Ken's Weblog

People should not fear their governments; governments should fear their people.

Month: April 2009

  • New attacks on SHA-1

    This was posted on the PGP-Basics mailing list by Robert J. Hansen:

    Some researchers are claiming they’ve been able to make the Shengdong
    University attack on SHA-1 a factor of about 2000 times easier. If
    their research is correct, that means SHA-1 is now attackable by regular
    people.

    These results are not unexpected. We knew this day would come. For the
    last couple of years most crypto nerds have been strongly recommending
    people either migrate away from SHA-1 immediately, or at the very least
    have a migration plan put together.

    If you have already migrated — then you may ignore this development.

    If you have not — then it is increasingly urgent you do so.

    Original URL:

    http://eurocrypt2009rump.cr.yp.to/837a0a8086fa6ca714249409ddfae43d.pdf

  • @terranaomi Or CSPAN.

    @terranaomi Or CSPAN.

  • Trying out PGP Whole Disk Encr…

    Trying out PGP Whole Disk Encryption on my MacBook Pro. So far it hasn’t eaten my hard drive.

  • I’ve found that certain develo…

    I’ve found that certain developers are distinguishable from small children primarily in that small children are less likely to have email.

  • Quote of the Day

    Everyone who walks into my life brings happiness; some coming in and some going out.

    Natasha Bishop

  • @sethdill This is one of the r…

    @sethdill This is one of the reasons I’m so much more productive since I started working from home.

  • The number of builds I’m respo…

    The number of builds I’m responsible for just hit 333. :-/

  • Quote of the Day

    From a comment referring to the Gestapo harassing photographers:

    That’s right; I don’t want to be too technical, but the focal length of the lens is directly correlated with hatred of America. It goes something like this:

    You have a a cell phone camera, point and shoot, or 20mm wide angle lens: you are a red blooded American who wants to celebrate our national heritage by taking pictures of popular tourist locations.

    A 50mm lens: you are also, by and large, a good American, but you have a disturbing interest in “understanding” the terrorists and why they attack us.

    An 85mm lens: you loath your own country and secretly admire the 9/11 hijackers for giving us our come-up-ins. You are not a terrorist, but your camera should probably be confiscated and your pictures deleted, lest they find their way to al Jazeera message boards. Your middle name may be Hussein.

    A 200mm lens: you are an al Qaeda henchman actively scouting for security vulnerabilities.

    A 300mm lens: you ARE bin Laden!

    And yes, every tripod is suitable for launching RPGs, but you need a ball head to attach heat seeking missiles.

    Another Matt

  • More role reversal

    My Ears Are Bleeding.

    So I just completed the 2.5 hour drive from D.C. to Charlottesville for my speech at UVA tonight. Beautiful drive.

    Along the way, I listened to some left-wing talk radio, specifically Ed Schultz. And wow. The left’s blathering idiots really are just a mirror image of the right’s, aren’t they? Cognitive dissonance, disingenuous bullshitting, demagoguery, and hateful invective all over the place. It was really something to behold.

    Apparently without the slightest hint of irony, Schultz started by casting off the tea party protesters as “un-American” and “unpatriotic.” Yep. Bush has been out of office for all of three months, and the left has already adopted the “people who disagree with us hate America” crap. He then characterized tea partiers exercising their right to free speech and protest as “trying to overturn the results of an election.” Another page ripped from the right-wing playbook. Just substitute “anti-war protests” for “tea parties.”

    But Schultz wasn’t done. He then said the tea party movement is primarily fueled by racism, and the parties are attended by people who can’t stand the fact that a black man was elected president. He said the whole protest was fueled by hate and “white power” supporters.

    Then it got worse. Schultz actually said that Fox News anchors were secretly hoping for shots to be fired, for government officials to be killed, and for an ensuing violent overthrow of the government. He strongly implied that tea party organizers want Obama to be assassinated. He equated Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s statement in support of the 10th Amendment this week as akin to support for a bloody revolution.

    This guy isn’t fringe, either. DCCC chairman and Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen was one of Schultz’s guests today. Schultz also has an evening show on MSNBC, where Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs will be his guest tonight.

    Schultz’s bumper described him as the most-listened to liberal talk show host on the radio. God help us if that’s true. You have guys like Schultz gobbling up listeners on the left, and people like Hannity, Rush, and Savage gobbling them up on the right . . . and it’s we libertarians who get tarred as nut-jobs.

    [The Agitator]

    It’s not just the Republicans who have reversed their positions.

  • Role reversal

    The ultimate reaping of what one sows: right-wing edition. Right-wing polemicists today are shrieking in self-pitying protest over a new report from the Department of Homeland Security sent to local police forces which warns of growing “right-wing extremist activity.” The report (.pdf) identifies attributes of these right-wing extremists, warning that a growing domestic threat of violence and terrorism “may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration” and “groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.”

    […]

    But the political faction screeching about the dangers of the DHS is the same one that spent the last eight years vastly expanding the domestic Surveillance State and federal police powers in every area. DHS — and the still-creepy phrase “homeland security” — became George Bush’s calling card. The Republicans won the 2002 election by demonizing those who opposed its creation. All of the enabling legislation underlying this Surveillance State — from the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act, from the various FISA “reforms” to massive increases in domestic “counter-Terrorism” programs — are the spawns of the very right-wing movement that today is petrified that this is all being directed at them.

    When you cheer on a Surveillance State, you have no grounds to complain when it turns its eyes on you. If you create a massive and wildly empowered domestic surveillance apparatus, it’s going to monitor and investigate domestic political activity. That’s its nature. [Glenn Greenwald]