Today

Today i found my favorite band released a new album, it's their eight. The last one already has many years now. I am listening to it now in MySpace. It's very good. They only make good songs.

Wen i was walking i was thinking about information leakage. people just don't realize how many things they tell others. And it's just not only when they use a computer. My wanderings on this theme started there, but quickly moved to a feed i received today. It was about tyre pressure sensors. Yes, tyres, like those on cars. The post, i think i got it from Slashdot, claimed that all cars made in the last two years in the USA have mandatory tyre pressure sensors, and that can be a privacy issue.

The question is that all tyres have an unique ID that is used to communicate with the car's on-board computer the tyre pressure. All tyres have a chip and batteries that can last ten years. In the next years there are going to be available some models without batteries also. Now they are thinking about using this, in conjunction with sensors in the pavement, to track individual cars. they are even thinking about using this system for average speed control.

We are already being monitored by the cell phone operators, now by our car. Cell phones, and land phones, are just hackable. Very unsafe. To use another person land line we just need a couple of wires and an old phone. To monitor GSM conversations, we just need some old model from Nokia (those with the faulty implementation of the separate processors for communications and applications). With Bluetooth headphones and handsfree systems it's just about having an antenna and software. Even the Bluetooth ID can be used to track cars and phones. Some dongles have a range of 100 meters, with an antenna you can increase that lot.

People don't imagine, or don't care, that when using a network, wireless or not, that all traffic in the local area can be captured, and i mean all, by all computers, they just need to get the network interface card in promiscuous mode. That's easy, and Wireshark a very good tool. Then, just all passwords, GMail cookies for authentication, you name it, are public. You can even continue another people session pretending to be the other.

One day i received mail adverting against someone that was sending fake mail request. They were calling them hackers. I had to reply and put it right. They aren't hackers, they are just plain criminals. Hackers respect freedom, hackers don't attack civilians, hackers just want to know, hackers don't destroy.

There is a war out there, and hackers get to be blamed. Criminals are using techniques to kill boredom or to make money. Soldiers are using these techniques to achieve advantages for their countries. Spies do the same.And hackers get the blame. It's a very good cover for the governments that spy on us, that don't respect our privacy. They don't even care if anyone can be spied by anyone.

That's why i don't even care to have secrets. That's why i use open source software for privacy.

Today was a very good day.

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