X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/c30ecc6ac781252aba5722ca7953cc4a4483f469..d43db7a267b6df284ce765acf305588a3313e98a:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 2cc8fa6f3c..e9f4e96bcf 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,609 +7,971 @@ - Unlocking HTC Desire HD on Linux using unruu and fastboot - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Unlocking_HTC_Desire_HD_on_Linux_using_unruu_and_fastboot.html - Thu, 7 Jul 2016 11:30:00 +0200 - <p>Yesterday, I tried to unlock a HTC Desire HD phone, and it proved -to be a slight challenge. Here is the recipe if I ever need to do it -again. It all started by me wanting to try the recipe to set up -<a href="https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy">an -hardened Android installation</a> from the Tor project blog on a -device I had access to. It is a old mobile phone with a broken -microphone The initial idea had been to just -<a href="http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_ace">install -CyanogenMod on it</a>, but did not quite find time to start on it -until a few days ago.</p> - -<p>The unlock process is supposed to be simple: (1) Boot into the boot -loader (press volume down and power at the same time), (2) select -'fastboot' before (3) connecting the device via USB to a Linux -machine, (4) request the device identifier token by running 'fastboot -oem get_identifier_token', (5) request the device unlocking key using -the <a href="http://www.htcdev.com/bootloader/">HTC developer web -site</a> and unlock the phone using the key file emailed to you.</p> - -<p>Unfortunately, this only work fi you have hboot version 2.00.0029 -or newer, and the device I was working on had 2.00.0027. This -apparently can be easily fixed by downloading a Windows program and -running it on your Windows machine, if you accept the terms Microsoft -require you to accept to use Windows - which I do not. So I had to -come up with a different approach. I got a lot of help from AndyCap -on #nuug, and would not have been able to get this working without -him.</p> - -<p>First I needed to extract the hboot firmware from -<a href="http://www.htcdev.com/ruu/PD9810000_Ace_Sense30_S_hboot_2.00.0029.exe">the -windows binary for HTC Desire HD</a> downloaded as 'the RUU' from HTC. -For this there is is <a href="https://github.com/kmdm/unruu/">a github -project named unruu</a> using libunshield. The unshield tool did not -recognise the file format, but unruu worked and extracted rom.zip, -containing the new hboot firmware and a text file describing which -devices it would work for.</p> - -<p>Next, I needed to get the new firmware into the device. For this I -followed some instructions -<a href="http://www.htc1guru.com/2013/09/new-ruu-zips-posted/">available -from HTC1Guru.com</a>, and ran these commands as root on a Linux -machine with Debian testing:</p> + Quicker Debian installations using eatmydata + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Quicker_Debian_installations_using_eatmydata.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Quicker_Debian_installations_using_eatmydata.html + Fri, 25 Nov 2016 14:50:00 +0100 + <p>Two years ago, I did some experiments with eatmydata and the Debian +installation system, observing how using +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Speeding_up_the_Debian_installer_using_eatmydata_and_dpkg_divert.html">eatmydata +could speed up the installation</a> quite a bit. My testing measured +speedup around 20-40 percent for Debian Edu, where we install around +1000 packages from within the installer. The eatmydata package +provide a way to disable/delay file system flushing. This is a bit +risky in the general case, as files that should be stored on disk will +stay only in memory a bit longer than expected, causing problems if a +machine crashes at an inconvenient time. But for an installation, if +the machine crashes during installation the process is normally +restarted, and avoiding disk operations as much as possible to speed +up the process make perfect sense. + +<p>I added code in the Debian Edu specific installation code to enable +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libeatmydata">eatmydata</a>, +but did not have time to push it any further. But a few months ago I +picked it up again and worked with the libeatmydata package maintainer +Mattia Rizzolo to make it easier for everyone to get this installation +speedup in Debian. Thanks to our cooperation There is now an +eatmydata-udeb package in Debian testing and unstable, and simply +enabling/installing it in debian-installer (d-i) is enough to get the +quicker installations. It can be enabled using preseeding. The +following untested kernel argument should do the trick:</p> + +<blockquote><pre> +preseed/early_command="anna-install eatmydata-udeb" +</pre></blockquote> + +<p>This should ask d-i to install the package inside the d-i +environment early in the installation sequence. Having it installed +in d-i in turn will make sure the relevant scripts are called just +after debootstrap filled /target/ with the freshly installed Debian +system to configure apt to run dpkg with eatmydata. This is enough to +speed up the installation process. There is a proposal to +<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/841153">extend the idea a bit further +by using /etc/ld.so.preload instead of apt.conf</a>, but I have not +tested its impact.</p> -<p><pre> -adb reboot-bootloader -fastboot oem rebootRUU -fastboot flash zip rom.zip -fastboot flash zip rom.zip -fastboot reboot -</pre></p> - -<p>The flash command apparently need to be done twice to take effect, -as the first is just preparations and the second one do the flashing. -The adb command is just to get to the boot loader menu, so turning the -device on while holding volume down and the power button should work -too.</p> - -<p>With the new hboot version in place I could start following the -instructions on the HTC developer web site. I got the device token -like this:</p> - -<p><pre> -fastboot oem get_identifier_token 2>&1 | sed 's/(bootloader) //' -</pre> - -<p>And once I got the unlock code via email, I could use it like -this:</p> - -<p><pre> -fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin -</pre></p> + + + + + Oversette bokmål til nynorsk, enklere enn du tror takket være Apertium + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oversette_bokm_l_til_nynorsk__enklere_enn_du_tror_takket_v_re_Apertium.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Oversette_bokm_l_til_nynorsk__enklere_enn_du_tror_takket_v_re_Apertium.html + Thu, 24 Nov 2016 10:50:00 +0100 + <p>I Norge er det mange som trenger å skrive både bokmål og nynorsk. +Eksamensoppgaver, offentlige brev og nyheter er eksempler på tekster +der det er krav om skriftspråk. I tillegg til alle skoleoppgavene som +elever over det ganske land skal levere inn hvert år. Det mange ikke +vet er at selv om de kommersielle alternativene +<a href="https://translate.google.com/">Google Translate</a> og +<a href="https://www.bing.com/translator/">Bing Translator</a> ikke kan +bidra med å oversette mellom bokmål og nynorsk, så finnes det et +utmerket fri programvarealternativ som kan. Oversetterverktøyet +Apertium har støtte for en rekke språkkombinasjoner, og takket være +den utrettelige innsatsen til blant annet Kevin Brubeck Unhammer, kan +en bruke webtjenesten til å fylle inn en tekst på bokmål eller +nynorsk, og få den automatoversatt til det andre skriftspråket. +Resultatet er ikke perfekt, men et svært godt utgangspunkt. Av og til +er resultatet så bra at det kan benyttes uten endringer. Jeg vet +f.eks. at store deler av Joomla ble oversatt til nynorsk ved hjelp +Apertium. Høres det ut som noe du kan ha bruk for? Besøk i så fall +<a href="https://www.apertium.org/">Apertium.org</a> og fyll inn +teksten din i webskjemaet der. + +<p>Hvis du trenger maskinell tilgang til den bakenforliggende +teknologien kan du enten installere pakken +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/apertium-nno-nob">apertium-nno-nob</a> +på en Debian-maskin eller bruke web-API-et tilgjengelig fra +api.apertium.org. Se +<a href="http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Apertium-apy">API-dokumentasjonen</a> +for detaljer om web-API-et. Her kan du se hvordan resultatet blir for +denne teksten som ble skrevet på bokmål over maskinoversatt til +nynorsk.</p> + +<hr/> + +<p>I Noreg er det mange som treng å skriva både bokmål og nynorsk. +Eksamensoppgåver, offentlege brev og nyhende er døme på tekster der +det er krav om skriftspråk. I tillegg til alle skuleoppgåvene som +elevar over det ganske land skal levera inn kvart år. Det mange ikkje +veit er at sjølv om dei kommersielle alternativa +<a href="https://translate.google.com/">Google *Translate</a> og +<a href="https://www.bing.com/translator/">Bing *Translator</a> ikkje +kan bidra med å omsetja mellom bokmål og nynorsk, så finst det eit +utmerka fri programvarealternativ som kan. Omsetjarverktøyet +*Apertium har støtte for ei rekkje språkkombinasjonar, og takka vera +den utrøyttelege innsatsen til blant anna Kevin Brubeck Unhammer, kan +ein bruka *webtjenesten til å fylla inn ei tekst på bokmål eller +nynorsk, og få den *automatoversatt til det andre skriftspråket. +Resultatet er ikkje perfekt, men eit svært godt utgangspunkt. Av og +til er resultatet så bra at det kan nyttast utan endringar. Eg veit +t.d. at store delar av *Joomla vart omsett til nynorsk ved hjelp +*Apertium. Høyrast det ut som noko du kan ha bruk for? Besøk i så +fall <a href="https://www.apertium.org/">*Apertium.org</a> og fyll inn +teksta di i *webskjemaet der. + +<p>Viss du treng *maskinell tilgjenge til den *bakenforliggende +teknologien kan du anten installera pakken +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/apertium-nno-nob">*apertium-*nno-*nob</a> +på ein *Debian-maskin eller bruka *web-*API-eit tilgjengeleg frå +*api.*apertium.org. Sjå +<a href="http://wiki.apertium.org/wiki/Apertium-apy">*API-dokumentasjonen</a> +for detaljar om *web-*API-eit. Her kan du sjå korleis resultatet vert +for denne teksta som vart skreva på bokmål over *maskinoversatt til +nynorsk.</p> + + + + + Hyperions magasin Pegasus går for Creative Commons + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hyperions_magasin_Pegasus_g_r_for_Creative_Commons.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Hyperions_magasin_Pegasus_g_r_for_Creative_Commons.html + Tue, 22 Nov 2016 20:10:00 +0100 + <p>For noen dager siden ble jeg tipset av min venn Andreas +Aanerud om at <a href="http://magasinetpegasus.no">magasinet +Pegasus</a> skulle ta i bruk +<a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative +Commons</a>-lisensiering på sine artikler. Han fortalte at den +direkte årsaken var at han hadde blitt inspirert av å lese +<a href=" http://www.lulu.com/shop/http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">boken +Fri kultur</a> +(<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">github</a>) +og foreslått endringen. Jeg ble veldig glad for å høre +dette, da det er det første konkrete tilfellet jeg har hørt om der den +norske oversettelsen av <a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/"> +Lawrence Lessigs bok Free Culture</a> som jeg ga ut i fjor høst hadde +fått noen til å ta i bruk Creative Commons.</p> + +<p>Andreas fikk boken av meg som takk for at han inviterte meg til +<a href="http://www.gathering.org/">The Gathering</a>, og jeg er veldig +glad for at den falt i smak. Jeg ble nysgjerrig på hva som var +bakgrunnen for denne policy-endringen hos Hyperion og han sa seg +villig til å la seg intervjue til bloggen min. </p> + +<blockquote> + +<p><strong>Hvilke tanker gjorde du deg da boken lå i hånden første +gang?</strong></p> + +<p>Jeg husker da jeg fikk boken, etter en omvisning på The Gathering i +2016, der jeg var Core Organizer. The Gathering er jo et sted hvor en +fremmer delingskultur, i alt fra kode, til løsninger og «hacks», så en +kan vel si at boken er veldig relevant!</p> + +<p>Mine første tanker om boken, var at den trengte et grafisk løft. +Selv har jeg dysleksi og er ikke verdens beste i å lese, men for meg +så skal ikke det bety at jeg ikke klarer å lese. Jeg har jo også mine +egne tanker om «Fri kultur», ettersom jeg har jobbet med noen norske +filmer via NRK og TV2 og nå sitter som en teknisk leder i +filmavdelingen til Schjærven Reklamebyrå.</p> + +<p><strong>Har du lest boken, og hva tenker du om den nå?</strong></p> + +<p>Jeg har lest boken, og for meg er det jo veldig moro å kunne si at +Disney var en pirat og nå ha bevisene. Men det å gå fra Disney via +RIAA, og så igjennom en jungel av teknikk og programmering og ende opp +med spørsmålet om vi alle piratkopierer litt, er enda bedre. For ja, +boken klarer å få frem en diskusjon om åndsverk på en god måte +gjennom en samling historier, men den viste meg også et bilde, hvor +teknologi blir kneblet, og ikke får lov til å utvikle seg, ettersom +«opphavsrettsinnehaverne» bryr seg mer om sin industri enn om verden +går fremover. Ta f.eks. internettradio! Hvorfor tuller vi med DAB+ +og alt det der, når radio kan være en app på alle telefoner i dag. +Men den største tanken som jeg satt igjen med, er at vi må få færre +advokater og flere tenkere som kan dra oss vekk fra de feilene vi er i +ferd med å ende opp i.</p> + +<p><strong>Har budskapet i boken påvirker deg og det du holder på +med?</strong></p> + +<p>The Gathering sin moderforening er +<a href="http://www.kandu.no/">KANDU</a>, som er et stolt medlem av <a +href="http://n4f.no/">Hyperion</a>. Hyperion har et mandat igjennom +sitt interne magasin Pegasus å fremme Hyperion sine +medlemsarrangementer og kultur. Dette tror jeg er veldig viktig, og en +av de viktigste virkemidlene det magasinet nå har fått, er pålegget om +å publisere alt under de forskjellige Creative Commons +retningslinjer. Grunnen til at Pegasus kan velge fritt blant lisensene +til Creative Commons er deres bruk av freelancere m.m. som også må få +sine rettigheter dekket.</p> + +<p>Det er et steg i riktig retning som jeg håper, vil gi lokalaviser, +nasjonale aviser, bloggere m.m. muligheten til å referere til Pegasus +sitt innhold uten å måtte be om tillatelse først, som i bunnen vil +hjelpe oss å spre vår kultur i Hyperion.</p> + +<p><strong>Hva fikk Pegasus til å vedta retninglinjer om bruk av +Creative Commons, og hvordan kom dere frem til en slik +policy?</strong></p> + +<p>Dette skjedde på Hyperion sitt landsting, hvor jeg ønsket å fremme +Creative Commons som en retning som flere mener magasinet burde ta, +hvordan Pegasus tar det i bruk er mer opp til redaksjonen. Det som var +trist er at en del har misforstått hva Creative Commons er. Vi fikk +en veldig het «debatt» på facebook i etterkant hvor noen blant annet +mener at dette vedtaket har drept Pegasus.</p> + +<p>Personlig syntes jeg disse reaksjonene er rare, ettersom Pegasus er +et medlemsmagasin og magasinet sitt mål er å spre vår fantastiske +kultur. Jeg mener at Ceative Commons-bruksvilkår på artikler skaper +en veldig god mulighet til å spre denne kulturen. Det gjør at større +og mindre aviser kan låne artikler fra medlemsmagasinet og publisere +det hos seg, slik at effekten nettopp er fremme vår kultur.</p> + +<p>Jeg gleder meg til å se hvordan redaksjonen håndhever bruken av +Creative Commons.</p> + +<p><strong>Hvem tror du kunne ha mest nytte av å lese Fri +kultur?</strong></p> + +<p>Jeg tror at boken Fri kultur bør leses av de som ønsker en debatt +om nye medier, samt de som jobber med medier og føler seg «truet» av +utviklingen. Kanskje det kan være et lysglimt om at vi må heller være +med å utvikle oss, enn å stoppe opp og «beskytte» våre eier-, penge- +og materielle interesser.</p> + +<p>Spørsmålet for redaksjoner vil vel være om de «tjener» på klikk og +sine artikler via annonser, i så fall ville jeg tenkt litt rundt +spredningen. Nettavisen Digi.no gjorde en analyse i 2015 som var +veldig fin. Hvor de måtte konkludere med at de fikk ut budskapet +bedre, men de mistet inntekter på annonsevisning.</p> + +<p>Derfor for et magasin som skal «spre» kultur, så burde Creative +Commons være en no-brainer, en kunne også kanskje argumentere med at +NRK også burde gjøre dette, ettersom de ikke lever av reklame, og vi +betaler for innholdet deres.</p> + +<p><strong>Kommer du til å anbefale boken til noen du +kjenner?</strong></p> + +<p>Absolutt! Jeg har faktisk tenkt å gi den videre som en vandrebok, +til redaksjonen i Pegasus slik at de kan lese den og få noen ider og +tanker om fri kultur.</p> + +<p><strong>Du sier at boken klarer å få frem viktig en diskusjon om + vern av åndsverk. Boken er jo skrevet med bakgrunn i USAs + Copyright-lovgiving og ikke den norske åndsverksloven. Hva gjør at + du mener boken er relevant for den norske debatten?</strong></p> + +<p>En av tingene boken pekte på var tanken om hvor opphavsretten skal +ligge. Skal den ligge hos den som skriver sangen, den som fremfører +eller den som tar opp sangen. Og når spørsmålet kom tilbake i en +software-utgave, «hvordan kan Adobe styre opphavsretten i sin eBook +Publisher» så føler jeg at vi kommer inn på spennende tanker som jeg +mener vi glemmer i norsk åndsverksdebatt. USA har rett å slett et +«større bilde» som kanskje vi kan ta lærdom av.</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Jeg er veldig spent på hvordan redaksjonen i Pegasus kommer til å +ta i bruk Creative Commons, og gleder meg til neste tegn på at +bokutgivelsen har fått noen til å tenke mer på problemene med dagens +åndsverksvern.</p> + + + + + Coz profiler for multi-threaded software is now in Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_profiler_for_multi_threaded_software_is_now_in_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_profiler_for_multi_threaded_software_is_now_in_Debian.html + Sun, 13 Nov 2016 12:30:00 +0100 + <p><a href="http://coz-profiler.org/">The Coz profiler</a>, a nice +profiler able to run benchmarking experiments on the instrumented +multi-threaded program, finally +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/coz-profiler">made it into +Debian unstable yesterday</A>. Lluís Vilanova and I have spent many +months since +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html">I +blogged about the coz tool</a> in August working with upstream to make +it suitable for Debian. There are still issues with clang +compatibility, inline assembly only working x86 and minimized +JavaScript libraries.</p> + +<p>To test it, install 'coz-profiler' using apt and run it like this:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +<tt>coz run --- /path/to/binary-with-debug-info</tt> +</blockquote></p> + +<p>This will produce a profile.coz file in the current working +directory with the profiling information. This is then given to a +JavaScript application provided in the package and available from +<a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">a project web page</a>. +To start the local copy, invoke it in a browser like this:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +<tt>sensible-browser /usr/share/coz-profiler/viewer/index.htm</tt> +</blockquote></p> + +<p>See the project home page and the +<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">USENIX +;login: article on Coz</a> for more information on how it is +working.</p> + + + + + How to talk with your loved ones in private + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_talk_with_your_loved_ones_in_private.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_talk_with_your_loved_ones_in_private.html + Mon, 7 Nov 2016 10:25:00 +0100 + <p>A few days ago I ran a very biased and informal survey to get an +idea about what options are being used to communicate with end to end +encryption with friends and family. I explicitly asked people not to +list options only used in a work setting. The background is the +uneasy feeling I get when using Signal, a feeling shared by others as +a blog post from Sander Venima about +<a href="https://sandervenema.ch/2016/11/why-i-wont-recommend-signal-anymore/">why +he do not recommend Signal anymore</a> (with +<a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12883410">feedback from +the Signal author available from ycombinator</a>). I wanted an +overview of the options being used, and hope to include those options +in a less biased survey later on. So far I have not taken the time to +look into the individual proposed systems. They range from text +sharing web pages, via file sharing and email to instant messaging, +VOIP and video conferencing. For those considering which system to +use, it is also useful to have a look at +<a href="https://www.eff.org/secure-messaging-scorecard">the EFF Secure +messaging scorecard</a> which is slightly out of date but still +provide valuable information.</p> + +<p>So, on to the list. There were some used by many, some used by a +few, some rarely used ones and a few mentioned but without anyone +claiming to use them. Notice the grouping is in reality quite random +given the biased self selected set of participants. First the ones +used by many:</p> + +<ul> + +<li><a href="https://whispersystems.org/">Signal</a></li> +<li>Email w/<a href="http://openpgp.org/">OpenPGP</a> (Enigmail, GPGSuite,etc)</li> +<li><a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/">Whatsapp</a></li> +<li>IRC w/<a href="https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/">OTR</a></li> +<li>XMPP w/<a href="https://otr.cypherpunks.ca/">OTR</a></li> + +</ul> + +<p>Then the ones used by a few.</p> + +<ul> + +<li><a href="https://wiki.mumble.info/wiki/Main_Page">Mumble</a></li> +<li>iMessage (included in iOS from Apple)</li> +<li><a href="https://telegram.org/">Telegram</a></li> +<li><a href="https://jitsi.org/">Jitsi</a></li> +<li><a href="https://keybase.io/download">Keybase file</a></li> + +</ul> + +<p>Then the ones used by even fewer people</p> + +<ul> + +<li><a href="https://ring.cx/">Ring</a></li> +<li><a href="https://bitmessage.org/">Bitmessage</a></li> +<li><a href="https://wire.com/">Wire</a></li> +<li>VoIP w/<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZRTP">ZRTP</a> or controlled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Real-time_Transport_Protocol">SRTP</a> (e.g using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSipSimple">CSipSimple</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linphone">Linphone</a>)</li> +<li><a href="https://matrix.org/">Matrix</a></li> +<li><a href="https://kontalk.org/">Kontalk</a></li> +<li><a href="https://0bin.net/">0bin</a> (encrypted pastebin)</li> +<li><a href="https://appear.in">Appear.in</a></li> +<li><a href="https://riot.im/">riot</a></li> +<li><a href="https://www.wickr.com/">Wickr Me</a></li> + +</ul> + +<p>And finally the ones mentioned by not marked as used by +anyone. This might be a mistake, perhaps the person adding the entry +forgot to flag it as used?</p> + +<ul> + +<li>Email w/Certificates <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/MIME">S/MIME</a></li> +<li><a href="https://www.crypho.com/">Crypho</a></li> +<li><a href="https://cryptpad.fr/">CryptPad</a></li> +<li><a href="https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet">ricochet</a></li> + +</ul> + +<p>Given the network effect it seem obvious to me that we as a society +have been divided and conquered by those interested in keeping +encrypted and secure communication away from the masses. The +finishing remarks <a href="https://vimeo.com/97505679">from Aral Balkan +in his talk "Free is a lie"</a> about the usability of free software +really come into effect when you want to communicate in private with +your friends and family. We can not expect them to allow the +usability of communication tool to block their ability to talk to +their loved ones.</p> + +<p>Note for example the option IRC w/OTR. Most IRC clients do not +have OTR support, so in most cases OTR would not be an option, even if +you wanted to. In my personal experience, about 1 in 20 I talk to +have a IRC client with OTR. For private communication to really be +available, most people to talk to must have the option in their +currently used client. I can not simply ask my family to install an +IRC client. I need to guide them through a technical multi-step +process of adding extensions to the client to get them going. This is +a non-starter for most.</p> + +<p>I would like to be able to do video phone calls, audio phone calls, +exchange instant messages and share files with my loved ones, without +being forced to share with people I do not know. I do not want to +share the content of the conversations, and I do not want to share who +I communicate with or the fact that I communicate with someone. +Without all these factors in place, my private life is being more or +less invaded.</p> + + + + + My own self balancing Lego Segway + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_own_self_balancing_Lego_Segway.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/My_own_self_balancing_Lego_Segway.html + Fri, 4 Nov 2016 10:15:00 +0100 + <p>A while back I received a Gyro sensor for the NXT +<a href="mindstorms.lego.com">Mindstorms</a> controller as a birthday +present. It had been on my wishlist for a while, because I wanted to +build a Segway like balancing lego robot. I had already built +<a href="http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/segway/">a simple balancing +robot</a> with the kids, using the light/color sensor included in the +NXT kit as the balance sensor, but it was not working very well. It +could balance for a while, but was very sensitive to the light +condition in the room and the reflective properties of the surface and +would fall over after a short while. I wanted something more robust, +and had +<a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=NGY1044">the +gyro sensor from HiTechnic</a> I believed would solve it on my +wishlist for some years before it suddenly showed up as a gift from my +loved ones. :)</p> + +<p>Unfortunately I have not had time to sit down and play with it +since then. But that changed some days ago, when I was searching for +lego segway information and came across a recipe from HiTechnic for +building +<a href="http://www.hitechnic.com/blog/gyro-sensor/htway/">the +HTWay</a>, a segway like balancing robot. Build instructions and +<a href="https://www.hitechnic.com/upload/786-HTWayC.nxc">source +code</a> was included, so it was just a question of putting it all +together. And thanks to the great work of many Debian developers, the +compiler needed to build the source for the NXT is already included in +Debian, so I was read to go in less than an hour. The resulting robot +do not look very impressive in its simplicity:</p> + +<p align="center"><img width="70%" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-robot.jpeg"></p> + +<p>Because I lack the infrared sensor used to control the robot in the +design from HiTechnic, I had to comment out the last task +(taskControl). I simply placed /* and */ around it get the program +working without that sensor present. Now it balances just fine until +the battery status run low:</p> + +<p align="center"><video width="70%" controls="true"> + <source src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-11-04-lego-htway-balancing.ogv" type="video/ogg"> +</video></p> -<p>And with that final step in place, the phone was unlocked and I -could start stuffing the software of my own choosing into the device. -So far I only inserted a replacement recovery image to wipe the phone -before I start. We will see what happen next. Perhaps I should -install <a href="https://www.debian.org/">Debian</a> on it. :)</p> +<p>Now we would like to teach it how to follow a line and take remote +control instructions using the included Bluetooth receiver in the NXT.</p> + +<p>If you, like me, love LEGO and want to make sure we find the tools +they need to work with LEGO in Debian and all our derivative +distributions like Ubuntu, check out +<a href="http://wiki.debian.org/LegoDesigners">the LEGO designers +project page</a> and join the Debian LEGO team. Personally I own a +RCX and NXT controller (no EV3), and would like to make sure the +Debian tools needed to program the systems I own work as they +should.</p> - How to use the Signal app if you only have a land line (ie no mobile phone) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html - Sun, 3 Jul 2016 14:20:00 +0200 - <p>For a while now, I have wanted to test -<a href="https://whispersystems.org/">the Signal app</a>, as it is -said to provide end to end encrypted communication and several of my -friends and family are already using it. As I by choice do not own a -mobile phone, this proved to be harder than expected. And I wanted to -have the source of the client and know that it was the code used on my -machine. But yesterday I managed to get it working. I used the -Github source, compared it to the source in -<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/signal-private-messenger/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk?hl=en-US">the -Signal Chrome app</a> available from the Chrome web store, applied -patches to use the production Signal servers, started the app and -asked for the hidden "register without a smart phone" form. Here is -the recipe how I did it.</p> - -<p>First, I fetched the Signal desktop source from Github, using + Aktivitetsbånd som beskytter privatsfæren + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aktivitetsb_nd_som_beskytter_privatsf_ren.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Aktivitetsb_nd_som_beskytter_privatsf_ren.html + Thu, 3 Nov 2016 09:55:00 +0100 + <p>Jeg ble så imponert over +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/norge/forbrukerradet-mener-aktivitetsarmband-strider-mot-norsk-lov-1.13209079">dagens +gladnyhet på NRK</a>, om at Forbrukerrådet klager inn vilkårene for +bruk av aktivitetsbånd fra Fitbit, Garmin, Jawbone og Mio til +Datatilsynet og forbrukerombudet, at jeg sendte følgende brev til +forbrukerrådet for å uttrykke min støtte: + +<blockquote> + +<p>Jeg ble veldig glad over å lese at Forbrukerrådet +<a href="http://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/klager-inn-aktivitetsarmband-for-brudd-pa-norsk-lov/">klager +inn flere aktivitetsbånd til Datatilsynet for dårlige vilkår</a>. Jeg +har ønsket meg et aktivitetsbånd som kan måle puls, bevegelse og +gjerne også andre helserelaterte indikatorer en stund nå. De eneste +jeg har funnet i salg gjør, som dere også har oppdaget, graverende +inngrep i privatsfæren og sender informasjonen ut av huset til folk og +organisasjoner jeg ikke ønsker å dele aktivitets- og helseinformasjon +med. Jeg ønsker et alternativ som <em>ikke</em> sender informasjon til +skyen, men derimot bruker +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Fri_og__pen_standard__slik_Digistan_ser_det.html">en +fritt og åpent standardisert</a> protokoll (eller i det minste en +dokumentert protokoll uten patent- og opphavsrettslige +bruksbegrensinger) til å kommunisere med datautstyr jeg kontrollerer. +Er jo ikke interessert i å betale noen for å tilrøve seg +personopplysninger fra meg. Desverre har jeg ikke funnet noe +alternativ så langt.</p> + +<p>Det holder ikke å endre på bruksvilkårene for enhetene, slik +Datatilsynet ofte legger opp til i sin behandling, når de gjør slik +f.eks. Fitbit (den jeg har sett mest på). Fitbit krypterer +informasjonen på enheten og sender den kryptert til leverandøren. Det +gjør det i praksis umulig både å sjekke hva slags informasjon som +sendes over, og umulig å ta imot informasjonen selv i stedet for +Fitbit. Uansett hva slags historie som forteller i bruksvilkårene er +en jo både prisgitt leverandørens godvilje og at de ikke tvinges av +sitt lands myndigheter til å lyve til sine kunder om hvorvidt +personopplysninger spres ut over det bruksvilkårene sier. Det er +veldokumentert hvordan f.eks. USA tvinger selskaper vha. såkalte +National security letters til å utlevere personopplysninger samtidig +som de ikke får lov til å fortelle dette til kundene sine.</p> + +<p>Stå på, jeg er veldig glade for at dere har sett på saken. Vet +dere om aktivitetsbånd i salg i dag som ikke tvinger en til å utlevere +aktivitets- og helseopplysninger med leverandøren?</p> + +</blockquote> + +<p>Jeg håper en konkurrent som respekterer kundenes privatliv klarer å +nå opp i markedet, slik at det finnes et reelt alternativ for oss som +har full tillit til at skyleverandører vil prioritere egen inntjening +og myndighetspålegg langt foran kundenes rett til privatliv. Jeg har +ingen tiltro til at Datatilsynet vil kreve noe mer enn at vilkårene +endres slik at de forklarer eksplisitt i hvor stor grad bruk av +produktene utraderer privatsfæren til kundene. Det vil nok gjøre de +innklagede armbåndene «lovlige», men fortsatt tvinge kundene til å +dele sine personopplysninger med leverandøren.</p> + + + + + Experience and updated recipe for using the Signal app without a mobile phone + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Experience_and_updated_recipe_for_using_the_Signal_app_without_a_mobile_phone.html + Mon, 10 Oct 2016 11:30:00 +0200 + <p>In July +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_use_the_Signal_app_if_you_only_have_a_land_line__ie_no_mobile_phone_.html">I +wrote how to get the Signal Chrome/Chromium app working</a> without +the ability to receive SMS messages (aka without a cell phone). It is +time to share some experiences and provide an updated setup.</p> + +<p>The Signal app have worked fine for several months now, and I use +it regularly to chat with my loved ones. I had a major snag at the +end of my summer vacation, when the the app completely forgot my +setup, identity and keys. The reason behind this major mess was +running out of disk space. To avoid that ever happening again I have +started storing everything in <tt>userdata/</tt> in git, to be able to +roll back to an earlier version if the files are wiped by mistake. I +had to use it once after introducing the git backup. When rolling +back to an earlier version, one need to use the 'reset session' option +in Signal to get going, and notify the people you talk with about the +problem. I assume there is some sequence number tracking in the +protocol to detect rollback attacks. The git repository is rather big +(674 MiB so far), but I have not tried to figure out if some of the +content can be added to a .gitignore file due to lack of spare +time.</p> + +<p>I've also hit the 90 days timeout blocking, and noticed that this +make it impossible to send messages using Signal. I could still +receive them, but had to patch the code with a new timestamp to send. +I believe the timeout is added by the developers to force people to +upgrade to the latest version of the app, even when there is no +protocol changes, to reduce the version skew among the user base and +thus try to keep the number of support requests down.</p> + +<p>Since my original recipe, the Signal source code changed slightly, +making the old patch fail to apply cleanly. Below is an updated +patch, including the shell wrapper I use to start Signal. The +original version required a new user to locate the JavaScript console +and call a function from there. I got help from a friend with more +JavaScript knowledge than me to modify the code to provide a GUI +button instead. This mean that to get started you just need to run +the wrapper and click the 'Register without mobile phone' to get going +now. I've also modified the timeout code to always set it to 90 days +in the future, to avoid having to patch the code regularly.</p> + +<p>So, the updated recipe for Debian Jessie:</p> + +<ol> + +<li>First, install required packages to get the source code and the +browser you need. Signal only work with Chrome/Chromium, as far as I +know, so you need to install it. <pre> +apt install git tor chromium git clone https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Desktop.git -</pre> - -<p>Next, I patched the source to use the production servers, to be -able to talk to other Signal users:</p> +</pre></li> + +<li>Modify the source code using command listed in the the patch +block below.</li> + +<li>Start Signal using the run-signal-app wrapper (for example using +<tt>`pwd`/run-signal-app</tt>). + +<li>Click on the 'Register without mobile phone', will in a phone +number you can receive calls to the next minute, receive the +verification code and enter it into the form field and press +'Register'. Note, the phone number you use will be user Signal +username, ie the way others can find you on Signal.</li> + +<li>You can now use Signal to contact others. Note, new contacts do +not show up in the contact list until you restart Signal, and there is +no way to assign names to Contacts. There is also no way to create or +update chat groups. I suspect this is because the web app do not have +a associated contact database.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>I am still a bit uneasy about using Signal, because of the way its +main author moxie0 reject federation and accept dependencies to major +corporations like Google (part of the code is fetched from Google) and +Amazon (the central coordination point is owned by Amazon). See for +example +<a href="https://github.com/LibreSignal/LibreSignal/issues/37">the +LibreSignal issue tracker</a> for a thread documenting the authors +view on these issues. But the network effect is strong in this case, +and several of the people I want to communicate with already use +Signal. Perhaps we can all move to <a href="https://ring.cx/">Ring</a> +once it <a href="https://bugs.debian.org/830265">work on my +laptop</a>? It already work on Windows and Android, and is included +in <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring">Debian</a> and +<a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ring">Ubuntu</a>, but not +working on Debian Stable.</p> + +<p>Anyway, this is the patch I apply to the Signal code to get it +working. It switch to the production servers, disable to timeout, +make registration easier and add the shell wrapper:</p> <pre> -cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p0 -diff -ur ./js/background.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js ---- ./js/background.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 -+++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/background.js 2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 -@@ -47,8 +47,8 @@ +cd Signal-Desktop; cat &lt;&lt;EOF | patch -p1 +diff --git a/js/background.js b/js/background.js +index 24b4c1d..579345f 100644 +--- a/js/background.js ++++ b/js/background.js +@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ }); }); - var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org'; ++ var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org'; + var SERVER_PORTS = [80, 4433, 8443]; - var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments-staging.s3.amazonaws.com'; -+ var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-ca.whispersystems.org:4433'; + var ATTACHMENT_SERVER_URL = 'https://whispersystems-textsecure-attachments.s3.amazonaws.com'; var messageReceiver; window.getSocketStatus = function() { if (messageReceiver) { -diff -ur ./js/expire.js userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js ---- ./js/expire.js 2016-06-29 13:43:15.630344628 +0200 -+++ userdata/Default/Extensions/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihk/0.15.0_0/js/expire.js2016-06-29 14:06:29.530300934 +0200 +diff --git a/js/expire.js b/js/expire.js +index 639aeae..beb91c3 100644 +--- a/js/expire.js ++++ b/js/expire.js @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ ;(function() { 'use strict'; - var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0; -+ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 1474492690000; ++ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = Date.now() + (90 * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000); window.extension = window.extension || {}; +diff --git a/js/views/install_view.js b/js/views/install_view.js +index 7816f4f..1d6233b 100644 +--- a/js/views/install_view.js ++++ b/js/views/install_view.js +@@ -38,7 +38,8 @@ + return { + 'click .step1': this.selectStep.bind(this, 1), + 'click .step2': this.selectStep.bind(this, 2), +- 'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3) ++ 'click .step3': this.selectStep.bind(this, 3), ++ 'click .callreg': function() { extension.install('standalone') }, + }; + }, + clearQR: function() { +diff --git a/options.html b/options.html +index dc0f28e..8d709f6 100644 +--- a/options.html ++++ b/options.html +@@ -14,7 +14,10 @@ + &lt;div class='nav'> + &lt;h1>{{ installWelcome }}&lt;/h1> + &lt;p>{{ installTagline }}&lt;/p> +- &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a> &lt;/div> ++ &lt;div> &lt;a class='button step2'>{{ installGetStartedButton }}&lt;/a> ++ &lt;br> &lt;a class="button callreg">Register without mobile phone&lt;/a> ++ ++ &lt;/div> + &lt;span class='dot step1 selected'>&lt;/span> + &lt;span class='dot step2'>&lt;/span> + &lt;span class='dot step3'>&lt;/span> +--- /dev/null 2016-10-07 09:55:13.730181472 +0200 ++++ b/run-signal-app 2016-10-10 08:54:09.434172391 +0200 +@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@ ++#!/bin/sh ++set -e ++cd $(dirname $0) ++mkdir -p userdata ++userdata="`pwd`/userdata" ++if [ -d "$userdata" ] && [ ! -d "$userdata/.git" ] ; then ++ (cd $userdata && git init) ++fi ++(cd $userdata && git add . && git commit -m "Current status." || true) ++exec chromium \ ++ --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \ ++ --user-data-dir=$userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd` EOF +chmod a+rx run-signal-app </pre> -<p>The first part is changing the servers, and the second is updating -an expiration timestamp. This timestamp need to be updated regularly. -It is set 90 days in the future by the build process (Gruntfile.js). -The value is seconds since 1970 times 1000, as far as I can tell.</p> - -<p>Based on a tip and good help from the #nuug IRC channel, I wrote a -script to launch Signal in Chromium.</p> - -<pre> -#!/bin/sh -cd $(dirname $0) -mkdir -p userdata -exec chromium \ - --proxy-server="socks://localhost:9050" \ - --user-data-dir=`pwd`/userdata --load-and-launch-app=`pwd` -</pre> - -<p> The script start the app and configure Chromium to use the Tor -SOCKS5 proxy to make sure those controlling the Signal servers (today -Amazon and Whisper Systems) as well as those listening on the lines -will have a harder time location my laptop based on the Signal -connections if they use source IP address.</p> - -<p>When the script starts, one need to follow the instructions under -"Standalone Registration" in the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the git -repository. I right clicked on the Signal window to get up the -Chromium debugging tool, visited the 'Console' tab and wrote -'extension.install("standalone")' on the console prompt to get the -registration form. Then I entered by land line phone number and -pressed 'Call'. 5 seconds later the phone rang and a robot voice -repeated the verification code three times. After entering the number -into the verification code field in the form, I could start using -Signal from my laptop. - -<p>As far as I can tell, The Signal app will leak who is talking to -whom and thus who know who to those controlling the central server, -but such leakage is hard to avoid with a centrally controlled server -setup. It is something to keep in mind when using Signal - the -content of your chats are harder to intercept, but the meta data -exposing your contact network is available to people you do not know. -So better than many options, but not great. And sadly the usage is -connected to my land line, thus allowing those controlling the server -to associate it to my home and person. I would prefer it if only -those I knew could tell who I was on Signal. There are options -avoiding such information leakage, but most of my friends are not -using them, so I am stuck with Signal for now.</p> - - - - - The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/The_new__best__multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html - Mon, 6 Jun 2016 12:50:00 +0200 - <p>When I set out a few weeks ago to figure out -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/What_is_the_best_multimedia_player_in_Debian_.html">which -multimedia player in Debian claimed to support most file formats / -MIME types</a>, I was a bit surprised how varied the sets of MIME types -the various players claimed support for. The range was from 55 to 130 -MIME types. I suspect most media formats are supported by all -players, but this is not really reflected in the MimeTypes values in -their desktop files. There are probably also some bogus MIME types -listed, but it is hard to identify which one this is.</p> - -<p>Anyway, in the mean time I got in touch with upstream for some of -the players suggesting to add more MIME types to their desktop files, -and decided to spend some time myself improving the situation for my -favorite media player VLC. The fixes for VLC entered Debian unstable -yesterday. The complete list of MIME types can be seen on the -<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/DebianMultimedia/PlayerSupport">Multimedia -player MIME type support status</a> Debian wiki page.</p> - -<p>The new "best" multimedia player in Debian? It is VLC, followed by -totem, parole, kplayer, gnome-mpv, mpv, smplayer, mplayer-gui and -kmplayer. I am sure some of the other players desktop files support -several of the formats currently listed as working only with vlc, -toten and parole.</p> - -<p>A sad observation is that only 14 MIME types are listed as -supported by all the tested multimedia players in Debian in their -desktop files: audio/mpeg, audio/vnd.rn-realaudio, audio/x-mpegurl, -audio/x-ms-wma, audio/x-scpls, audio/x-wav, video/mp4, video/mpeg, -video/quicktime, video/vnd.rn-realvideo, video/x-matroska, -video/x-ms-asf, video/x-ms-wmv and video/x-msvideo. Personally I find -it sad that video/ogg and video/webm is not supported by all the media -players in Debian. As far as I can tell, all of them can handle both -formats.</p> +<p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - A program should be able to open its own files on Linux - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_program_should_be_able_to_open_its_own_files_on_Linux.html - Sun, 5 Jun 2016 08:30:00 +0200 - <p>Many years ago, when koffice was fresh and with few users, I -decided to test its presentation tool when making the slides for a -talk I was giving for NUUG on Japhar, a free Java virtual machine. I -wrote the first draft of the slides, saved the result and went to bed -the day before I would give the talk. The next day I took a plane to -the location where the meeting should take place, and on the plane I -started up koffice again to polish the talk a bit, only to discover -that kpresenter refused to load its own data file. I cursed a bit and -started making the slides again from memory, to have something to -present when I arrived. I tested that the saved files could be -loaded, and the day seemed to be rescued. I continued to polish the -slides until I suddenly discovered that the saved file could no longer -be loaded into kpresenter. In the end I had to rewrite the slides -three times, condensing the content until the talk became shorter and -shorter. After the talk I was able to pinpoint the problem &ndash; -kpresenter wrote inline images in a way itself could not understand. -Eventually that bug was fixed and kpresenter ended up being a great -program to make slides. The point I'm trying to make is that we -expect a program to be able to load its own data files, and it is -embarrassing to its developers if it can't.</p> - -<p>Did you ever experience a program failing to load its own data -files from the desktop file browser? It is not a uncommon problem. A -while back I discovered that the screencast recorder -gtk-recordmydesktop would save an Ogg Theora video file the KDE file -browser would refuse to open. No video player claimed to understand -such file. I tracked down the cause being <tt>file --mime-type</tt> -returning the application/ogg MIME type, which no video player I had -installed listed as a MIME type they would understand. I asked for -<a href="http://bugs.gw.com/view.php?id=382">file to change its -behavour</a> and use the MIME type video/ogg instead. I also asked -several video players to add video/ogg to their desktop files, to give -the file browser an idea what to do about Ogg Theora files. After a -while, the desktop file browsers in Debian started to handle the -output from gtk-recordmydesktop properly.</p> - -<p>But history repeats itself. A few days ago I tested the music -system Rosegarden again, and I discovered that the KDE and xfce file -browsers did not know what to do with the Rosegarden project files -(*.rg). I've reported <a href="http://bugs.debian.org/825993">the -rosegarden problem to BTS</a> and a fix is commited to git and will be -included in the next upload. To increase the chance of me remembering -how to fix the problem next time some program fail to load its files -from the file browser, here are some notes on how to fix it.</p> - -<p>The file browsers in Debian in general operates on MIME types. -There are two sources for the MIME type of a given file. The output from -<tt>file --mime-type</tt> mentioned above, and the content of the -shared MIME type registry (under /usr/share/mime/). The file MIME -type is mapped to programs supporting the MIME type, and this -information is collected from -<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/desktop-entry-spec/">the -desktop files</a> available in /usr/share/applications/. If there is -one desktop file claiming support for the MIME type of the file, it is -activated when asking to open a given file. If there are more, one -can normally select which one to use by right-clicking on the file and -selecting the wanted one using 'Open with' or similar. In general -this work well. But it depend on each program picking a good MIME -type (preferably -<a href="http://www.iana.org/assignments/media-types/media-types.xhtml">a -MIME type registered with IANA</a>), file and/or the shared MIME -registry recognizing the file and the desktop file to list the MIME -type in its list of supported MIME types.</p> - -<p>The <tt>/usr/share/mime/packages/rosegarden.xml</tt> entry for -<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications/shared-mime-info-spec">the -Shared MIME database</a> look like this:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; -&lt;mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"&gt; - &lt;mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden"&gt; - &lt;sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/&gt; - &lt;comment&gt;Rosegarden project file&lt;/comment&gt; - &lt;glob pattern="*.rg"/&gt; - &lt;/mime-type&gt; -&lt;/mime-info&gt; -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>This states that audio/x-rosegarden is a kind of application/x-gzip -(it is a gzipped XML file). Note, it is much better to use an -official MIME type registered with IANA than it is to make up ones own -unofficial ones like the x-rosegarden type used by rosegarden.</p> - -<p>The desktop file of the rosegarden program failed to list -audio/x-rosegarden in its list of supported MIME types, causing the -file browsers to have no idea what to do with *.rg files:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -% grep Mime /usr/share/applications/rosegarden.desktop -MimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition;audio/x-rosegarden-device;audio/x-rosegarden-project;audio/x-rosegarden-template;audio/midi; -X-KDE-NativeMimeType=audio/x-rosegarden-composition -% -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the -MimeType= line.</p> - -<p>If you run into a file which fail to open the correct program when -selected from the file browser, please check out the output from -<tt>file --mime-type</tt> for the file, ensure the file ending and -MIME type is registered somewhere under /usr/share/mime/ and check -that some desktop file under /usr/share/applications/ is claiming -support for this MIME type. If not, please report a bug to have it -fixed. :)</p> + NRKs kildevern når NRK-epost deles med utenlands etterretning? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NRKs_kildevern_n_r_NRK_epost_deles_med_utenlands_etterretning_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NRKs_kildevern_n_r_NRK_epost_deles_med_utenlands_etterretning_.html + Sat, 8 Oct 2016 08:15:00 +0200 + <p>NRK +<a href="https://nrkbeta.no/2016/09/02/securing-whistleblowers/">lanserte +for noen uker siden</a> en ny +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/varsle/">varslerportal som bruker +SecureDrop til å ta imot tips</a> der det er vesentlig at ingen +utenforstående får vite at NRK er tipset. Det er et langt steg +fremover for NRK, og når en leser bloggposten om hva de har tenkt på +og hvordan løsningen er satt opp virker det som om de har gjort en +grundig jobb der. Men det er ganske mye ekstra jobb å motta tips via +SecureDrop, så varslersiden skriver "Nyhetstips som ikke krever denne +typen ekstra vern vil vi gjerne ha på nrk.no/03030", og 03030-siden +foreslår i tillegg til et webskjema å bruke epost, SMS, telefon, +personlig oppmøte og brevpost. Denne artikkelen handler disse andre +metodene.</p> + +<p>Når en sender epost til en @nrk.no-adresse så vil eposten sendes ut +av landet til datamaskiner kontrollert av Microsoft. En kan sjekke +dette selv ved å slå opp epostleveringsadresse (MX) i DNS. For NRK er +dette i dag "nrk-no.mail.protection.outlook.com". NRK har som en ser +valgt å sette bort epostmottaket sitt til de som står bak outlook.com, +dvs. Microsoft. En kan sjekke hvor nettverkstrafikken tar veien +gjennom Internett til epostmottaket vha. programmet +<tt>traceroute</tt>, og finne ut hvem som eier en Internett-adresse +vha. whois-systemet. Når en gjør dette for epost-trafikk til @nrk.no +ser en at trafikken fra Norge mot nrk-no.mail.protection.outlook.com +går via Sverige mot enten Irland eller Tyskland (det varierer fra gang +til gang og kan endre seg over tid).</p> + +<p>Vi vet fra +<a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/FRA-loven">introduksjonen av +FRA-loven</a> at IP-trafikk som passerer grensen til Sverige avlyttes +av Försvarets radioanstalt (FRA). Vi vet videre takket være +Snowden-bekreftelsene at trafikk som passerer grensen til +Storbritannia avlyttes av Government Communications Headquarters +(GCHQ). I tillegg er er det nettopp lansert et forslag i Norge om at +forsvarets E-tjeneste skal få avlytte trafikk som krysser grensen til +Norge. Jeg er ikke kjent med dokumentasjon på at Irland og Tyskland +gjør det samme. Poenget er uansett at utenlandsk etterretning har +mulighet til å snappe opp trafikken når en sender epost til @nrk.no. +I tillegg er det selvsagt tilgjengelig for Microsoft som er underlagt USAs +jurisdiksjon og +<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data">samarbeider +med USAs etterretning på flere områder</a>. De som tipser NRK om +nyheter via epost kan dermed gå ut fra at det blir kjent for mange +andre enn NRK at det er gjort.</p> + +<p>Bruk av SMS og telefon registreres av blant annet telefonselskapene +og er tilgjengelig i følge lov og forskrift for blant annet Politi, +NAV og Finanstilsynet, i tillegg til IT-folkene hos telefonselskapene +og deres overordnede. Hvis innringer eller mottaker bruker +smarttelefon vil slik kontakt også gjøres tilgjengelig for ulike +app-leverandører og de som lytter på trafikken mellom telefon og +app-leverandør, alt etter hva som er installert på telefonene som +brukes.</p> + +<p>Brevpost kan virke trygt, og jeg vet ikke hvor mye som registreres +og lagres av postens datastyrte postsorteringssentraler. Det vil ikke +overraske meg om det lagres hvor i landet hver konvolutt kommer fra og +hvor den er adressert, i hvert fall for en kortere periode. Jeg vet +heller ikke hvem slik informasjon gjøres tilgjengelig for. Det kan +være nok til å ringe inn potensielle kilder når det krysses med hvem +som kjente til aktuell informasjon og hvor de befant seg (tilgjengelig +f.eks. hvis de bærer mobiltelefon eller bor i nærheten).</p> + +<p>Personlig oppmøte hos en NRK-journalist er antagelig det tryggeste, +men en bør passe seg for å bruke NRK-kantina. Der bryter de nemlig +<a href="http://www.lovdata.no/all/hl-19850524-028.html#14">Sentralbanklovens +paragraf 14</a> og nekter folk å betale med kontanter. I stedet +krever de at en varsle sin bankkortutsteder om hvor en befinner seg +ved å bruke bankkort. Banktransaksjoner er tilgjengelig for +bankkortutsteder (det være seg VISA, Mastercard, Nets og/eller en +bank) i tillegg til politiet og i hvert fall tidligere med Se & Hør +(via utro tjenere, slik det ble avslørt etter utgivelsen av boken +«Livet, det forbannede» av Ken B. Rasmussen). Men hvor mange kjenner +en NRK-journalist personlig? Besøk på NRK på Marienlyst krever at en +registrerer sin ankost elektronisk i besøkssystemet. Jeg vet ikke hva +som skjer med det datasettet, men har grunn til å tro at det sendes ut +SMS til den en skal besøke med navnet som er oppgitt. Kanskje greit å +oppgi falskt navn.</p> + +<p>Når så tipset er kommet frem til NRK skal det behandles +redaksjonelt i NRK. Der vet jeg via ulike kilder at de fleste +journalistene bruker lokalt installert programvare, men noen bruker +Google Docs og andre skytjenester i strid med interne retningslinjer +når de skriver. Hvordan vet en hvem det gjelder? Ikke vet jeg, men +det kan være greit å spørre for å sjekke at journalisten har tenkt på +problemstillingen, før en gir et tips. Og hvis tipset omtales internt +på epost, er det jo grunn til å tro at også intern eposten vil deles +med Microsoft og utenlands etterretning, slik tidligere nevnt, men det +kan hende at det holdes internt i NRKs interne MS Exchange-løsning. +Men Microsoft ønsker å få alle Exchange-kunder over "i skyen" (eller +andre folks datamaskiner, som det jo innebærer), så jeg vet ikke hvor +lenge det i så fall vil vare.</p> + +<p>I tillegg vet en jo at +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/ytring/elektronisk-kildevern-i-nrk-1.11941196">NRK +har valgt å gi nasjonal sikkerhetsmyndighet (NSM) tilgang til å se på +intern og ekstern Internett-trafikk</a> hos NRK ved oppsett av såkalte +VDI-noder, på tross av +<a href="https://www.nrk.no/ytring/bekymring-for-nrks-kildevern-1.11941584">protester +fra NRKs journalistlag</a>. Jeg vet ikke om den vil kunne snappe opp +dokumenter som lagres på interne filtjenere eller dokumenter som lages +i de interne webbaserte publiseringssystemene, men vet at hva noden +ser etter på nettet kontrolleres av NSM og oppdateres automatisk, slik +at det ikke gir så mye mening å sjekke hva noden ser etter i dag når +det kan endres automatisk i morgen.</p> + +<p>Personlig vet jeg ikke om jeg hadde turt tipse NRK hvis jeg satt på +noe som kunne være en trussel mot den bestående makten i Norge eller +verden. Til det virker det å være for mange åpninger for +utenforstående med andre prioriteter enn NRKs journalistiske fokus. +Og den største truslen for en varsler er jo om metainformasjon kommer +på avveie, dvs. informasjon om at en har vært i kontakt med en +journalist. Det kan være nok til at en kommer i myndighetenes +søkelys, og de færreste har nok operasjonell sikkerhet til at vil tåle +slik flombelysning på sitt privatliv.</p> - Tor - from its creators mouth 11 years ago - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Tor___from_its_creators_mouth_11_years_ago.html - Sat, 28 May 2016 14:20:00 +0200 - <p>A little more than 11 years ago, one of the creators of Tor, and -the current President of <a href="https://www.torproject.org/">the Tor -project</a>, Roger Dingledine, gave a talk for the members of the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User group</a> (NUUG). A -video of the talk was recorded, and today, thanks to the great help -from David Noble, I finally was able to publish the video of the talk -on Frikanalen, the Norwegian open channel TV station where NUUG -currently publishes its talks. You can -<a href="http://frikanalen.no/se">watch the live stream using a web -browser</a> with WebM support, or check out the recording on the video -on demand page for the talk -"<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599">Tor: Anonymous -communication for the US Department of Defence...and you.</a>".</p> - -<p>Here is the video included for those of you using browsers with -HTML video and Ogg Theora support:</p> - -<p><video width="70%" poster="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/large_thumb/20050421-tor-frikanalen.jpg" controls> - <source src="http://simula.gunkies.org/media/625599/theora/20050421-tor-frikanalen.ogv" type="video/ogg"/> -</video></p> + Isenkram, Appstream and udev make life as a LEGO builder easier + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram__Appstream_and_udev_make_life_as_a_LEGO_builder_easier.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram__Appstream_and_udev_make_life_as_a_LEGO_builder_easier.html + Fri, 7 Oct 2016 09:50:00 +0200 + <p><a href="http://packages.qa.debian.org/isenkram">The Isenkram +system</a> provide a practical and easy way to figure out which +packages support the hardware in a given machine. The command line +tool <tt>isenkram-lookup</tt> and the tasksel options provide a +convenient way to list and install packages relevant for the current +hardware during system installation, both user space packages and +firmware packages. The GUI background daemon on the other hand provide +a pop-up proposing to install packages when a new dongle is inserted +while using the computer. For example, if you plug in a smart card +reader, the system will ask if you want to install <tt>pcscd</tt> if +that package isn't already installed, and if you plug in a USB video +camera the system will ask if you want to install <tt>cheese</tt> if +cheese is currently missing. This already work just fine.</p> + +<p>But Isenkram depend on a database mapping from hardware IDs to +package names. When I started no such database existed in Debian, so +I made my own data set and included it with the isenkram package and +made isenkram fetch the latest version of this database from git using +http. This way the isenkram users would get updated package proposals +as soon as I learned more about hardware related packages.</p> + +<p>The hardware is identified using modalias strings. The modalias +design is from the Linux kernel where most hardware descriptors are +made available as a strings that can be matched using filename style +globbing. It handle USB, PCI, DMI and a lot of other hardware related +identifiers.</p> + +<p>The downside to the Isenkram specific database is that there is no +information about relevant distribution / Debian version, making +isenkram propose obsolete packages too. But along came AppStream, a +cross distribution mechanism to store and collect metadata about +software packages. When I heard about the proposal, I contacted the +people involved and suggested to add a hardware matching rule using +modalias strings in the specification, to be able to use AppStream for +mapping hardware to packages. This idea was accepted and AppStream is +now a great way for a package to announce the hardware it support in a +distribution neutral way. I wrote +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Using_appstream_with_isenkram_to_install_hardware_related_packages_in_Debian.html">a +recipe on how to add such meta-information</a> in a blog post last +December. If you have a hardware related package in Debian, please +announce the relevant hardware IDs using AppStream.</p> + +<p>In Debian, almost all packages that can talk to a LEGO Mindestorms +RCX or NXT unit, announce this support using AppStream. The effect is +that when you insert such LEGO robot controller into your Debian +machine, Isenkram will propose to install the packages needed to get +it working. The intention is that this should allow the local user to +start programming his robot controller right away without having to +guess what packages to use or which permissions to fix.</p> + +<p>But when I sat down with my son the other day to program our NXT +unit using his Debian Stretch computer, I discovered something +annoying. The local console user (ie my son) did not get access to +the USB device for programming the unit. This used to work, but no +longer in Jessie and Stretch. After some investigation and asking +around on #debian-devel, I discovered that this was because udev had +changed the mechanism used to grant access to local devices. The +ConsoleKit mechanism from <tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt> +no longer applied, because LDAP users no longer was added to the +plugdev group during login. Michael Biebl told me that this method +was obsolete and the new method used ACLs instead. This was good +news, as the plugdev mechanism is a mess when using a remote user +directory like LDAP. Using ACLs would make sure a user lost device +access when she logged out, even if the user left behind a background +process which would retain the plugdev membership with the ConsoleKit +setup. Armed with this knowledge I moved on to fix the access problem +for the LEGO Mindstorms related packages.</p> + +<p>The new system uses a udev tag, 'uaccess'. It can either be +applied directly for a device, or is applied in +/lib/udev/rules.d/70-uaccess.rules for classes of devices. As the +LEGO Mindstorms udev rules did not have a class, I decided to add the +tag directly in the udev rules files included in the packages. Here +is one example. For the nqc C compiler for the RCX, the +<tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/60-nqc.rules</tt> file now look like this: -<p>I guess the gist of the talk can be summarised quite simply: If you -want to help the military in USA (and everyone else), use Tor. :)</p> - - - - - Isenkram with PackageKit support - new version 0.23 available in Debian unstable - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Isenkram_with_PackageKit_support___new_version_0_23_available_in_Debian_unstable.html - Wed, 25 May 2016 10:20:00 +0200 - <p><a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/isenkram">The isenkram -system</a> is a user-focused solution in Debian for handling hardware -related packages. The idea is to have a database of mappings between -hardware and packages, and pop up a dialog suggesting for the user to -install the packages to use a given hardware dongle. Some use cases -are when you insert a Yubikey, it proposes to install the software -needed to control it; when you insert a braille reader list it -proposes to install the packages needed to send text to the reader; -and when you insert a ColorHug screen calibrator it suggests to -install the driver for it. The system work well, and even have a few -command line tools to install firmware packages and packages for the -hardware already in the machine (as opposed to hotpluggable hardware).</p> - -<p>The system was initially written using aptdaemon, because I found -good documentation and example code on how to use it. But aptdaemon -is going away and is generally being replaced by -<a href="http://www.freedesktop.org/software/PackageKit/">PackageKit</a>, -so Isenkram needed a rewrite. And today, thanks to the great patch -from my college Sunil Mohan Adapa in the FreedomBox project, the -rewrite finally took place. I've just uploaded a new version of -Isenkram into Debian Unstable with the patch included, and the default -for the background daemon is now to use PackageKit. To check it out, -install the <tt>isenkram</tt> package and insert some hardware dongle -and see if it is recognised.</p> - -<p>If you want to know what kind of packages isenkram would propose for -the machine it is running on, you can check out the isenkram-lookup -program. This is what it look like on a Thinkpad X230:</p> - -<p><blockquote><pre> -% isenkram-lookup -bluez -cheese -fprintd -fprintd-demo -gkrellm-thinkbat -hdapsd -libpam-fprintd -pidgin-blinklight -thinkfan -tleds -tp-smapi-dkms -tp-smapi-source -tpb -%p -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>The hardware mappings come from several places. The preferred way -is for packages to announce their hardware support using -<a href="https://www.freedesktop.org/software/appstream/docs/">the -cross distribution appstream system</a>. -See -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">previous -blog posts about isenkram</a> to learn how to do that.</p> - - - - - Discharge rate estimate in new battery statistics collector for Debian - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Discharge_rate_estimate_in_new_battery_statistics_collector_for_Debian.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Discharge_rate_estimate_in_new_battery_statistics_collector_for_Debian.html - Mon, 23 May 2016 09:35:00 +0200 - <p>Yesterday I updated the -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats -package in Debian</a> with a few patches sent to me by skilled and -enterprising users. There were some nice user and visible changes. -First of all, both desktop menu entries now work. A design flaw in -one of the script made the history graph fail to show up (its PNG was -dumped in ~/.xsession-errors) if no controlling TTY was available. -The script worked when called from the command line, but not when -called from the desktop menu. I changed this to look for a DISPLAY -variable or a TTY before deciding where to draw the graph, and now the -graph window pop up as expected.</p> - -<p>The next new feature is a discharge rate estimator in one of the -graphs (the one showing the last few hours). New is also the user of -colours showing charging in blue and discharge in red. The percentages -of this graph is relative to last full charge, not battery design -capacity.</p> - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-rate.png"/></p> - -<p>The other graph show the entire history of the collected battery -statistics, comparing it to the design capacity of the battery to -visualise how the battery life time get shorter over time. The red -line in this graph is what the previous graph considers 100 percent: - -<p align="center"><img src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2016-05-23-battery-stats-history.png"/></p> - -<p>In this graph you can see that I only charge the battery to 80 -percent of last full capacity, and how the capacity of the battery is -shrinking. :(</p> - -<p>The last new feature is in the collector, which now will handle -more hardware models. On some hardware, Linux power supply -information is stored in /sys/class/power_supply/ACAD/, while the -collector previously only looked in /sys/class/power_supply/AC/. Now -both are checked to figure if there is power connected to the -machine.</p> - -<p>If you are interested in how your laptop battery is doing, please -check out the -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/battery-stats">battery-stats</a> -in Debian unstable, or rebuild it on Jessie to get it working on -Debian stable. :) The upstream source is available from <a -href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/battery-stats">github</a>. -Patches are very welcome.</p> +<p><pre> +SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ACTION=="add", ATTR{idVendor}=="0694", ATTR{idProduct}=="0001", \ + SYMLINK+="rcx-%k", TAG+="uaccess" +</pre></p> + +<p>The key part is the 'TAG+="uaccess"' at the end. I suspect all +packages using plugdev in their /lib/udev/rules.d/ files should be +changed to use this tag (either directly or indirectly via +<tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>). Perhaps a lintian check should be created +to detect this?</p> + +<p>I've been unable to find good documentation on the uaccess feature. +It is unclear to me if the uaccess tag is an internal implementation +detail like the udev-acl tag used by +<tt>/lib/udev/rules.d/70-udev-acl.rules</tt>. If it is, I guess the +indirect method is the preferred way. Michael +<a href="https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4288">asked for more +documentation from the systemd project</a> and I hope it will make +this clearer. For now I use the generic classes when they exist and +is already handled by <tt>70-uaccess.rules</tt>, and add the tag +directly if no such class exist.</p> + +<p>To learn more about the isenkram system, please check out +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/tags/isenkram/">my +blog posts tagged isenkram</a>.</p> + +<p>To help out making life for LEGO constructors in Debian easier, +please join us on our IRC channel +<a href="irc://irc.debian.org/%23debian-lego">#debian-lego</a> and join +the <a href="https://alioth.debian.org/projects/debian-lego/">Debian +LEGO team</a> in the Alioth project we created yesterday. A mailing +list is not yet created, but we are working on it. :)</p> <p>As usual, if you use Bitcoin and want to show your support of my activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address -<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> - - - - - French edition of Lawrence Lessigs book Cultura Libre on Amazon and Barnes & Noble - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_edition_of_Lawrence_Lessigs_book_Cultura_Libre_on_Amazon_and_Barnes___Noble.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/French_edition_of_Lawrence_Lessigs_book_Cultura_Libre_on_Amazon_and_Barnes___Noble.html - Sat, 21 May 2016 10:50:00 +0200 - <p>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 -<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Libre-French-Lawrence-Lessig/dp/8269018260">Amazon</a> -($19.99), -<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/culture-libre-lawrence-lessig/1123776705">Barnes -& Noble</a> ($?) and as always from -<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Lulu.com</a> -($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).</p> - -<p>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 -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">available -from github</a>.</p> - - - - - I want the courts to be involved before the police can hijack a news site DNS domain (#domstolkontroll) - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_want_the_courts_to_be_involved_before_the_police_can_hijack_a_news_site_DNS_domain___domstolkontroll_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/I_want_the_courts_to_be_involved_before_the_police_can_hijack_a_news_site_DNS_domain___domstolkontroll_.html - Thu, 19 May 2016 14:00:00 +0200 - <p>I just donated to the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/dns-beslag-donasjon.shtml">NUUG defence -"fond"</a> 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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 -<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://popcorn-time.no">the web -site content on the Internet Archive</A>, and only found news coverage -about Popcorn Time, not any material published without the right -holders permissions.</p> - -<p>The seizure was widely covered in the Norwegian press (see for -example <a href="http://www.hegnar.no/Nyheter/Naeringsliv/2016/03/Popcorn-time.no-beslaglagt-av-OEkokrim">Hegnar Online</a> and -<a href="http://itavisen.no/2016/03/08/okokrim-har-beslaglagt-popcorn-time-no/">ITavisen<a/> -and -<a href="http://www.nrk.no/kultur/okokrim-gar-til-aksjon-mot-popcorn-time-1.12842452">NRK</a>), -at first due to the press release sent out by Økokrim, but then based -on -<a href="http://blogg.torvund.net/2016/03/09/okokrims-beslag-i-domenet-popcorn-time-no/">protests -from the law professor Olav Torvund</a> and -<a href="http://www.klassekampen.no/article/20160311/ARTICLE/160319995">lawyer -Jon Wessel-Aas</a>. It even got some -<a href="https://torrentfreak.com/norwegian-authorities-sued-over-popcorn-time-domain-seizure-160418/">coverage -on TorrentFreak</a>.</p> - -<p>I -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/NUUG_contests_Norwegian_police_DNS_seizure_of_popcorn_time_no.html"> -wrote about the case a month ago</a>, when the -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/">Norwegian Unix User Group</a> (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.</p> - -<p>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 <a href="http://www.nuug.no/dns-beslag-donasjon.shtml">show -your support by donating to NUUG</a>.</a> - - - - - Debian now with ZFS on Linux included - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_with_ZFS_on_Linux_included.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Debian_now_with_ZFS_on_Linux_included.html - Thu, 12 May 2016 07:30:00 +0200 - <p>Today, after many years of hard work from many people, -<a href="http://zfsonlinux.org/">ZFS for Linux</a> finally entered -Debian. The package status can be seen on -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/zfs-linux">the package tracker -for zfs-linux</a>. and -<a href="https://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=pkg-zfsonlinux-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org">the -team status page</a>. If you want to help out, please join us. -<a href="http://anonscm.debian.org/gitweb/?p=pkg-zfsonlinux/zfs.git">The -source code</a> is available via git on Alioth. It would also be -great if you could help out with -<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/dkms">the dkms package</a>, as -it is an important piece of the puzzle to get ZFS working.</p> +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p>