] This HOWTO explains how to browse the web anonymously by
] using Tor (http://tor.eff.org/) (TheOnionRouter) and
] Privoxy (http://www.privoxy.org/)

This howto explains how to use Tor and privoxy together to get fairly strong anonymity protection. Combined with switchproxy in firefox this could be quite useful. Thing is you'd think that a lot of the features of privoxy could be implemented as firefox plugins rather then running this dual proxy setup, but thats just the engineer in me bitching about efficiency. I think that this setup would likely work reasonably well, given the performance impact of onion routing.

HOWTO Anonymity with Tor and Privoxy - Gentoo Linux Wiki

What I found this evening in playing around with switchproxy is that there are a lot of really bad free proxies out there. I really don't understand why if someone was going to go to the time and trouble of running an open http proxy why they would use software that doesn't cull out user agent information, or worse, inserts the IP address of the originating host in the http headers!

(Upon further consideration I think what is going on here is that people are using proxies to bypass network layer net-nanny type services that filter by IP. As long as you update your proxy list faster then they update their block list, you can access any website.)

A lot of the services that provide proxy lists provide proxies of dubious value. Many that seem to rank proxies don't offer a nice text based output that can be fed into switchproxy. If anyone knows of a solid, filtered list of proxies please let me know.

This service will give you some decent information about how good your proxy really is.

proxyjudge.org - anonymity and security

] The SwitchProxy tool now has an Anonymous Proxy feature.
] An anonymizer uses a list of proxies that it randomly
] switches between at defined intervals. Many people used
] anonymizers to sheild their IP address and protect
] themselves from hackers, online tracking, havesting and
] other website snooping techniques.

Second interesting thing learned at Interz0ne: EZ anonymous web surfing with a firefox plugin.

SwitchProxy Tool for Mozilla

] We wrote some software to retrieve images from the Web
] and check if their thumbnails differ from the original
] images. In some cases we found interesting stuff,
] sometimes we even found hidden port but most of the stuff
] was boring.
]
] To give others the opportunity to see what images turn up
] without having to spider the web and help us to weed out
] the interesting images we wrote this simple
] Web-Application which resembles Hot or NOT. Just rate the
] image with the buttons at the top to see the next image.

1st interesting thing learned at interz0ne: EXIF thumbnails are often left unmodified by photoshop manipulations.

Demo: Differences between JPEG Images and their EXIF Thumbnails

Flynn23+1=Flynn24?

After some fits and starts, Eleanor Jewell Kozicki born of natural
birth @ 10:47am on March 11, 2005. Weighing 5 pounds and 15 ounces and
measuring 19.25 inches.

Mom's doing GREAT!
Dad's still coming down from outer space.

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes, thoughts, and prayers. They
definitely helped in bringing a healthy and happy girl to the world.

Cheers,
Penny, Scott, and Ella

Congrats to Scott!

] As an attorney, practicing in the areas of international
] business and immigration law, it has come to my attention through
] discussions with other attorneys, that DHS is pulling aside "selected" aliens
] at entry checkpoints and bringing them into a separate room which contains a
] DHS computer connected to the internet. The aliens are told to bring
] up their various email accounts on the screen and enter their passwords.
] DHS then reads the emails for information pertaining to possible
] unauthorized work or other matters and questions the aliens on these findings.

Unfortunately, the way this accusation was offered makes it difficult to verify. However, if true, its legal. You have no rights outside the U.S. border. Random drug searches of U.S. Citizens reentering the country already occur. Being an alien makes matters even worse. Whether it ought to be legal is another matter. I think that whether or not this is true, its an example of why the idea that rights only exist inside the border is problematic.

[IP] DHS wants to read your email

] If you work your way down the Forbes 400 making an x next
] to the name of each person with an MBA, you'll learn
] something important about business school. You don't even
] hit an MBA till number 22, Phil Knight, the CEO of Nike.
] There are only four MBAs in the top 50. What you notice
] in the Forbes 400 are a lot of people with technical
] backgrounds. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison,
] Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos, Gordon Moore. The rulers of the
] technology business tend to come from technology, not
] business. So if you want to invest two years in something
] that will help you succeed in business, the evidence
] suggests you'd do better to learn how to hack than get an
] MBA. [3]

Looks like a good article. I haven't read this yet but I intend to find time for it soon.

How to Start a Startup

David "Netwar" Ronfeldt has written a new essay for First Monday.

Al Qaeda and its affiliates are operating much like a global tribe waging segmental warfare. This paper describes the dynamics of classic tribes: what drives them, how they organize, how they fight. Al Qaeda fits the tribal paradigm quite well. Thus, continuing to view Al Qaeda mainly as a cutting–edge, post–modern phenomenon of the information age misses a crucial point: Al Qaeda and affiliates are using the information age to reiterate ancient patterns of tribalism on a global scale. The war they are waging is more about virulent tribalism than religion. The tribal paradigm should be added to the network and other prevailing paradigms to help figure out the best policies and strategies for countering these violent actors.

Al Qaeda and its affiliates: A global tribe waging segmental warfare?

Researchers that reverse engineer software to discover programming flaws can no longer legally publish their findings in France after a court fined a security expert on Tuesday.

Publishing exploit code ruled illegal in france

Trudeau has finally gotten around to addressing the passing of HST in Doonesbury. Start with the comic before the linked one and go forward.

Also, check last saturday. Its excellent.

Doonesbury - Uncle Duke's head explodes