Playtime is Over
January 29, 2003
Several people at my speech Monday at the Golden Gate Computer Society have asked me to post my slides. I don’t usually do Powerpoint - especially when giving a speech slamming Microsoft - but I didn’t have a copy of Keynote for my Mac yet, and I really needed the crib notes.
Click the thumbnail for the PPT file.
And for the Powerpoint impaired, here’s the text…
1. Technology without a mission is just a toy…play time is over.
2. Government and private industry want your computer to obey them, not you.
3. Private Industry Initiatives:
- Trusted Computing Platform Alliance(Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft)
- Palladium aka Next Generation Secure Computing Base
4. (The next five slides are from Lucky Green’s Defcon presentation on TCPA, August 3, 2002 , http://c y p h e r p u n k s . t o)
5. TCPA Membership Profile
- CPU: Intel, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Motorola
- BIOS/Chips: Phoenix/Award, American Megatrends (AMI), National Semiconductor
- Security: VeriSign, Wave Systems, RSA Security, Check Point, Certicom, Trend Micro, Symantec, Tripwire, Crypto AG [NSA]
- Applications: Microsoft, Adobe (and 170 other ISVs)
- Systems: HP, IBM, Dell, Gateway, Fujitsu, Samsung, Toshiba
6. Quiz: How will the Law Help TCPA Stifle Competition?
- Application vendors intend to wrap their file formats with DRM.
7. Consequences of Ubiquitous Digital Rights Management
- Makes it illegal to create interoperable software in the U.S.
- Subjects authors of interoperable software to penalties of up to $500,000 and 5 years in prison (and double that for subsequent offenses).
- The law is already on the books: Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
8. Software Authors’ Choices
- Do not create interoperable software.
- Spend 5 years in prison.
9. Use of TPM’s is Voluntary
- “One thing I can guarantee is that [Palladium] will be ‘off’ by default, an opt-in technology.” — Stuart Okin, Security Officer, Microsoft, United Kingdom
- Using gasoline in a car is an opt-in technology
10. Palladium definitions from Free Software, Free Society by Richard Stallman
- “Security” does not mean protecting your machine from things you do not want, it means protecting your copies of data on your machine from access by you in ways others do not want.
- “Attack” doesn’t mean someone trying to hurt you, it means you trying to copy music.
- “Malicious code” means code installed by you to do what someone else doesn’t want your machine to do.
- “Spoofing” doesn’t mean someone fooling you, it means you fooling Palladium.
11. Government Initiatives:
- DMCA
- HR 5211 The Berman Bill
- S 4058 The CBDTPA
- DARPA’s Total Information Awareness
12. Happy Birthday
- Written in 1893
- Copyright renewed in 1934
- Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act of 1998 protects it until 2030
- AOL-Time Warner earns $2 million a yea
- “The public must defend the public domain.” - Larry Lessig
13. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
- Universal garage door openers
- Unauthorized toner cartridges (Lexmark)
- ReplayPlanet and AVS Forum have removed sections on extracting video
- Apple vs OWC
- HP threatens security org for revealing flaw in Tru64
- Illegal to fast forward through commercials in DVD
- Equivalent of banning Xerox machines and VCRs
- There is no VCR for streaming media
14. HR 5211 - The Berman Bill
“Amends Federal copyright law to protect a copyright owner from liability in any criminal or civil action for impairing, with appropriate technology, the unauthorized distribution, display, performance, or reproduction of his or her copyrighted work on a publicly accessible peer-to-peer file trading network, if such impairment does not, without authorization, alter, delete, or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data residing on the computer of a file trader.”
15. Records show [Howard L.] Berman received at least $186,891 from the entertainment industry during the 2001-02 election cycle…Including $31,000 from the Walt Disney Co. and $28,050 from AOL-Time Warner Inc. (AP)
16 . The Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act(or the Consume But Don’t Try Programming Act)
sponsored by Fritz Hollings
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON SHIPMENT IN INTERSTATE COMMERCE OF NONCONFORMING DIGITAL MEDIA DEVICES. (a) IN GENERAL- A manufacturer, importer, or seller of digital media devices may not–(1) sell, or offer for sale, in interstate commerce, or (2) cause to be transported in, or in a manner affecting, interstate commerce,a digital media device unless the device includes and utilizes standard security technologies that adhere to the security system standards adopted under section 3.
17. Act Now
- EFF http://action.eff.org
- Public Knowledge http://www.publicknowledge.org
- TCPA/Palladium FAQ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
- EPIC’s Palladium FAQ http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/microsoft/palladium.html
- Larry Lessig http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig
Loading ...KSFO Links
January 25, 2003
I had a great time doing the show today. It was just like the old days. It’s so much fun answering calls and chatting about tech without the time constraints of TV. I can’t wait to do it again Feb 15th! Here are the links to some of the things I talked about today.
Sonic.net vs. SBC
Sonic.net founder and president, Dane Jasper, joined me to talk about independent ISPs and their fight to survive. If you’re shopping for DSL, or you’re a DirecTV DSL customer who’s looking for a replacement service, you’ll want to hear about CISPA’s PUC complaints against SBC.
The Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Worm
It practically brought the net down early this morning. Everything’s okay now, but it just shows you how fast thest things can spread. Security guru, Steve Gibson, joined us to talk about Slapper and how it works.
AnalogX’s Internet Traffic Report is down this morning, but it’s usually a good way to sample the current state of the ‘net.
Test your firewall at Steve’s ShieldsUP. If you don’t have a firewall, download a good one, free, from Zone Labs.
If you run Microsoft’s SQL Server 2000 make sure you’re not vulnerable to the worm. Steve’s got the relevant netstat command at grc.com.
To learn more about Slammer read the white paper at eEye - you’ll find a link to the patch there, and a discussion of other ways to block the attack.
Spybot S&D detects and deletes spyware. It’s free from security.kolla.de/
I’ll be speaking at the next General Meeting of the Golden Gate Computer Society in San Rafael, CA on Monday, January 27. The meeting is free and open to the public. The topic “Playtime is Over.”
And thanks to Bob O’Donnell for letting me fill in. His web site is everythingcomputers.com.
Bad Timing
January 23, 2003
Just as I’m thinking about getting back into radio, Cnet decides to leave it behind on January 31 saying that Cnet Radio “was not meeting the company’s financial objectives.”
Brian Cooley, their best host, will continue on with daily audio downloads over via something called Cnet Radio Direct.
I can’t say I was a regular listener, but it’s a shame they couldn’t make a go of it. When one of our number calls it quits, it cast doubts on all our efforts. Cnet abandoned TV in a similar fashion a year or so ago and I think a lot of people (wrongly) thought that was the death knell for computer television.
There are still plenty of computer radio shows on the dial. Most every market has its local show. And there are several national shows including Kim Kommando (ick), Craig Crossman’s Computer America (double ick) and David Lawrence’s Online Tonight (which aired on Cnet but will continue on its other stations). I am sure that most, if not all, of these are financially viable.
Coincidentally, I have been actively looking for either a local or national venue for a weekly radio show, myself. I just don’t get enough time on TechTV to take calls any more and I miss that. There’s nothing solid to report yet, but I am hopeful that, despite the fall of Cnet, there’s still an audience for a computer radio show that’s both entertaining and informative. I’ll let you know if I can find a venue.
For now, I’m going to try to loosen those rusty old chops by guest hosting on my old show while Bob O’Donnell takes some time off this Saturday and again on February 15. I hope you’ll listen in and call in from 10a-1p Pacific on KSFO, 560 AM in San Francisco (it’s streamed on the web too at http://www.ksfo560.com).
It’ll be just like old times. And maybe the start of something new, too.
Use Your Words
January 19, 2003
We’re spending the long weekend in Santa Cruz with Jennifer’s family. On the way down Saturday we stopped at the big Peace Rally in San Francisco. There must have been 50,000 people there.
Everyone really seemed to enjoy Henry’s sign…
Big Boys Use Their Words
Pat and Leo are Cult Figures
January 13, 2003
Thanks to Nitrozac and Snaggy for making us the focus of a Geekculture strip.
And it’s funny, too. We are so honored!
Something’s Fishy
January 5, 2003
We added to the menagerie over the holiday. Henry got an aquarium with three fish in it. He’s named them Billy, Billy Bob, and Billy Bob Junior, and he got it right. They’re African cichlids from Malawi (we told Henry they were African fighting fish to get his interest) and highly territorial. Billy is definitely top dog; BBJ is low man on the fishing pole.
An unexpected side effect, however, is that I’ve become fascinated by the whole thing. We got him a 10 gallon tank (which I’ve since learned on the small side for a beginner - 20 is more forgiving). He and Abby got to pick the fish and decorations.
We chose the cichlids because they’re hardy and fun to watch. They can’t share the tank with any other species, because they’re very territorial and can be piscivorous. But they sure are pretty. These three are juveniles. We’ll let them cycle the tank for a couple of months then add a few more around Valentine’s Day. Wendy at the store said we should have seven total to keep them from getting too attached to any one area of the tank. The rule of thumb is one inch of (thin bodied) fish per gallon, so seven is the absolute max.
Meanwhile, I can’t stop watching these guys. They’re surprisingly friendly - they swim up immediately when they see you. (I’m sure they just want food, but it’s still neat.) And the pecking order thing is endlessly intriguing.
Here’s a picture of Billy in front of his castle. He likes to swim in and out of the windows. He won’t let the others near it.
And here are his minions. That’s Billy Bob on the left with his sunken ship, Junior on the right. Junior tends to hang out wherever the other two let him. We have a cave out of sight on the left side of the tank that he likes.
Thanks to my fish experts, Laura Burstein, and Wendy at the Pet Arcade for getting me started. I also did a lot of research on the web, including the excellent Usenet rec.aquaria.* FAQ archived at The Krib. I can sure see how people can get devoted to this hobby! Now I want one for the set.
Big Version
January 5, 2003
We will not give up. I will hold a high-level summit with the leader of the Jumping Monkeys tomorrow and we will see if we can find a common ground against the green horde of Evercrest. But until then, keep clicking for Leoville! Here’s a big map for those of you who prefer it. (Or use the little map on the previous entry if you like.)
Stop Megan!
January 2, 2003
Fizban30 has brought it to my attention that Megan is attempting to conquer the world. This must not happen! Click on the map below to reclaim the earth for Leoville if you value all that’s good and holy!
I mean how can we allow someone who didn’t like Gangs of New York one more square inch of mother earth?
Hint: we get double points for occupying an entire nation so pick a country and click for God, for Country, for Leoville!
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