CB - Randomly blogging, just for the hell of it.

Jun 10

Check out my new Google background image

As ridiculous as it might sound, here's how I got my Google background back to white. You can also switch off JavaScript (which isn't useful if you are programming in JavaScript, or simply using a web browser in 2010). The "delete background image" button isn't working for me. Bad form Google, stop trying to be like Bing!

Edit: Of course you could be boring (read 'practical), simply follow @cr3's sagelike advice on the matter, and use https://www.google.com/

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Apr 8

MPs install malware across every computer in the UK

Members of Parliament voted yesterday 189 to 47 for the new Digital Economy Bill, which would effectively install one of the most cunning pieces of malware ever devised, across every internet ready device in the UK.

The bill itself is a rather sprawling piece of legislation attempting to address an eclectic bunch of issues, from the role of Channel 4, to video game classification, to internet usage. The most contentious parts of the bill are concerned specifically with file sharing on the internet, and specifically with the illicit distribution of copyrighted content.

Peer to peer file sharing is a great way of distributing content, and is an important (if normally unseen) part of the internet. Universities, and free software organisations (such as vendors for Linux distributions) regularly use file sharing as a free, fast, and reliable way to get their product to the end user.

However it is also arbitrarily easy to share content for which you do not hold copyright. Albums, movies and games regularly show up across these networks, and technical solutions to this problem by copyright holders invariably end up in an "arms race". The holder will enforce some method to only to have it broken (sometimes hours after release), for them to try harsher technical measures, etc.

So copyright groups lobbied the UK government into creating a number of amendments to existing Acts, in a hash fisted attempt to "catch all" eventualities of copyright infringement. Unfortunately the resultant laws now bear striking similarities to the type of software you pay to keep off your computer systems.

Most people who use a computer nowadays have either fallen victim to, or are at least aware of "malware". Software which installs on your computer (usually without your explicit consent) and then carries out unauthorised tasks. The most sophisticated types of malware do not draw attention to themselves, instead they install silently then wait for instruction (sent remotely via the internet at a time suiting the malware creator). Some variants gather personal data from your computer, then relay that information to a specified server, to be harvested. Others subtly change the websites you visit. The most malicious install on so many machines that they can be synchronised to launch large scale attacks, usually "denial of service", where the sheer flood of traffic "takes down" an intended victims internet connection or webserver.

Three tools in the bill, when combined show the hallmarks of a piece of malware.

1. Clause 5, an insertion into the Communications Act (2003) -- 124B Forces an obligation on internet service providers (ISP's) to provide copyright infringement lists to copyright owners.

2. Clause 17 an insertion into the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988 -- 302A (Power granted to Home Secretary to amend the act without consultation).

3. Clause 4. Grants powers to force an ISP to disconnect the end user if their IP address is identified in file sharing.

4. Clause 8. The Secretary of State for Business can order the blocking of a "location on the Internet which the court is satisfied has been, is being or is likely to be used for or in connection with an activity that infringes copyright."

With Clause 17, the Home Secretary gains the power to change the scope of copyright, however he/she sees fit. Effectively, things that are not illegal today, could be illegal tomorrow, without any requirement by the Home Office to seek parliamentary consent. Potentially, once the parameters of copyright infringement are changed, a legal order can then be sent to an internet service provider to monitor and subsequently hand over information based on that perceived infringement. They can then issue a denial of service attack to the end user, using clause 4.

Taken to a hypothetical case and point. Many people, and indeed, MP's in the debate pointed at Wikileaks, which regularly publishes information that many political parties, governments, and corporations would rather never saw the light of day. With the Digital Economy Bill, a piece of damning evidence released on this site could be set as infringing on copyright. They could block UK wide access to the site. Then the government could then force your ISP to tell them whether you've downloaded it or not, and take action against you, technically for an infraction.

Of course, that's not what the new legislation is designed to do. But it wouldn't be the first law that government attempt misuse of an act to silence critics. Just like well written malware, the Digital Economy Bill will sit there, dormant, waiting to be activated.

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Feb 17

David Wright vs The Internet

My local MP, David Wright has hit the headlines for a Twitter faux-pas. A tweet originating from his account, referred to Tories as "scum-sucking pigs". It's a cheap nod to the famous "lipstick on a pig" comment from the 2008 US election campaign. However, the comment flung the MP, who had until then been a relative nobody on the Twitter, into stark, and unwelcome limelight.

The interesting part is that after the horse had bolted, David issued a statement regarding the affair. According to him, the offending tweet did refer to lipstick on pigs, but without the "scum-sucking" adjective. He maintains that the stronger term was added to his tweet in retrospect, by a hacker.

If you haven't used Twitter yet, the platform does not yet permit the ability to re-edit your tweets (to the annoyance of anyone who has hit the "update" button a little too quickly to catch that blatant smelling pistake). If you want to correct your actions, you have to delete the message, and start afresh. Apparently this wasn't the case for David, his message was somehow amended.

From a technical point of view, I can see only two possible ways for this to happen:

1. The perpetrator of such a hack would have to be monitoring David's network traffic, then intercept, then re-edit his post before it reached Twitter's server. Either David's computer/laptop or handset would need to be compromised, or the person issuing the attack would have to be nearby to him when he sent the message (in the event that he sent it over a Wi-Fi network).

2. The hacker in question somehow broke into Twitter's database server, gained access to the message, and edited it.

Both of the above are no mean feats, the second is a news story in itself.

The other possible explanation is that David had second thoughts about his tweet. Looking from a purely technical standpoint, it is a trivial matter of typing into a box, to create an inappropriate message. Perhaps, after realising the amplified nature of a scandal on twitter, he reconsidered. Something that he saw as fairly innocuous, simply got out of hand. If this is the case, David should have either offered an apology, or stood by the original statement. But by telling Twitter (and the news) that his post was re-edited, he's placed himself as either the victim of one of a most sophisticated attack. Worse in the eyes of Twitter users, he's set himself up as someone who has no real knowledge or interest in the platform which he's chosen for self promotion .

If it turns out that David is lying about the hack, he's taking a very misguided gamble that Twitter users won't be versed enough to catch him out. Added to the fact that there is a large, active Shropshire contingent on Twitter, such a move could actually affect voting in his own constituency at the next election.

Lastly, I can point to a precedent in David's past where he succeeded with a similar approach. Two years back, there was a campaign to keep a small community Post Office open in Randlay, Telford. Based on his voting record, it seems that the local constituents were fighting against David:

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2004-01-13&number=28&mpn=David_Wright&mpc=Telford

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2006-10-16&number=304&mpn=David_Wright&mpc=Telford

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2007-01-10&number=23&mpn=David_Wright&mpc=Telford

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2008-03-19&number=131&mpn=David_Wright&mpc=Telford

http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/division.php?date=2008-03-19&number=132&mpn=David_Wright&mpc=Telford

 His next move was almost Machiavellian. He sent out this letter to all affected constituents:

It proved to be a coup de grâce, and Randlay lost their Post Office branch.

Good luck to anyone trying something so audacious with the Twitter community.

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Jan 14

Macbook pro battery is utter pants

Just a quick rant, this has been an issue for a while, but looking at the statistics shows just how awful my macbook battery is.

Battery Installed: Yes

First low level warning: No

Full Charge Capacity (mAh): 23

Remaining Capacity (mAh): 23

Amperage (mA): 0

Voltage (mV): 12296

Cycle Count: 388

After 388 charges, my battery now hold 23 mAh, which is about a hundredth of an AA battery. High end stuff.

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Sep 23

Microsoft openly encourages music piracy?

The videos for the Windows 7 Launch Parties are strikingly odd. With the type of relaxed atmosphere normally associated with the QVC channel, the protagonists try to entice you to hold a party for your friends.

But here at one of the aforementioned parties, a host announces to his friends, "If you've enjoyed the music from tonight... you ought to take it home with you". He then shows them how effortless it is to burn his music collection to disc. Interesting to note that he doesn't encounter any DRM issues.