Multipath TCP Introduces Security Blind Spot

Posted on August 1, 2014 by mea

MPTCP is an extension to the Internet’s primary communication protocol. It allows a TCP session to move over multiple connections and network providers to the same destination. Should one drop, the session seamlessly moves to its second, backup connection, keeping phone calls or Internet sessions alive.

via Black Hat 2014: Multipath TCP Introduces Security Blind Spot | Threatpost | The first stop for security news.

“Technology like MPTCP makes it much harder for surveillance states,” Pearce said. “If I split traffic across my cell provider and an ISP I may not trust, in order for a surveillance state to snoop they have to collaborate with all these parties. It’s a much harder proposition.”

A Fictional Compression Metric Moves Into the Real World

Posted on July 28, 2014 by mea

It seems that someone would have come up with such a metric by now. But, says Weissman, “there are two communities: the practitioners, who care about running time, and the theoreticians, who care about how succinctly you can represent the data and don’t worry about the complexity of the implementation.” As a result of this split, he says, no one had yet combined, in a single number, a means of rating both how fast and how tightly an algorithm compresses.

Misra came up with a formula (photo above), incorporating both. Along with existing benchmarks the formula creates a metric that the show writers tagged the “Weissman Score.” It’s not a fictional metric: although it didn’t exist before Misra created it for the show, it works and may soon find use in the real world.

via A Fictional Compression Metric Moves Into the Real World – IEEE Spectrum.

Service Drains Competitors’ Online Ad Budget

Posted on July 27, 2014 by mea

The service, which appears to have been in the offering since at least January 2012, provides customers both a la carte and subscription rates. The prices range from $100 to block between three to ten ad units for 24 hours to $80 for 15 to 30 ad units. For a flat fee of $1,000, small businesses can use GoodGoogle’s software and service to sideline a handful of competitors’s ads indefinitely. Fees are paid up-front and in virtual currencies (WebMoney, e.g.), and the seller offers support and a warranty for his work for the first three weeks.

via Service Drains Competitors’ Online Ad Budget — Krebs on Security.

The Problem with Apple and eBooks

Posted on July 26, 2014 by mea

Apple would sell more music if they released an Android app, and the same can be said for movies and ebooks. But Apple hasn’t done so, and I think it’s time to acknowledge that the strategy is working for Apple.

That is especially true in the case of ebooks. By my estimate, Apple sells more ebooks than B&N.

via The Problem with Apple and eBooks, Redux | The Digital Reader.

Level 3’s Selective Amnesia on Peering

Posted on July 23, 2014 by mea

Fortunately, Verizon and Netflix have found a way to avoid the congestion problems that Level 3 is creating by its refusal to find “alternative commercial terms.” We are working diligently on directly connecting Netflix content servers into Verizon’s network so that we both can keep the interests of our mutual customers paramount.

via Level 3’s Selective Amnesia on Peering | Verizon Public Policy.

Help Us Build an Open Wireless Router

Posted on July 22, 2014 by mea

EFF is releasing an experimental hacker alpha release of wireless router software specifically designed to support secure, shareable Open Wireless networks.

via Calling All Hackers: Help Us Build an Open Wireless Router | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Biggest “patent troll” slapped down hard by appeals court

Posted on July 20, 2014 by mea

The patent also contains a method claim, but it “recites a process of taking two data sets and combining them into a single data set,” the judges noted. “Without additional limitations, a process that employs mathematical algorithms to manipulate existing information to generate additional information is not patent eligible,” wrote the judges.

The language used seems like a fairly broad application of the new Section 101 law. If the logic is used by other appeals and district court judges, it suggests that the results from Alice v. CLS Bank could invalidate a wide range of software-based patents.

via Biggest “patent troll” slapped down hard by appeals court | Ars Technica.

Verizon made an enemy tonight

Posted on July 18, 2014 by mea

Watch the video to feel the full pain. What you’ll see is that on Fios it streams at 375 kbps at the fastest. The experience sucks. It takes an eternity to buffer.

Then I connect to a VPN (in this case VyprVPN) and I quickly get up to full speed at 3000 kbps (the max on Netflix), about 10x the speed I was getting connecting directly via Verizon.

via Verizon made an enemy tonight.

From: Verizon’s Accidental Mea Culpa

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Verizon has confirmed that everything between that router in their network and their subscribers is uncongested – in fact has plenty of capacity sitting there waiting to be used. Above, I confirmed exactly the same thing for the Level 3 network. So in fact, we could fix this congestion in about five minutes simply by connecting up more 10Gbps ports on those routers. Simple. Something we’ve been asking Verizon to do for many, many months, and something other providers regularly do in similar circumstances. But Verizon has refused. So Verizon, not Level 3 or Netflix, causes the congestion. Why is that? Maybe they can’t afford a new port card because they’ve run out – even though these cards are very cheap, just a few thousand dollars for each 10 Gbps card which could support 5,000 streams or more. If that’s the case, we’ll buy one for them. Maybe they can’t afford the small piece of cable between our two ports. If that’s the case, we’ll provide it. Heck, we’ll even install it.

Console Internet Applications

Posted on July 16, 2014 by mea

Console based applications are light on system resources very useful on low specified machines, can be faster and more efficient than their graphical counterparts, they do not stop working when X Windows is restarted, and are great for scripting purposes. When designed well, console applications offer a surprisingly powerful way of using a computer effectively. The applications are leaner, faster, easier to maintain, and remove the need to have installed a whole gamut of libraries.

via Pick of the Bunch: Console Internet Applications – Linux Links – The Linux Portal Site.

Bucktown Bell

Cut to the chase.