Re: [LINK] Video streaming

[David Lochrin]

Hi David,

On 2021-01-03 10:37, you wrote:

> Last night, I tried to watch the Doctor Who New Year Special on ABC iview 
> using Google Chrome. A PG classification warning played, then nothing. The 
> situation with Pale Moon is similar. Switching to Brave, I got a message 
> about Google Widevine.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widevine
> At that point, I gave up.
> 
> If/when someone cracks it, I'll probably download a torrent of the program. I 
> doubt that's the effect they're hoping for.

I believe Widevine is a DRM package owned by Google which is now integrated 
into Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome but probably not into less mainstream 
browsers, however a plugin may be available.

In Firefox the configuration variable  "Play DRM-controlled content"  must  to 
ticked, and I guess that enables all installed DRM plugins (there are others).  
Widevine is also listed under Tools > Add-ons, where it can be explicitly 
disabled if you have alternatives, but I can't find an "always ask" option.  
And finally, there's a useful article with more explanations & options at 
https://privacysavvy.com/security/safe-browsing/firefox-privacy-security-ultimate-guide/

But this is the bit that gets on my pulse.

It seems trackers such as EFF's Privacy Badger must be disabled when accessing 
some websites having _no_ streaming or DRM content all.  This probably explains 
why the Badger must be disabled in order to display useful information from 
https://covid19data.com.au and it lists these trackers:
www.google-analytics.com
e.infogram.com
www.paypal.com
www.paypalobjects.com
apps.wix.com
frog.wix.com

Apparently  is a cloud company which hosts  
however the website won't work until all six are enabled, so I presume their 
presence generates tracking income for Wix.

I think it's sad to see such companies infesting what would otherwise be an 
extremely useful source of open pandemic data important to public health.

However ABC & SBS have excellent free-to-air news coverage (not news as 
entertainment) and ABC Radio is a national treasure IMO, but otherswise It's 
time to start reading books again folks!  Remember them?

Best wishes to all Linkers for 2021!
David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Western Australia introduces new app to help with contact tracing

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-12-16 09:04, Tom Worthington wrote:

> Yes, the students could develop a prototype based on new protocols. After all 
> they have built systems for the power grid and missile defence.
> 
> But I would prefer they concentrated on implementing the Google & Apple one, 
> as that is likely to be got working quicker and be of use world wide.

Are those protocols protected by some form of intellectual-property rights?

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Western Australia introduces new app to help with contact tracing

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-12-10 09:39, Scott Howard wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 9, 2020 at 1:01 PM Tom Worthington wrote:
> 
>> & comply with the Privacy-Preserving Contact Tracing Protocol from Apple and 
>> Google.
>>
> Unless I'm mistaken, that's not possible.  The Google/Apple APIs are only 
> available to official "public health authorities" (ie, governments), and only 
> a single app is allowed per region.

Could it be that Google & Apple want to be seen to be cooperating with 
governments re Covid-19 while not encouraging technology or concerns about 
privacy which might impact their corporate profits?  Surely not?

It would be far better for Australia to develop its' own "Privacy-Preserving 
Contact Tracing Protocol" according to rules which could be enforced by 
legislated penalties, as I understand was done for the unfortunate CovidSafe 
app.  And the EU provide a better model.

Tom, could your students develop an Australian prototype protocol and 
demonstrate its' practicability?

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Open access science

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-11-28 09:45, Tom Worthington wrote:
>> high rejection rates ... not ... guarantee higher quality ...
> 
> Rejection rates are used by academics as a measure of quality, although that 
> has problems. Likewise the high cost will be seen by some academics an 
> indication of high quality (although they are not the ones paying).

How much are the authors charged for rejection?

DL
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Re: [LINK] Low-code and no-code development .. but .. security?

[David Lochrin]

Tom,

On 2020-11-25 08:54, Tom Worthington wrote:

> Shayne Flint and others who developed the program, wrote a paper about it: 
> https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7942964
> 
> Here is a later paper on my bit out it: 
> https://doi.org/10.1109/TALE48000.2019.9225921

Thanks for those links, which I shall read with interest.

I wrote a 45-page student guide for the UTS Software Engineering course before 
it was restructured to include elements of agile development, and was involved 
in internal discussions concerning those changes.  However a death in my family 
suddenly, though indirectly, ended my association there, hence my interest.

The project Groups were encouraged to think of themselves as a small 
software-development company.  Although the University reserved some rights, 
each Group could go on to commercialise packages they developed and some were 
very professional indeed.  The pre-agile course was highly structured, very 
comprehensive, and quite intensive, and marking Group  "deliverables" each 
semester was not something tutors would anticipate with pleasure.  Each group 
was then given a bucket of marks which they had to distribute among their 
members.

I won't go on, but I think I can extract the following from one Group's 
"Reflection", for which they received top marks.

QUOTE
The standout, major issue in this second phase was the complexity of our 
solution to the business problem.  The System Construction document will go 
into more depth into the technical issues we encountered. The first issue was 
choosing the Java framework XXX.
This had a number of adverse effects:
- Longer setup time
- Not all group members understood XXX
- Complex – Could not rotate a group member in or out if they had free time 
to help

We believed we could combat these issues by:
- Having really good programmers
[...]

Lessons:
1)   A complex solution is a complex solution regardless of the quality of the 
programmers
2)   Scope Creep always ends in tears
[...]
UNQUOTE
 
David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Low-code and no-code development .. but .. security?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-11-21 08:47, Tom Worthington wrote:

> Agile seem to work okay for the teams of ANU computer students I help teach. 
> But then they are all above average. ;-) 
I think they'd need to be!  UTS students are well above average too, and 
prerequisites for the Group Project subject based on "waterfall" methodology 
necessitated they be in at least the second year of their degree.

Would you care to describe how students handled the "agile" part?  And where 
did they begin in relation to project requirements?  For example, did the 
"customer" write a detailed System Requirements document which could be used by 
an implementation team, or were each student-group required to create & 
document their own?

Cheers,
David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] RFI: Spam-registration of IP-addresses

[David Lochrin]

Roger,

In a previous post I agreed that IP addresses listed in Spamhaus, etc. were 
those of email servers found to be forwarding spam (probably generated by the 
client systems), however I suspect the situation can be more complicated.

I use both my Partner's computer at 'X' and my own at 'Y' and both of us have 
ISP accounts with AussieBroadband.  About 12 months ago a problem developed 
where my emails from 'X' to a GoogleGroups user and (later) emails from 'Y' to 
BigPond users were rejected, with the NDNs reporting a spam listing.  However I 
could successfully send to both these recipients from the _other_ location.

Eventually ABB changed my external IP address, which of course didn't help.

But without going into why I tried this, I discovered that enabling "server 
requires authentication" in my SMTP configuration fixed the problem despite 
sender-authentication not otherwise being required.  The message-relay header 
in emails transferred to ABB then included:

Received: from [...]
  (using TLSv1.2 with cipher [...]
  (No client certificate requested)
  (Authenticated sender: dloch...@aussiebb.com.au) by mx4.wide.net.au (Postfix) 
 [...]

While SMTP authentication serves to authenticate the originator of an email to 
their ISP and may be good practice it isn't actually required by many ISPs, 
including ABB, so BigPond could hardly reject emails from non-authenticated 
originators or they'd be rejecting almost everything.  It seems to me that:
(a)   SMTP user-authentication apparently overrides the server's spam listing 
in at least some cases,
(b)   spam checking may go way beyond checking the "reputation" of the 
originator's server, and some organisations may check many addresses found in 
email headers.

If (b) is true, then it's worth noting that https://dnslytics.com/reverse-ip 
reports the subnet which includes  hosts 1,290 
domains.

Can any more knowledgeable Linkers comment on the above?

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] RFI: Spam-registration of IP-addresses

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-11-21 07:14, Roger Clarke wrote:

> As I understand it, the purpose of spam-registers is so that ISPs receiving 
> email can check the IP-address **of the SMTP-server** from which a message is 
> despatched.  If some threshold volume of messages from that address is 
> detected as spam, [...].

That's my understanding too, for what it's worth.

But is it possible the institutions hosting the recipient's email servers have 
centrally-managed clients with filters which move some messages to the 'junk' 
folder without touching the headers?  Of course such messages should also be 
flagged as unread so the recipient knows they're there, but that invites users 
to treat the junk folder as another inbox.  Alternatively, messages may be 
tagged as junk in the transfer protocol, especially if IMAP is used.

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Low-code and no-code development .. but .. security?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-11-19 08:59, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> What goes round comes around and what goes round is often a hype cycle.
> 
> For those youngsters who may have missed earlier cycles, have a read of
> these:
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_software_engineering
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_programming

I wonder whether "agile" software development is riding the same cycle?  It 
probably works when a very competent & experienced engineer with real authority 
is directing a project, but management usually hears the hype more clearly.  
However that's not always the case, fortunately.

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] How they did it - the Melbourne Modelling

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-10-29 17:23, jw...@internode.on.net wrote:> One of the team members was 
on ABC Melbourne this afternoon. The model is open source and is available if 
anyone wants to play with it.
I guess that's the Doherty Institute modelling described at 
https://www.doherty.edu.au/uploads/content_doc/McVernon_Modelling_COVID-19_07Apr1_with_appendix.pdf

Vic. Health mentions this as a "preprint" on their website at 
https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/theoretical-modelling-inform-victorias-response-coronavirus-covid-19
   However that site does contain a useful summary of the results and a few 
parameters.

QUOTE
The scenario modelling considered in this work is based on the same 
transmission model used by the Commonwealth government and released by the 
Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity [Moss, R., Wood, J., Brown, 
D., Shearer, F., Black, A.J., Cheng, A.C., McCaw, J.M., McVernon, J. Modelling 
the impact of COVID-19 in Australia to inform transmission reducing measures 
and health system preparedness.  Preprint published online – 7 Apr 2020. The 
model includes isolation of confirmed cases, and quarantine of close contacts. 
Key parameters are shown below.
UNQUOTE

My own knowledge of statistics and virus reproduction has improved greatly 
(from a very low base!) since I've been tracking the daily covid-19 figures 
released by the Commonwealth Dept. of Health.

But IMHO their website at 
https://www.health.gov.au/resources/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-at-a-glance-infographic-collection?fbclid=IwAR20LlXJJYXpVy75jAVy3asvUouCYuJ4ik7mWfAXeUIbeJpHyW2LwoHfdU8
 is a fine example of how to provide minimum information with maximum 
inconvenience.  Compare it with https://covidlive.com.au/ for example.

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] The Corporatisation of Tertiary Training

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-10-26 09:24, Roger Clarke wrote:

> One concern is that the degree is a "collaboration", and "verified by AWS 
> Educate" - although, the students, after paying for the degree, may have to 
> pay more to AWS afterwards, because "students in the degree won’t 
> automatically receive certification from AWS".

If I remember correctly, a rather similar situation arose on the release of 
Windows-7 when Microsoft declared that all existing "Microsoft Certified System 
Engineer" qualifications had become invalid, presumably because the new O/S had 
a different technological base.  I presume the erstwhile students had paid for 
their piece of paper, and were required to pay again for a new one or bin it.

> The biggest issue, however, is that the statement that the students are to 
> "gain skills and first-hand knowledge of AWS’ product development 
> methodology" gives rise to a serious risk that students won't get general 
> principles and standards-based approaches supplemented by exposure to several 
> different proprietary tools, but will instead themselves be tools of AWS's 
> market domination strategy.

IMO the most important requirement of a tertiary qualification in any area is 
to teach ~understanding~ and critical thinking, the rest is just button-pushing.

Can Linkers imagine AWS or any other corporation educating students in the 
limits and inherent problems in their pet "product development methodology"?  
And what value will another corporate employer attach to an AWS education?

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Electronic voting in ACT

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-10-16 12:44, Kim Holburn wrote:

> The system requirements are somewhat alarming:
> 
> http://www.softimp.com.au/sodis/spa_requirements.html

It seems to rely on Java, but only requires Java-5.  The relevant Wikipedia 
article states:

QUOTE
The latest versions are Java 15, released in September 2020, and Java 11, a 
currently supported long-term support (LTS) version, released on September 25, 
2018; Oracle released for the legacy Java 8 LTS the last free public update in 
January 2019 for commercial use, while it will otherwise still support Java 8 
with public updates for personal use up to at least December 2020.  Oracle (and 
others) highly recommend uninstalling older versions of Java because of serious 
risks due to unresolved security issues.[22]  Since Java 9, 10, 12 and 13 are 
no longer supported, Oracle advises its users to immediately transition to the 
latest version (currently Java 15) or an LTS release.
UNQUOTE

The word "alarming" is a bit mild: Java 5 was apparently released 16 years ago 
and Windows-7 is almost as old... what could possibly go wrong?

Of course the integrity of the election depends on what versions of what 
software were actually used in what network environment, but I think it's 
interesting to speculate on the legal position of a court challenge on those 
sorts of issues.  I wonder if the setup was stress- and security-tested and 
formally approved by the Aust. Electoral Commission?

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Google-Cloud IP addressing

[David Lochrin]

Thanks everyone for this very interesting discussion.

On 2020-10-14 10:08, Hamish Moffatt wrote:

> Besides, there is a privacy advantage to IP address sharing anyway. With an 
> encrypted connection (HTTPS), when you connect to 23.236.62.147, your ISP 
> (and your government) doesn't know which of the 6,281,493 domains you are 
> looking at. Are you looking for a recipe for sourdough or for a bomb?

Now there's a thought!

There's a good article about attacks on web servers mounted by altering the 
HTTP "Host:" header at https://portswigger.net/web-security/host-header  Such 
attacks seem to rely on server code which trusts the content of the Host: 
header in incoming packets, and HTTPS isn't any protection if a client is 
compromised.

A quick google for problems associated with firewall NAT (masquerading) didn't 
turn up anything, despite the vast number of systems potentially on one IP 
address.  A different problem would presumably arise if a system on a 
virtual-host requires asynchronous access to a client, but I guess it could be 
solved with proper use of certificates.

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Google-Cloud IP addressing

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-10-13 14:27, Hamish Moffatt wrote:

> This is name-based virtual hosting, and has been part of HTTP since 1.1 and 
> HTTPS since more recently.  It is necessary because there's nowhere near 
> enough IPv4 address space for every web site in existence (in addition to all 
> the client devices).  It is not a DNS hack.
[...]

Thanks for that explanation Hamish, I've never known much more than the basics 
of HTML.

I searched for 23.236.62.147 on https://dnslytics.com/reverse-ip as you 
suggested, and that site reported "Found 6,281,493 domains hosted on IP address 
23.236.62.147".  Over six million IP domains hanging on one address!!

I can't imagine the designers of HTTP 1.1 had that in mind 23 years ago when 
the RFC was published, and there must surely be some compromises.  What on 
earth has happened to IP6?

David Lochrin
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[LINK] Google-Cloud IP addressing

[David Lochrin]

I've been doing a little amateur covid-19 epidemiology for a few months now.  
While tracking down some reliable statistics on the number of active caes 
recently, I came across two otherwise unrelated websites with the same IP 
address: 23.236.62.147, namely  and .  
(, , and no doubt others by parsing DNS 
lookups.

I know I'm retired and rapidly becoming out of touch, but if true, that scheme 
doesn't sound to me like a good idea.  The world's domestic and SME routers 
rely on masquerading for security, and that assumes each IP address corresponds 
one system or organisation.  It also allows Google to immediately identify 
traffic for it's own universe of users and possibly expedite it.

Do Linkers have a more informed view?  Is hacking the DNS like that allowed by 
the relevant RFCs?

David Lochrin
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[LINK] WordPress

[David Lochrin]

I'd like to ask Linkers whether anyone has recent experience of WordPress, 
especially regarding security, and possibly privacy?

I believe it's written in PHP which has a terrible record of security issues 
over the years, possibly because it's so easy to write bad code.  (I taught 
myself PHP because it was so popular with students!)

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] Windows could become emulation layer atop Linux kernel

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-09-29 18:23, Stephen Loosley wrote:
> Windows to become emulation layer atop Linux kernel, predicts Eric Raymond
> 
> Happening in plain sight with Proton, WSL and Edge-for-Linux, says open 
> source advocate
> 
> Mon 28 Sep 2020 By Simon Sharwood, APAC Editor 
> https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/28/eric_raymond_linux_beats_windows_prediction

And who would have imagined one could buy SuSE Linux 15.1 at the Microsoft 
Store:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/p/opensuse-leap-15-1/9njfzk00fgkv?activetab=pivot:overviewtab

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Re: [LINK] Telstra “Game Optimiser” Snake Oil?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-09-24 10:41, Hamish Moffatt wrote:

> The optimisation is applied to your own NBN link only hence the requirement 
> for the Telstra Smart Modem. It's to prevent downloads, video streaming etc 
> from killing gaming, VoIP and other applications that needs low latency.
> 
> So you are taking away from other users or applications on your own home 
> network, but not from other Internet users.

Any good modem should allow QoS, at least, to be configured for different 
interfaces, IP address ranges, and/or ports, but is there any agreement 
regarding QoS implementation & management in the wider network?

IMO the NBN and service providers should be required to agree a QoS mechanism 
such as DDIF, with penalties when it's broken.  Otherwise, we'll probably see 
the usual corporate fiddling of the system, especially where companies have a 
foot in each camp.  Think banks...

This would have been far easier if NBN had end-to-end responsibility, as per 
the original NBN design, instead of the current equipment free-for-all.  No 
wonder state actors can see the possibilities for sabotage.

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Re: [LINK] Australian University Rankings

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-09-09 08:49, Tom Worthington wrote:

>> ... a successful IT project only requires knowledge of the technology (i.e. 
>> vocational training) and strict adherence to the correct project methodology 
>> ...

I'm most certainly not advocating that idea!!

> No, as I tell my students, most IT projects fail, even if you do the 
> technical bits right. They usually go wrong due to a failure to understand 
> who the client was and what they needed, not because of some technical detail.

That's exactly right, and I can think of some spectacular examples.  In many 
cases the real problem is that the customer doesn't understand their own 
requirements properly.  There can also be tension between desire to win a 
contract and proper negotiation of requirements, especially when egos  and/or 
"process" become involved.

I was involved in a Software Engineering course which took student 
project-teams through the whole "waterfall" process, from clarifying customer 
requirements and writing a System Requirements specification through 
architectural & system design, implementation, testing, and documentation.

It was quite intensive, and I can think of some quite revelatory moments for 
students.  In some cases I suspect the lessons learned were inversely related 
to their marks!  I could write a book

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Re: [LINK] Australian University Rankings

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-09-06 09:57, Tom Worthington wrote:

> No, what makes a teacher is teacher training.
> 
> Palali, Van Elk, Bolhaar & Rud (2018) found students taught by academics with 
> good publication records got higher grades, but only for masters level 
> students, not undergraduates.

Did the undergrads actually receive significantly ~lower~ grades?

I'm reminded of the theory I've come across in academia to the effect that a 
successful IT project only requires knowledge of the technology (i.e. 
vocational training) and strict adherence to the correct project methodology, 
which is followed like Theseus' silken thread to a happy conclusion.

I've no doubt that training improves almost all teachers' effectiveness.  But 
some are born natural teachers and some are not, regardless of their research 
interests or teacher training.

David Lochrin
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Re: [LINK] It is Time for Parliament to Follow the Rest of Australia Online

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-08-30 10:10, Antony Barry wrote:> Most of the work of the Parliament 
takes place at Parliament when people are NOT in the chamber.
True, but that work is not visible to the public.  For the vast maiority of 
citizens, their first-hand understanding of the Parties' interactions & 
relative positions comes from the theatre of Parliament (especially question 
time) as reported TV news bulletins and other media, with associated commentary.

David Lochrin

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Re: [LINK] It is Time for Parliament to Follow the Rest of Australia Online

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-08-27 09:02, Tom Worthington wrote:

> The theater of parliament is largely rehearsed and scripted. Like any 
> performance the spontaneity is largely an illusion. 
> [...]
> Only a tiny fraction of the Australian population ever experience parliament 
> face to face, and then only from the remoteness of the public gallery. It is 
> possible to use online tools and techniques to make the experience "better 
> than life".

The Parties certainly plan (or attempt to plan) their performances in 
Parliament, but the content on the day is there for all to see.  The sight of 
the PM fondling a lump of coal is a value-defining image which will stay with 
him for his political career!

The theatrical dynamics of Parliament are important, too.  Ask any actor how 
Shakespeare would seem with no audience and the actors each sitting at home in 
front of their computer

I think the number of people who attend parliamentary sessions is a little 
irrelevant.  Prime-time ABC news programs alone have an audience of around half 
to three-quarters of a million viewers, and that's where the impact lies.

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Re: [LINK] It is Time for Parliament to Follow the Rest of Australia Online

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-08-25 09:01, Tom Worthington wrote:

> There is no law preventing the Parliament meeting online, just a lack of will 
> to do it. It is time for MPs and Senators to follow the example of tens of 
> thousands of other Australians and make the minor changes to their routine to 
> work online.

Why?

The theatre of Parliament is one place where our Representatives are publicly 
held to account.  Online meetings would make the business of government even 
less accessible and less accountable than it is now by creating a sense of 
remoteness, by drawing a veil over body language and party dynamics.  The 
nature of the technology would reduce the impact of the stirring policy speech 
to that of an SMS text.

And where do you draw the line?  Would Senate Estimates be held using Zoom?  I 
want to see incompetent ministers and public officials squirming in their chair 
under close questioning.

The incident where Scott Morrison produced a lump of coal in Parliament 
(presumably supplied by a coal lobbyist) and the reaction of those on the front 
benches said more about the Coalition's attitude to coal than could possibly be 
conveyed in a zoom meeting.

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Re: [LINK] RFI: How should virtual group members interact with one another?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-08-19 16:30, Roger Clarke wrote:

> My thinking is that an alive group generates topic-areas where the short-term 
> 'thread' notion becomes inappropriate (particularly for everyone who *isn't* 
> interested), and a medium-term venue is better.
> 
> Yonks ago, for example, someone (Tony Barry?) instituted the unlink list, as 
> a generic Link Institute parking-space for such things.

I remember Unlink: topics which wandered too far away from Link's core 
interests could be moved there by the Moderator to continue in peace.  I think 
Unlink was a good idea and I'm curious as to why it wasn't kept; I suspect it 
simply wasn't used enough to justify its existence, and some threads tend to 
wander off-topic and back on again anyway.

If a forum moves off-topic frequently enough to be an issue, its original 
purpose may have become less relevant and/or the interests of its members may 
have evolved.  In either case I'm inclined to think there are easier ways to 
deal with the problem than creation of "subchannels" which could complicate 
things significantly.

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Re: [LINK] RFI: How should virtual group members interact with one another?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-08-18 15:47, Roger Clarke wrote:

> A virtual organisation (e.g. The Link Institute, or a professional, 
> occupational, advocacy or common interest group) needs a channel for 
> communications among members.> 
> In 2020, what would the Link Institute recommend as that channel?

This is an interesting question.  I think much of DEC's success during their 
salad days in the 1980's when revenue grew to half that of IBM was due to a 
package known as DEC Notes.  This allowed every DEC employee to discuss pretty 
much anything within the company, and some product-engineering managers copped 
quite a roasting on occasion.  Notes also allowed restricted membership where 
necessary, e.g. for discussion of gay or women's issues.  It was simple to use 
while covering a lot of ground, with no "eye candy".

The closest thing I know would probably be Whirlpool, but IMO its page layout 
should be revised and the content better organised, and its possibly attempting 
to do too much.

I'm not clear about the requirement for primary & secondary subchannels.   Is 
this intended to be a hierarchy of interest groups, each with its own 
moderator, membership, and list of topics?

On 2020-08-18 16:53, Karl Auer wrote:
> TBH in this space less is more.

Absolutely...   

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Re: [LINK] Dentist Google review court order lead to all being revealed

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-07-24 14:50, Kim Holburn wrote:

> It seems like he had good reason to pursue this.  This isn't so much about 
> freedom of speech.  The "reviewer" had freedom of speech.  This is about the 
> consequences of speech.  No speech is free from consequences.

'ullo, 'ullo, 'ullo... what have we got here then?

QUOTE
As Dr Kabbabe's legal team began circling on the accused writer of the review, 
court documents also claim that Dr Georgy approached his former employee and 
offered to buy his teeth-whitening business "on the condition that the current 
proceedings are ceased".

Another condition of the sale was that media attention of the case would also 
be stopped.
UNQUOTE

This case may be about much more than free speech.

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Re: [LINK] COVIDfail – the Australian coronavirus tracing app that can’t find anyone

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-07-14 09:34, Karl Auer wrote:

> The program is yet another IT debacle undermining confidence in the 
> Government and in their otherwise reasonably good messaging about the virus. 
> In particular, any future app, even one that might be effective, will see 
> near-zero uptake.

Agreed, and I think there's a larger problem: the Government's apparent faith 
in technological fixes for difficult problems without proper thought, 
especially with regard to privacy.

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Re: [LINK] What is hyper-automation?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-07-10 10:03, Kim Holburn wrote:

> The firm further clarifies that “hyper-automation often results in the 
> creation of a digital twin of the organization (DTO)” which in turn enables  
> organizations “to visualize how functions, processes and key performance 
> indicators interact to drive value.”

Er, clarify that again?  If an organisation's operations are hyper-automated, 
then surely that _is_ the organisation.  Where's the twin?

> “A real-world example of hyper-automation in my industry—cloud 
> communication—is the use of RPA and AI in call centers to automate processes 
> such as mouse clicks and application launch to help an agent quickly pull 
> information about a client from multiple systems,” explains Yonatan.
> 
> “When a customer calls in, an agent must aggregate information from various 
> systems to get a complete customer profile. With the hyper-automation tools 
> handling the process, the agent doesn’t have to keep switching between 
> several applications, and the process is faster,” Yonatan adds.

Or perhaps the organisation's traditional systems need to be reviewed.  Using 
AI to hide architectural problems in an organisation's business systems sounds 
to me like a good path to chaos because management will lose understanding & 
control of their own business.

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Re: [LINK] America Is Reopening. Coronavirus Tracing Apps Aren’t Ready.

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-24 10:40, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> “We don’t have a clear national strategy for disease control, for traditional 
> contact tracing, so there’s nowhere to plug in a digital program,” said Josh 
> Sharfstein, a Johns Hopkins professor who was part of a team that researched 
> contact-tracing apps. “You really need a fundamental strategy, and then you 
> can decide if tech will help or not.”

And that neatly sums up the problem with most failed IT projects, including 
CovidSafe.  Governments are way too eager to charge into technology without a 
clear idea of what they're doing.

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Re: [LINK] Google 'Ambient Computing'

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-20 23:25, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> Shodjai did not explain how users will end a Continuous Match Mode session. 
> Presumably this will be either after a developer-defined exit intent, or via 
> a system intent as with existing actions.

...or with a hammer.

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Re: [LINK] All German petrol stations must offer electric car charging

[David Lochrin]

Hi Stephen,

On 2020-06-12 11:50, Stephen Rothwell wrote:

> The thing you may have missed is that most people will not need to completely 
> recharge their car on most days e.g. I usually only drive less than 50km a 
> day so recharging is possible (most of the time) in a few hours even from a 
> 10A 240V circuit.

Yes, I take the point.  But I think a network of fast-charge sites which are 
available 24x7 will be required for those times when drivers are running low 
but nowhere near a shopping centre, etc. and/or don't have hours have hours 
available for a slow charge.

I hadn't realised a fast charge required such high currents.  For example, the 
Leaf fast charge requires a 50 amp outlet (presumably single-phase) but this 
house, built in 2001, only has a 40 amp single-phase supply from the grid, and 
that has to run everything else too.

As a matter of interest, did you have special house wiring installed to support 
your car?

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Re: [LINK] All German petrol stations must offer electric car charging

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-12 01:52, Paul Brooks wrote:

> Most EVs have a range of several hundred kilometres in a charge - the ones 
> I've looked at, I can drive from Sydney to Newcastle and back again without 
> charging in the middle.

Yes, I was surprised to find the current Nissan Leaf has an "indicative" range 
of 270 Km.

However the specs at 
https://www.nissan.com.au/vehicles/browse-range/leaf/specs-and-prices.html#grade-LEAFZE1A-0
 tell us the car has an acceleration of "7.9 Km/h" so I hope the range figure 
is more believable, at least it has the right units!

> If you do need to charge, they [garages] are the last place you would want to 
> go to, because you need 15 mins to a couple of hours to push in a decent 
> charge to make stopping worthwhile, and theres nothing else to do at those 
> places.

The Leaf apparently has a charging time from "alert" to 100% of 7.5 hours from 
a 32 amp home outlet.  However the charging time from 20% to 80% is only 1 hour 
using a 50 amp rapid-charge outlet, which would probably require a dedicated 
feed from the street so isn't practicable for home use.  Even a 32 amp outlet 
would be pushing most home wiring.

I think this indicates vehicle use with home-charging would have to be quite 
disciplined, and home charging would not be precticable in some situations.

> To me, suburban fuel stations are dodos, and we will quickly find alternative 
> uses for all those corner real-estate blocks when they go broke from disuse. 
> Putting charger-points at those locations is nuts.

In the long term, yes.

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Re: [LINK] All German petrol stations must offer electric car charging

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-11 15:53, Fernando Cassia wrote:

> There was a recent story I read about the fossil fuel industry allegedly 
> being the big pushers for hydrogen, a pie in the sky dream whose only goal is 
> to slow down the switch to EVs and renewable while they build the 
> (impossible) hydrogen recharge infrastructure.

The fissil-fuel industry is into pipe dreams, such as carbon capture & storage.

However hydrogen (& oxygen) is very easy to extract by electrolysing H₂O, 
ideally using solar power, something I can remember my father demonstrating 
when I was probably about ten.

That can be used in a clean steel-making process; see for example:
   
https://reneweconomy.com.au/nordic-steel-giant-to-use-renewable-hydrogen-to-produce-fossil-free-steel-by-2026-2026/
  and for a lot of technical detail:
   
https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/08/f54/fcto-h2-scale-kickoff-2018-8-chevrier.pdf

I think the CSIRO also has a process for transporting hydrogen in liquid form 
at normal temperature & pressure; it's liberated at point of use by a catalyst.

Cheers,
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Re: [LINK] All German petrol stations must offer electric car charging

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-08 10:34, Tom Worthington wrote:

> If it takes 30 minutes to charge the car, what are you going to do while 
> waiting?  Also a service station only has room for a small number of cars.

If a driver finds their car is running out of charge it would be nice to be 
able to pull in to the nearest service station for a quick charge (maybe 5 
minutes?) to get home.  Shopping centres, etc. with such facilities are harder 
to find.

> It would make more sense to have charging at places people leave their cars 
> for long periods, such as car share parking spaces, apartment parking, 
> shopping centers and public car parks.

That also...  Mittagong already has a number of charging stations, one at the 
RSL Club and one at the visitor's centre.

The other thing which would be useful is an index of charging points.  One 
doesn't want to run out of charge while driving around looking for one.

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Re: [LINK] NBNCo Breach results in a belting with a feather duster

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-06-03 13:05, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:
> Is there now number portability on "landlines" as well as mobiles?

Yes, one can now carry a number from the old POTS system to the NBN or between 
NBN VoIP providers.

How it all works in the case of the NBN is interesting.  My understanding is 
that the big POTS providers (Telstra, Optus, others?) still "own" their 
long-standing blocks of allocated numbers, but each number now has an 
associated link to the current VoIP provider for that number.

So if customer 'A' rings 'B' then A's VoIP provider will first look up the 
owner of B's number ('X') in an allocated-numbers database, then access 'X' to 
discover B's VoIP provider.  A's VoIP call can be routed over the internet.

Of course the afore-mentioned big providers charge for their stewardship of the 
telephone numbers.

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Re: [LINK] COVIDSafe a few observations

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-05-10 00:09, Karl Auer wrote:

>> We are releasing the app code, but to ensure the privacy of individuals and 
>> integrity of the overall system, the code that relates to the COVIDSafe 
>> National Information Storage System will not be released.
> 
> Why not? If it is secure, no amount of inspection will make it less so.  If 
> it is not secure and they don't know it, the fastest way to find out is to 
> let lots of eyes look at it. And if it is not secure and they DO know it, 
> then believing that hiding the code will somehow protect the system is 
> dangerously, foolishly naive.  Three words that pretty well sum up the 
> Australian Government's when it comes to large-scale IT.

Reliance on security-by-obscurity will probably end in tears.

I presume security of CovidSafe user data will ultimately depend on the 
devices' O/S but I'm not qualified to make any guesses there.  However China 
will probably reverse-compile the downloadable App in short order anyway.

Withholding part of the code only reduces the government's credibility even 
further.  As a strategy to whitewash back doors and spyware, it's at least 25 
years old: release most of the code to display innocent goodwill but not the 
bit that counts.

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Re: [LINK] COVIDSafe a few observations

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-05-09 21:39, Roger Clarke wrote:

> It can be safely assumed that sanitisation has occurred before release.
> No dead dogs, or dog-kicking apparatus, are likely to be found.

On 2020-05-09 21:09, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> On the other hand, and as promised, they have released the source code for 
> both of their versions fairly speedily here https://github.com/AU-COVIDSafe

I wonder whether anybody can compile & run the app as intended, or must we run 
the officially blessed download?  Would the Government be happy to let the 
citizenry download a a version audited, tested, and compiled by a trusted 
organisation like Electronic Frontiers Australia?

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Re: [LINK] COVIDSafe a few observations

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-05-08 16:22, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> In fact most of the scripted propaganda/adverts re COVIDSafe has come from 
> Professor Murphy, not the politicians
> 
> All in all the government doesn't seem to be pushing people very hard to 
> download and use it [The App] or pinning its hopes on the thing.

Perhaps the government is feeling nervous after the NBN, RoboDebt, the Census, 
the medical records initiative, penetration of Commonwealth systems by foreign 
agents, and various IT project failures, not to mention widely known problems 
with the App on iPhone.

I wonder about public psychology.  Given the current state of the CV19 epidemic 
in Australia it's unlikely the App will show any noteworthy benefit unless the 
virus re-emerges on a large scale, but intensive marketing may well lead the 
public to expect dramatic results.

The name is misleading too; "COVIDsafe" suggests it protects the citizen from 
the virus.

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[LINK] Open-source alternatives to Skype

[David Lochrin]

While on the subject of video-conference technology, I believe this is doing 
the rounds in Canberra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYu_bGbZiiQ

No more YouTube clips, promise.
---

Back on topic, https://opensource.com/alternatives/skype lists open-source 
alternatives to Skype.

Two of these are Jitsi and Jami (formerly Ring) which is described as: "An 
official GNU package, Jami is licensed under the GPLv3, and takes its 
commitments to security and free and open source software very seriously. 
Communications are secured by end-to-end encryption with authentication using 
RSA/AES/DTLS/SRTP technologies and X.509 certificates."  It can apparently also 
use SIP, which might be a useful feature in the NBN environment.

Do Linkers have any comments or experience regarding these packages, especially 
in light of the security issues with such widely-used software as Zoom?

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Re: [LINK] RFC: Does CovidSafe Actually Work?

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-29 19:18, John Mann wrote:

> I'm concerned about the effectiveness of solving the problem: finding 
> everyone someone may have given the virus to.

I don't think it's intended to trace every contact.  It's effectiveness 
ultimately hangs on probabilities.

But even assuming the official target of a 40% uptake is reached and it's 
evenly distributed among the population (including those more likely to acquire 
CV19), the probability that a random close encounter will be detected is 
(0.4^2) or only 16%.  That would leave a large number of undetected contacts.

IMHO the main problem with this scheme is Government credibility re privacy.  
Perhaps this could be overcome by entrusting the entire development, testing, 
and subsequent operation of the scheme to a trusted & independent organisation. 
 And the code should be open-source with an integrity check.

Of course the view from Link is not typical, and lots of well-meaning people 
will buy the marketing at face value.  Sigh...

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[LINK] O/T: Humour for today

[David Lochrin]

Linkers may enjoy the following:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPDPzbLFeP4=youtu.be

This one just came up next.  It's rather more serious, but beautifully sung.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eR0ckpJ3bk

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Re: [LINK] Absence of evidence to support contact-tracing apps

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-26 10:24, Roger Clarke wrote:

> The solution to such problems comprises a mix of organisational, technical 
> and legal elements.  The legal bits provide necessary framework, and 
> enforcement, but the guts of the solution are processes and people.

Sure, but a government also needs credibility.  All the legal process and 
penalties are useless when a Government ignores its own leglislation whenever 
convenient.

This was demonstrated during the RoboDebt debacle.  The Coalition doggedly 
pursued it despite numerous instances of rank injustice and warnings it was 
illegal until it was finally struck down by the Federal Court.  As The Guardian 
reported:

QUOTE
Welfare groups, legal centres, Senate inquiries and a former administrative 
appeals tribunal senior member, Terry Carney, have all warned that income 
averaging is not a proper basis to claim a debt.
UNQUOTE

see 
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/27/government-admits-robodebt-was-unlawful-as-it-settles-legal-challenge

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Re: [LINK] Australia’s media is dying before our eyes

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-11 12:52, Karl Auer wrote:

> Might all this not ultimately be a good thing? The landscape will finally be 
> cleared of toxins like Murdoch, leaving an open field for alternatives to 
> arise, and hopefully a lot of them, to combat the disastrous consolidation of 
> past decades.

That thought occurred to me too.  But there are bright spots:

QUOTE - 
https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2017/10/26/how-the-guardian-found-80-paying-readers

The strategy to rescue the Guardian from financial oblivion has attained a 
landmark position by increasing its revenue from readers to a point where it 
now outweighs the paper’s income from advertising.

This significant shift in the Guardian’s business model, making it less 
dependent on a highly challenging advertising market for media companies, 
results largely from a quadrupling in the number of readers making monthly 
payments under the title’s membership scheme, which has grown from 75,000 to 
300,000 members in the past year.

The paper has also slightly increased – to 200,000 – its subscriber base for 
its print and digital products. And in a development which has even surprised 
senior Guardian executives, a further 300,000 individuals have made single 
donations to the paper, which has been posting appeals at the end of articles, 
urging readers to financially support its commitment to open access journalism.

These one-off donations, totalling several million pounds, come from 140 
countries but a substantial proportion has arrived from the US, suggesting that 
despite a recent diminution of the Guardian US operation, the paper has a 
committed audience in a country with established traditions of supporting 
public interest journalism through philanthropy.

Together, the 800,000 contributors (members, subscribers and donors), along 
with casual sales of the physical paper, give the Guardian a record number of 
paying readers; more than the half-a-million pinnacle in print circulation 
achieved in the late 1980s.

[more...]
UNQUOTE

> The danger is that our spineless and clueless government will just let it all 
> be bought up by foreign interests and we will start being fed whatever the 
> Chinese (or whoever) want us to hear.

IMHO the Neoliberal ideology of conservative governments in the Trump / 
Morrison model is rapidly diverging from Reality, and that will become more & 
more apparent as time goes on.  Hence the increasing support for reality-based 
journalism of The Guardian, The Conversation, etc.

As has been observed by others, the drought, the bushfires, and now Covid‑19 
are all events bought on because we're living beyond our planetary means.  We 
need depopulation, decarbonisation, and an end to the fantasy of everlasting 
economic growth.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] The government's coronavirus modelling

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-09 08:46, Tom Worthington wrote:

> My proposal for the education sector is a gradual return to the classroom 
> with blended learning:

What do you mean by a "gradual return to the classroom" and how would it reduce 
the risk of infection?

David
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Re: [LINK] The government's coronavirus modelling

[David Lochrin]

This may be only of curiosity value, but I've been collecting statistics from 
the twice-daily bulletins on Covid-19 published by the Commonwealth Deptartment 
of Health at 
https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert/coronavirus-covid-19-current-situation-and-case-numbers

The initial phase from 29th Feb. to 27th March was an almost perfect 
exponential:
   n = 19.25 exp(0.19t)
where 'n' is the cumulative number of notified cases and 't' is the number of 
days since 29th February, and the Pearson correlation is 1.00.  This is what 
we'd expect in the early stages of a pandemic when there's no significant 
population immunity.

However the period since 27th March is best described by a polynomial, also 
with a correlation of 1.00:
   n = -14.27(t²) + 1,196(t) - 19,010

If it continues to be accurate the rate of new infections will drop to zero in 
a few days, when there will have been a total of 6,050.  The trend line 
obviously isn't useful after that since the cumulative total would begin to 
decrease.

However it raises an interesting policy decision.  The current constraints 
can't go on forever, but to what extent should the rules be relaxed?  I think 
the national border should definitely remain closed, but should there be no 
relaxation pending possible release of a vaccine?  Or should the rules be 
managed so everyone gets a dose of covid‑19, but slowly?  Would that be too 
risky?

It's reported the medical panel and Government is considering the latter.

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Re: [LINK] The government's coronavirus modelling

[David Lochrin]

Bernard,

On 2020-04-08 22:25, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> ICYMI, I sent an email last night that included this

I beg your pardon, I didn't see your reference and will read it with interest.

DL
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Re: [LINK] The government's coronavirus modelling

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-07 22:25, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:

> What matters is what happens next and the modelling did not cover that at 
> all. What is the plan for easing up on "stay at home", taking the screws off 
> businesses and opening the boarders? Scotty claims that our government is the 
> only one thinking 6 months ahead. That may well be the case, but where's the 
> thinking/modelling behind it?
> 
> We need informed debate not content free mickey mouse modelling presentations.

I'd like to see some details of the alleged modelling.  To begin with, was it 
an all day love-in in front of a whiteboard (lunch supplied)?  Or a static 
analysis done on a spreadsheet?  Or a full event simulation with sensitivity 
checks?  Or...  What are the details?  What was actually being modelled and how?

The Salesman is desparately trying to look in charge and in control of the 
situation.  With allegations in relation to the Ruby Princess & the Liberal 
Party being aired in normally responsible media you'd think the Government 
would be going out of its' way to look credible & responsible, not indulging in 
marketing snow jobs.

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Re: [LINK] 50 years of Teleworking Fantasies to COVID-19 Reality

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-08 11:20, Marghanita da Cruz wrote:

> While the City of Sydney has emptied - Inner West Local Government Area is 
> now busy. Great to see everyone out walking and cycling!

Except when joggers charge up behind you and pass by with much puffing and 
panting and little regard for rules about social distance or the people they're 
breathing on.  It's been quite bad in Jubilee Park!

DL
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Re: [LINK] OT: The Quality of Reporting on "COVID-19-Linked" Deaths

[David Lochrin]

On 2020-04-03 18:15, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Best demo yet of 100% image and 0% substance.
> 
> 'Case numbers' is a meaningless metric, because it's impossible to know what 
> each of the at least 40 data-elements means, it adds apples and oranges, and 
> none of it tells anyone anything useful.

What "40 data-elements" do you have in mind?  I presume "case-numbers" refers 
to the number of cases indicated by a specific diagnostic test or, at very 
least, a set of symptoms indicative of CV with high probability.

> Metrics that can assist in public health decisions:
> -   Deaths

On the other hand, number of deaths is rather imprecise unless it's qualified 
by age and the existence of predisposing conditions.

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Re: [LINK] Bitcoin and global warming

[David Lochrin]

On 17/12/2017 09:39, Bernard Robertson-Dunn wrote:
> The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming Problem
> https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-global-warming/

Does any Linker understand where the cryptographic "puzzle" fits in Bitcoin 
architecture?  Is it just an arbitrary task providing no added-value, like 
digging holes then filling them up again?  Or is it solely to regulate the rate 
of bitcoin creation?

SHA-256 mentioned in the article is a hashing algorithm, not an encryption 
algorithm.

I was part-way through Bernard's linked article when the power went out; maybe 
too many people mining bitcoins?

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Re: [LINK] Bitcoin and global warming

[David Lochrin]

This is an interesting discussion...

On 15/12/2017 18:36, Jim Birch wrote:

> There's a bit of a fundamental economic problem there, isn't there?
>
> Reducing the energy cost of a bitcoin (or the cost of energy) will result in 
> more bitcoin production.  The  situation is inherently unstable under most 
> scenarios.  While bitcoins can be generated at a cost below their sale price 
> it makes economic sense to devour arbitrary levels of resources to produce 
> bitcoin.  (The climate catastrophe scenario.)

The value of a conventional currency is founded on what it will buy, the 
currency itself is just a system of tokens.  Central banks like to increase the 
supply in step with GDP, so the value of a dollar (say) remains unchanged.  If 
the supply is increased beyond that we have inflation.

However the inherent value of a bitcoin now lies almost solely in it's exchange 
rate with these conventional currencies.  That might well change if it became 
widely accepted, but it would put economic management outside the control of 
any government.  And that would certainly invite action; perhaps OECD members 
could decide to make any currency not controlled by government illegal, or 
bring them under World Bank control (quelle horreur!).

> Two stable situations can exist. One is where the cost of new bitcoin is 
> approximately equal to dollar cost of the energy required to produce bitcoin 
> [...]  The other one is where the dollar value of bitcoin reverts to its 
> natural value ie zero, and bitcoin production stops.  (The preferred option 
> from an environmental damage perspective.)

All true, I think.  But the concept "the cost of new bitcoin is approximately 
equal to dollar cost of the energy required to produce bitcoin" still assumes 
that national currencies continue to provide a stable foundation.

A third outcome is that the value of bitcoin becomes so unstable its value 
declines and it goes out of fashion.

> I'm expecting the  second scenario to prevail sooner or later for basic 
> economic reasons.  However, I would be extremely foolish to bet on a 
> cessation of human stupidity on any fixed time frame.

...(:-)

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Re: [LINK] ASX CHESS and Blockchain

[David Lochrin]

On 07/12/2017 13:41, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Value-authentication of the $5 note is performed by inspecting it and 
> comparing its appearance against people's expectations (a good forgery being 
> worth as much as one printed by the official Mint).

Yes, but a valid $5 note has an inherent asset value determined by what it can 
buy in goods & services.  However the inherent value of a bitcoin is determined 
almost solely by what someone is prepared to pay for it, which is why its value 
fluctuates so widely, and trading in the current bubble is probably mostly 
speculative.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Revealed: the fastest telcos and cities in Australia for broadband

[David Lochrin]

On 10/11/2017 10:01, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Much of the city uses TransACT VDSL2.  Is it an appropriate characterisation 
> to call that an updated version of an early form of FTTN?  If so, then 32/14 
> MBps could be seen as being current state of the art?

I'd suggest it's an updated form of ADSL2+.  But you should be grateful for the 
72/18 Mbit/s speeds you're seeing with VDSL2!

I think the data rate is much more a function of network engineering, 
principally the copper distance between user and node, and then the fibre 
architecture.  I'm under the impression TransACT uses much denser nodes, and 
fibre to the building in the case of apartments; is that correct?

I wish we had Transact in the Southern Highlands.  And I'm pleased to see 
Trumble is feeling the heat generated by his stupid MTM decision.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] AI?

[David Lochrin]

On Sunday 15 October 2017 at 14:48 JanW wrote:

> Interesting that this caught Elon's attention while he was in Victoria, eh?

I thought the reference to OpenAI (openai.com) in the bottom-left of the image 
was also interesting.  "OpenAI is a non-profit AI research company, discovering 
and enacting the path to safe artificial general intelligence."

Elon Musk evidently thinks we do not currently have a systemic understanding of 
how to deliver "safe" AI, and the OpenAI initiative may be a way of trawling 
for ideas and talented researchers.  Its mission statement (aagggh...) says 
"We're a non-profit research company.  Our full-time staff of 60 researchers 
and engineers is dedicated to working towards our mission regardless of the 
opportunities for selfish gain which arise along the way."

One can forsee a situation where legislators are forced into considering how to 
regulate AI-based devices.  This is a horrifying prospect given the 
Government's demonstrated expertise in managing other STEM projects such as the 
NBN, energy management & greenhouse warming, and the Lidell fiasco.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Dealing with Telstra's short-cuts

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 05 October 2017 at 17:52 I wrote:

> [...] I would advise having a Solicitor write a letter to Telstra with copies 
> to both the Landowner's MP and Senator Fiona Nash (Minister for [...]

Maybe I'd leave the Minister out of the first round.  I have got action that 
way in the past, but the Minister was also the local member.

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Re: [LINK] Dealing with Telstra's short-cuts

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 05 October 2017 at 16:19 David Boxall [quoting Facebook] wrote:

> https://www.facebook.com/groups/BIRRR/permalink/746613068880716/
> I would like some advice or direction please... we need to replace a boundary 
> fence on a road verge. The Telstra cable runs along said fence, tied to it 
> and is all tangled in the overgrown bush. My father in law has rung Telstra 
> to see if they can come out and work with him so he doesn't wreck the cable. 
> He needs to clear it using a bulldozer it is that overgrown. They want us to 
> pay for this, so he put in a complaint but he keeps going around in circles 
> with no real answer.   Does anyone have any advice for this kind of 
> situation? We are located on the south coast of WA.

If the Landowner has not given permission for this at some time previously, and 
even de-facto permission might be a potential problem, I would advise having a 
Solicitor write a letter to Telstra with copies to both the Landowner's MP and 
Senator Fiona Nash (Minister for Regional Development, Regional Communications, 
and Local Government & Territories).

The Solicitor will advise on the content, but I'd suggest it should simply 
state that the Landowner wishes to clear the fenceline and avoid any disruption 
to services which ~may~ be carried on that cable.  So would Telstra please 
confirm within [some time limit] whether or not it is their cable and currently 
in use, and if so, discuss its removal from service with the Landowner's 
Solicitor so the fenceline can be cleared.  I wouldn't involve any neighbours 
who might be affected or the media, not yet anyway.

David L.
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[LINK] VoIP configuration

[David Lochrin]

I recently bought a Cisco SPA112 analogue telephone adapter (ATA) in 
anticipation of migrating to the NBN.  It seems to be very good quality and 
flexible, certainly better than the average integrated modem & VoIP device, but 
it's intended to be deployed en-masse almost anywhere by telephony specialists.

So if an ordinary user wants to configure it for Australia, they have to 
research every detail, including a suitable dial plan, standard Oz tone & 
cadence definitions, ring cadence, even low-level electrical characteristics 
such as ring voltage and FXS port impedance.  (Have Link engineers ever seen an 
impedamce specified as "820+220||120nF"?  It actually describes an equivalent 
circuit.) 

However I've now found most of this stuff and can pass it on if anyone is 
interested.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Long-range communication for near-zero-power devices

[David Lochrin]

On 21/09/2017 01:12, Stephen Loosley wrote:

> "People have been talking about embedding connectivity into everyday objects 
> such as laundry detergent, paper towels and coffee cups for years, but the 
> problem is the cost and power consumption to achieve this," said Vamsi Talla, 
> CTO of Jeeva Wireless, who was an Allen School postdoctoral researcher and 
> received a doctorate in electrical engineering from the UW.  "This is the 
> first wireless system that can inject connectivity into any device with very 
> minimal cost."

I wondered whether this was a joke, but decided it wasn't since I've seen so 
many really silly ideas over the last year or so.  "Mum, someone's hacked my 
paper towel and it's wrapping itself around my nec...".

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Re: [LINK] NBN & POTS

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 14 September 2017 at 19:12 Kim Holburn wrote:

> Doesn't VDSL have an initial mode, like mixed mode, until all the lines are 
> VDSL and then they can change it to VDSL only mode which is supposedly 
> slightly faster?

I don't know of any VDSL "mixed mode" but that term might apply to FTTN nodes 
during the 18-month period between a service becoming available and final 
cutover, when all (?) POTS services are switched off.

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Re: [LINK] NBN & POTS

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 14 September 2017 at 15:03 Jim Birch wrote:

> This [POTS continuing to operate] would be an almost mandatory feature  to 
> decrease the irate customer and/or horror headline risk where there is an 
> issue with some component of the FTTN system.  Granny death on NBN phone 
> failure anyone?
> 
> My FTTN line cutover had the same service continuity, but that's on a 
> separate channel.

My guess is that FTTN nodes multiplex the POTS and VDSL2 signals onto the 
copper by default, just as is done now with POTS & ADSL, but the POTS signal is 
jumpered out unless a customer specifically asks for "voiceband continuity".

The POTS signal would then occupy the bottom 100Hz to 4KHz, and VDSL from 25KHz 
to 25MHz (?).

My friend had a POTS service configured with dual numbers and ring cadences, 
one of which was detected by her FAX machine.  This option isn't available now, 
but it enabled a user to have separate 'phone & FAX numbers with a single line 
rental charge (and of course only one at a time could operate).  Perhaps she 
was given voiceband-continuity as a replacement?

You can see Telstra will get a nice windfall selling off all that exchange real 
estate after the MTM complaints fade away and everyone is kicked off POTS onto 
VoIP.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN & POTS

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 14 September 2017 at 13:25 Narelle wrote:

> They operate at different frequencies. Do you hear noise after the modem came 
> into service?

I thought VDSL bandwidth extended down to audible frequencies, however it 
begins at 25KHz and almost certainly wouldn't have been detectable in a 
common-or-garden handset.

I didn't like to plug a 'phone directly across the VDSL line because I 
understand NBN Co. is fairly ruthless about disabling any service which doesn't 
behave correctly, even down to supporting all the specified VDSL2 options and 
having them enabled.

The main surprise was that the POTS service was still functioning at all after 
cutover of the NBN service.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN & POTS

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 13 September 2017 at 15:29 I wrote:

> However the POTS service continued to be available right up to the time I 
> switched on the modem, and there was no background VDSL noise.  Can any 
> Linker please explain how can this be so?

To partly answer my own question, there's an NBN option known as voiceband 
continuity or passthrough which offers hints.  See for example the link to the 
Interim Continuity Agreement at the bottom of 
http://www.nbnco.com.au/sell-nbn-services/supply-agreements/continuity-licences.html

My reading is that a party can notify NBN Co. it has a continuing requirement 
"for the use of the voiceband spectrum (100Hz to 4kHz) of all or a part of the 
Unconditioned Copper Sub-loop" and then "NBN Co will provide a VPL by utilising 
passive filtering to allow signals in the voiceband spectrum of the relevant 
NBN Co Copper Line (100Hz to 4kHz) to pass through and block signals above the 
voiceband spectrum using a low-pass filter in a splitter/combiner."  ADSL 
Services will be permanently disabled.

It's described more clearly on page-11 of the Telstra document at (long URL, 
it's a cached document) 
https://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t=j==s=web=1=rja=8=0ahUKEwjbwKTCyaPWAhXCTrwKHQ99CVkQFggmMAA=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telstrawholesale.com.au%2Fcontent%2Fdam%2Ftw%2Fnbn%2FDocuments%2Fservice-withdrawal-notification-mar17.pdf=AFQjCNEY8qpXtioMFHR56IPW_7VPlqm91Q

QUOTE
DISCONNECTION OF OTHER SERVICES PROVIDED ON THE SAME COPPER LINE
Jumpering on a copper line (for both FTTN and FTTB) results in disconnection of 
all copper services provided over that line (except where Voiceband Continuity 
is provided – see “Continued provision of voice services” below).  [...]

CONTINUED PROVISION OF VOICE SERVICES
Retail and wholesale customers have the option of a partial migration to the 
nbn network which will allow the current service provider to continue to supply 
circuit switched telephony services on the Telstra copper network.  If this 
option is requested by an end-user, nbn co will enable Telstra’s continued 
supply to its wholesale customer of the voiceband on copper to the Premises 
(Voiceband Continuity).
UNQUOTE

So it seems NBN Co. can provide POTS voice in the 100 Hz to 4 KHz spectrum 
concurrently with VDSL2 data, though whether this can go beyond the 18-month 
complete cutover of an area is unclear.  I see Netcomm even sell the 
appropriate filter-splitters.  I presume this is part of the explanation for my 
original question.

Or does everybody know this already?

David L.

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[LINK] NBN & POTS

[David Lochrin]

I have just set up an FTTN modem, etc. for a friend who is a Telstra customer.  
She was sent a pre-configured modem and duly emailed to confirm the service was 
ready, setup was straightforward, and everything worked straight away.

However the POTS service continued to be available right up to the time I 
switched on the modem, and there was no background VDSL noise.  Can any Linker 
please explain how can this be so?  There's obviously something I don't 
understand about FTTN!

Cheers,
David L.
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Re: [LINK] Aussie internet pain after Asian subsea cables cut

[David Lochrin]

On Tuesday 05 September 2017 at 11:49 Paul Brooks wrote:

> The F/A-18 fleet will have to fly from Darwin, or Learmonth base near Exmouth 
> - greatly increasing the latency of the relay, as well as the fuel 
> consumption cost per GB.

But even at some dollar & performance cost, it would be a nice backup solution 
for organisations using offshore cloud storage.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Aussie internet pain after Asian subsea cables cut

[David Lochrin]

Very good!
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Re: [LINK] Report of the Gov ICT Procurement Taskforce

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 30 August 2017 at 13:10 JanW wrote:

> But at least we need people making informed decisions instead of being sold a 
> bill of goods so whatever latest tech giant doesn't take over everything. 
> Diversity is actually very useful. As Josh Frydenburg himself said, don't put 
> your eggs all in one basket.

I think there was such a group once, it was known as The Public Service.  But 
they kept on giving impartial advice.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Report of the Gov ICT Procurement Taskforce

[David Lochrin]

On Tuesday 29 August 2017 at 10:02 Tom Worthington wrote:

>> 1.Lack of centralised policies, coordination, reporting, oversight and 
>> accountability ...
> 
> Centralisation is the last thing you need for digital transformation.  
> Otherwise public servants have to spend extra time working around the central 
> rules, so as to get things done.

What this demonstrates is the exquisite tension between scale and flexibility & 
vulnerability.

Back in the 19th century Karl Marx pointed out that every human system exists 
in a state of tension between the forces of integration and disintergration.  
But some governments seem chronically unable to recognise this - every new 
hare-brained scheme is the unqualified solution to some perceived problem or 
other. 

I think Governments need a panel of The Wise, well grounded in engineering and 
other disciplines and skilled in big-picture thinking.  Of course their advice 
would never be completely acceptable, and why do we need that when we have the 
IPA?

Sigh...

David L.
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Re: [LINK] itN: Vic pretence of cybersecurity action

[David Lochrin]

On Tuesday 29 August 2017 at 08:47 Tom Worthington wrote:

> Yes, the report has a "COMPLETE SET OF ACTIONS" on page 23. But this consists 
> mostly of establishing boards and committees, not hiring or training people 
> in cyber security.

But the report emphasises the importance of a holistic approach: "The time for 
an agency-by-agency (only) approach has passed.  We need to address these risks 
strategically, and where it makes sense, holistically."  It's unlikely that can 
be achieved by hiring hoards of eager cyber-security nerds; it sounds as though 
they already have enough.

As an IBM consultant once was wont to say: "We need grey hair on this one!".

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Peter Martin Economist (?) blames Labor for NBN!

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 10 August 2017 at 12:05 Jim Birch wrote:

> $50 billion for a national FTTN network is a lot of money.  This very close 
> to the Australia's annual expenditure on road infrastructure.  The value has 
> been estimated at $280 billion.  I don't have a split for maintenance v. 
> improvement.
> 
> A per premise cost of $4k for FTTN as 25 years loan at 4% (the sort of rate 
> the the government borrows at) is about $250 per year per premise. Or 
> $5/week.  The FTTN network won't be zero maintenance but it is stable 
> infrastructure.

Jim, I'm not clear where you're heading with this argument.

Given that many people in cities & regional areas report FTTN performance is 
little better than common-or-garden ADSL2+, the question is why bother with 
FTTN in the first place?

Apart from performance issues, we retain all the inherent disadvantages of the 
copper network while introducing a few more in relation to the FTTN nodes.  
Each node offers a single point of failure for ~1,000 users, and consumes 
energy costing in the vicinity of $1,489 p.a. according to a 2014 estimate at
https://www.computerworld.com.au/article/549704/nbn_fttn_power_bill_89m_year_/

In addition, _each FTTN user_ also has to fund a modem/router/VoIP ATA of 
unknown (probably poor) quality, and may need house rewiring.

The original motivation for the NBN stemmed from the privatised shambles 
Howard's "three amigos" made of what was once a world-class telephone network, 
and a desire to improve telecommunications in remote areas.  However we could 
have achieved that in a structured and more cost-effective way, spending money 
as necessary to fix actual problems.  FTTN doesn't fix any problem as far as I 
can see and is a complete waste.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Peter Martin Economist (?) blames Labor for NBN!

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 10 August 2017 at 09:50 Hamish Moffatt wrote:

> Which bit of his argument do you disagree with?

Right up front Peter Martin quotes "Australia's foremost telecommunications 
analyst" Ian Martin - any relation?

"Let's be clear, technology is not the issue in slow speeds," he wrote in the 
Australian Financial Review this month. "Hybrid fibre coaxial and fibre to the 
node are well able to handle speeds of 50 megabits per second and 100Mbps or 
more. In some places the copper component is old and slow but this is not an 
issue across the board and can be dealt with other than by an expensive upgrade 
to fibre to the home nationally."

How a technology performs under lab conditions is almost irrelevant to how it 
performs in the field, especially when it's implemented commercially.  And 
neither HFC nor the copper network were engineered to be part of a broadband 
network in the first place.  The article is flawed from the beginning.

We need more engineering and much less politics & economics.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN costs

[David Lochrin]

On Monday 31 July 2017 at 17:35 Stephen Loosley wrote:

> Mr Budde said it was shameful that politicians had turned the NBN into a 
> "political football," rather than treating it as a national interest 
> investment, and said it was time for a bipartisan plan to be drawn up to fix 
> the current situation and provide a sustainable trajectory for the network 
> build.

The Coalition parties, state & federal, see everything as a business rather 
than an investment in national infrastructure or culture.  I believe it's 
conservative ideology.

A little while ago I went through the list of Coalition members without finding 
anyone qualified in science, maths or engineering.  However I can no longer 
find any list which details MP's tertiary qualifications.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN costs

[David Lochrin]

On Monday 31 July 2017 at 16:40 JanW wrote:

> Some bright spark from some dodgy tech company came in with a nice colour 
> brochure. Can't think of anything else that make sense.

Maybe that's also the reason the NSW Coalition, under our revered leader 
Gladys, ordered a large light-rail project without specifying that it had to be 
compatible with existing infrastructure - I believe there's about 75mm 
difference in the track gauges.  This is bungling incompetence at a level which 
would bring tears of frustration and hopelessness.

See 
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/why-sydneys-new-light-rail-trams-wont-carry-passengers-on-inner-west-line-20170725-gxida4.html

David L.
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[LINK] NBN costs

[David Lochrin]

On 25th July 2017 David Boxall wrote (complete text below):

> The economics of fixed wireless are questionable, it seems, at least under 
> some circumstances:
> So here is the juicy detail
> [...]

Those figures are not very convincing unless all cost components are identified 
as line items and sourced.

For example, the FW cost evidently includes the cost of customer premise 
equipment ($1,300), but what does the "average cost for each upgrade a FW 
tower" include?  Is the initial cost of installation of the tower, radio gear, 
and backhaul included somehow?

And what is included in "cost to install FTTC in FW areas of Bellingen" 
(evidently $2,600 per premise)?  That figure looks way too low if it includes 
the cost of customer premise equipment and running fibre around a brownfield 
site.  And if it's a greenfield site, there's an argument that the developer's 
cabling cost should be included anyway, even if it's not a cost to NBN Co., 
because the buyers wind up paying for it.

It would also be very illuminating to compare the operating cost (OPEX) of 
these technologies.

David L.

Original text:

> The economics of fixed wireless are questionable, it seems, at least under 
> some circumstances:
> So here is the juicy detail
> The figures we have been provided are as follows:
>
> Cost to install FW in a Premises = $1,300
> Average cost for each upgrade a FW tower = $60,000
>
> So costs for sunset Ridge Estate to date:
> 65x$1300 = $84,500
> 4x$60,000 = $240,000
> total= $324,500
>
> Costs to put FW in all houses allotted to Bellingen
> 247x$1300 = $321,000
> 7 x $60,000 = $420,000
> Total = $751,100
>
> Cost to install FTTC in FW areas of Bellingen
> 247x$2600 =$642,200
>
> To remind readers of the difference between FW and FTTC
> Projected speeds of FTTC = 5Gbps
> Projected speeds of FW = 0.1Gbps
>
> Cost to upgrade from fTTC to FTTP = $1000
> Cost to upgrade from FW to FTTP = $50,000
>
> NBN were provided these costs and did not deny them
> 
> Associated article in local media:
> 
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Re: [LINK] Adobe will kill Flash by 2020

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 26 July 2017 at 12:44 Stephen Loosley wrote:

> Adobe has officially set a kill date for its beleaguered Flash.

Dear me, the ABC iView nerds will have to find another obscure, proprietary 
scheme which is only implemented by Microsoft and Google.

I see SBS On Demand plays perfectly with the VLC ShockWaveFlash player on 
Linux.  I gather most of the SWF specification is in the public domain, though 
implementation is still subject to some form of licence.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN Fixed Wireless vs FttC

[David Lochrin]

On 25/07/2017 21:20, David Boxall wrote:

> The economics of fixed wireless are questionable, it seems, at least under 
> some circumstances: [...]

I suppose FTTKerb (like FTTN) isn't practicable unless everyone at least has it 
available, which means running fibre through the streets whether or not they 
connect.  However NBN Co. can install a fixed wireless tower and immediately 
claim the NBN is "available" to a whole community.  The cash flow is better too!

The service is worse, of course, but the "optics" on the evening news are great.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Router security

[David Lochrin]

On Friday 23 June 2017 at 22:10 Nicholas English wrote:

> Separately its interesting how many pages out there reference the dd-wrt / 
> tomato options as being ‘safe’ and 'no need to worry’, no information or 
> rationale, they’re just ‘safe’. I’d be interested in any learnings link may 
> have to share.

Yes, I imagine that derives from the fact it's OSS.

For the sake of those not familiar with this stuff, there are a number of 
open-source packages out there which can be flashed into an off-the-shelf 
device from some manufacturer.  Examples include DD-WRT and "tomato" - see for 
example Wikipedia or https://vpnpick.com/dd-wrt-vs-tomato-vs-open-wrt/  While 
it would be an interesting project, but I'd suggest experimenting on an old 
device which could be binned if bricked (:-).

I don't understand enough of the fine detail, but I suspect the main problem 
would lie in integrating device drivers (especially VDSL2 for the NBN) to suit 
the hardware.  However most off-the-shelf products use embedded Linux (BusyBox) 
running on a chipset from Broadcom or other manufacturer who should also 
provide the device drivers, possibly along with a basic reference 
implementation.

As a matter of interest, I understand NBN Co. will shut down the connection to 
any device which doesn't implement the ~whole~ NBN specification if it's not on 
their list of registered devices.  But I understand they're not actually 
releasing the list...  Gotcha!

David L.

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Re: [LINK] Router security

[David Lochrin]

There's a website devoted to SOHO router security at 
http://routersecurity.org/index.php if anyone's interested, and a few other 
sites deal with the issue.

US-CERT has a rather old, but still valid, list of configuration tips which 
will likely improve security at 
https://duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.us-cert.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fpublications%2FHomeRouterSecurity2011.pdf

And there's a recent article at 
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/home-router-security,news-19245.html

DavidL
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Re: [LINK] Router "firewall" security, NBN QC, etc

[David Lochrin]

On Friday 02 June 2017 at 23:25 Narelle wrote:

>> Suppose 50% of the NBN terminating devices supplied to Australian users 
>> contained malware (of whatever origin) which could be operated in a 
>> controlled way...
> 
> And this is different how to xDSL today? Or HFC?
> 
> More bandwidth on NBN I suppose...

I was thinking about the telephone network in particular, and should have made 
that clearer.  The POTS network is (or was!) engineered to the same high 
standard everywhere and operated largely by a single authority, approved 
instruments have little variability in quality, and there's no scope for 
malware.

But the NBN requires every telephony user to install some form of 
modem-router-ATA which is probably built to a price.  As far as I know there's 
no requirement to meet any standard regarding voice quality, transmission 
quality, software functionality, reliability, & integrity, or network security. 
 And instead of one or a small number of technically competent network 
operators the NBN Co. website lists 145 service providers.

Who is then responsible for the overall quality of this essential public 
infrastructure?  Nobody as far as I can see.


> ISPs have been after commodity, user supplied "CPE" (strictly CE) for over a 
> decade. The level of testing has also been dropping. Given it's all migrating 
> over IP regardless of the NBN then C519 voice quality standards no longer 
> apply. With the broadening of voice services to a multiplicity of providers 
> the level of discipline in conditioning networks and conformance to things 
> like IETF BCP38 is also highly variable. Plenty of devices are shipped with 
> default uid and passwords so who needs a backdoor?
> 
> This is why dDOS and reflection attacks can get to Gbps rates and take down 
> highly resilient services.
> 
> What we need is better conformance, testing and better recognition of what 
> technical standards need to be in place to deliver services. Fit for service.

Exactly!!!

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Router "firewall" security, NBN QC, etc

[David Lochrin]

On Friday 02 June 2017 at 13:27 Kim Holburn wrote:

> It's bad security practise for your border router to house your phone service 
> or be a wifi AP.  Just saying.

I agree, but that's not ~necessarily~ the case, it depends on the quality of 
the implementation(s).  Price & complexity is also an issue because the average 
citizen isn't going to want separate ATA (analogue telephone adapter), router, 
and WiFi boxes.

But I think the biggest problem is that the reliability & operational quality 
of the national communications infrastructure is now dependent on all sorts of 
termination boxes of varying quality & integrity (except perhaps for FTTP 
installations).  If the XYZ VoIP implementation always sounds "warbly" because 
the chipset is under-powered, or breaks up because QoS control is poor or 
non-existent, or contains malware the whole network suffers.

David L.
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[LINK] Router "firewall" security, NBN QC, etc

[David Lochrin]

Recently I bought a modem / router / firewall / etc. which includes a VoIP 
(FXS) port from an Australian supplier (it wasn't bought on the 'net!).  This 
device seems to be widely distributed by ISPs for NBN connectivity, however I 
soon found some problems.

(1)  The default telephony configuration was entirely Chinese so the 
call-progress tones and ring cadence were those for China, though this has 
apparently been rectified in a subsequent firmware update.  However URLs 
associated with the H248 and MGCP (Media Gateway Control Protocol Gateway) 
protocols, while technically valid in that context, still link to Chinese 
corporations.

(2)  If a user's ISP doesn't prepend their area code to 8-digit dialled 
numbers, then it's necessary to dial the whole 10 digits, even when calling the 
people next door.  Of course this issue raises wider questions because a POTS 
subscriber's area code is physically associated with their copper but a VoIP 
service is portable.

(3)  Pottering around in the O/S revealed two URLs linked to a European site 
but with no obviously valid purpose, which immediately raised suspicions of a 
back-door or other security issue.  The supplier responded that "I agree that 
this files have no obvious purpose and have been left for no obvious reason but 
I can confirm that it is not suspicious and does not compromise security or 
firewall of the device."  How they arrived at this comforting conclusion wasn't 
stated.

(4)  Whirlpool commentary indicated significant performance & stability 
problems, although it seems these have all recently been fixed too with the 
latest firmware update.


This device and a Huawei product appear to be physically identical, though the 
latter may have more features.  I'd guess it all comes from China Inc. one way 
or another.

It's interesting to reflect that the NBN project originally placed NBN hardware 
of known performance in customer premises.  However the "multi-technology mix" 
relies on unknown third-party devices, except possibly for FTTP services.  Who 
do I now complain to regarding poor voice quality - the ACA?

Has Malcolm's new cyber-security Tsar considered these sorts of issues?  
Suppose 50% of the NBN terminating devices supplied to Australian users 
contained malware (of whatever origin) which could be operated in a controlled 
way...
 
David L.
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Re: [LINK] British researcher finds a 'kill switch' for global cyber attack

[David Lochrin]

On Tuesday 16 May 2017 at 10:40 Jim Birch wrote:

>> it's difficult to see why any organisation would prefer Windows.
> 
> 1. Existing applications and infrastructure
> 2. Existing staff skills and available skills in new recruitments
> 3. System component interoperability
> 
> It's difficult to see how a moderate to large organisation that uses Windows 
> could change.  It's a massive undertaking with a lot of costs and risks for 
> some marginal paybacks.  This stranglehold is being eroded a little by 
> client-server computing models but it is still extremely powerful.


Linux certainly isn't a drop-in replacement for Windows, but even successive 
versions of Windows can create problems.  And the way to introduce that sort of 
change in a big organisation is on a manageable department-by-department basis.

As for staff skills, I suspect most staff only have generic "computer skills" 
anyway; they're not highly trained in Windows.  They would easily find their 
way around a familiar Windows-like GUI such as KDE and packages like 
LibreOffice, and many (most?) applications these days employ a browser user 
interface.

David L.
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[LINK] Fwd: TA17-132A: Indicators Associated With WannaCry Ransomware

[David Lochrin]

Note the first paragraph of the Ïnitial Analysis:
"[...] Using this cryptographic loading method, the WannaCry DLL is never 
directly exposed on disk and not vulnerable to antivirus software scans."

David L.

 Forwarded Message 
Subject:TA17-132A: Indicators Associated With WannaCry Ransomware
Date:   Mon, 15 May 2017 00:39:06 -0500
From:   US-CERT 
Reply-To:   us-c...@ncas.us-cert.gov
To: david.loch...@d2.net.au



TA17-132A: Indicators Associated With WannaCry Ransomware

U.S. Department of Homeland Security US-CERT

National Cyber Awareness System:

 

TA17-132A: Indicators Associated With WannaCry Ransomware 

05/12/2017 09:36 PM EDT

Original release date: May 12, 2017 | Last revised: May 15, 2017


  Systems Affected

Microsoft Windows operating systems


  Overview

According to numerous open-source reports, a widespread ransomware campaign is 
affecting various organizations with reports of tens of thousands of infections 
in as many as 74 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Spain, 
Russia, Taiwan, France, and Japan. The software can run in as many as 27 
different languages.

The latest version of this ransomware variant, known as WannaCry, WCry, or 
Wanna Decryptor, was discovered the morning of May 12, 2017, by an independent 
security researcher and has spread rapidly over several hours, with initial 
reports beginning around 4:00 AM EDT, May 12, 2017. Open-source reporting 
indicates a requested ransom of .1781 bitcoins, roughly $300 U.S.

This Alert is the result of efforts between the Department of Homeland Security 
(DHS) National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) and 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to highlight known cyber threats. DHS 
and the FBI continue to pursue related information of threats to federal, 
state, and local government systems and as such, further releases of technical 
information may be forthcoming.


  Description

Initial reports indicate the hacker or hacking group behind the WannaCry 
campaign is gaining access to enterprise servers either through Remote Desktop 
Protocol (RDP) compromise or through the exploitation of a critical Windows SMB 
vulnerability. Microsoft released a security update for the MS17-010 
 
vulnerability on March 14, 2017. Additionally, Microsoft released patches for 
Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003 
 operating 
systems on May 13, 2017. According to open sources, one possible infection 
vector is via phishing emails.


  Technical Details


/Indicators of Compromise (IOC)/

IOCs are provided within the accompanying .xlsx 
 file of this 
report.

/Yara Signatures/

|rule Wanna_Cry_Ransomware_Generic {|

|   meta:|

|  description = "Detects WannaCry Ransomware on Disk and in 
Virtual Page"|

|  author = "US-CERT Code Analysis Team"|

|  reference = "not set"|

|  date = "2017/05/12"|

|   hash0 = "4DA1F312A214C07143ABEEAFB695D904"|

|   strings:|

|  $s0 = {410044004D0049004E0024}|

|  $s1 = "WannaDecryptor"|

|  $s2 = "WANNACRY"|

|  $s3 = "Microsoft Enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic"|

|  $s4 = "PKS"|

|  $s5 = "StartTask"|

|  $s6 = "wcry@123"|

|  $s7 = {2F662F72}|

|  $s8 = "unzip 0.15 Copyrigh"|

|  $s9 = "Global\WINDOWS_TASKOSHT_MUTEX"|

 | |$|s10 = "Global\WINDOWS_TASKCST_MUTEX"|   

| $s11 = 
{7461736B736368652E6578655461736B537461727400742E776E727969636163}|

| $s12 = 
{6C73202E202F6772616E742045766572796F6E653A46202F54202F43202F5100617474726962202B68}|

| $s13 = "WNcry@2ol7"|

| $s14 = "wcry@123"|

| $s15 = "Global\MsWinZonesCacheCounterMutexA"|

|   condition:|

|  $s0 and $s1 and $s2 and $s3 or $s4 and $s5 and $s6 and $s7 or 
$s8 and $s9 and $s10 or $s11 and $s12 or $s13 or $s14 or $s15|

|}|

|/*The following Yara ruleset is under the GNU-GPLv2 license 
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html) and open to any user or 
organization, as long as you use it under this license.*/|

|rule MS17_010_WanaCry_worm {|

|   meta:|

|  description = "Worm exploiting MS17-010 and dropping WannaCry 
Ransomware"|

|  author = "Felipe Molina (@felmoltor)"|

|  reference = "https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41987/;|

|  date = "2017/05/12"|

|   strings:|

|  $ms17010_str1="PC NETWORK PROGRAM 1.0"|

|  

Re: [LINK] British researcher finds a 'kill switch' for global cyber attack

[David Lochrin]

On 15/05/2017 11:32, David Lochrin wrote:

> [...] the relevant Microsoft reference is "Microsoft Security Bulletin 
> MS17-010 - Critical" at
> https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspxMS17-010
> 
> This gives links to the relevant updates for various MS O/S.

Sorry about that, the correct URL is 
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspx

David L.
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Re: [LINK] British researcher finds a 'kill switch' for global cyber attack

[David Lochrin]

On 15/05/2017 11:35, Tom Worthington wrote:

> Over the last five years I have been a student at three higher education 
> institutions. The enrollment instructions for each said I had to have 
> Microsoft Windows (or Apple OS) and the Microsoft Office suite. I ignored 
> this and used Linux with Libre Office. I managed to get through everything up 
> to my last presentation, without my instructors noticing.

I can whole-heartedly support that.  LibreOffice has very good compatibility 
with various versions of MS Office right up to the 2007-2013 XML (.docx) format.

Recently I've had cause to install Debian "Jessie", which seems to be excellent 
and includes a proper firewall (NFtables).  Debian offers a number of GUI 
implementations, including the widely used KDE which can be configured to have 
the traditional Windows look & feel.

When O/S distributions of this quality are available for nothing more than a 
donation (optional) it's difficult to see why any organisation would prefer 
Windows.  Maybe a big corporation gives a sense of parental comfort?

David L.
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Re: [LINK] British researcher finds a 'kill switch' for global cyber attack

[David Lochrin]

On 15/05/2017 11:08, Roger Clarke wrote:
> And it doesn't include information on which patch-package, of which date, 
> affecting which software, is the one that matters

A bulletin from CERT was waiting in my inbox on Sunday morning.  I'm not at my 
usual computer now and so can't forward it, but the relevant Microsoft 
reference is "Microsoft Security Bulletin MS17-010 - Critical" at
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms17-010.aspxMS17-010

This gives links to the relevant updates for various MS O/S.

The relevant updates for 32-bit Windows-7 are "KB4012212 (security only)" and 
KB4012215.  I gather the former is a subset of the latter (?).  But attempting 
to download it this morning from 
http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=KB4012212 gives "The 
service is unavailable.".

I suppose several billion people are all trying to do the same thing.

David L.
 


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Re: [LINK] A sad day

[David Lochrin]

On Monday 10 April 2017 at 10:43 Andy Farkas wrote:

> "One of Australia's best-known satirists, John Clarke, has died at the age of 
> 68."

Yes indeed, and no more Clarke & Dawe - the dinosaurs will be pleased.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Internet of Malware comes to Miele dishwashers

[David Lochrin]

On Thursday 30 March 2017 at 08:56 Jim Birch wrote:

> At least it's better than exploding trousers.
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_trousers

That takes me back to the Goon Show's exploding socks... you see, life 
imitating art!

David L.
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[LINK] Internet of Malware comes to Miele dishwashers

[David Lochrin]

Something to smile about, or possibly cry about:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/03/26/miele_joins_internetofst_hall_of_shame/

A Miele commercial dishwasher can apparently be hacked very simply using the 
old directory-traversal trick.

This appliance includes an embedded web server so it can be controlled from a 
browser, and that brings to mind the thought that many IOT devices must do so.  
So how are they secured?  Is China even now working out how they can disrupt 
life as we know it by disabling pub dishwashers?

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Top-level domains

[David Lochrin]

... or even <.性別> (with apologies to anyone who can't render Chinese 
characters).

David L.

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[LINK] Top-level domains

[David Lochrin]

Many Linkers are probably aware of this, but I happened to come across a list 
of top-level domains and was amazed to find there must be hundreds - see 
http://data.iana.org/TLD/tlds-alpha-by-domain.txt

I know the <.sydney> TLD has been mentioned here before, but there's even 
<.sex> & <.dad>!!  Who carries the responsibility for administering these?  I 
naievely thought TLDs were only entrusted to authorities with national scope 
and <.gifts> would be a second-level domain at least.

The whole administrative structure seems to me to have been devalued.  Why not 
language-dependent TLDs, for example <.sex> and <.geschlechtsverkehr>?

David L.
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[LINK] Please ignore...

[David Lochrin]

Please ignore this, just checking if delivery failures have taken me off the 
circulation list.

David L.

---
My current ISP succeeded in losing all email to me from some time on 24th 
February to midday on Wednesday 1st March.  Please resend any message you sent 
during that time... Thanks.
---
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Re: [LINK] Telstra is lying to customers

[David Lochrin]

Sorry about that Jan, I somehow managed to misaddress my last email...  It was 
intended to be off-Link.

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Re: [LINK] Telstra is lying to customers

[David Lochrin]

The smell of a dead rodent is very strong!  But I wonder if it was really 
Telstra calling?  It may have been a marketing organisation who were being paid 
on results, or it may have been an outright scam.  The latter seems most likely 
to me - at some point they'd ask for a deposit and the victim would never see 
them again.

I also received both a 'phone call from Telstra (or a marketing agency acting 
on their behalf) and the circular letter from NBN Co.  The Telstra caller was 
quite courteous.  I told him I intended to migrate to the NBN through my ISP, 
which he accepted straight away, and that was that.

However many people are probably under the vague impression the NBN means 
Telstra.  A normally well informed friend has a Foxtel HFC service, and he 
recently observed in passing that he supposed they'd have to go with Telstra 
when the NBN arrived.  I said I'm sure that would be illegal and the ACCC would 
very soon become involved.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Fact Check: RMIT and ABC News partner to relaunch award-winning service

[David Lochrin]

This is the best news I've heard all week!  We sorely need less bullshit and 
more evidence-based decision making.  And I see there's a feedback page for 
tip-offs, etc. at http://www.abc.net.au/news/factcheck/contact/

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Demand 'still not there' for 1Gbps: NBN Co

[David Lochrin]

On Friday 10 February 2017 20:34:56 David Boxall wrote:

> An interesting assertion:
>> “Even if we offered it for free, we see the evidence around the world that 
>> they wouldn’t use it anyway,” Mr Morrow said.
> 

There's an interesting tension here between the BIRRR group who want reliable, 
landline based, voice and basic broadband services in rural & regional areas 
and the proponents of high-speed (>=1Gbit/sec) availability.

The key issue revolves around the human purpose of the NBN; why are we building 
it?  Serious consideration of this has to begin by discarding political slogans 
like "21st century communications infrastructure" and an infatuation with 
technology, and instead begin by identifying the hierarchy of people's needs in 
city, regional, rural & remote areas around the country.  The technological 
ways & means and the cost thereof comes after that _and_ it probably involves 
spending proportionally more money in the bush.  

It seems to me this hasn't been done.  Instead NBN Co. look like a creature of 
government whose primary purpose is to be seen to be implementing a "national" 
broadband network, but one where the investment depends on the electoral 
return.  That's how we wound up with the current rat's nest of technologies.  
That and too many executive long lunches, with not enough disciplined, 
evidence-based thinking.

David L.

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Re: [LINK] NBN longer-term prospects

[David Lochrin]

Warning... politics!

On Tuesday 31 January 2017 22:36:12 JanW wrote:

> The LNP never miss the chance to tell the public about their business 
> prowess. And yet, they can't seem to make the conceptual transition as to how 
> you run a country or invest well. Seems the only concept they carry with them 
> into government is reducing taxes for their buds in the business world they 
> say they came from. Or maybe so when they go back, all the rules favour their 
> pockets.

I remember an observation that the currency of political debate in Labor is 
generally ideas.  I's not always the case of course but, on the whole, you had 
to have good ideas to get ahead.  However the currency of debate in the 
Coalition is power.

Thus we often see the dynamics of power operating in the Government, but it 
seems to have a strange reluctance to engage with rational, evidence-based 
decision making.

We have a "direct action" carbon policy which most experts think is fairly 
useless, and discussion on a rational alternative aired recently by Josh 
Frydenberg was immediately stopped by Turnbull.  The Coalition is looking to 
lavish billions on large companies in tax reductions to encourage economic 
activity despite that policy never having worked anywhere before (and despite 
their own rhetoric about "free markets").  And the universities & CSIRO have 
been gutted while, at the very same time, Turnbull goes on about the importance 
of "innovation".

Is it any wonder we now have a rats-nest NBN?

Sorry about that...

David L.
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Re: [LINK] NBN ads

[David Lochrin]

On Monday 30 January 2017 21:27:40 David Boxall wrote:

> Sadly, the ad actually shows why we should be building 21st century 
> telecommunications infrastructure. All it will take is a government that 
> isn't total sh!t.
> 
> Sorry, but I really feel like eviscerating someone. >:(

(:-)...  join the club!  Apparently Adani are hoping for $1B from the Turnbull 
Government so they can build a big coal mine in order to increase greenhouse 
warming of the planet and destroy the Barrier Reef, so I suppose the money has 
to come from somewhere - a cheap NBN, universities, pensioners, the CSIRO, and 
so on. 

David L.
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Re: [LINK] Electromagnetic pulse artillery shell

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 25 January 2017 11:05:20 David wrote:

> However it does remind us how vulnerable is the "infrastructure" of a big 
> city and its ongoing operation when everything is online & interconnected.  
> Complexity tends to be justified on the basis of efficiency, but there's a 
> reciprocal relationship between complexity & vulnerability.

Just cleaning up some old emails when I noticed the above.  Of course I should 
have written "Complexity tends to be justified on the basis of efficiency, but 
there's a proportional relationship between complexity & vulnerability." - 
greater complexity usually leads to greater vulnerability, but it's not simple.

David L.
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Re: [LINK] What your choice of smartphone says about you

[David Lochrin]

I have a "feature phone" which has basic email & web functionality together 
with a speaking-type telephone.  The main reason I don't have a smartphone, 
other than having no particular reason to change, is that I can't selectively & 
reliably disable applications on a smartphone or (ideally) remove them 
altogether.

I've seen instructions on the 'net for loading Gnu Linux onto an Android 
device, but I'm not sure I'd be game to try it.

However I believe there is, or was, a Ubuntu mobile phone.  Can any Linker shed 
more light on that?

David L.
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Re: [LINK] The New Payments Platform (NPP)

[David Lochrin]

On Wednesday 28 December 2016 13:55:01 sylvano wrote:

> Given the banks' ESA looks to be driven by the Reserve Bank, then it should 
> be fine, yes?
> 
> http://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/esa/

On my brief skimming of the above, it seems an ESA's risk is assessed by APRA 
but its liabilities are not guaranteed by either APRA or the Reserve Bank, and 
presumably not by the actual banks either.

> The facility to pay anyone instantly via their mobile number or email address 
> is very appealing.

Why so?  How many payments would you make by bank-to-bank transfer instead of 
cash, pay-wave, or other credit account transaction, or bank cheque?

Perhaps it's all part of an attempt to white-ant the cash economy?

Your's in paranoia,
David L.
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