Need To Know 2002-08-02

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"Hackers can sometimes modify stand-alone DVD players through a combination of keystrokes..." http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54168,00.html?tw=wn_ascii ...and sometimes they merely "reach out with their mind" >> HARD NEWS << in their tap shoes First, a big hello to all new listeners. Since yesterday, every ISP with more than 10,000 subscribers has been obliged to provide an interception capability to the government, permitting Approved Types With Non-Judicial Warrants the chance to sniff all traffic from IP addresses. As snooping goes, the new order isn't catastrophic. Only "up to 1 in 10K ... persons" can be monitored simultaneously with these black boxen (which point to a thousand or so taps max with the current Net population, and rising). The Home Office official site says there's no such thing as a black box, and we believe them. Much easier to stick a binary "blackbox" process on the ISP network's existing machines. But with so many shadowy groups now gaining access to even a virtual box - the Secret Service, the Security Service, GCHQ, the police, or anyone in a foreign secret service, we have to ask: how does the interception data get out? Do they all knock on ISP's doors, and queue up to plug copy the files across? Or is the traffic, suitably encrypted, even now flying over the convenient Net ? And if so, just how detectable is it? You'll never know, of course, because of the severe punishments for even discussing the current setup. But if you see any strange packet streams criss-crossing from ISPs in your future - our advice would be: don't delve too deep. http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20021931.htm - did they ever announce the compensation? or even the TAB members? http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2001/20013734.htm - spooks and ISP techies. and you thought ICANN meetings got scary Taking the risk of turning NTK into the Ross Anderson Tribune and Herald (with thinktank FIPR co-opted into his klaxon), we note that the wily Scots cryptoanalyst is pursuing another local difficulty. Ross' mother institution, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, is trying to take over control of all intellectual property produced by employees of the university. Currently, faculty members get to keep what they make in the office - and can spin it off into the doomed shells of startups that litter the Fenland landscape. One impact of this may be the same curtailment of free software projects that the US academic scene is seeing. The Ross, naturally, wants the patents ownership to go to the researchers (coughs, points at self), so they can get chunky loads of venture cap and get rewarded in the postgrad hereafter. We're not so sure. After all, as consumers of the intellectual props, haven't we already paid for this? Wasn't buying up the basic research covered by taxes? No-one should have to pay twice. Fee-free, no strings attached patents; open source implementations from our public universities, we say! Free pie for all! http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rja14/expropriation.html - feels a bit odd being more extreme than Ross http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/01/04/university_open_source/print.html - the Regents of the University of California own your head Oddly, there hasn't been the usual media song and dance over PROFESSOR KEVIN WARWICK's news that, in accordance with NTK prophecy of 2000-10-06, he has spectacularly failed to transmit any emotional states, "orgasms" or, from the sounds of things, anything other than gross electromuscular impulses via the much-vaunted second-generation neural implant embedded in his wrist. Just one other point that we thought might be a bit technical for readers of news.bbc.co.uk: Warwick argues that disabled people with neural interfaces aren't really cyborgs, because their technology is fixing a defect, whereas he's giving himself brand new superhuman skills. Of course, these abilities then turn out to be ones which are only really useful if you're actually disabled - ultrasonic rangefinding, for instance, popular amongst roboticists precisely because it's so hard for computers to extract distance information from visual input alone. Frustratingly, for the puny, pathetic fleshbound human visual system, this continues to be a piece of cake. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2163947.stm - see reader comments: the pro-Warwick backlash starts here http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02000-10-06&l=69#l - didn't predict: he's *still* doing that "Terminator" schtick >> ANTI-NEWS << berating the obvious just when you thought you'd seen the last of PUERILE GOOGLE MISSPELLINGS: http://www.google.com/search?q=commtitee , "penison", "pubic school", "final cuntdown", and - just to try and stop everyone sending in variations on different themes: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Failed+to+load+a+template.%22 plus http://www.google.com/search?q=asdfasdf ... on a more philosophical note, however - opinion still divided over: http://www.google.com/search?num=50&q=%22%2Bis+%2Bthe+last+taboo%22 ... expect AFROMAN was going to put some lame Javascript right-clicking prevention on his lyric pages as well, but: http://www.addictionnetwork.co.uk/schoolscup.htm ... 22% of teachers "said they tried the drug on almost a daily basis": http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2163416.stm - thought they'd have made their minds up by now... TITLE: "Welcome to Microsoft's Homepage": http://www.prison.org/english/ ... "Most computers are equipped with a finite amount of disc space", patronises: http://www.bath.ac.uk/bucs/faqs/filespace.html#QUESTION1 - try using one with an infinite amount instead?... this week's new GOOGLE GAME: http://labs.google.com/sets?q1=drenk&q2=feck , http://labs.google.com/sets?hl=en&q1=blonde&q2=brunette ... >> EVENT QUEUE << goto's considered non-harmful DNSCON 5 next weekend, with encouraging news that the UK's longest-running "open" information security event has now relocated from one of "the worst hotels in the country" to the impressive-sounding Imperial Hotel, Blackpool (from the afternoon of Friday 2002-08-09, UKP30 for Elite, UKP15 for Newbie badge, "which you will be forced to wear"). The lineup promises wardriving, haxxor philosophising, loyalty card swapping, and socialising (read "drinking"), intermingled with the now-traditional hack-the-flag and sandcastle/beach defacement competitions, plus a quiz (rescheduled to Friday night from Saturday, the latter being a time when "most people want to go out and enjoy themselves"). And, if you're in that part of the UK, why not educate the rest of the family about client/server security with a trip to ALTON TOWERS who, since June of this year, have been running a skating extravaganza entitled "Webmaster - An Adventure on Ice". http://www.dnscon.org/ - or check out our namesake: http://www.ntkblackpool.com/ http://www.alton-towers.co.uk/nonshocked/content/see_park/webmaster.htm - "Some scenes may be unsuitable for younger children" http://club.net-art.ws/ - tonight in Brixton: '90s throwbacks, demo coders, urban75 http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotlondon/ - on Wed: the theme for Dorkbot London is "discussion" http://www.lonix.org.uk/tnet-cgi/Lonix?CODE=userMeetings - on Thu: London Linux meet at Festival of Real Ale >> TRACKING << sufficiently advanced technology : the gathering RSS readers/aggregators are rapidly becoming the new IRC bots and MP3 library managers: everybody and their dumber CS classmate is writing one and uploading it to Freshmeat. But if we're going to pick one, NETNEWSWIRE LITE for MacOS X looks to be the best of the set so far. Nice and simple, with a manageable interface and nothing too clever clawing out of the backend. No source, but Brent Simmons does promise that the headline browser will be free beer forever. A promise not to be sniffed at in the MacOS X world, where most shareware coders are happy to rip off their fellow users for $5 for a pretty frontend to PRINT ASC(GETKEY()). http://ranchero.com/software/netnewswire - current top headine: the site looks down right now. try later. http://www.ntk.net/rss.php3 - a token effort http://alphaomega.software.free.fr/indexus.html#ASCII%20Viewer - you think I'm joking, don't you? >> MEMEPOOL << ceci n'est pas une http://www.gagpipe.com/ church of CHARLIE "poisoned mind" BROOKER: www.ccbsite.cjb.net ... http://www.looperscooper.com ... in accordance with Onion prophecy www.theonion.com/onion3701/bush_nightmare.html ... ah, audiophiles: http://pub41.ezboard.com/fr3mixfrm1.showMessage?topicID=731.topic ... AMIGA SACRILEGE (TM): http://www.retrosystem.com/amiga.htm ... www.ann.lu/comments2.cgi?view=1027626026&category=unmoderated&start=1&9 ... army scared of Microsoft: http://www.army.mil/webmasters/faq/ ... who'll go crack first, http://www.ruinedbynatwest.com/ or http://www.allianceleicestersucks.com/ ? ... exclusive new LOTR trailer (nar. Leonard Nimoy) http://www.ntk.net/2002/08/02/baggins.mov ...I remember all their names, I just don't know what they look like: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/020722/168/1wcvd.html&e=8 ... battle of the scary US logos: http://www.darpa.mil/iao/ vs http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/pulse/epulse/pulse0204_home.htm >> GEEK MEDIA << get out less TV>> something for everyone tonight, whether you're into science fiction - Roger Corman's Brian Aldiss adaptation FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND (12.10am, Fri, C5); nudity - Liv Tyler, Rachel Weisz, various old guys in STEALING BEAUTY (11.35pm, Fri, BBC2); or scifi nudity - Pamela Anderson and Justina Vail (the Russian scientist from time-travel series "Seven Days") in NAKED SOULS (10.35pm, Fri, C5), plus Nicole "Baywatch" Eggert and Michael "Worf" Dorn in Robert Silverberg adaptation ALIEN LOVE (1.05am, Fri, BBC1) - originally titled "Amanda And The Alien"... and then there's "from the creators of South Park" live-action porn-comedy curio ORGAZMO (10.50pm, Sat, C5)... Karen "Raiders of the Lost Ark" Allen *is* Christa McAuliffe in Shuttle disaster-movie CHALLENGER (2.30pm, Sun, C5)... Bernie Taupin, author of one of the worst lyrics of all time http://www.eltonography.com/songs/your_song.html gets his own SOUTH BANK SHOW (11.20pm, Sun, ITV)... and, running as part of an Open University course on how to make flop romantic comedies, a "season of films starring the cast of Friends" kicks off with typically insipid Jennifer Aniston vehicle PICTURE PERFECT (10pm, Sun, C4)... often overlooked at the time, ATTACK ON THE WIRES (7.30pm, Mon, BBC2) looks at how those fiendish attacks on the WTC affected the world's communications infrastructure... the T34 tank is the first of Sean Bean's bloodthirstily narrated repeats of DECISIVE WEAPONS (8.35pm, Mon, BBC2)... while SWAPHEADS (7pm, Mon, C5) is the geek-vs-geek Endemol quiz show formerly known as "Need To Know": http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02002-02-22&l=232#l , http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,766977,00.html ... quirky nuclear disaster spoof THE BIG BUS (1.35am, Mon, BBC1) impressively predates "Airplane!" by around 4 years... someone was being economical with the truth when they told Paul Kaye that haircut suited him in mendacity rewarding gameshow LIAR (9.30pm, Mon, BBC2)... in accordance with NTK prophecy, there's an entire series devoted to building and fighting full-size radio-controlled COMBAT CARS (7pm, Tue, C5)... and C4 now has a prurient pseudo-documentary almost every weeknight with the addition to the schedule of "The Joy Of Teen Sex" in TEENAGE KICKS (10pm, Tue, C4)... keep checking you've set the video for obsessive-compulsive docu OBSESSIONS (9pm, Wed, BBC1)... FREAKS AND GEEKS (3.45pm, Wed-Fri, E4) returns to digital, in the middle of the fricking afternoon... WITNESS (7.20pm, Thu, BBC2) profiles amateur rocket guy Steve Bennett... and it was the subsequent "Super Mario Brothers" movie that really finished off their careers, but Max Headroom creators Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel still have fun with Dennis Quaid neo-noir remake DOA (9pm, Thu, C5)... FILM>> it's Lara Flynn "Twin Peaks" Boyle, Patrick "Puddy from Seinfeld" Warburton, Rosario "Josie And The Pussycats" Dawson, and Johnny "Jackass" Knoxville - together at last! - but not even their combined talents are able to make you care what happens in woefully predictable CGI showreel MEN IN BLACK 2 ( http://www.capalert.com/capreports/meninblackII.htm : [Lara Flynn Boyle] repeatedly exposing herself in "Fredericks of Hollywood" underwear; full human scrotum under alien chin)... Catherine "Being John Malkovich" Keener and Brenda "Secrets & Lies" Blethyn seem to be making some sort of point about women's self-images in character-study comedy LOVELY & AMAZING ( http://www.cndb.com/movie.html?title=Lovely+and+Amazing : [Emily Mortimer] is exquisitely built and it seems utterly natural and innocent that she should climb out of bed and stand for several minutes while her boyfriend and the audience examine her. The scene occurs around the 1 hr 10 minute mark) ... so, even if you think Terry Gilliam's an overrated poor man's Ridley Scott, it might be worth tracking down limited release "making of" disaster documentary LOST IN LA MANCHA (imdb: don-quixote; the-hamster-factor-and-other-tales-of- twelve-monkeys; the-man-who-killed-don-quixote)... BONERS: CORRECTIONS, CLARIFICATIONS AND "INCORRECTLY REGARDED AS GOOFS">> thanks to everyone, the first being reader ED AVIS, who wrote to point out that last week's Google sets trick http://labs.google.com/sets?q1=hugh&q2=pugh should of course be "Pugh, Pugh" (they were twins) - though obviously this doesn't actually work as well in practice. See the rest of this week's issue for further hints of how we're getting on with the All Search Engine, All The Time NTK Summer Special, ideal for long car journeys or just lazing on the beach this August Bank Holiday... HUGH TYNAN provided a topical twist to many of our popular musical obsessions by noting that the BBC's recent Commonwealth Games theme (The Stone Roses' "This Is The One") always seemed to miss out the verse "I'd like to leave the country/ For a month of Sundays/ *Burn the town where I was born*" (his emphasis), but this month's "I Spy" award goes to eagle-eyed CRAIG LEFF, who compared and contrasted our "HIT ECONOMY WITH STICK" quip from a couple of weeks ago: http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=02002-07-19&l=8#l with our equally hilarious "HIT PROBE WITH STICK" gag from 1997: http://www.ntk.net/index.cgi?b=01997-10-17&l=8#l . It's what's called a running joke, Craig - and, from the looks of things, it's currently running every 5 years or so... still in space, "the two best games *ever* (Exile and Elite) were coded on BBCs", piped up IAN HOLMES, in the wake of our now-annual trolling for "middle class BBC Micro Fauntleroys". Ian's entry for the 1K 8-bit Minigame Compo [NTK 2002-07-19] happens to be something of a "meisterwerk of godlike succinctness" itself: "LDA your_pseudo_down_with_the_workers_bullshit / STA your_arse" - but, just to show there's no hard feelings, "I don't think you've ever run any links to Exile," he concludes, "and you damn well should". Well, that's partly because your suggested http://exile.acornarcade.com/ has been down for some time, Ian - though here's an archived version (where you and your big-keyboard-loving 400-quid-for-a-BBC-B friends belong): http://web.archive.org/web/20011008031706/http://exile.acornarcade.com/ ... and finally, wrapping up a number of these topics, "Are you *ever* going to stop being obsessed with Elite?", asked ED AVIS (again), perturbed by NTK 2002-06-28's Google "discount" misspelling: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=disocunt . Not quite as distressed as A CHEFFIE, however, who'd wondered what http://www.netmgt.com/ were trying to say with their "When The Internet Comes Full Circle/ Our Hands Will Be On The Compass" motto - until, of course, he witnessed the directory contents at http://www.netmgt.com/public_design/ , and now he *really* doesn't want to know what they mean by it... >> SMALL PRINT << Need to Know is a useful and interesting UK digest of things that happened last week or might happen next week. You can read it on Friday afternoon or print it out then take it home if you have nothing better to do. It is compiled by NTK from stuff they get sent. Registered at the Post Office as "we said NTK *above* aesthetic needs and self-actualization" http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/regsys/maslow.html NEED TO KNOW THEY STOLE OUR REVOLUTION. NOW WE'RE STEALING IT BACK. Archive - http://www.ntk.net/ Unsubscribe? Mail ntknow-unsubscribe@lists.ntk.net Subscribe? 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