A man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo Saturday but was rescued immediately afterward without incident, authorities said.]]>
[From Man sneaks into zoo grizzly bear's exhibit]
A man snuck into the grizzly bear exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo Saturday but was rescued immediately afterward without incident, authorities said.]]>
[From "Don't trust anyone you meet online. You could regret it." - Wil Wheton's Blog] ]]>
(from Cory Doctorow by way of John Rogers on Twitter)
[From "Don't trust anyone you meet online. You could regret it."]
My take on Macintosh security:
Ah, a new release.... must be time for another slew of articles aimed at getting press and money for the "security" folks out there. For those of us with Macintoshes, here is my take on the whole Macintosh virus situation.
Every time a new OS release comes out, a whole mess of security "professionals", especially those with recent books (such as Miller's The Mac Hacker's Handbook), are being interviewed by every Tom, Dick, and Harry, and repeat the same drivel that we've been hearing about Macintosh security for years, which basically amounts to:
Oh yeah? Well, if more Macintoshes were sold, then there'd be a lot more viruses for the Mac, I tell you.... just you wait!
Now, it may well be true that if there were more Macs out there, there would be more reason to go after the Macintosh and it would tend to lead people to write more viruses for them. It may also not be true, and I've never seen any indications that there is a statistical basis for this complaint.
However, let's take for the moment that it's a possibility and start looking at the kinds of exploits that tend to show up for the Macintosh in these articles. Generally speaking, and I'm not going to cite individual articles here because I haven't done a complete statistical analysis of them, the kinds of exploits that show up for the Macintosh are trojan horses, a class of malicious software that the user downloads and runs or installs. Once you've done that, you're open to a number of potential problems, including the stealing of data and the deletion of files that are not protected.
There are 2 key take-aways about trojan horses on the Mac: first, they are not the same as viruses; and second, they are limited in what they can do to your system unless you give them power. Now, this part in bold is important. If you download a questionable piece of software from the Internet (or any software for that matter, since most really don't need this facility) and the software prompts you for a password to your system during the installation process, you should be seriously considering saying "no". If you say yes, you do not have any granular control of what it might do to your system, as you have provided it with escalated privileges to access all data and services on your Macintosh.
Here are a few other things that make a big difference to Macintosh users: no in-the-wild viruses. There are basically no programs that exist today that can infect Macintoshes without the user taking specific action (opening a program in particular). Through the use of Quarantine, which has been around since Leopard, Apple tries to warn you the first time you open a piece of software, telling you where it was downloaded from asking you if you're sure you want to run it. It only happens the first time you run each program, so it doesn't provide an overwhelming number of "are you sure" dialogs.
Once you install a program on one Macintosh, the liklihood of it spreading virally (without you or the user of the computer specifically starting the program in question) is really, really low. I say really, really low, because there were some programs that managed this feat before Leopard due to hiding executables in what looked like data files. However, quarantine makes that virtually impossible these days.
Most importantly, the kinds of worms that have infected Windows and other systems over the years (a worm being a particularly viscious type of malware that makes its entrance behind the scenes, infects the computer and uses it as a jumping off place to infect more), have been almost absent from the Mac (there was a report of one in 2006/2007 using Bonjour as a vector, but that was patched by Apple on all affected systems and the worm appeared to only show up after that problem was disclosed).
People can argue until their blue in the face about why Macs tend to have a lot less trouble than PCs. Frankly, the amount of open administrative software that lies on (especially older) Windows machines is a good portion of the problem here. For years, Windows 2000 and other versions had the ability for network administrators to broadcast a message to every user on a network that was then displayed on their screens. This was a horrible idea, since it had absolutely no security whatsoever involved in it and basically allowed anyone with knowledge of your network address to send a message to your screen that popped up as if it were from the OS. To make matters worse, there were security problems with the program that put up the window and they were exploited to deliver worms and other viruses on the Windows platform. This is not an isolated case, either.
Architecturally, there's definitely more that Apple can do about security on the Macintosh and I hope that we continue to see the kind of sandboxing that is being used by Apple on the iPhone slowly creep its way into the Mac. By using this judiciously, they could keep only authorized programs from doing things on the system and they could make a much better permissions model for the otherwise-dangerously all or nothing approach that the installers tend to take these days. I'd love to see something along the lines of an installation dialog for VMWare (as an example) that requests permission to "add kernel extensions and startup items" and then have the OS grant just permissions to install items in those places. More importantly, for programs that use the installer just to put things into special locations, such a scheme could prevent them from doing other things behind the scenes (like installing kernel extensions) without your knowledge. I know I'd think twice if a graphics program requested permission to install a kernel extension.
But, for the time being, the Macintosh is a pretty safe platform, as long as users are vigilant. Keep up to date on your software updates and don't run programs with questionable pedigrees.
NOTE: Today's Wired article pretty much caused this article to be written. I have to say that you must admire a magazine that continues such superlative reporting as telling us that "In Snow Leopard, Apple has added security enhancements including Executive Disable"... executive disable? Sounds like something you'd use in a bad movie to remove your competition, did you mean Execute Disable (XD), a technology that's been around for years and was one of the most touted security features of the last 3 generations of processors? Oh, you know, that whole accuracy thing isn't important. Wonder how well you did on the other facts? Probably about the same, interview a couple of guys who are shilling a book and reprint their stuff as well as whatever you can find in a quick Google search. No offense to Google. For more humor, the next line: "Apple also added hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention" is basically a reference to the Exact Same Technology. Curiously, Apple's only technology mention is of "hardware-based execute disable for heap memory", which I'll note doesn't mention disabling executives at all!
TomTom: When a paid upgrade is a downgrade:
Stick this one in the extremely shady business practices category. In order to add more revenue to the coffers, a paid upgrade from existing TomTom 910 and 510 maps that currently include locations of Starbucks will result in losing the locations of said Starbucks! Hey, that's darned good service for all us long-standing customers.
It wasn't until after the map upgrade that my folks told me that they could no longer find any Starbucks when they did a POI search. What's the cause of this? TomTom has decided that these POIs are now a Paid For option. And, to make matters even worse, after calling support, I was informed that:
What's the solution?
For me, I think the solution is going to be getting the POIs from someplace else. I'm not sure how up-to-date they are, but the POIs available from POI Handler seem to work fine and many are free. There's a database of over 7000 Starbucks available. You may need to register for the site (I had already registered previously), but I have yet to receive anything annoying from them. Once there, follow the Download POI link to get to the screen where you can get your POIs. They're tailor made for a bunch of the common GPS devices and have pretty up-to-date data.
Busted for wearing a peace T-shirt; has this country gone completely insane?:
Busted for wearing a peace T-shirt; has this country gone completely insane?
By Mike Ferner
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Jul 5, 2006, 01:49
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Friday afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "Okay, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."
"Huh?" I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.
"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.
"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.
Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."
Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my coffee."
He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason.
"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."
"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.
"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange land I was now living in.
You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office, past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written up.
Needless to say, I do NOT recommend Merrill Lynch.
]]>NEWS HILTON'S FLIGHT DRAMA Music, movie & Entertainment News:
Socialite PARIS HILTON was forced to drive from Las Vegas, Nevada to Los Angeles after airline officials told her she couldn't bring her six pets on her planned flight home.
The hotel heiress brought her monkey, tiger and her ferrets
to Sin City for a weekend of partying and was unimpressed when she realised she would have to spend the long drive with all the animals.
Hilton says, "I bought, like, a monkey, a tiger and some ferrets. I tried to bring them on a commercial flight and they wouldn't let me fly with all the animals. They said it wasn't a travelling circus.
"So I had to drive all the way home from Vegas in the limo with all these animals, there was like six. It was a lot."
Gaige's Pages - Network neutrality is about control:
Whereas the rhetoric is certainly intended to incite and not to inform (I don't believe that either side of any argument uses a slogan to inform, by the way), it isn't just empty fluff. In particular, as you noted earlier in the piece, the costs for services will eventually be borne by the customers regardless of who they pay for them and how they're provided. The purpose of the net neutrality folks is to put the control of paying for service in the hands of the consumers, where a customer who wants to use any number of services that consume large amounts of bandwidth pays for a higher quality, higher bandwidth, and probably higher-priced connection. This does two things: first, it makes the payments transparent, since the users know they are using bandwidth to watch television or movies, or other things that either take a long time or involve a high level of interactivity; second, it provides an avenue for innovative, high bandwidth services to get a start in the world.
Please, if you are in the mood, write letters of education to info@wecaretoo.com and to all of their sponsors located both on their website and on http://www.wecaretoo.com/Mall/lobby.html to let them know how bigoted their stance is, and how misleading it is to hold oneself out as a neutral registry for non profits, while inserting your own religious bias.
My letter:
Were you aware that you have many sites contrary to your states policy of:
%%%%%%%%%%%
Thank you for your application for a free web page in the WeCareToo
non-profit online directory. We must inform you, however, that we will not
be able to list your organization in our directory. While we do list
religious groups of various faiths, we have adopted a policy not to offer
listings to groups that are either atheist, pagan or support belief in
witchcraft. We acknowledge your right to hold your own beliefs and hope you
can accept our right not to assist you in extending your beliefs as they are
completely counter to ours. In good conscience we do not feel we can be true
to our beliefs and convictions where we to help you extend your reach to
others through our web site.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Under your definition, Al Qaida or other groups that embrace jihad would be welcome, yet Wiccans would not. You welcome Hindus, a Pagan religion by definition, yet exclude Wiccans. You accept Protestant Fundamentalists who "support belief in witchcraft" by maintaining the myth that it exists and is dangerous, yet exclude Wiccans, who strive to harm no one in their daily lives.
You state that the beliefs of atheists, Pagans or "supporters of witchcraft" are counter to your own. Are you so sure, obviously not understanding or being aware of the beliefs you exclude? Wiccans are far from "anti" any other religious path, and instead desire that all paths live together in harmony. How sad that you rail against something you don't know anything about.
Your message of bigotry is being widely disseminated. Jesus preached tolerance. Perhaps someday you can aspire to follow his words.
]]>CNN.com - Cops: Couple ordered hit on grandkids - Jun 2, 2006:
TAVARES, Florida (AP) -- A couple tried to hire a hit man to kill their three grandchildren and daughter-in-law to stop them from testifying against their son in his rape trial, authorities said.
The couple, ages 60 and 59, were charged with four counts each of criminal conspiracy to commit murder. They were being held without bond.
Police said the pair initially offered $100 to an undercover sheriff's deputy to kill their son's wife, their 10-year-old granddaughter, two step-grandchildren, ages 14 and 16, and the family dog.
More money was promised after the killings, said Lake County sheriff's Sgt. Christie Mysinger.
The couple's 31-year-old son has been jailed since November on 22 charges of sexual battery on a child, lewd and lascivious molestation and showing obscene material to a minor, court records show.
Detectives say his daughter and stepdaughter are the victims. The Associated Press has withheld the names of the grandparents and the family members to protect the children's identities.
The man tried to solicit a fellow jail inmate to kill his family, the arrest report said.
An informant told detectives about the plot and they arranged to meet the man's parents Tuesday at a Best Western motel in Tavares, a lakefront community about 30 miles northwest of Orlando, police said.
"(The deputy) said, 'You want me to kill everyone, including the dog?' They agreed," Mysinger said.
The son's attorney, Peter Sartes, said he had no details on the parents' arrest. It was not clear who was representing them.