Privacy vs. Security

Privacy vs. Security

The world is currently in a state of war and by war,I do not necessarily mean the bombs and bullets kind of war…there’s another war.Yes,it does include terrorists and criminals from around the world and yes,almost everyone is at the danger of an attack.The war that I am talking about here is the cyber war.Terrorists and criminals do know the potential of the Internet and how it can be used to blow apart the defenses of a country or seriously affect its economy.They use the Internet to coordinate their activities in different countries.They use cellphones to orchestrate each and every attack.It might be possible for them to access the defence data of a country or to intercept confidential and important-and-very-confidential e-mails of government officials.
The attacks and blasts in Delhi,Ahmadabad,Bangalore,Jaipur,Varanasi,Faizabad and Lucknow were all co-ordinated using the net,The terrorists used a technique known as wardriving(1) to hack into a wireless network and used that to send the emails just before the blasts.But,terrorism is just one example.Crackers(2) have been around for a long period of time.They use the various hacking techniques to break into networks or computers to steal the private data of an individual or an organization.This data is later sold to others for money or used to blackmail people.These hacking techniques are also used by spies of countries.So,is there any possible way to stop these attacks?Yes there is.
Actually,there is no one way to complete security and there is no such thing as complete security,all that there is is to make it really expensive,time consuming and complicated to break in.So tough that even though it is possible,the efforts requires would not be worth it.But then,to what extent should this go on?The terrorists have a huge supply of money and they can spend it if they want to attack.To what extent does on go?
The patriot act of 2001 in the United states increased the ability of the law enforcing agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial and other records; eases restrictions on foreign intelligence gathering within the United States; expands the Secretary of the Treasury’s authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities; and enhances the discretion of law enforcement and immigration authorities in detaining and deporting immigrants suspected of terrorism-related acts. The act also expands the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorism, thus enlarging the number of activities to which the USA PATRIOT Act’s expanded law enforcement powers can be applied.
Excellent!is it not?now that the US government can read or listen to each and every conversation that is going on,it would make it almost impossible for terrorists to communicate,right?WRONG!The terrorists can still communicate.They can encrypt(3) their data to the extent that by the time it is decrypted,the attack would already have taken place,or they can use the good old word of mouth method or a messenger method,which although would be slow,would be reliable.So,what does the government do now?Simple…it launches spy satellites,sets up cameras at all the public places to watch for suspicious activities,track anyone suspicious etc..There is no end to this.
So what is the problem then?Let the government do what it wants to do to make the world a safer place…how does it matter to me?Hmmmm…let me think…HOW DOES IT NOT?I mean,why would I want a security camera to stare at me each and every place where I go-My workplace(college in my case),my room,my dinner table,the restaurant where I wanna party with some friends,a romantic date,even when I go to the bathroom?Having faced this at an airport,it’s does not feel very comfortable to eat right in front of a security camera.I know that maybe the government does not care if my dad is scolding me for getting a bad GPA,but bring me one person who can guarantee that I would not be put on some kind of security watch list if I include words like bombs,terrorism,kill,guns,etc. in a mail or during a chat conversation.Maybe I already am listed on the “damn stupid list of terrorists” list in some government office after writing this article since I will be using the e-mail to submit it.These security measures would also give an attacker almost unlimited power if he manages to break into such a system.Imagine what he could do then!Also,do not such measures make laws like the need to have a search warrant for searching a place(which ensure the privacy of citizens) completely obsolete?Just move that camera around baby,why waste time on a search warrant!
There is another issue on which the Roman satirist Juvenal had to say sometime during the first and second century-” quis custodiet ipsoscustodes?” which literally translates to-”Who will guard the guardians?”.The importance of this here is that if some political party of an extremist mindset somehow comes into power or some military coup takes place and the dictator becomes corrupted with this much amount of power(it would be easy for someone to get absolutely corrupted with so much power),it would be almost impossible to stop him.
In essence,the point I am trying to make here is that although security is important,there has to be some limit.A limit which respects the right of a citizen to have some privacy.A limit,which allows me to have my mexican green wave pizza without staring at a camera,which is staring back at my face.

Glossary:
1.Wardriving- the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle, using a portable computer or PDA.
2.Cracker-generic term for a computer criminal, often with a specific specialty in computer intrusion.
3.Encrypt-the process of transforming information (referred to as plaintext) using an algorithm (called cipher) to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key.

Note:All the definition in the glossary and the information about the US Patriot Act has been taken from wikipedia.

How Destructive Hackers Are

I have seen many people in my college announcing that they are now officially hackers.How,I ask them do they know that they are hackers?The answer is that they managed to get passwords of some friends of theirs by inviting their friends to log on to their email ID’s using using a computer which has a keylogger in it…I just congratulate such people and well…then I get back to my own business.

Anyways,I came across this in unyclopedia,which said a lot about such people:

How Destructive Hackers Are:

* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-a97f9137.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-61a2169c.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
<bitchchecker> why do you kick me
<bitchchecker> can't you discus normally
<bitchchecker> answer!
<Elch> we didn't kick you
<Elch> you had a ping timeout: * bitchchecker (~java@euirc-a97f9137.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit
(Ping timeout#)
<bitchchecker> what ping man
<bitchchecker> the timing of my pc is right
<bitchchecker> i even have dst
<bitchchecker> you banned me
<bitchchecker> amit it you son of a bitch
<HopperHunter|afk> LOL
<HopperHunter|afk> shit you're stupid, DST^^
<bitchchecker> shut your mouth WE HAVE DST!
<bitchchecker> for two weaks already
<bitchchecker> when you start your pc there is a message from windows that DST is applied.
<Elch> You're a real computer expert
<bitchchecker> shut up i hack you
<Elch> ok, i'm quiet, hope you don't show us how good a hacker you are ^^
<bitchchecker> tell me your network number man then you're dead
<Elch> Eh, it's 129.0.0.1
<Elch> or maybe 127.0.0.1
<Elch> yes exactly that's it: 127.0.0.1 I'm waiting for you great attack
<bitchchecker> in five minutes your hard drive is deleted
<Elch> Now I'm frightened
<bitchchecker> shut up you'll be gone
<bitchchecker> i have a program where i enter your ip and you're dead
<bitchchecker> say goodbye
<Elch> to whom?
<bitchchecker> to you man
<bitchchecker> buy buy
<Elch> I'm shivering thinking about such great Hack0rs like you
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-61a2169c.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-b5cd558e.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
<bitchchecker> dude be happy my pc crashed otherwise you'd be gone
<Metanot> lol
<Elch> bitchchecker: Then try hacking me again... I still have the same IP: 127.0.0.1
<bitchchecker> you're so stupid man
<bitchchecker> say buy buy
<Metanot> ah, [Please control your cussing] off
<bitchchecker> buy buy elch
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-b5cd558e.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-9ff3c180.dip.t-dialin.net) has joined #stopHipHop
<bitchchecker> elch you son of a bitch
<Metanot> bitchchecker how old are you?
<Elch> What's up bitchchecker?
<bitchchecker> you have a frie wal
<bitchchecker> fire wall
<Elch> maybe, i don't know
<bitchchecker> i'm 26
<Metanot> such behaviour with 26?
<Elch> how did you find out that I have a firewall?
<Metanot> tststs this is not very nice missy
<bitchchecker> because your gay fire wall directed my turn off signal back to me
<bitchchecker> be a man turn that shit off
<Elch> cool, didn't know this was possible.
<bitchchecker> then my virus destroys your pc man
<Metanot> are you hacking yourselves?
<Elch> yes bitchchecker is trying to hack me
<Metanot> he bitchchecker lame if you're a hacker you have to get around a firewall even i can do that
<bitchchecker> yes man i hack the elch but the sucker has a fire wall the
<Metanot> what firewall do you have?
<bitchchecker> like a girl
<Metanot> firewall is normal a normal hacker has to be able to get past it...you girl^^
<He> Bitch give yourself a jackson and chill you're letting them provoce you and give those little
girls new material all the time
<bitchchecker> turn the firewall off then i send you a virus [Please control your cussing]er
<Elch> Noo
<Metanot> he bitchchecker why turn it off, you should turn it off
<bitchchecker> you're afraid
<bitchchecker> i don't wanna hack like this if he hides like a girl behind a fire wall
<bitchchecker> elch turn off your shit wall!
<Metanot> i wanted to say something about this, do you know the definition of hacking??? if he turns
of the firewall that's an invitation and that has nothing to do with hacking
<bitchchecker> shut up
<Metanot> lol
<bitchchecker> my grandma surfs with fire wall
<bitchchecker> and you suckers think you're cool and don't dare going into the internet without a
fire wall
<Elch> bitchchecker, a colleague showed me how to turn the firewall off. Now you can try again
<Metanot> bitchhacker can't hack
<Black<TdV>> nice play on words ^^
<bitchchecker> wort man
<Elch> bitchchecker: I'm still waiting for your attack!
<Metanot> how many times again he is no hacker
<bitchchecker> man do you want a virus
<bitchchecker> tell me your ip and it deletes your hard drive
<Metanot> lol ne give it up i'm a hacker myself and i know how hackers behave and i can tell you
100.00% you're no hacker..^^
<Elch> 127.0.0.1
<Elch> it's easy
<bitchchecker> lolololol you so stupid man you'll be gone
<bitchchecker> and are the first files being deleted
<Elch> mom...
<Elch> i'll take a look
<bitchchecker> don't need to rescue you can't son of a bitch
<Elch> that's bad
<bitchchecker> elch you idiout your hard drive g: is deleted
<Elch> yes, there's nothing i can do about it
<bitchchecker> and in 20 seconds f: is gone
<bitchchecker> tupac rules
<bitchchecker> elch you son of a bitch your f: is gone and e: too
<bitchchecker> and d: is at 45% you idiot lolololol
<He> why doesn't meta say anything
<Elch> he's probably rolling on the floor laughing
<Black<TdV>> ^^
<bitchchecker> your d: is gone
<He> go on BITCH
<bitchchecker> elch man you're so stupid never give your ip on the internet
<bitchchecker> i'm already at c: 30 percent
* bitchchecker (~java@euirc-9ff3c180.dip.t-dialin.net) Quit (Ping timeout#)

The final design

Ok.so I have finally made the design and I want your views on it-

Final front

Final back of the shirt

Your comments-

Ok,I made some more changes because of popular demand(took abhineet’s help in this matter) and again,here’s the final thing:

How the final T is supposed to look

This is all that I can do for now.If anyoen feels more improvements can be done,feel free to do so.

Here’s an alternative design,for those who might [refer something more sober:

Another design that I made

Here is what we finally ordered.It should look more or less like this…

Oh...the lug manipal logo at the arms will not be there

Pattern for LUG Manipal

It’s high time that LUG Manipal have its own T-shirt,so,I made a n00b effort on it using GIMP.

Here’s what I thought would look good in the front:

The changed logo

Here’s the back end of the T-shirt having “The Code”-

Its a brainfuck code... ;D

Please give suggestions for improvements and feel free to make improvements in the image and send me any improved versions,if you want to.

Suggestions of improvement compulsory for all LUG Manipal members…

Mobivision

Mobivision is an event under Param,in TechTatva,which is the first of its kind to be included in the fest.It’s about mobile programming and developing applications,which might make life easier for cellphone users.

Since not many students are expected to know about developing mobile applications,it was decided that a pre-TechTatva workshop be organized,and who will be teaching?A:Members of LUG Manipal.

So,the posters were out and the workshop started from 1st September.We(I mean the members of the LUG) were expecting about 80 students,and guess how many turn up?Above 200.

So,we decide to divide the students into 2 groups…one group learns Python and the second group learns Android programming.

Needless to say,the workshop was a big hit!

I hope the event goes a hit too!

TechTatva and LUG Manipal

So,TechTatva,the techfest of MIT,Manipal is scheduled on 8th october,2008.The Computer Science event,Param, has been regularly blamed for giving questions,which have answers on the net,but I think the opinions will change this time.That’s because this time Param is being handled completely by members of LUG(Linux Users Group),Manipal.LUG Manipal is a very active group(not club) of Manipal,which holds meets almost every week.

The events in Param are:

1)Mobivision

2)Codebytes

3)Jour

4)Puzzle Mania.
Will be writing more on this later

For more info about TechTatva,visit www.techtatva08.com

Brainf*ck

So,I decided to participate in Shaastra,the IIT Chennai techfest which spans from 1st to 5th October.

What events would I participate in?The ones in which I can show some level of competence.

What kind of events would that be?

Coding and some basic science application events.

So,I visit the website and find out that amongst others,there is this event called brainf*ck,in which the participants have to write brainfck codes for the prelims and then if they qualify to the finals,they have to write a code generator.

I decided that I’ll participate in this event,so I google brainfck and here’s what I find out:

Brainfuck is and esoteric,turing complete language,having only 8 commands.

The fact that it is esoteric means that either its a joke or that its a test of your programming boundaries as a proof of concept.

The fact that it is turing complete means that it can execute every turing computable function.For more detail on what that means:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_completeness

So,the Shaastra website gave this example of a hello world program,which itself is self evident why brainfuck deserves a post in this blog.

++++++++++[>+++++++>++++++++++>+++>+<<<<-]>++.>+.+++++++..+++.>++.<<+++++++++++++++.>.+++.——.——–.>+.>.

“WTF man!” was my first reaction when I saw it.

The eight commands that the language follows are:

brainfuck command	C equivalent
>	++ptr;
<	--ptr;
+	++(*ptr);
-	--(*ptr);
.	putchar(*ptr);
,	*ptr=getchar();
[	while (*ptr) {
]	}

Now,I am having second thoughts on participation…

Trip to Kerala

So,RedX,the adventure sports club of MIT(www.redx.in for more) decided to organize a trip to Kerala for second years and above.I have been an active member of RedX since last year,but I hadn’t been to a single RedX trip yet,so I decided that before a get busy,lets go to this trip.

So,This sunday,I found myself in Kerala and I found that it was BEAUTIFUL!.The first major stop was a trek,which was supposed to be a 3 km one,but since the bus could not go up some distance,it stretched to about 8.5 kms.

Unfortunately,due to time constraints,jeeps were hired and they took us up.But what the heck,the scenery was…well…er…I can’t find any words for it.Imagine a rain forest like place and you on a hill,with small waterfalls around and a little bit of drizzle.Also,imagine the sky to be cloudy and you in between the clouds…

Anyways,it makes you realize why Kerala is called God’s own country.

The next stop was at St. Angelo’s fort,which was again a beautiful place,but not much after the trek.

We also stopped at this beach garden,again a beatuful place,but again,nothing if compared to the trek.

I’ll be uploading the pics and videos on my orkut profile,once I get hold of all of them.

My moment of glory

So,I uploaded my new DP on Orkut some time ago,and all of a sudden,some of my friends started sommenting on how different I looked from about a year ago (I did lose about 15kgs,so I was bound to look a bit different).But,my moment of glory came when I got this:

 

My Excuse

Sigh!

Long time since I posted anything…hell,it’s been a long time since I myself visited the blog.

The reason:Exams and gaming.

Some time after my last post,I was invited to an Age of Empires LAN match by one of my friends,and I went.Even though I did not play good enough,our team won the match.The score of the best player in the team(Mohit) was about 3000 points above me…and,this was when I had stopped playing the game thinking that I knew everything about it,about 2 years ago.As a result,I spent a lot of time playing AOE on LAN,learning new strategies,and going even deeper into the game.

Also,my sessionals and then end semester exams came during this time,and so,I could not get enough time to post anything in my blog.

There,thats my excuse…