PhreakNIC, for those of you raised by wolves, is an annual technology and culture exhibition (the kinder, gentler name for "Hacker Convention") in Nashville, TN. This year's event is all over, except for a few blood tests that we're still awaiting results on, but if you missed it you can catch some of the events through the video feeds. Wilpig was nice enough to set up a recorder on ConTV, but unfortunately it crashed a couple of times. Some of the best attended talks were lost.

Seriously, just download the .avi files, as they are smaller (DiVX Format) and have been edited. The raw .wmv files are labeled based on the original schedule, not the actual execution of such schedule. For instance, the cable feed wasn't set up for the Welcome, so if you download it you'll be cursing at the fact that you have an hour of Nashville Tourism commercials.

Videos from PhreakNIC 7 Online

] VeriSign Inc., the firm that operates a key piece of the
] Internet's address system, said it would temporarily shut
] down a new service that makes money off the typos of Web
] users after the Internet's oversight body threatened to
] take legal action against the company.

Woohoo!

VeriSign Freezes Search Service (TechNews.com)

Decius wrote:
] ] Yet another Network Solutions/Verisign deception plot at
] ] work. My company has a number of names (unfortunately)
] ] registered with Verisign. So we moved one of them about
] ] gosh, the beginning of August.
] ]
] ] So guess what we get in the email this morning? A dunning
] notice
] ] for *not paying* for our domain registration. And an offer
] to reclaim
] ] the domin before "it becomes available to the general
] public".
]
] These guys were sanctioned for this days ago! Four options:
]
] 1. Verisign has decided that they are beyond reproach.
] 2. Verisign has been sniffing glue.
] 3. Someone is framing Verisign.
] 4. My computer is controlled by trolls from the underworld.

I choose 5: all of the above:) - Nano

RE: Verisign back in the fraud?!

inignoct wrote:
] ] The aim of the Molecular Media Project is to use cells
] ] and atoms to perform useful computational tasks at
] ] the micron (10-6m) and/or nanoscales (10-9m) of
] ] organisation. The Molecular Media Project is
] ] principally concerned with exploiting polymer and
] ] colloidal nano-agglomeration or biotechnology for
] ] new media applications. Digital data in the form of (i)
] ] still image, (ii) text, (iii) motion pictures and (iv)
] ] sound have all been modified at the micro/nanoscale.
] ] This research overlaps chemistry, physics,
] ] microbiology, computer science, mathematics, performance
] ] art and design.
]
] Cause glitches with yeast. What a concept.

cool!

RE: Molecular Media Project

UM, yeah, this is an autonomous robot that goes around cracking wifi passwords. Once it cracks a password it triangulates the person who is transmitting it, drives up to you, and shows you your password on a big LCD screen. Promptly you begin to kick it. Thats why these guys need to talk to the people at battlebots.

ToorCon Pics: Hackerbot

] EFF last week called on IEEE members and other citizens
] to voice their concerns about the standard. Nearly five
] hundred people wrote to IEEE leadership pointing out
] flaws in the draft standard. On September 22, the first
] working group ballot on the draft failed overwhelmingly,
] causing the simultaneous ballot at the sponsor level to
] fail as well.

EFF: Flawed E-Voting Standard Sent Back to Drawing Board

] Activists have also questioned the political affiliations
] of the leading voting companies. Late last year, Harris
] found that Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, used
] to run the voting company that provided most of the
] voting machines in his state. And in August, the
] Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that Walden O'Dell, the
] CEO of Diebold, is a major fundraiser for President Bush.
] In a letter to fellow Republicans, O'Dell said that he
] was "COMMITTED TO HELPING OHIO DELIVER ITS ELECTORAL
] VOTES TO THE PRESIDENT NEXT YEAR."
]
] But the problems Harris found in Diebold's system are
] perhaps the best proof yet that electronic voting systems
] aren't ready for prime time. Indeed, the vulnerabilities
] in the software, as well as the internal memos, raise
] questions about the legitimacy of the California recall
] election. In its ruling, the 9th Circuit Court put the
] election on hold until the six counties that currently
] use punch-card systems -- six counties that comprise 44
] percent of the state's voters -- upgrade their systems.
] On Monday, 11 judges on the 9th Circuit reheard the
] recall case; they may very well allow the election to go
] ahead on Oct. 7. If the recall vote is put on hold until
] March, however, many may wonder whether to trust the
] results: Four of the six punch-card counties -- including
] the largest, Los Angeles and San Diego -- have plans to
] upgrade to Diebold machines by March.

(Comments from Decius)

Very good article, with links to Diebold's internal memos, on the electronic voting systems.

I think that Harris is a conspiracy theorist. Certainly if the elections in Georgia were stolen that would be a historic fraud, a great mar on our history. However, it is not appropriate to allege that unless you've got proof. Saying "Oh, oh, oh, this might have occured..." simply serves to rile up people's emotions and it contributes to the ignorance and confusion that surrounds this issue. The quotes in the Diebold memos about "King County" are obviously not in reference to election fraud. Later in the same memo the same person discussess the concerns that Texas has about the use of this capability for such a purpose.

On the other hand, the Diebold memos demonstrate a complete lack of computer security clue on the part of the engineers. The fact that you have a password on your .mdb file isn't going to keep me out of it, in particular when you've handed me software that has access to it. Furthermore, the fact these morons are confident enough of their clue level to be poking fun at the "technical wizards" in the certifying companies is enough to turn the stomach.

All of these people simply seem to be in way the hell over their heads, and none of them seem to realize it.

Salon.com Technology | An open invitation to election fraud

] DIEBOLD ALERT
]
] All files yanked by webhost at request of Diebold,
] Inc.
] A copy of the email is below. I received this 28 hours
] after the now-vanished files went live.
] While I am not a legal professional in any way, I firmly
] believe that these files, while copyrighted, carry
] credible evidence of illegal vote-accessing activity
] and thus are not covered under the DCMA due to the "dirty
] hands" defense, which disallows an entity seeking
] damages in cases involving illegal activities
] connected to that which is being protected.

Diebold sueing away the truth...

What if you could file-share someone's consciousness? Would it be a violation, or the ultimate communication therapy?

That's all I'll quote. You go read the rest.

[I *heart* Cory Doctorow - Nano]

Truncat - A New Short Story by Cory Doctorow

Following are the few defined rules for Drunken Coding:

* All contestants must be 21 years of age or older, as proven by a State or Federal issued ID, just like if you were in a bar, buddy.
* If you drove, don't be an ass hat. Give us your keys.
* Judging is far from fair and impartial, just so you know.
* Each contestant is responsible for getting into "Game Condition" on their own. Also known as BYOB.
* Before entry, each contestant must declare their topic and language, just in case they need to be reminded later what in the hell they are trying to do. You can always change it later if so desired. Any language and topic will be allowed.
* At each checkpoint within the contest, each contestant must qualify by blowing a 0.08 or higher on a blood alcohol content breath analyzer (provided by the contest). Don't worry, the alcohol will sterilize the tip.
* Late entries will be accepted from those with entertaining excuses, just remember that the judges will also be drunk, so "entertaining" is subject to change.

come on guys, you know you all want to enter...

Drunken Coding Competition @ PN-7