French edition of Lawrence Lessigs book Cultura Libre on Amazon and Barnes & Noble

21st May 2016

A few weeks ago the French paperback edition of Lawrence Lessigs -2004 book Cultura Libre was published. Today I noticed that the book -is now available from book stores. You can now buy it from -Amazon -($19.99), -Barnes -& Noble ($?) and as always from -Lulu.com -($19.99). The revenue is donated to the Creative Commons project. If -you buy from Lulu.com, they currently get $10.59, while if you buy -from one of the book stores most of the revenue go to the book store -and the Creative Commons project get much (not sure how much -less).

- -

I was a bit surprised to discover that there is a kindle edition -sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC on Amazon. Not quite sure how -that edition was created, but if you want to download a electronic -edition (PDF, EPUB, Mobi) generated from the same files used to create -the paperback edition, they are -available -from github.

How does it feel to be wiretapped, when you should be doing the wiretapping...

8th March 2017

So the new president in the United States of America claim to be +surprised to discover that he was wiretapped during the election +before he was elected president. He even claim this must be illegal. +Well, doh, if it is one thing the confirmations from Snowden +documented, it is that the entire population in USA is wiretapped, one +way or another. Of course the president candidates were wiretapped, +alongside the senators, judges and the rest of the people in USA.

+ +

Next, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ask the Department of +Justice to go public rejecting the claims that Donald Trump was +wiretapped illegally. I fail to see the relevance, given that I am +sure the surveillance industry in USA according to themselves believe +they have all the legal backing they need to conduct mass surveillance +on the entire world.

+ +

There is even the director of the FBI stating that he never saw an +order requesting wiretapping of Donald Trump. That is not very +surprising, given how the FISA court work, with all its activity being +secret. Perhaps he only heard about it?

+ +

What I find most sad in this story is how Norwegian journalists +present it. In a news reports the other day in the radio from the +Norwegian National broadcasting Company (NRK), I heard the journalist +claim that 'the FBI denies any wiretapping', while the reality is that +'the FBI denies any illegal wiretapping'. There is a fundamental and +important difference, and it make me sad that the journalists are +unable to grasp it.

- Tags: docbook, english, freeculture. + Tags: english, surveillance.

@@ -55,67 +61,33 @@ from github.

I want the courts to be involved before the police can hijack a news site DNS domain (#domstolkontroll)

19th May 2016

I just donated to the -NUUG defence -"fond" to fund the effort in Norway to get the seizure of the news -site popcorn-time.no tested in court. I hope everyone that agree with -me will do the same.

- -

Would you be worried if you knew the police in your country could -hijack DNS domains of news sites covering free software system without -talking to a judge first? I am. What if the free software system -combined search engine lookups, bittorrent downloads and video playout -and was called Popcorn Time? Would that affect your view? It still -make me worried.

- -

In March 2016, the Norwegian police seized (as in forced NORID to -change the IP address pointed to by it to one controlled by the -police) the DNS domain popcorn-time.no, without any supervision from -the courts. I did not know about the web site back then, and assumed -the courts had been involved, and was very surprised when I discovered -that the police had hijacked the DNS domain without asking a judge for -permission first. I was even more surprised when I had a look at -the web -site content on the Internet Archive, and only found news coverage -about Popcorn Time, not any material published without the right -holders permissions.

- -

The seizure was widely covered in the Norwegian press (see for -example Hegnar Online and -ITavisen -and -NRK), -at first due to the press release sent out by Ãkokrim, but then based -on -protests -from the law professor Olav Torvund and -lawyer -Jon Wessel-Aas. It even got some -coverage -on TorrentFreak.

- -

I - -wrote about the case a month ago, when the -Norwegian Unix User Group (NUUG), -where I am an active member, decided to ask the courts to test this seizure. -The request was denied, but NUUG and its co-requestor EFN have not -given up, and now they are rallying for support to get the seizure -legally challenged. They accept both bank and Bitcoin transfer for -those that want to support the request.

- -

If you as me believe news sites about free software should not be -censored, even if the free software have both legal and illegal -applications, and that DNS hijacking should be tested by the courts, I -suggest you show -your support by donating to NUUG. +

Norwegian BokmÃ¥l translation of The Debian Administrator's Handbook complete, proofreading in progress

3rd March 2017

For almost a year now, we have been working on making a Norwegian +BokmÃ¥l edition of The Debian +Administrator's Handbook. Now, thanks to the tireless effort of +Ole-Erik, Ingrid and Andreas, the initial translation is complete, and +we are working on the proof reading to ensure consistent language and +use of correct computer science terms. The plan is to make the book +available on paper, as well as in electronic form. For that to +happen, the proof reading must be completed and all the figures need +to be translated. If you want to help out, get in touch.

+ +

A + +fresh PDF edition in A4 format (the final book will have smaller +pages) of the book created every morning is available for +proofreading. If you find any errors, please +visit +Weblate and correct the error. The +state +of the translation including figures is a useful source for those +provide Norwegian bokmÃ¥l screen shots and figures.

- Tags: english, nuug, offentlig innsyn, opphavsrett. + Tags: debian, debian-handbook, english.

@@ -123,20 +95,72 @@ your support by donating to NUUG.

Debian now with ZFS on Linux included

12th May 2016

Today, after many years of hard work from many people, -ZFS for Linux finally entered -Debian. The package status can be seen on -the package tracker -for zfs-linux. and -the -team status page. If you want to help out, please join us. -The -source code is available via git on Alioth. It would also be -great if you could help out with -the dkms package, as -it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.

Unlimited randomness with the ChaosKey?

1st March 2017

A few days ago I ordered a small batch of +the ChaosKey, a small +USB dongle for generating entropy created by Bdale Garbee and Keith +Packard. Yesterday it arrived, and I am very happy to report that it +work great! According to its designers, to get it to work out of the +box, you need the Linux kernel version 4.1 or later. I tested on a +Debian Stretch machine (kernel version 4.9), and there it worked just +fine, increasing the available entropy very quickly. I wrote a small +test oneliner to test. It first print the current entropy level, +drain /dev/random, and then print the entropy level for five seconds. +Here is the situation without the ChaosKey inserted:

+ +

+% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+  dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
+  for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
+     cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+     sleep 1; \
+  done
+300
+0+1 oppfÃ¸ringer inn
+0+1 oppfÃ¸ringer ut
+28 byte kopiert, 0,000264565 s, 106 kB/s
+4
+8
+12
+17
+21
+%
+

+ +

The entropy level increases by 3-4 every second. In such case any +application requiring random bits (like a HTTPS enabled web server) +will halt and wait for more entrpy. And here is the situation with +the ChaosKey inserted:

+ +

+% cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+  dd bs=1M if=/dev/random of=/dev/null count=1; \
+  for n in $(seq 1 5); do \
+     cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail; \
+     sleep 1; \
+  done
+1079
+0+1 oppfÃ¸ringer inn
+0+1 oppfÃ¸ringer ut
+104 byte kopiert, 0,000487647 s, 213 kB/s
+433
+1028
+1031
+1035
+1038
+%
+

+ +

Quite the difference. :) I bought a few more than I need, in case +someone want to buy one here in Norway. :)

+ +

Update: The dongle was presented at Debconf last year. You might +find the talk +recording illuminating. It explains exactly what the source of +randomness is, if you are unable to spot it from the schema drawing +available from the ChaosKey web site linked at the start of this blog +post.

@@ -149,49 +173,34 @@ it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.

What is the best multimedia player in Debian?

8th May 2016

Where I set out to figure out which multimedia player in -Debian claim support for most file formats.

- -

A few years ago, I had a look at the media support for Browser -plugins in Debian, to get an idea which plugins to include in Debian -Edu. I created a script to extract the set of supported MIME types -for each plugin, and used this to find out which multimedia browser -plugin supported most file formats / media types. -The -result can still be seen on the Debian wiki, even though it have -not been updated for a while. But browser plugins are less relevant -these days, so I thought it was time to look at standalone -players.

- -

A few days ago I was tired of VLC not being listed as a viable -player when I wanted to play videos from the Norwegian National -Broadcasting Company, and decided to investigate why. The cause is a -missing MIME type in the VLC -desktop file. In the process I wrote a script to compare the set -of MIME types announced in the desktop file and the browser plugin, -only to discover that there is quite a large difference between the -two for VLC. This discovery made me dig up the script I used to -compare browser plugins, and adjust it to compare desktop files -instead, to try to figure out which multimedia player in Debian -support most file formats.

- -

The result can be seen on the Debian Wiki, as -a -table listing all MIME types supported by one of the packages included -in the table, with the package supporting most MIME types being -listed first in the table.

- -

The best multimedia player in Debian? It is totem, followed by -parole, kplayer, mpv, vlc, smplayer mplayer-gui gnome-mpv and -kmplayer. Time for the other players to update their announced MIME -support?

Detect OOXML files with undefined behaviour?

21st February 2017

I just noticed +the +new Norwegian proposal for archiving rules in the goverment list +ECMA-376 +/ ISO/IEC 29500 (aka OOXML) as valid formats to put in long term +storage. Luckily such files will only be accepted based on +pre-approval from the National Archive. Allowing OOXML files to be +used for long term storage might seem like a good idea as long as we +forget that there are plenty of ways for a "valid" OOXML document to +have content with no defined interpretation in the standard, which +lead to a question and an idea.

+ +

Is there any tool to detect if a OOXML document depend on such +undefined behaviour? It would be useful for the National Archive (and +anyone else interested in verifying that a document is well defined) +to have such tool available when considering to approve the use of +OOXML. I'm aware of the +officeotron OOXML +validator, but do not know how complete it is nor if it will +report use of undefined behaviour. Are there other similar tools +available? Please send me an email if you know of any such tool.

- Tags: debian, debian edu, english, multimedia, video. + Tags: english, nuug, standard.

@@ -199,29 +208,33 @@ support?

The Pyra - handheld computer with Debian preinstalled

4th May 2016

A friend of mine made me aware of -The Pyra, a -handheld computer which will be delivered with Debian preinstalled. I -would love to get one of those for my birthday. :)

- -

The machine is a complete ARM-based PC with micro HDMI, SATA, USB -plugs and many others connectors, and include a full keyboard and a 5" -LCD touch screen. The 6000mAh battery is claimed to provide a whole -day of battery life time, but I have not seen any independent tests -confirming this. The vendor is still collecting preorders, and the -last I heard last night was that 22 more orders were needed before -production started.

- -

As far as I know, this is the first handheld preinstalled with -Debian. Please let me know if you know of any others. Is it the -first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?

Ruling ignored our objections to the seizure of popcorn-time.no (#domstolkontroll)

13th February 2017

A few days ago, we received the ruling from +my +day in court. The case in question is a challenge of the seizure +of the DNS domain popcorn-time.no. The ruling simply did not mention +most of our arguments, and seemed to take everything ÃKOKRIM said at +face value, ignoring our demonstration and explanations. But it is +hard to tell for sure, as we still have not seen most of the documents +in the case and thus were unprepared and unable to contradict several +of the claims made in court by the opposition. We are considering an +appeal, but it is partly a question of funding, as it is costing us +quite a bit to pay for our lawyer. If you want to help, please +donate to the +NUUG defense fund.

+ +

The details of the case, as far as we know it, is available in +Norwegian from +the NUUG +blog. This also include +the +ruling itself.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, nuug, offentlig innsyn, opphavsrett.

@@ -229,23 +242,81 @@ first computer being sold with Debian preinstalled?

NUUG contests Norwegian police DNS seizure of popcorn-time.no

18th April 2016

It is days like today I am really happy to be a member of -the Norwegian Unix User group, a -member association for those of us believing in free software, open -standards and unix-like operating systems. NUUG announced today it -will -try -to bring the seizure of the DNS domain popcorn-time.no as -unlawful, to stand up for the principle that writing about a -controversial topic is not infringing copyrights, and censuring web -pages by hijacking DNS domain should be decided by the courts, not the -police. The DNS domain was seized by the Norwegian National Authority -for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime -a month ago. I hope this bring more paying members to NUUG to give -the association the financial muscle needed to bring this case as far -as it must go to stop this kind of DNS hijacking.

A day in court challenging seizure of popcorn-time.no for #domstolkontroll

3rd February 2017

+ +

On Wednesday, I spent the entire day in court in Follo Tingrett +representing the member association +NUUG, alongside the member +association EFN and the DNS registrar +IMC, challenging the seizure of the DNS name popcorn-time.no. It +was interesting to sit in a court of law for the first time in my +life. Our team can be seen in the picture above: attorney Ola +TellesbÃ¸, EFN board member Tom Fredrik Blenning, IMC CEO Morten Emil +Eriksen and NUUG board member Petter Reinholdtsen.

+ +

The +case at hand is that the Norwegian National Authority for +Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (aka +Ãkokrim) decided on their own, to seize a DNS domain early last +year, without following +the +official policy of the Norwegian DNS authority which require a +court decision. The web site in question was a site covering Popcorn +Time. And Popcorn Time is the name of a technology with both legal +and illegal applications. Popcorn Time is a client combining +searching a Bittorrent directory available on the Internet with +downloading/distribute content via Bittorrent and playing the +downloaded content on screen. It can be used illegally if it is used +to distribute content against the will of the right holder, but it can +also be used legally to play a lot of content, for example the +millions of movies +available from the +Internet Archive or the collection +available from Vodo. We created +a +video demonstrating legally use of Popcorn Time and played it in +Court. It can of course be downloaded using Bittorrent.

+ +

I did not quite know what to expect from a day in court. The +government held on to their version of the story and we held on to +ours, and I hope the judge is able to make sense of it all. We will +know in two weeks time. Unfortunately I do not have high hopes, as +the Government have the upper hand here with more knowledge about the +case, better training in handling criminal law and in general higher +standing in the courts than fairly unknown DNS registrar and member +associations. It is expensive to be right also in Norway. So far the +case have cost more than NOK 70 000,-. To help fund the case, NUUG +and EFN have asked for donations, and managed to collect around NOK 25 +000,- so far. Given the presentation from the Government, I expect +the government to appeal if the case go our way. And if the case do +not go our way, I hope we have enough funding to appeal.

+ +

From the other side came two people from Ãkokrim. On the benches, +appearing to be part of the group from the government were two people +from the Simonsen Vogt Wiik lawyer office, and three others I am not +quite sure who was. Ãkokrim had proposed to present two witnesses +from The Motion Picture Association, but this was rejected because +they did not speak Norwegian and it was a bit late to bring in a +translator, but perhaps the two from MPA were present anyway. All +seven appeared to know each other. Good to see the case is take +seriously.

+ +

If you, like me, believe the courts should be involved before a DNS +domain is hijacked by the government, or you believe the Popcorn Time +technology have a lot of useful and legal applications, I suggest you +too donate to +the NUUG defense fund. Both Bitcoin and bank transfer are +available. If NUUG get more than we need for the legal action (very +unlikely), the rest will be spend promoting free software, open +standards and unix-like operating systems in Norway, so no matter what +happens the money will be put to good use.

+ +

If you want to lean more about the case, I recommend you check out +the blog +posts from NUUG covering the case. They cover the legal arguments +on both sides.

@@ -258,50 +329,41 @@ as it must go to stop this kind of DNS hijacking.

Ny utgave (v2.2) av den frie norske stavekontrollen gitt ut

15th April 2016

I dag tok jeg mot til meg og pakket sammen en ny versjon av den -frie norske stavekontrollen, ca. tre og et halvt Ã¥r etter forrige -gang. Resultatet kan lastes ned fra -no.speling.org-prosjeksiden, bÃ¥de -som kildekodepakke og som "pack"-fil som kanskje fortsatt kan brukes -av OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice. Byggesystemet trenger oppussing, men i -denne omgang hadde jeg bare tid til Ã¥ fikse byggefeil forÃ¥rsaket av -endringer i GNU grep. De Ã¸vrige endringene var gjort tidligere i -pÃ¥vente av en ny utgave.

- -

Her er det som er nytt (fra NEWS-fila i -kildekodepakken):

- -

Release 2.2 (2016-04-15)

- -

Rewrite how scripts/speling2words handle tripple consonants, to - avoid importing duplicate words from no.speling.org, and getting - rid of the existing duplicates in norsk.words.
Remove duplicate entries with tripple consonants from norsk.words.
Update frequency for entries in norsk.words based on - (ran 'make - freq-update').
Correct nn ispell build, avoid crash in munchlist causing lots of - words to fall out of the database.
Use grep -a to convince grep it is working on text files, to work - with newer grep versions.
Remove some words disputed in the no.speling.org review process: -
- apparent (nb)
- likke (nb)
- ugjest, ugjesten, ugjestens (nb)

Nasjonalbiblioteket avslutter sin ulovlige bruk av Google Skjemaer

12th January 2017

I dag fikk jeg en skikkelig gladmelding. Bakgrunnen er at fÃ¸r jul +arrangerte Nasjonalbiblioteket +et +seminar om sitt knakende gode tiltak Â«verksregisterÂ». Eneste +mÃ¥ten Ã¥ melde seg pÃ¥ dette seminaret var Ã¥ sende personopplysninger +til Google via Google Skjemaer. Dette syntes jeg var tvilsom praksis, +da det bÃ¸r vÃ¦re mulig Ã¥ delta pÃ¥ seminarer arrangert av det offentlige +uten Ã¥ mÃ¥tte dele sine interesser, posisjon og andre +personopplysninger med Google. Jeg ba derfor om innsyn via +Mimes brÃ¸nn i +avtaler +og vurderinger Nasjonalbiblioteket hadde rundt dette. +Personopplysningsloven legger klare rammer for hva som mÃ¥ vÃ¦re pÃ¥ +plass fÃ¸r en kan be tredjeparter, spesielt i utlandet, behandle +personopplysninger pÃ¥ sine vegne, sÃ¥ det burde eksistere grundig +dokumentasjon fÃ¸r noe slikt kan bli lovlig. To jurister hos +Nasjonalbiblioteket mente fÃ¸rst dette var helt i orden, og at Googles +standardavtale kunne brukes som databehandlingsavtale. Det syntes jeg +var merkelig, men har ikke hatt kapasitet til Ã¥ fÃ¸lge opp saken fÃ¸r +for to dager siden.

+ +

Gladnyheten i dag, som kom etter at jeg tipset Nasjonalbiblioteket +om at Datatilsynet underkjente Googles standardavtaler som +databehandleravtaler i 2011, er at Nasjonalbiblioteket har bestemt seg +for Ã¥ avslutte bruken av Googles Skjemaer/Apps og gÃ¥ i dialog med DIFI +for Ã¥ finne bedre mÃ¥ter Ã¥ hÃ¥ndtere pÃ¥meldinger i trÃ¥d med +personopplysningsloven. Det er fantastisk Ã¥ se at av og til hjelper +det Ã¥ spÃ¸rre hva i alle dager det offentlige holder pÃ¥ med.

- Tags: debian edu, norsk, stavekontroll. + Tags: norsk, personvern, surveillance, web.

@@ -309,37 +371,86 @@ kildekodepakken):

I.F. Stone - an inspiration for us all

13th April 2016

I first got to know I.F. Stone when I came across an article by Jon -Schwarz on The Intercept -about -his extraordinary contribution to investigative journalism in -USA. The article is about a new documentary in two parts -(part one is 12 minutes and -part two is 30 minutes), and -I found both truly fascinating. It is amazing what he was able to -find by digging up public sources and government papers. He -documented lots of government abuse and cover ups, and I find -his weekly news letters -inspiring to read even today.

Bryter NAV sin egen personvernerklÃ¦ring?

11th January 2017

Jeg leste med interesse en nyhetssak hos +digi.no +og +NRK +om at det ikke bare er meg, men at ogsÃ¥ NAV bedriver geolokalisering +av IP-adresser, og at det gjÃ¸res analyse av IP-adressene til de som +sendes inn meldekort for Ã¥ se om meldekortet sendes inn fra +utenlandske IP-adresser. Politiadvokat i Drammen, Hans Lyder Haare, +er sitert i NRK pÃ¥ at Â«De to er jo blant annet avslÃ¸rt av +IP-adresser. At man ser at meldekortet kommer fra utlandet.Â»

+ +

Jeg synes det er fint at det blir bedre kjent at IP-adresser +knyttes til enkeltpersoner og at innsamlet informasjon brukes til Ã¥ +stedsbestemme personer ogsÃ¥ av aktÃ¸rer her i Norge. Jeg ser det som +nok et argument for Ã¥ bruke +Tor sÃ¥ mye som mulig for Ã¥ +gjÃ¸re gjÃ¸re IP-lokalisering vanskeligere, slik at en kan beskytte sin +privatsfÃ¦re og unngÃ¥ Ã¥ dele sin fysiske plassering med +uvedkommede.

+ +

Men det er en ting som bekymrer meg rundt denne nyheten. Jeg ble +tipset (takk #nuug) om +NAVs +personvernerklÃ¦ring, som under punktet Â«Personvern og statistikkÂ» +lyder:

-All governments are run by liars and nothing they say should be believed. -
- I. F. Stone + +
Â«NÃ¥r du besÃ¸ker nav.no, etterlater du deg elektroniske spor. Sporene +dannes fordi din nettleser automatisk sender en rekke opplysninger til +NAVs tjener (server-maskin) hver gang du ber om Ã¥ fÃ¥ vist en side. Det +er eksempelvis opplysninger om hvilken nettleser og -versjon du +bruker, og din internettadresse (ip-adresse). For hver side som vises, +lagres fÃ¸lgende opplysninger:
+ +
+
hvilken side du ser pÃ¥
+
dato og tid
+
hvilken nettleser du bruker
+
din ip-adresse
+
+ +
Ingen av opplysningene vil bli brukt til Ã¥ identifisere +enkeltpersoner. NAV bruker disse opplysningene til Ã¥ generere en +samlet statistikk som blant annet viser hvilke sider som er mest +populÃ¦re. Statistikken er et redskap til Ã¥ forbedre vÃ¥re +tjenester.Â»
+

His starting point was that reporters should not assume governments -and corporations are telling the truth, but verify all their claims as -much as possible. I wonder how many Norwegian reporters can be said -to follow the principles of I. F. Stone. They are definitely in short -supply. If you, like me half a year ago, have never heard of him, -check him out.

Jeg klarer ikke helt Ã¥ se hvordan analyse av de besÃ¸kendes +IP-adresser for Ã¥ se hvem som sender inn meldekort via web fra en +IP-adresse i utlandet kan gjÃ¸res uten Ã¥ komme i strid med pÃ¥standen om +at Â«ingen av opplysningene vil bli brukt til Ã¥ identifisere +enkeltpersonerÂ». Det virker dermed for meg som at NAV bryter sine +egen personvernerklÃ¦ring, hvilket +Datatilsynet +fortalte meg i starten av desember antagelig er brudd pÃ¥ +personopplysningsloven. + +

I tillegg er personvernerklÃ¦ringen ganske misvisende i og med at +NAVs nettsider ikke bare forsyner NAV med personopplysninger, men i +tillegg ber brukernes nettleser kontakte fem andre nettjenere +(script.hotjar.com, static.hotjar.com, vars.hotjar.com, +www.google-analytics.com og www.googletagmanager.com), slik at +personopplysninger blir gjort tilgjengelig for selskapene Hotjar og +Google , og alle som kan lytte pÃ¥ trafikken pÃ¥ veien (som FRA, GCHQ og +NSA). Jeg klarer heller ikke se hvordan slikt spredning av +personopplysninger kan vÃ¦re i trÃ¥d med kravene i +personopplysningloven, eller i trÃ¥d med NAVs personvernerklÃ¦ring.

+ +

Kanskje NAV bÃ¸r ta en nÃ¸ye titt pÃ¥ sin personvernerklÃ¦ring? Eller +kanskje Datatilsynet bÃ¸r gjÃ¸re det?

- Tags: english, offentlig innsyn. + Tags: norsk, nuug, personvern, surveillance.

@@ -347,57 +458,164 @@ check him out.

A French paperback edition of the book Free Culture by Lawrence Lessig is now available

12th April 2016

I'm happy to report that -the -French paperback edition of -my -project to translate the Free -Culture book by Lawrence Lessig is now available for sale on -Lulu.com. Once I have formally verified my proof reading copy, which -should be in the mail, the paperback edition should be available in -book stores like Amazon and Barnes & Noble too.

- -

This French edition, Culture Libre, is the work of the -dblatex developer BenoÃ®t -Guillon, who created the PO file from the initial translation -available from -the Wikilivres -wiki pages and completed and corrected the translation to match -the original docbook edition my project is using, as well as -coordinated the proof reading of the final result. I believe the end -result look great, but I am biased and do not read French. In -addition to the paperback edition, the book is available in PDF, EPUB -and Mobi format from the github project page linked to above.

- -

When enabling book store distribution on Lulu.com, I had to nearly -triple the price to allow the book stores some profit. I also had to -accept that I will get some revenue when a book is sold via Lulu.com. -But because of the non-commercial clause in the book license -(CC-BY-NC), this might be a problem. To bypass the problem I -discussed how to handle the revenue with the author, and we agreed -that the revenue for these editions go to the -Creative Commons non-profit -Corporation who handle donations to the Creative Commons project. -So far they have earned around USD 70 on sales of the -English -and -Norwegian -BokmÃ¥l editions, according to Lulu.com. They will get the revenue -for the French edition too. Their revenue is higher if you buy the -book directly from Lulu.com instead of via a book store, so I -recommend you buy directly from Lulu.com.

- -

Perhaps you would like to get the book published in your language? -The translation is done using a web based translator service, so the -technical bar to enter is fairly low. Get in touch if you would like -to make this happen.

Where did that package go? — geolocated IP traceroute

9th January 2017

Did you ever wonder where the web trafic really flow to reach the +web servers, and who own the network equipment it is flowing through? +It is possible to get a glimpse of this from using traceroute, but it +is hard to find all the details. Many years ago, I wrote a system to +map the Norwegian Internet (trying to figure out if our plans for a +network game service would get low enough latency, and who we needed +to talk to about setting up game servers close to the users. Back +then I used traceroute output from many locations (I asked my friends +to run a script and send me their traceroute output) to create the +graph and the map. The output from traceroute typically look like +this: + +

+traceroute to www.stortinget.no (85.88.67.10), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets
+ 1  uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.202.1)  0.447 ms  0.486 ms  0.621 ms
+ 2  uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229)  0.467 ms  0.578 ms  0.675 ms
+ 3  oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17)  0.385 ms  0.373 ms  0.358 ms
+ 4  te3-1-2.br1.fn3.as2116.net (193.156.90.3)  1.174 ms  1.172 ms  1.153 ms
+ 5  he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234)  2.627 ms he16-1-1.cr2.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.244.48)  3.172 ms he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234)  2.857 ms
+ 6  ae1.ar8.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.242.39)  0.662 ms  0.637 ms ae0.ar8.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.242.23)  0.622 ms
+ 7  89.191.10.146 (89.191.10.146)  0.931 ms  0.917 ms  0.955 ms
+ 8  * * *
+ 9  * * *
+[...]
+

+ +

This show the DNS names and IP addresses of (at least some of the) +network equipment involved in getting the data traffic from me to the +www.stortinget.no server, and how long it took in milliseconds for a +package to reach the equipment and return to me. Three packages are +sent, and some times the packages do not follow the same path. This +is shown for hop 5, where three different IP addresses replied to the +traceroute request.

+ +

There are many ways to measure trace routes. Other good traceroute +implementations I use are traceroute (using ICMP packages) mtr (can do +both ICMP, UDP and TCP) and scapy (python library with ICMP, UDP, TCP +traceroute and a lot of other capabilities). All of them are easily +available in Debian.

+ +

This time around, I wanted to know the geographic location of +different route points, to visualize how visiting a web page spread +information about the visit to a lot of servers around the globe. The +background is that a web site today often will ask the browser to get +from many servers the parts (for example HTML, JSON, fonts, +JavaScript, CSS, video) required to display the content. This will +leak information about the visit to those controlling these servers +and anyone able to peek at the data traffic passing by (like your ISP, +the ISPs backbone provider, FRA, GCHQ, NSA and others).

+ +

Lets pick an example, the Norwegian parliament web site +www.stortinget.no. It is read daily by all members of parliament and +their staff, as well as political journalists, activits and many other +citizens of Norway. A visit to the www.stortinget.no web site will +ask your browser to contact 8 other servers: ajax.googleapis.com, +insights.hotjar.com, script.hotjar.com, static.hotjar.com, +stats.g.doubleclick.net, www.google-analytics.com, +www.googletagmanager.com and www.netigate.se. I extracted this by +asking PhantomJS to visit the +Stortinget web page and tell me all the URLs PhantomJS downloaded to +render the page (in HAR format using +their +netsniff example. I am very grateful to Gorm for showing me how +to do this). My goal is to visualize network traces to all IP +addresses behind these DNS names, do show where visitors personal +information is spread when visiting the page.

+ +

When I had a look around for options, I could not find any good +free software tools to do this, and decided I needed my own traceroute +wrapper outputting KML based on locations looked up using GeoIP. KML +is easy to work with and easy to generate, and understood by several +of the GIS tools I have available. I got good help from by NUUG +colleague Anders Einar with this, and the result can be seen in +my +kmltraceroute git repository. Unfortunately, the quality of the +free GeoIP databases I could find (and the for-pay databases my +friends had access to) is not up to the task. The IP addresses of +central Internet infrastructure would typically be placed near the +controlling companies main office, and not where the router is really +located, as you can see from the +KML file I created using the GeoLite City dataset from MaxMind. + +

+ +

I also had a look at the visual traceroute graph created by +the scrapy project, +showing IP network ownership (aka AS owner) for the IP address in +question. +The +graph display a lot of useful information about the traceroute in SVG +format, and give a good indication on who control the network +equipment involved, but it do not include geolocation. This graph +make it possible to see the information is made available at least for +UNINETT, Catchcom, Stortinget, Nordunet, Google, Amazon, Telia, Level +3 Communications and NetDNA.

+ +

In the process, I came across the +web service GeoTraceroute by +Salim Gasmi. Its methology of combining guesses based on DNS names, +various location databases and finally use latecy times to rule out +candidate locations seemed to do a very good job of guessing correct +geolocation. But it could only do one trace at the time, did not have +a sensor in Norway and did not make the geolocations easily available +for postprocessing. So I contacted the developer and asked if he +would be willing to share the code (he refused until he had time to +clean it up), but he was interested in providing the geolocations in a +machine readable format, and willing to set up a sensor in Norway. So +since yesterday, it is possible to run traces from Norway in this +service thanks to a sensor node set up by +the NUUG assosiation, and get the +trace in KML format for further processing.

+ +

Here we can see a lot of trafic passes Sweden on its way to +Denmark, Germany, Holland and Ireland. Plenty of places where the +Snowden confirmations verified the traffic is read by various actors +without your best interest as their top priority.

+ +

Combining KML files is trivial using a text editor, so I could loop +over all the hosts behind the urls imported by www.stortinget.no and +ask for the KML file from GeoTraceroute, and create a combined KML +file with all the traces (unfortunately only one of the IP addresses +behind the DNS name is traced this time. To get them all, one would +have to request traces using IP number instead of DNS names from +GeoTraceroute). That might be the next step in this project.

+ +

Armed with these tools, I find it a lot easier to figure out where +the IP traffic moves and who control the boxes involved in moving it. +And every time the link crosses for example the Swedish border, we can +be sure Swedish Signal Intelligence (FRA) is listening, as GCHQ do in +Britain and NSA in USA and cables around the globe. (Hm, what should +we tell them? :) Keep that in mind if you ever send anything +unencrypted over the Internet.

+ +

PS: KML files are drawn using +the KML viewer from Ivan +Rublev , as it was less cluttered than the local Linux application +Marble. There are heaps of other options too.

+ +

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

- Tags: docbook, english, freeculture. + Tags: debian, english, kart, nuug, personvern, stortinget, surveillance, web.

@@ -405,33 +623,77 @@ to make this happen.

Lets make a Norwegian BokmÃ¥l edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook

10th April 2016

During this weekends -bug -squashing party and developer gathering, we decided to do our part -to make sure there are good books about Debian available in Norwegian -BokmÃ¥l, and got in touch with the people behind the -Debian Administrator's Handbook -project to get started. If you want to help out, please start -contributing using -the -hosted weblate project page, and get in touch using -the -translators mailing list. Please also check out -the instructions for -contributors.

- -

The book is already available on paper in English, French and -Japanese, and our goal is to get it available on paper in Norwegian -BokmÃ¥l too. In addition to the paper edition, there are also EPUB and -Mobi versions available. And there are incomplete translations -available for many more languages.

Introducing ical-archiver to split out old iCalendar entries

4th January 2017

Do you have a large iCalendar +file with lots of old entries, and would like to archive them to save +space and resources? At least those of us using KOrganizer know that +turning on and off an event set become slower and slower the more +entries are in the set. While working on migrating our calendars to a +Radicale CalDAV server on our +Freedombox server, my +loved one wondered if I could find a way to split up the calendar file +she had in KOrganizer, and I set out to write a tool. I spent a few +days writing and polishing the system, and it is now ready for general +consumption. The +code for +ical-archiver is publicly available from a git repository on +github. The system is written in Python and depend on +the vobject Python +module.

+ +

To use it, locate the iCalendar file you want to operate on and +give it as an argument to the ical-archiver script. This will +generate a set of new files, one file per component type per year for +all components expiring more than two years in the past. The vevent, +vtodo and vjournal entries are handled by the script. The remaining +entries are stored in a 'remaining' file.

+ +

This is what a test run can look like: + +

+% ical-archiver t/2004-2016.ics 
+Found 3612 vevents
+Found 6 vtodos
+Found 2 vjournals
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2004.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2005.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2006.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2007.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2008.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2009.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2010.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2011.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2012.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2013.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vevent-2014.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vjournal-2007.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vjournal-2011.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-subset-vtodo-2012.ics
+Writing t/2004-2016.ics-remaining.ics
+%
+

+ +

As you can see, the original file is untouched and new files are +written with names derived from the original file. If you are happy +with their content, the *-remaining.ics file can replace the original +the the others can be archived or imported as historical calendar +collections.

+ +

The script should probably be improved a bit. The error handling +when discovering broken entries is not good, and I am not sure yet if +it make sense to split different entry types into separate files or +not. The program is thus likely to change. If you find it +interesting, please get in touch. :)

+ +

As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b.

- Tags: debian, english. + Tags: english, standard.

@@ -446,6 +708,17 @@ available for many more languages.