The good folks over at Wild Bee have an excellent article about how you can use your computer to help the world while you sleep. Lotsa people run SETI@home – I think it is because of the screensaver. Instead of a looking for aliens, you could help political dissidents in repressive regimes, protect anonymous whistleblowers, and even protect our intelligence agents overseas. Install TOR and volunteer your computer for global privacy.
Category Archives: security
Is your internet provider cheating you?
The FCC has a tool you can use to find out if your broadband provider is advertising better speeds than they provide.Check it out over at Broadband.gov.
This seems like a nice crowdsourced way to catch cheats. It will work better the more people participate, so go over and take the test.
Also of interest is that they are using open source software to provide the tests – software that can be independently verified.
How to snag images that someone doesn’t want you to get in 4 steps.
Sometimes on the web people think that they can deliver images or music to your computer for you to look at or listen to, but somehow keep you from possessing.  They can’t.
Continue reading How to snag images that someone doesn’t want you to get in 4 steps.
An explosive tale about airport security
I really really dug this post about carrying gunpowder through airport security.
You can’t create a secure airport that is worth traveling through. The solution isn’t to figure out every possible way that people can attack airports and prevent those… That’s an insolvable problem. A better way is to find people who are trying to hurt us and deal with them in a legal, just way.
People who are trying to hurt us face many of the same problems we do. They need networks, support, materials, etc. They also recruit and are looking for moral support.
These seem like much richer avenues of investigation.