I’m a self-confessed geek with things on my mind. By day i’m an IT Architect and Security Consultant.
In my spare time I also love being outdoors, camping and bushcraft.
This is my homepage and blog. Feel free to browse, comment and share.
I’m not anti-system. I will support systems that work for the good of society and peacefully object to those that don’t.
I’m not anti-government. I will support a form of government that I broadly trust and believe in and respects my rights as an individual.
I’m not anti-state. I will support a state which enables me to be a free and independent individual and to live my life as I choose without fear of discrimination hate and violence from others. In return I will not show discrimination, hate and violence to others.
I’m not anti-business. I will support businesses that act ethically where they can, in the best interests of human kind. I will do my best to limit my contact with those that don’t.
I’m not anti police. I welcome a police force that protects my human right to live as I choose without fear of violence, discrimination or prejudice but does not intrude on my right of privacy or my right of choice.
So, there’s some themes here:
1) Respect for the individual
2) How does the above apply to the current state of affairs?
3) Tolerance. Are we moving in the right direction? If so, maybe some patience is required and trust in the belief that we will get there.
4) Responsibility. We have a responsibility to society to support that which is good within our society and object to that which is not. Of course, the debate starts when we all try to agree on what’s good.
5) Misinformation. Whether it’s deliberate or unintentional, it clouds the issue greatly. The Internet and the way it makes it so easy for everyone to publish compounds this issue. Before you make a judgment, question the validity of your sources.
Many of you use Facebook. However, with decreasing privacy and the fact that FB own your personal data, many are looking for a new social media platform where control can be retained over your data. Enter Diaspora*.
Diaspora* is a new social media platform based on a federated architecture. This means that you can host your data on any one of many public servers, or run your own. The network handles distribution of posts to your friends in much the same way as email; your posts are delivered to your friend’s server directly, there is no central system. This is great for resilience and it is also great for privacy as only the data you specifically allow to leave your server ever does.
There is no advertising on Diaspora*. It features a nice clean, simple web interface and also a mobile site, Android and iPhone apps, just like Facebook does.
I am currently testing a new community Diaspora* server (or Pod, as they are known) with the view of offering access to it to all my friends so we can all start the migration away from Facebook together. Don’t worry though, Diaspora* allows you to cross-post your status to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr automatically, if you like. This makes the transition easy to manage as your friends who have not yet made the switch can still see your posts.
If course, you’re welcome to use another Pod. One such public Pod is joindiaspora.com, which is run by the founders of Diaspora*.
I had Facebook integration on this site for a while. However, due to privacy concerns I have disabled them. I don’t want all of my visitors tracked!
As governments and corporations look to exert more control over the internet the issue of avoiding internet censorship and promoting freedom of speech has become a central issue in shaping our internet for the future. To ensure that information is both free and uncensored it is imperative that political and economical forces are not able to unfairly modify the internet architecture for their own purposes. At the centre of this is issue is the Domain Name Service (DNS).
DNS is a directory of computers and their associated names, much like a ‘phone book. When you type an address in to your browser (for example, www.google.co.uk) your computer asks the DNS service to find the IP address that is associated with this address so your computer knows where to connect to to get the page you have requested. The DNS is a hierachical structure, made up of a number of Top Level Domains (TLDs). These TLDs are the right-most part of the adrress, like the .com, .net, .co.uk etc that we all know.
Anyone can run a DNS server. However, to resolve the domains we all know, your server needs to talk to the top-level or root servers. These servers are run by corporations and are distributed around the world. The overall administration of the DNS and IP addressing falls to an organisation called Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is a non-profit organisation which was set up by the US Federal Government to control DNS, which was previously within US Federal remit. The US federal government has retained influence over ICANN, not least because ICANN is operated within US jurisdiction. ICANN charges a large amount of money for the privilege of setting up a TLD or being a reseller for domains within a TLD, which used to be free when the internet was first created.
DNS can also be used to track your internet access. This is because every site you visit generates a DNS request, which can be logged, leaving a record of all of the hosts on the internet that you connect to. DNS can also be used to censor your access; if a domain is removed or blocked from DNS, you cannot resolve the domain name to the IP address on which it is hosted, thus stopping access to the domain. Censorship using DNS blocking has already been implemented in many countries.
However, there is a solution to this invasion of your privacy. Alternate DNS root systems can be used which do not have such censorship. This also provide an added bonus: free to register domains and TLDs, thus making DNS free, open and globally distributed, as it was always intended to be.
One such alternative root provider is opennic. Opennic allows you to resolve a host of new TLDs whilst still allowing access to the existing, ICANN administered domains. It’s easy to use, it just takes a simple configuration change on your PC to benefit. Click this link for more discussion on why this is a good idea and to find out how to make the simple change.
So there we are. Object to censorship, control and artificial costs. Join me in using opennic now and keep internet freedom alive.
World IPv6 day has come and gone and many companies worldwide now have a permanent IPv6 presence. ISP’s are now rolling out IPv6 to customers and are restricting the number of IPv4 addresses offered. These moves are welcome to those ready to adopt IPv6 but are vendors stepping up to provide IPv6 enabled devices? My personal experience says that they are not.
I recently contacted Siemens to see if my Giagset VoIP DECT phone would recieve a firmware update enabling it for IPv6. The answer I got was a definite no. This is hardly surprising, the device is a couple of years old. However, the email which i received went on to say that Siemens currently have no DECT VoIP bases that provide IPv6 functionality at all.
In the consumer router market, the story is much the same. There are still only a small number of routers that can suppport IPv6 and those that do often suffer from buggy, incomplete or non-compliant implementations. This makes the IPv6 path a frustrating one for early adopters such as myself. I don’t get the feeling that vendors are seeing IPv6 as important at the moment. I really hope this changes soon.
Dear Mr
I write with reference to the government’s proposed Communications Data
Bill.
Firstly, a little about my background. I am a freelance computer
professional specialising in IT Architecture and IT Security. Over the
last fifteen years I have worked on systems and designs for many public
and private sector clients including <removed for personal privacy reasons>
. I have also been involved in the forensic analysis of data from computer systems.
I have serious concerns about the governments plans and it’s impact on
the individual’s freedoms and human rights. I also have concern about
the efficacy of this method of gathering information and the potential
for misuse of the data gathered, both legally and illegally.
People today have an intimate relationship with the Internet, in many
cases more intimate than relationships they have with other individuals.
For many the Internet is their first port of call if they have a
concern, for example, about a medical or personal problem. The internet
is used to communicate with like minded individuals, to access subject
matter of interest, even to persue someone’s deepest, most private
desires. An individual’s Internet usage therefore reflects their entire
life, even the most private of things like sexual preferences and other
private interests. Collecting data on Internet usage therefore has the
ability to expose an individuals private life in it’s entirety.
I believe data such as this should be private, safeguarded by the basic
human right to privacy that should be offered to every human being. It
is accepted that in society the Government, the Police and the Security
Services sometimes need to delve deeply into someone’s life for reasons
of crime prevention and national security. However, this intrusion must
be justified. Currently, the law provides this safeguard with the
requirement for a warrant to be obtained before this type of data can be
collected. In my view it is incredibly important that this safeguard to
our individual privacy is retained.
There is also a major security issue in collecting and retaining this
information. A leak of this information from an ISP could easily happen.
This could potentially put individuals, particularly those in the public
eye, in a situation where they could be blackmailed, threatened,
compromised or harmed. For ISPs to handle this sort of information,
there is also a wider issue here; should ISP staff be subject to
Security Clearance if they have the potential to access this sort of
sensitive information? Would it be appropriate for this information to
be officially classified as Confidential, Restricted, Secret or above?
Information that could be collected under the Communications Data Bill
will not be effective in fighting terrorism and organised crime as has
been stated by the government. I can think of many ways that an
individual could circumvent these measures. For an organised group the
possibilities to avoid detection are even greater. Instead, the data
generated will only really be useful for monitoring and profiling the
innocent. Fear of being caught for doing something that is completely
innocent could do the greatest harm, with individuals, particularly
young people, afraid of seeking information for fear of being
criminalised for it. Profiling in particular is also a major concern as
it effectively criminalises individuals or singles them out for special
attention based on probability. It is incredibly important to remember
that an individual is not a criminal unless they have actually broken
the law. It should also be noted that it would be easy for criminal
groups to resort to more traditional techniques of communication, thus
circumventing this proposed legislation entirely.
- From a technical perspective, the technical implementation of this
Bill runs the risk of harming the internet experience for many, causing
slowdown, breakages and difficulty in accessing sites, at least in the
beginning. The heavy technical requirements in terms of skill and
investment favours the very large ISPs and penalises smaller companies.
Some websites do not function correctly when used via an internet proxy
and some ISPs may not be able or willing to make the investment in
infrastructure required to provide a performant web proxy solution. I
worked on one of the UKs larger proxy deployments for the [removed for privacy reasons] and I can
assure you that the hardware and skill requirements to provide this type
of service are significant. Someone has to pay for this and this will
always be the public, either by increased internet costs, taxation or both.
This bill also preys on the public’s lack of understanding of the
technical issues surrounding this issue. Whilst saying these measures
will enable the Police and Security Services to catch more terrorists,
criminals and paedophiles is very emotive, in the real world I do not
expect a statistically significant increase in apprehension rates as a
direct result of this legislation. I therefore find it difficult to
accept the investment required as there is no real benefit to be gained
from it. I also find it impossible to justify this gross breach of
individual rights for so little gain. To me this Bill is little more
than policing by numbers; monitor enough people and eventually you’ll
find a criminal. This is not by any intelligent process but pure statistics.
I would therefore urge you to consider opposing the proposed
Communications Data Bill in its entirety.
Yours faithfully
Simon
Thank you for your email, which we received on 11/06/2012.
*Web Monitoring
The information we advise you about is only used to alert you to the details we have uncovered.
It is not passed to any other parties or will not be used in any other way, including in profiling issues.
The information is not used for credit scoring purposes.
Web monitoring can only be entered through your Credit Expert membership. Our systems are constantly under review to ensure that the retrieval and storage of your personal information is as secure as possible.
The data retrieved is subject to our normal rigorous storage controls, governed by the Data Protection Act and overseen by the Office of Fair Trading.
If you no longer need to monitor a piece of data you can delete it by visiting your web monitoring hub. Next to each piece of monitoring information you’ve entered in the personal, financial and other contact detail sections you’ll see a minus sign. Clicking on this will give you the option to delete that piece of data.
Please remember, if you need to update the details in your profile information section then you will need to update your details in the “My details” section of your Credit Expert account. Once you’ve updated your details here the changes will automatically be made to your Web monitoring details.
Alerts will remain available for one year after which they are destroyed.
If you’d rather not benefit from the Web Monitoring part of the service we can switch it off for you. You can opt out of web monitoring by clicking on your profile section within your membership.
Kind regards
Mr Joe Farrelley
Customer Service Representative
Customer Support Centre
Experian
Dear Sirs, I am concerned by the implications of your new web monitoring tool, particularly around the use of the data gathered. I would be grateful if you could answer my questions below. Trawling the web, including (but not limited to) social and business networking sites and official sites such as Companies House could generate a lot of personal information including but not restricted to an individuals friends, business contacts, relationships, sexual preferences etc. 1) How does Experian use/intend to use this data? 2) Will this data be used in any way in the credit scoring process? 3) Is Experian using (or planning to use) this data for profiling of individuals based on their friends, contacts, employment history, preferences etc. 4) Is data from profiling used (or will it be used on the future) in the credit scoring process in any way? 5) Is information gathered using this system shared either with Experian sister companies or any third party, for example companies which subscribe to the Experian service or government departments? 6) Is this data used in any way in Experian's Identity Verification systems? 7) How is this data stored, controlled and transferred? 8) How long is this data retained for? 9) is stored data de-personalised, scrubbed or obfuscated in any way? Thanks in advance for your anticipated reply. Kind regards Simon
On the 2nd of June I received an email congratulating me on the benefits I am now receiving from Experian‘s new “CreditExpert Web Monitoring tool”.
It seems that Experian, one the the UK’s three major credit reference agencies, has launched a service that “… will automatically monitor your personal details to protect you against the theft, accidental disclosure and mis-use of your personal information online. We will monitor the web, social networks and public databases.”
Now, great, you might think, but is it really?
Credit reference agencies gather information on individuals in order to provide their corporate subscribers information that assists them in assessing the risk associated with offering credit or other financial services to an individual. Traditionally, this information comes from data provided by companies on individuals who have accounts with them. This data is used to generate a credit “score”, which represents the risk of offering an individual credit. Credit scores range for 1 (very poor risk) to 1000 (no risk). Credit reference agencies also take into account the history of those who you have a financial association with (for example your spouse).
Now, back to this new service. It spiders the web and social networking sites for information on you and alerts you when some is found. As far as this goes, this is okay., but….
If the spider finds your Facebook profile, for example, it then has a list of your “friends”. This is where it begins to get worrying. Now Experian has a list of your friends and they can link you to people you associate with. They can identify your friends’ credit file within their system. By doing this, they can begin to build a set of data which goes beyond your financial associations. By using this sort of profiling, Experian could base your credit score not just on your history but on the history of everyone you associate with on-line. They could also base your credit score on social trends or even the type of jobs your friends hold or their background and lifestyle choices.
Facebook is not the only example. Using sites such as Linkedin they could gather significant information about your business contacts and employment history and use this data too. What about your travel habits from Tripadvisor or your sexual preferences or relationship history from dating sites?
This type of profiling is neither right nor fair. It is a massive breach of your privacy. It is unfair to you and to everyone you associate with.
Now, at this point, it must be said, I have no evidence that Experian are actually doing this with the data at this point in time. However, simply the fact that they can is worrying enough.
I have read Experian’s privacy policy and they are careful not to confirm or deny exactly what information they gather. They do however confirm that they may use data they gather for the purpose of generating credit scores and that they may share this data with their subscriber companies and their sister companies. They also state that they may transfer your data outside of the UK. In many countries, personal data is not protected. As soon as it’s transferred outside of the UK it’s just data.It’s also interesting to note that the link to the Privacy Policy in the email Experian sent is a unique link, which means they’re tracking how many people click this link and actually read the privacy policy. I wonder why?
Worried yet? You should be. Wondering what you can do? There are two things you can do now:
My next step will be to write to to Experian requesting clarfication on what they are using this data for. Watch this space!
This is my recipe for Lasagne.
First, proceed as per my Spaghetti Bolognese recipe but make the sauce slightly thicker and only simmer for 10 minutes.
Then:
Cheese Sauce
Ingredients
Method
Making the lasagne
Ingredients
Method