You can either steal a drone and use it against someone maliciously or steal a drone to steal someone's Amazon package.
And now maybe you see why I introduced this Blog with my own personal definition of hacking. What SamyKamkar has done is, in my opinion, truly hacking. He took a device, thought of an idea, and made the device do what he wanted. However, this is the "hacking" that you might see in a movie some day! SamyKamkar might not be an evil villain, but just the fact that this act is possible scares me.
But that's the dangerous world we live in. I am glad that Samy posted this online because it truly is a fantastic hack. Also, it now gives me some time to go work on a counter measure to make sure no one can hack into any drones protecting my interests!
Sunday, December 8, 2013
I Love Porsche
Porsche can do no wrong.
After winning my first Porsche in an internet contest in
2002, I have been hooked on their beauty, power, and agility. In my opinion, no
other car company can touch the driving experience that is offered by a Porsche.
That’s probably why I have several of them in my garage right now.
Porsche’s reputation is built upon the foundation of a
perfect balance between functionality and design. There simply is no compromise
between everyday driving and sheer performance, and there are few cars that
look better. Furthermore, there are few vehicles that carry the same prestige
as Porsche. All of these traits have carried Porsche into the elite tier of car
companies, and their ascent continues.
I recently read this article,The Duality of Design,on
Architectural Design’s website and I loved it. The bit about Porsche shows that
even unexpected combinations can still be beautiful. Furthermore, it shows that innovation is still alive in today's day and age! When you think of Porsche,
hardly anyone’s first thought would be “ Oh yeah Porsche, the major innovators
in electric vehicles.“ However, that may soon be the case. Porsche is taking another
monstrous step forward in their “Duality of Design” concept
.
The new Porsche Panamera is a spacious vehicle with a sharp
interior with an engine that competes with most cars in the Super Luxury class.
However, it has something else that most Super Luxury cars don’t have, it is
electric. Porsche has, in my opinion, created the most beautiful hybrid car to
date. Functionality and practicability ooze out of the vehicle. Style and gas mileage
are finally combined in a way that makes driving an electric car sexy! It’s going
to rival Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups for the perfect combination.
What wealthy car enthusiast wouldn’t want to purchase a
clean energy efficient car? I know I would. And that’s the other great thing that Porsche
is doing with their new Panamera. The marketing is genius. The car is always
shown in clean, uncrowded cities or next to some luxurious modern home. To me,
this strategy hints at two things.
That the Panamera is for anyone whether you live
in the city, suburbs, or country.
That the Panamera is the car of the future.
I also like the balance of their marketing. (Can you tell that
I like when things are balanced?) Faster than electricity, markets the speed
and performance of a sports car. The portrayal of the Porsche on city streets
markets how practical the car can be. And finally, its electric, its new, its
shiny, and look at how easy it is to use!
But most importantly, the marketing makes you want to buy
the car. I want to be the person driving that beautiful red Porsche from my job
in my clean Utopian city to my wonderful luxurious modern home on the cliffs of
California.
And I will be, when I buy my Panamera. And you’ll all be
jealous, unless you get one too.
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