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Sunday, April 10th, 2016

    Time Event
    7:00a
    David Tomaschik: Ham Fisted Legislators

    https://systemoverlord.com/2016/04/10/ham-fisted-legislators.html

    Theres fortunately been a lot of media coverage of a typically ham-fisted attempt to legislate technology:

    For once, its not just been technology blogs: Fortune, Reuters, and USA Today are among those covering the legislative failure.

    The fact that one of the cosponsors is one of my own Senators (Dianne Feinstein) makes this all the more painful for me. She claims to be a Democrat, but her legislative agenda has shown her to be more of right-wing police-state NSA-apologist than a California liberal. Im sure its no coincidence that her husband has significant holdings in military complex corporations that benefit from her anti-American police-state tactics.

    I should mention at this point that, in case it hasnt been obvious, Im not a lawyer. I had to consult a dictionary for some of the words in this bill (notwithstanding is a word that seems to only be used in legislation, and is very important here), but I think my interpretation of their intent is different from many of the blogs, based on the following language:

    Nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize any government officer to require or prohibit any specific design or operating system to be adopted by any covered entity.

    Now while the current text does seem to require a backdoor in any cryptography, I dont think that was the intent. I think the intent was only to require the provider to turn over plaintext if they were capable of doing so under the current design. Unfortunately, it doesnt seem they wrote it that way, as is typical when legislators who dont know what theyre doing, dont understand technology, and dont get input try to legislate technology.

    I completely agree that we need legislation regarding encryption and searches, but I take a little bit of a different spin from Senator Feinstein. We should have federal legislation prohibiting lower levels from requiring backdoors, as is being tried in California. Law-abiding citizens shouldnt have their security weakened (and theres a general consensus among cryptographers that its impossible to create backdoors in cryptography without weakening the general security of the system) because of the fearmongering tactics of law enforcement.

    Yes, if a service has access to plaintext and is served with a valid 4th ammendment warrant (not a NSL or a kangaroo court FISA order), I believe they should provide the plaintext. Weve seen what happens with secret warrants and warrantless searches: both with the NSA scandal, but also with Hoover and McCarthy, the Stasi in Germany, and other over-powerful police services. The founders of this country were clearly aware of the risk when they stated:

    The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

    Weakening American-made crypto only weakens America. Bad guys will still have access to crypto without backdoors from other countries or from before any legislation, so any legislation to weaken cryptography will only serve to enable unconstitutional mass surveillance, weaken Americans rights, all without improving national security one iota.

    6:31p
    Joe Liau: Removal of a Letter

    http://blog.josephliau.com/removal-of-a-letter/

    http://blog.josephliau.com/?p=1179

    scrabuntu
    Removal of a Letter  A subject that caught my eye, and challenged me to create a whole post that lacks one letter of the Roman Alphabet.

    There are some letters that carry embedded problems. We can see a company that makes use of one of these letters to a degree that has degraded that letter. We can see people who have used that letter only to promote themselves and remove themselves from the greater purpose. We have a letter that need not have a centre place among the Ubuntu culture. So, what happens when we remove that letter from our language completely? How would that look? How would we act?

    The Old and New Testaments talk about two contenders who use the letter as a personal pronoun. One truly deserves the use and power of that letter, but the other uses the letter arrogantly and to serve only the self. Maybe we, too, often act as the latter.

    However, that need not be the status quo. We are not alone. We are many and can act together. All that we do can be for the whole rather than just for ourselves. The way that we talk often affects the way that we act. Our thoughts affect how we act. When our heads understand, then our eyes and ears can start to understand as well. The power change can now start.

    The number one spot on our agendas holds great power. We can choose what deserves that spot, and our language can help us do that. So, once we remove that letterremove that pronounwe start to act as a group rather than a lone person. Suddenly the focus goes to us rather than me.

    Can we truly remove a letter from our speech? Externally, that may not be easy or useful, and somewhat overzealous. But, we can change our thoughts and at least drop that pronoun down to a lower place. Let us humble ourselves before the greater good. Let us ask not what you can do for me, but what we can do for each other. When we drop that letter, then we have Ubuntu.

    9:35p
    Jono Bacon: Community Leadership Summit 2016

    http://www.jonobacon.org/2016/04/10/community-leadership-summit-2016/

    http://www.jonobacon.org/?p=6855

    On 14th  15th May 2016 in Austin, Texas the Community Leadership Summit 2016 will be taking place. For the 8th year now, community leaders and managers from a range of different industries, professions, and backgrounds will meet together to share ideas and best practice. See our incredible registered attendee list that is shaping up for this years event.

    This year we also have many incredible keynotes that will cover topics such as building developer communities, tackling imposter syndrome, gamification, governance, and more. Of course CLS will incorporate the popular unconference format where the audience determine the sessions in the schedule.

    We are also delighted to host the FLOSS Community Metrics event as part of CLS this year too!

    The event is entirely free and everyone is welcome! CLS takes place the weekend before OSCON in the same venue in Austin. Be sure to go and register to join us and we hope to see you in Austin in May!

    Many thanks to OReilly, Autodesk, and the Linux Foundation for their sponsorship of the event!

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