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Symantec Antivirus != safe?

scaredpoet

So, if you have Norton/Symantec Antivirus, security experts say you may not be safe:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Symantec Corp.’s leading antivirus software, which protects some of the world’s largest corporations and U.S. government agencies, suffers from a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs, researchers said Thursday.

Symantec said it was investigating the issue but could not immediately corroborate the vulnerability. If confirmed, the threat to computer users would be severe because the security software is so widely used and because no action is required by victims using the latest versions of Symantec Antivirus to suffer a crippling attack over the Internet.

According to eEye, the vulnerability is present in Norton’s version 10-series.  And Symantec is at present neither confirming or denying.

Free SkypeOut calls: take that, NSA!

scaredpoet

Free!

Skype has just announced free outgoing calls to any landline or cell phone in the US and Canada through 2006. Nice! This I think, is the perfect way to stick it to landline companies who have allegedly submitted call logs to the NSA.  If they’re going to sell out our privacy, they shouldn’t be paid!
Though, to get true call encryption, your called partner-in-crime would also have to have Skype, and thus make a pure encrypted VoIP call that doesn’t touch the public telephone network.

AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon: Colluding with NSA?

scaredpoet

USA Today reporter Lesley Cauley recently broke the news that the National Security Agency has been doing its typical bang-up job of using a canon to kill a mosquito, trampling over the the rights of millions of Americans in its effort to find al Qaeda terrorists. The NSA seems to feel that by collecting a massive database of all calls made in the US, it can find the bad guys. Needle in a haystack, anyone?

Currently Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth (soon to be a part of AT&T anyway) have been named as companies willingly turning over their calls databases beginning shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. This does not mean that users of Sprint-Nextel, T-Mobile or other telecom companies are “under the radar,” as just about any call beginning or ending on an AT&T/Verizon network was likely logged. Note that many cell companies must contract with local exchange carriers – like AT&T or Verizon – to carry their cell calls over landline networks to their destinations.

And Bush says nope! No privacy violation here!

“Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates,” Bush said. “The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities.”

So if the target was known affiliates, then wouldn’t their activities, including what phones and telecom devices they used, where and when, be, well… known? Then why go through the herculean effort of sifting through massive amounts of unknown data, except to possibly undertake a witchhunt?

And I know there are a lot of uber-patriots out there who will counter that if God-Fearing Red-Blooded American Citizens made calls that were recorded but didn’t break any laws, then they have nothing to worry about. And that’s all fine and good, but really now… What does my calling to order a pizza having anything to do with Al Qaeda? Should I just be okay with the fact that maybe, some pencil-pusher at the NSA has a transcript of the romantic babblings that may have occurred over the phone between myself and my better half?

We have reached a stage in this “war against terrorism” that I feared would come to pass. We must now fear more from our own government that we had to fear from the terrorists. The terrorists don’t need to be jealous of our “way of life” any longer; the hyper-patriots are doing a smashing job of taking our freedoms away for them.

What’s worse, these same agencies no longer feel the need to do this clandestinely. A year ago maybe, the NSA would have denied the whole thing. Now, the stance is “yeah, we’re doing this… so what?”
The terrorists HAVE won.

Sprint vs. Verizon EVDO Shootout: Take 2

scaredpoet

The EVDO Test bench

Well, now that the data issues with Sprint have been resolved, I can do a detailed writeup of my data tests between Sprint and Verizon wireless EVDO data services.

Let’s face it, WiFi access points aren’t always where they’re needed. At times it can be quite annoying to have to take time and set up a connection, make payment (for access points that charge a fee), find oneself in awkward spots to get a decent signal, and often find that many WiFi hotspots are crowded with users, and slow to work as a result. While finding a good free hotspot is a welcome surprise, I’ve found that the majority of the time, WiFi isn’t always practical, and I need a good, fast internet connection on the fly.

Enter wireless WAN networks. Currently, the networks that are built out the broadest in the US are CDMA EVDO networks, run by Sprint and Verizon Wireless. These networks typically offer speeds that come close to “budget” DSL, or about 768kbps on the downlink. Not exactly as high as a good home broadband connection, but it’s far better than dialup, and will certainly do in a pinch. And after I found myself in a few situations where internet access on my laptop would have REALLY been a good thing, I took the plunge with EVDO.

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You’re not a Mr. Bungle… are you?

scaredpoet

Bungle

While the current crop of elementary school students are spoiled with interactive learning tools, computers and techno-gadgetry, us older folk, and I mean those of us who were public school students well into the 1980s, have been scarred with the grand old experience we came to know as film day. Ah yes, the day when our teacher didn’t feel like teaching, ran out of assignments to give, and wheeled out the old film projector, or worse, the still-frame filmstrip-and-cassette-tape machine (for those too young to know what this is, click here for an accurate, albeit politically charged, simulation of the experience). And for the day, the students would sit, veg, and have propaganda fed to them about what it meant to be a good, patriotic young pupil.

But of all the “educational” films made for this purpose, there are really two that stand out for being particularly outrageous in premise. The first – and most recognizable – is “Duck and Cover.” The second is not so widely known, but hilariously ridiculous in it’s own right: “Lunchroom Manners,” or as most people call it, “Mr. Bungle.”

I mean, just WATCH the film. What the hell were these people thinking?! Were the kids of the 1950s really such naive sheep? And did the people filming this really believe that a stupid puppet, and a stupid film revolving around the actions of a stupid puppet, would really be effective? Nowadays, the same effect can be had by tellig kids “look. Wash your filthy hands and faces, don’t run in the halls, and clean up after yourselves, you vermin!” and they’d more or less get the idea.

Oh, and what’s the deal with the hair?! For Christ’s sake, the film spends so much time drumming it into boys’ heads that their hair can’t be messy, oh no! And every damned kid in the film has a crewcut! I’m sorry, but there is just no way to have only 2mm of hair on your head, and have it get “messy!”

Oh yeah, and the milk cartons… what’s up with those? It’s PAPER people. In the 1950s you knew not of recycling… just throw them away!

Yes, I could on and on about this piece of schoolmarm drivel. You just HAVE to watch it to experience, and truly understand, the horror.