Core Dump » Technology

Posted on May 09 2008

Filed Under (Technology, personal) by Keithius

I’m getting the itch to change my blog theme again. But I’m having trouble finding anything I like.

I have a number of themes installed, and they are all very good, but none of them is quite what I’m looking for. For example, I have PhotoSky and Dignity from ThemeBox.org, GlossyBlue by N.Design Studio, GreenWave from the Romow Web Directory, TerraFirma by Sadish Bala - and of course, RedWave (the current theme I’m using) from AskGraphics.

Other than not using themes that have a black background and white text (too harsh on my eyes), I’m pretty open - though of course it’s personal taste.

So… anyone have any suggestions?

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Posted on May 08 2008

The Roots of Government Surveillance

Filed Under (Politics, Technology) by Keithius

This great article goes into great detail how the current surveillance society came to be, and looks at the historical origins of the entire process - and the debate that continues to this day. It is as enlightening as it is well-written.

No one should believe that real-time government surveillance of the communications network is an idea born of the 9/11 attacks or that it results solely from the Bush administration’s aggrandizing of executive power. The legal arguments that the government has asserted to support increased surveillance of digital space were first put forth in 1994, under a Democratic president, and they had little to do with the threat of Islamic extremism.

All the more reason to continue to fight for our own privacy rights at every turn - because by its very nature, Government (with a capital G) will scoop up every last bit of privacy you have if you don’t defend them. And before you know it, you’ll feel… well, a picture speaks louder than words:

“1984 was NOT supposed to be an instruction manual.”

No, it was not - but it seems like we’re following it as if it were.

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Posted on May 08 2008

Online Identity/Anonymity

Filed Under (Society, Technology) by Keithius

This story over on Slashdot about how the Washington Post’s online executive editor Jim Brady is arguing against anonymity sparked quite a lively little debate.

The problem isn’t really anonymity - it’s identity.

They don’t want to know who a particular person is, they just want to somehow stop that one person from coming back. They don’t care who you are, they just want to make sure that “you” don’t come back.

This is not a new problem.

Basically, what you need is a trusted, secure, centralized system that you identify yourself to. This centralized system then anonymizes your identity to allow you to participate in anonymous discussions. If you mis-behave (or if the owner of the discussion group just doesn’t like you), you can be banned - and the system takes care of the actual “banning.” The owner of the discussion group just says “ban anonymous user #xxx” and the system connects it back to “you.”

It’s sort of like encryption - where only the central server has the decryption key.

As an interesting aside, Arthur C. Clarke made an interesting use of this concept in his novel “The Songs of Distant Earth“, in the form of “ship’s council.” If you can, pick up that book and read it to see an example of this problem “solved” (in a manner of speaking).

Unfortunately, because of the centralized requirement of this form of anonymity, it will never really be possible on the Internet. After all, there is no “central” anonymizing server. And you can’t just make your own for various reasons - your government might seize it, you yourself might not be trustworthy, etc.

I sort of hope that one day we can solve this problem - because it is a problem. Just look up “sock puppets” sometime and see what I mean. But for now, I think we all just have to learn to deal with it - because it’s better to have broken anonymity than no anonymity at all.