It isn't hard to build one of these. I was hoping they could focus it though, that'd make it a very cool weapon.
But like I always say, you want to run from the police you need two things. A radio jammer and a surface to air missile to take out the damned helicopters.
Back when I worked for the Secretary of State's office it was decided that we should move the Central Voter Registration System to a new location, along with all the other mail, web, and database servers.
I was responsible for infrastructure planning. We ended up using an APC Symmetra backed up by a 125kW natural gas fired generator. Transfer to generator took approximately ten seconds by the Symmetra could keep the whole thing running for 45 minutes, allowing us graceful shutdown, etc. if the generator didn't spool up.
We even extended power to the MDF so that Cox could plug their UPS into the generator line and be powered up while everything else was down.
The cooling was accomplished by redundant systems. There were duplicate two-ton air conditioning units in the room. If one failed the other could pick up the slack but in normal mode they both ran.
This represented a big improvement over what we'd had before. The servers had been housed in an minimally air conditioned closet in the sub-basement of the State House.
The fly in the ointment so to speak was that we depended on another state agency for DNS service. One day there was a massive power outage that affected a good chunk of Providence,RI. The Sec State's office systems were up and running except nobody could get to them, and they couldn't get out.
I own a Sanyo Xacti C40. I love the ease of use and it does passable SHQ video at 30fps. On a 2gb SD card I can squeeze about an hour and a half of video.
One thing I wish it had is a jack for an external microphone. I might just hack one into the thing since there is room in there to add a 1/8" jack.
The other thing it needs help with is low-light performance. That can be easily solved as I plan to build an LED based lighting ring that snaps around the lens body. And I know this camera can see infrared so I'll make a visible LED ring and an infrared ring.
I know in the case of Verizon the alleged patent holders literally took their ideas from RFC's and the like to create their patents. There is most definitely existence of prior art out there yet these cretins can attack the likes of VoIP companies, hard drive manufacturers and now wlan hardware vendors.
If it's ever been obvious that we need patent reform before, it should be painfully obvious now.
File-sharing and illegally downloading of music has devastated a once-booming music industry. Some observers say the industry is just trying to protect itself.
I cannot stand this automatic assertion that the recording industry is losing money exclusively because of file sharing. Perhaps if they took a moment to stop offering us crap we might actually buy more music. I have to say it, most of what makes it the the stores today is by and large, crap.
And the recording industry isn't hurting as much as they'd have you believe. They never mention that fact.
Because if this one had any clue, he would have used Knoppix to boot the thing and see what was on it, or even run OPHCRACK on it to crack the admin password. I've found the OPHCRACK to be remarkably effective.
And the drivers for the Digimarc printer, I did a google search and they do make it hard to find drivers. But if the method I outlined in the last paragraph was used, there'd be no need to get the driver.
If you read any newspapers at all it's obvious about bird strikes, near misses and ground incursion.
It got so bad at PVD that they had to install an experimental ground incursion RADAR system.
What kills me are the near misses. GPS is pretty accurate, particularly when you look at the tolerance for air flight. And when you're up that high it's pretty sure you'll catch a few satellites to do comparison. But they don't use that on aircraft yet decent navigation systems are showing up in cars now.
And lets look at the antiquated Air Traffic Control System. That needs improvement.
With regard to the birds, just harden the jets up enough to withstand the strike.
a) That it was a different hard drive. Maybe the shared folder didn't exist on the drive she turned over? But wouldn't her assertion that she was spoofed have made any dent in the credibility of the so called expert witnesses presented by the RIAA?
b) There are enough loopholes that you could prove that she didn't have the monitored IP address since almost all broadband ISP's do two things. First your IP address cycles regularly. Second the logs only go back for so many days. So the proof is hard to come by.
c) The number of open wireless networks near me is astounding. Were I to share files I'd most definitely be using someone elses network and not mine. Therefore spoofing made easy.
Attorneys aren't the brightest bulbs to begin with. In RI Attorney Brian Cuynha cannot sue the foam manufacturers in re the Station Fire because he forgot to notify them that he was filing suit against them. There is an electronic filing system and he doesn't know how to use it.
And jurors, were I to be dragged into court on an RIAA charge I'd want a true jury of my peers. My peers being I.T. people who know the difference.
When you setup any new networking gear what is the very first thing you do? I can tell you what mine is, I change usernames and passwords. I even use strong passwords just in case.
Well yes, I'm aware of that. The units don't appear to be constructed all that well. I remember the old Denver Boot and those were solidly built, these don't look like they might survive a collision with the curb.
Of course you'd wreck your wheel in the process. I love all the law and order folks who don't realize that our rights are being gradually eroded by something so simple as letting private contractors take over municipal services.
I'd have no problem with this had the city not installed more than 2,000 NEW parking meters. It's a revenue issue, plain and simple. For example, the area around Brown University is all 2 and 3 hour parking zones. So every day at 10:30AM you see a massive wave of employees and students going out and moving their cars.
Brown does provide parking but its expensive and there isn't that much of it. So you have no option but to play the parking shuffle. It's the same with overnight parking. They tout it as a safety issue which is pure bullshit. If a fire engine needs to get through those engines are powerful enough that they can either crush or push something out of the way.
The issue about our local representatives is that the common citizen has no voice in government. But isn't it curious that a private company manages all those new parking meters and to to do the ticketing and booting. You cannot tell me there isn't a profit motive, and where there is a profit motive there will be abuse.
Well they look to be easily hackable. The codes are only 4 digits. But there's a big sticker that says it's very naughty to either hack it or cut it off. Still, I'd cut it off then just ship it back to the PD collect.
From 2001 to 2003 I worked for the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General as the Director of I.T.
At that time there were two things going on. First was the box that sat in the back of the computer room with all sorts of encryption hardware and it's own frame-relay connection. This was to allow us to connect to the CJIS network. The second part was the Interstate Identification Index.
In the past the FBI used to hold all fingerprint records. What they did with the advent of Automated Fingerprinted Identification Systems (AFIS) is push the burden onto the states. Rhode Island uses Connecticuts AFIS. But the criminal history dips hit that CJIS network to see if an active record in any state exists and then returns the information. This is also based on positive matches on a ten-print scan.
But here is where it gets interesting. The criminal history database was housed on an IBM RS/6000 under Oracle. To get our III data to the FBI we had to do an export. Well, the tapes and tape drives we had were of the Metal-Oxide variety and the FBI couldn't read the tapes. We ended up burning a set of 6 CD's with all the data they'd requested.
But we've long been told of the charlie-foxtrot that FBI and IRS systems became, but I've worked with many CJIS folks and they were competent people.
Do you want to know what it is being used for? I'll tell you, revenue generation. The city of Providnce, RI recently changes the rules regarding parking tickets. It used to be that if you had five or more you might find your car booted. Now it's two tickets and it's not the police doing the booting, but a private company.
I've seen the vehicle, it's a mini-van with cameras mounted at the top of both A pillars and pointing outward and a little above curb level. When they spot a vehicle the put on a boot with a keypad. To get the boot off you have to call the 800 number, pay on average $350 then remove the boot and return it to the police department.
The other little thing that went into effect were tons of new parking meters. The one thing right about that is the kiosk system, no individual meters. It prints a ticket that you place in your car. And it takes credit cards. The kiosk is also run via solar power and uses a MESH network connection.
So not all those technologies are used to spy per se, but as revenue generation tools.
I wonder what the actual terms of the Creative Commons licensing were. I've never bothered on Flickr but I know on Blip.tv I usually select CC Share-Share-Alike but I do know that you can specify non-commercial, etc. It's very flexible which is what I like about it.
I've found that many laptop retailers post technical and field service details on their web sites and don't bother to protect them because field techs and passwords don't mix. You just have to do a little digging.
The first week I had my Dell XPS M140 I had it completely apart and then put back together again with the assistance of those field service guides. It never hurts to get overly familiar with your machine, particularly a laptop.
When it came time to do things like upgrade RAM, tighten screen hinges, etc. I moved forward with no fear.
We use Ubuntu on our public computers because the windows boxes were getting to be a real problem to lock down without an A/D controller.
Users can do whatever they want with the machine but the firewall behind them only allows web traffic. We're using Squid, DansGuardian and Clam A/V there.
If a public workstation does get fouled up we just pop in a cd and type nuke and twenty minutes later it's a fully functional machine.
Verizon's FIOS is in my area. I won't subscribe because I hate Verizon with a passion, but I've got photos of their cabinets and they look nothing like at&t's cabinets.
Look around you. There's life you can see and life you can't see but indirectly. Leave a moistened piece of bread out in the open air for a few days and some of that invisible life makes itself known.
The same is probably true of Mars. I'm more interested in finding out what data the rovers that recently died have sent to us. I know it'll take years to analyze all the data but I suspect they'll find signs of life too.
I tend to agree. I know two former cops that walked a beat and they tell some interesting stories. But the most common theme was that there were never any serious problems in the areas patrolled by beat cops.
They're bringing them back to some degree. We now have bicycle cops, beat cops, and even equestrian patrols in addition to the cruisers that normally patrol.
Good policing comes down to very local areas. That's also why Providence is now split into 16 districts for police, each with their own commanding Lieutenant.
However in the ultimate act of stupidity, the city of Providence uses a thing called Provstat to monitor the functions of the administration. The police still have to rely on HTE for data extraction.
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It isn't hard to build one of these. I was hoping they could focus it though, that'd make it a very cool weapon.
But like I always say, you want to run from the police you need two things. A radio jammer and a surface to air missile to take out the damned helicopters.
Back when I worked for the Secretary of State's office it was decided that we should move the Central Voter Registration System to a new location, along with all the other mail, web, and database servers.
I was responsible for infrastructure planning. We ended up using an APC Symmetra backed up by a 125kW natural gas fired generator. Transfer to generator took approximately ten seconds by the Symmetra could keep the whole thing running for 45 minutes, allowing us graceful shutdown, etc. if the generator didn't spool up. We even extended power to the MDF so that Cox could plug their UPS into the generator line and be powered up while everything else was down.
The cooling was accomplished by redundant systems. There were duplicate two-ton air conditioning units in the room. If one failed the other could pick up the slack but in normal mode they both ran.
This represented a big improvement over what we'd had before. The servers had been housed in an minimally air conditioned closet in the sub-basement of the State House.
The fly in the ointment so to speak was that we depended on another state agency for DNS service. One day there was a massive power outage that affected a good chunk of Providence,RI. The Sec State's office systems were up and running except nobody could get to them, and they couldn't get out.
And it's still that way today.
I own a Sanyo Xacti C40. I love the ease of use and it does passable SHQ video at 30fps. On a 2gb SD card I can squeeze about an hour and a half of video.
One thing I wish it had is a jack for an external microphone. I might just hack one into the thing since there is room in there to add a 1/8" jack.
The other thing it needs help with is low-light performance. That can be easily solved as I plan to build an LED based lighting ring that snaps around the lens body. And I know this camera can see infrared so I'll make a visible LED ring and an infrared ring.
Then I'll buy one of the HD capable Xacti's.
I know in the case of Verizon the alleged patent holders literally took their ideas from RFC's and the like to create their patents. There is most definitely existence of prior art out there yet these cretins can attack the likes of VoIP companies, hard drive manufacturers and now wlan hardware vendors.
If it's ever been obvious that we need patent reform before, it should be painfully obvious now.
File-sharing and illegally downloading of music has devastated a once-booming music industry. Some observers say the industry is just trying to protect itself.
I cannot stand this automatic assertion that the recording industry is losing money exclusively because of file sharing. Perhaps if they took a moment to stop offering us crap we might actually buy more music. I have to say it, most of what makes it the the stores today is by and large, crap.
And the recording industry isn't hurting as much as they'd have you believe. They never mention that fact.
Because if this one had any clue, he would have used Knoppix to boot the thing and see what was on it, or even run OPHCRACK on it to crack the admin password. I've found the OPHCRACK to be remarkably effective.
And the drivers for the Digimarc printer, I did a google search and they do make it hard to find drivers. But if the method I outlined in the last paragraph was used, there'd be no need to get the driver.
Stupid criminals! But I guess that's redundant.
If you read any newspapers at all it's obvious about bird strikes, near misses and ground incursion.
It got so bad at PVD that they had to install an experimental ground incursion RADAR system.
What kills me are the near misses. GPS is pretty accurate, particularly when you look at the tolerance for air flight. And when you're up that high it's pretty sure you'll catch a few satellites to do comparison. But they don't use that on aircraft yet decent navigation systems are showing up in cars now.
And lets look at the antiquated Air Traffic Control System. That needs improvement.
With regard to the birds, just harden the jets up enough to withstand the strike.
I've watched the taxes and fees on my VoIP service from Vonage go from $2.00 a month to $9.00 a month.
Here's my question - since Vonage is a broadband only service why do I have to pay an FUSF charge, while on Skype I don't. Interesting isn't it.
a) That it was a different hard drive. Maybe the shared folder didn't exist on the drive she turned over? But wouldn't her assertion that she was spoofed have made any dent in the credibility of the so called expert witnesses presented by the RIAA?
b) There are enough loopholes that you could prove that she didn't have the monitored IP address since almost all broadband ISP's do two things. First your IP address cycles regularly. Second the logs only go back for so many days. So the proof is hard to come by.
c) The number of open wireless networks near me is astounding. Were I to share files I'd most definitely be using someone elses network and not mine. Therefore spoofing made easy.
Attorneys aren't the brightest bulbs to begin with. In RI Attorney Brian Cuynha cannot sue the foam manufacturers in re the Station Fire because he forgot to notify them that he was filing suit against them. There is an electronic filing system and he doesn't know how to use it.
And jurors, were I to be dragged into court on an RIAA charge I'd want a true jury of my peers. My peers being I.T. people who know the difference.
When you setup any new networking gear what is the very first thing you do? I can tell you what mine is, I change usernames and passwords. I even use strong passwords just in case.
Nice to know telecom companies don't have a clue.
Now that is a story of what can happen when the police are involved. Thanks for telling us about it.
Well yes, I'm aware of that. The units don't appear to be constructed all that well. I remember the old Denver Boot and those were solidly built, these don't look like they might survive a collision with the curb.
Of course you'd wreck your wheel in the process. I love all the law and order folks who don't realize that our rights are being gradually eroded by something so simple as letting private contractors take over municipal services.
I'd have no problem with this had the city not installed more than 2,000 NEW parking meters. It's a revenue issue, plain and simple. For example, the area around Brown University is all 2 and 3 hour parking zones. So every day at 10:30AM you see a massive wave of employees and students going out and moving their cars.
Brown does provide parking but its expensive and there isn't that much of it. So you have no option but to play the parking shuffle. It's the same with overnight parking. They tout it as a safety issue which is pure bullshit. If a fire engine needs to get through those engines are powerful enough that they can either crush or push something out of the way.
The issue about our local representatives is that the common citizen has no voice in government. But isn't it curious that a private company manages all those new parking meters and to to do the ticketing and booting. You cannot tell me there isn't a profit motive, and where there is a profit motive there will be abuse.
Well they look to be easily hackable. The codes are only 4 digits. But there's a big sticker that says it's very naughty to either hack it or cut it off. Still, I'd cut it off then just ship it back to the PD collect.
From 2001 to 2003 I worked for the Rhode Island Department of Attorney General as the Director of I.T.
At that time there were two things going on. First was the box that sat in the back of the computer room with all sorts of encryption hardware and it's own frame-relay connection. This was to allow us to connect to the CJIS network. The second part was the Interstate Identification Index.
In the past the FBI used to hold all fingerprint records. What they did with the advent of Automated Fingerprinted Identification Systems (AFIS) is push the burden onto the states. Rhode Island uses Connecticuts AFIS. But the criminal history dips hit that CJIS network to see if an active record in any state exists and then returns the information. This is also based on positive matches on a ten-print scan.
But here is where it gets interesting. The criminal history database was housed on an IBM RS/6000 under Oracle. To get our III data to the FBI we had to do an export. Well, the tapes and tape drives we had were of the Metal-Oxide variety and the FBI couldn't read the tapes. We ended up burning a set of 6 CD's with all the data they'd requested.
But we've long been told of the charlie-foxtrot that FBI and IRS systems became, but I've worked with many CJIS folks and they were competent people.
Do you want to know what it is being used for? I'll tell you, revenue generation. The city of Providnce, RI recently changes the rules regarding parking tickets. It used to be that if you had five or more you might find your car booted. Now it's two tickets and it's not the police doing the booting, but a private company.
I've seen the vehicle, it's a mini-van with cameras mounted at the top of both A pillars and pointing outward and a little above curb level. When they spot a vehicle the put on a boot with a keypad. To get the boot off you have to call the 800 number, pay on average $350 then remove the boot and return it to the police department.
The other little thing that went into effect were tons of new parking meters. The one thing right about that is the kiosk system, no individual meters. It prints a ticket that you place in your car. And it takes credit cards. The kiosk is also run via solar power and uses a MESH network connection.
So not all those technologies are used to spy per se, but as revenue generation tools.
I wonder what the actual terms of the Creative Commons licensing were. I've never bothered on Flickr but I know on Blip.tv I usually select CC Share-Share-Alike but I do know that you can specify non-commercial, etc. It's very flexible which is what I like about it.
I've found that many laptop retailers post technical and field service details on their web sites and don't bother to protect them because field techs and passwords don't mix. You just have to do a little digging.
The first week I had my Dell XPS M140 I had it completely apart and then put back together again with the assistance of those field service guides. It never hurts to get overly familiar with your machine, particularly a laptop.
When it came time to do things like upgrade RAM, tighten screen hinges, etc. I moved forward with no fear.
We use Ubuntu on our public computers because the windows boxes were getting to be a real problem to lock down without an A/D controller.
Users can do whatever they want with the machine but the firewall behind them only allows web traffic. We're using Squid, DansGuardian and Clam A/V there.
If a public workstation does get fouled up we just pop in a cd and type nuke and twenty minutes later it's a fully functional machine.
Cripes, $3 Billion is nothing compared to the outright looting of the fed that's going on right now in the United States.
The cool part of microwulf is that you could also scale this baby easily. All you'd need is a better gigabit switch.
The part about network/multimedia was amusing. The problem with multimedia is all the DRM that's all over the OS.
Verizon's FIOS is in my area. I won't subscribe because I hate Verizon with a passion, but I've got photos of their cabinets and they look nothing like at&t's cabinets.
t -72157594534810671/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kd1s/553921527/in/se
Look around you. There's life you can see and life you can't see but indirectly. Leave a moistened piece of bread out in the open air for a few days and some of that invisible life makes itself known.
The same is probably true of Mars. I'm more interested in finding out what data the rovers that recently died have sent to us. I know it'll take years to analyze all the data but I suspect they'll find signs of life too.
I tend to agree. I know two former cops that walked a beat and they tell some interesting stories. But the most common theme was that there were never any serious problems in the areas patrolled by beat cops.
They're bringing them back to some degree. We now have bicycle cops, beat cops, and even equestrian patrols in addition to the cruisers that normally patrol.
Good policing comes down to very local areas. That's also why Providence is now split into 16 districts for police, each with their own commanding Lieutenant.
However in the ultimate act of stupidity, the city of Providence uses a thing called Provstat to monitor the functions of the administration. The police still have to rely on HTE for data extraction.