X-Git-Url: http://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/cec4373a9fb73f8891e8366ff2a262bf78800bbd..6f2eff6f2c1badf27a0a32707a40d70c77c7b149:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index e3462d6d3f..f0465a445f 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -7,734 +7,590 @@ - E-tjenesten ber om innsyn i eposten til partiene på Stortinget - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/E_tjenesten_ber_om_innsyn_i_eposten_til_partiene_p__Stortinget.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/E_tjenesten_ber_om_innsyn_i_eposten_til_partiene_p__Stortinget.html - Tue, 6 Sep 2016 23:00:00 +0200 - <p>I helga kom det et hårreisende forslag fra Lysne II-utvalget satt -ned av Forsvarsdepartementet. Lysne II-utvalget var bedt om å vurdere -ønskelista til Forsvarets etterretningstjeneste (e-tjenesten), og har -kommet med -<a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Utvalg-sier-ja-til-at-E-tjenesten-far-overvake-innholdet-i-all-internett--og-telefontrafikk-som-krysser-riksgrensen-603232b.html">forslag -om at e-tjenesten skal få lov til a avlytte all Internett-trafikk</a> -som passerer Norges grenser. Få er klar over at dette innebærer at -e-tjenesten får tilgang til epost sendt til de fleste politiske -partiene på Stortinget. Regjeringspartiet Høyre (@hoyre.no), -støttepartiene Venstre (@venstre.no) og Kristelig Folkeparti (@krf.no) -samt Sosialistisk Ventreparti (@sv.no) og Miljøpartiet de grønne -(@mdg.no) har nemlig alle valgt å ta imot eposten sin via utenlandske -tjenester. Det betyr at hvis noen sender epost til noen med en slik -adresse vil innholdet i eposten om dette forslaget blir vedtatt gjøres -tilgjengelig for e-tjenesten. Venstre, Sosialistisk Ventreparti og -Miljøpartiet De Grønne har valgt å motta sin epost hos Google, -Kristelig Folkeparti har valgt å motta sin epost hos Microsoft, og -Høyre har valgt å motta sin epost hos Comendo med mottak i Danmark og -Irland. Kun Arbeiderpartiet og Fremskrittspartiet har valgt å motta -eposten sin i Norge, hos henholdsvis Intility AS og Telecomputing -AS.</p> - -<p>Konsekvensen er at epost inn og ut av de politiske organisasjonene, -til og fra partimedlemmer og partiets tillitsvalgte vil gjøres -tilgjengelig for e-tjenesten for analyse og sortering. Jeg mistenker -at kunnskapen som slik blir tilgjengelig vil være nyttig hvis en -ønsker å vite hvilke argumenter som treffer publikum når en ønsker å -påvirke Stortingets representanter.</p - -<p>Ved hjelp av MX-oppslag i DNS for epost-domene, tilhørende -whois-oppslag av IP-adressene og traceroute for å se hvorvidt -trafikken går via utlandet kan enhver få bekreftet at epost sendt til -de omtalte partiene vil gjøres tilgjengelig for forsvarets -etterretningstjeneste hvis forslaget blir vedtatt. En kan også bruke -den kjekke nett-tjenesten <a href="http://ipinfo.io/">ipinfo.io</a> -for å få en ide om hvor i verden en IP-adresse hører til.</p> - -<p>På den positive siden vil forslaget gjøre at enda flere blir -motivert til å ta grep for å bruke -<a href="https://www.torproject.org/">Tor</a> og krypterte -kommunikasjonsløsninger for å kommunisere med sine kjære, for å sikre -at privatsfæren vernes. Selv bruker jeg blant annet -<a href="https://www.freedomboxfoundation.org/">FreedomBox</a> og -<a href="https://whispersystems.org/">Signal</a> til slikt. Ingen av -dem er optimale, men de fungerer ganske bra allerede og øker kostnaden -for dem som ønsker å invadere mitt privatliv.</p> - -<p>For øvrig burde varsleren Edward Snowden få politisk asyl i -Norge.</p> - -<!-- - -venstre.no - venstre.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx.l.google.com. - venstre.no mail is handled by 20 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. - venstre.no mail is handled by 20 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. - venstre.no mail is handled by 30 aspmx2.googlemail.com. - venstre.no mail is handled by 30 aspmx3.googlemail.com. - -traceroute to aspmx.l.google.com (173.194.222.27), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets - 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.411 ms 0.438 ms 0.536 ms - 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.375 ms 0.452 ms 0.548 ms - 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 1.940 ms 1.950 ms 1.942 ms - 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.910 ms 6.949 ms 7.283 ms - 5 google-gw.nordu.net (109.105.98.6) 6.975 ms 6.967 ms 6.958 ms - 6 209.85.250.192 (209.85.250.192) 7.337 ms 7.286 ms 10.890 ms - 7 209.85.254.13 (209.85.254.13) 7.394 ms 209.85.254.31 (209.85.254.31) 7.586 ms 209.85.254.33 (209.85.254.33) 7.570 ms - 8 209.85.251.255 (209.85.251.255) 15.686 ms 209.85.249.229 (209.85.249.229) 16.118 ms 209.85.251.255 (209.85.251.255) 16.073 ms - 9 74.125.37.255 (74.125.37.255) 16.794 ms 216.239.40.248 (216.239.40.248) 16.113 ms 74.125.37.44 (74.125.37.44) 16.764 ms -10 * * * - -mdg.no - mdg.no mail is handled by 1 aspmx.l.google.com. - mdg.no mail is handled by 5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. - mdg.no mail is handled by 5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. - mdg.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx2.googlemail.com. - mdg.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx3.googlemail.com. -sv.no - sv.no mail is handled by 1 aspmx.l.google.com. - sv.no mail is handled by 5 alt1.aspmx.l.google.com. - sv.no mail is handled by 5 alt2.aspmx.l.google.com. - sv.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx3.googlemail.com. - sv.no mail is handled by 10 aspmx2.googlemail.com. -hoyre.no - hoyre.no mail is handled by 10 hoyre-no.mx1.comendosystems.com. - hoyre.no mail is handled by 20 hoyre-no.mx2.comendosystems.net. - -traceroute to hoyre-no.mx1.comendosystems.com (89.104.206.4), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets - 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.450 ms 0.510 ms 0.591 ms - 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.383 ms 0.508 ms 0.596 ms - 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.311 ms 0.315 ms 0.300 ms - 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.837 ms 6.842 ms 6.834 ms - 5 dk-uni.nordu.net (109.105.97.10) 26.073 ms 26.085 ms 26.076 ms - 6 dix.1000m.soeborg.ip.comendo.dk (192.38.7.22) 15.372 ms 15.046 ms 15.123 ms - 7 89.104.192.65 (89.104.192.65) 15.875 ms 15.990 ms 16.239 ms - 8 89.104.192.179 (89.104.192.179) 15.676 ms 15.674 ms 15.664 ms - 9 03dm-com.mx1.staysecuregroup.com (89.104.206.4) 15.637 ms * * - -krf.no - krf.no mail is handled by 10 krf-no.mail.protection.outlook.com. - -traceroute to krf-no.mail.protection.outlook.com (213.199.154.42), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets - 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.401 ms 0.438 ms 0.536 ms - 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 11.076 ms 11.120 ms 11.204 ms - 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.232 ms 0.234 ms 0.271 ms - 4 se-tug.nordu.net (109.105.102.108) 6.811 ms 6.820 ms 6.815 ms - 5 netnod-ix-ge-a-sth-4470.microsoft.com (195.245.240.181) 7.074 ms 7.013 ms 7.061 ms - 6 ae1-0.sto-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.225.161) 7.227 ms 7.362 ms 7.293 ms - 7 be-8-0.ibr01.ams.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.5.7) 41.993 ms 43.334 ms 41.939 ms - 8 be-1-0.ibr02.ams.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.4.214) 43.153 ms 43.507 ms 43.404 ms - 9 ae3-0.fra-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.5.17) 29.897 ms 29.831 ms 29.794 ms -10 ae10-0.vie-96cbe-1a.ntwk.msn.net (198.206.164.1) 42.309 ms 42.130 ms 41.808 ms -11 * ae8-0.vie-96cbe-1b.ntwk.msn.net (104.44.227.29) 41.425 ms * -12 * * * - -arbeiderpartiet.no - arbeiderpartiet.no mail is handled by 10 mail.intility.com. - arbeiderpartiet.no mail is handled by 20 mail2.intility.com. - -traceroute to mail.intility.com (188.95.245.87), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets - 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.486 ms 0.508 ms 0.649 ms - 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.416 ms 0.508 ms 0.620 ms - 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.276 ms 0.278 ms 0.275 ms - 4 te3-1-2.br1.fn3.as2116.net (193.156.90.3) 0.374 ms 0.371 ms 0.416 ms - 5 he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234) 3.132 ms he16-1-1.cr2.oslosda310.as2116.net (195.0.244.48) 10.079 ms he16-1-1.cr1.san110.as2116.net (195.0.244.234) 3.353 ms - 6 te1-2-0.ar2.ulv89.as2116.net (195.0.243.194) 0.569 ms te5-0-0.ar2.ulv89.as2116.net (195.0.243.192) 0.661 ms 0.653 ms - 7 cD2EC45C1.static.as2116.net (193.69.236.210) 0.654 ms 0.615 ms 0.590 ms - 8 185.7.132.38 (185.7.132.38) 1.661 ms 1.808 ms 1.695 ms - 9 185.7.132.100 (185.7.132.100) 1.793 ms 1.943 ms 1.546 ms -10 * * * - -frp.no - frp.no mail is handled by 10 mx03.telecomputing.no. - frp.no mail is handled by 20 mx01.telecomputing.no. - -traceroute to mx03.telecomputing.no (95.128.105.102), 30 hops max, 60 byte packets - 1 uio-gw10.uio.no (129.240.6.1) 0.378 ms 0.402 ms 0.479 ms - 2 uio-gw8.uio.no (129.240.24.229) 0.361 ms 0.458 ms 0.548 ms - 3 oslo-gw1.uninett.no (128.39.65.17) 0.361 ms 0.352 ms 0.336 ms - 4 xe-2-2-0-0.san-peer2.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (193.156.90.16) 0.375 ms 0.366 ms 0.346 ms - 5 xe-2-0-2-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.97) 0.780 ms xe-2-0-0-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.101) 0.713 ms xe-2-0-2-0.ost-pe1.osl.no.ip.tdc.net (85.19.121.97) 0.759 ms - 6 cpe.xe-0-2-0-100.ost-pe1.osl.no.customer.tdc.net (85.19.26.46) 0.837 ms 0.755 ms 0.759 ms - 7 95.128.105.3 (95.128.105.3) 1.050 ms 1.288 ms 1.182 ms - 8 mx03.telecomputing.no (95.128.105.102) 0.717 ms 0.703 ms 0.692 ms - ---> + Mangler du en skrue, eller har du en skrue løs? + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mangler_du_en_skrue__eller_har_du_en_skrue_l_s_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Mangler_du_en_skrue__eller_har_du_en_skrue_l_s_.html + Wed, 4 Oct 2017 09:40:00 +0200 + Når jeg holder på med ulike prosjekter, så trenger jeg stadig ulike +skruer. Det siste prosjektet jeg holder på med er å lage +<a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:676916">en boks til en +HDMI-touch-skjerm</a> som skal brukes med Raspberry Pi. Boksen settes +sammen med skruer og bolter, og jeg har vært i tvil om hvor jeg kan +få tak i de riktige skruene. Clas Ohlson og Jernia i nærheten har +sjelden hatt det jeg trenger. Men her om dagen fikk jeg et fantastisk +tips for oss som bor i Oslo. +<a href="http://www.zachskruer.no/">Zachariassen Jernvare AS</a> i +<a href="http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=59.93421&mlon=10.76795#map=19/59.93421/10.76795">Hegermannsgate +23A på Torshov</a> har et fantastisk utvalg, og åpent mellom 09:00 og +17:00. De selger skruer, muttere, bolter, skiver etc i løs vekt, og +så langt har jeg fått alt jeg har lett etter. De har i tillegg det +meste av annen jernvare, som verktøy, lamper, ledninger, etc. Jeg +håper de har nok kunder til å holde det gående lenge, da dette er en +butikk jeg kommer til å besøke ofte. Butikken er et funn å ha i +nabolaget for oss som liker å bygge litt selv. :)</p> - First draft Norwegian Bokmål edition of The Debian Administrator's Handbook now public - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/First_draft_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_now_public.html - Tue, 30 Aug 2016 10:10:00 +0200 - <p>In April we -<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_The_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook.html">started -to work</a> on a Norwegian Bokmål edition of the "open access" book on -how to set up and administrate a Debian system. Today I am happy to -report that the first draft is now publicly available. You can find -it on <a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/">get the Debian -Administrator's Handbook page</a> (under Other languages). The first -eight chapters have a first draft translation, and we are working on -proofreading the content. If you want to help out, please start -contributing using -<a href="https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/debian-handbook/">the -hosted weblate project page</a>, and get in touch using -<a href="http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-handbook-translators">the -translators mailing list</a>. Please also check out -<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/contribute/">the instructions for -contributors</a>. A good way to contribute is to proofread the text -and update weblate if you find errors.</p> - -<p>Our goal is still to make the Norwegian book available on paper as well as -electronic form.</p> + Visualizing GSM radio chatter using gr-gsm and Hopglass + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Visualizing_GSM_radio_chatter_using_gr_gsm_and_Hopglass.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Visualizing_GSM_radio_chatter_using_gr_gsm_and_Hopglass.html + Fri, 29 Sep 2017 10:30:00 +0200 + <p>Every mobile phone announce its existence over radio to the nearby +mobile cell towers. And this radio chatter is available for anyone +with a radio receiver capable of receiving them. Details about the +mobile phones with very good accuracy is of course collected by the +phone companies, but this is not the topic of this blog post. The +mobile phone radio chatter make it possible to figure out when a cell +phone is nearby, as it include the SIM card ID (IMSI). By paying +attention over time, one can see when a phone arrive and when it leave +an area. I believe it would be nice to make this information more +available to the general public, to make more people aware of how +their phones are announcing their whereabouts to anyone that care to +listen.</p> + +<p>I am very happy to report that we managed to get something +visualizing this information up and running for +<a href="http://norwaymakers.org/osf17">Oslo Skaperfestival 2017</a> +(Oslo Makers Festival) taking place today and tomorrow at Deichmanske +library. The solution is based on the +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Easier_recipe_to_observe_the_cell_phones_around_you.html">simple +recipe for listening to GSM chatter</a> I posted a few days ago, and +will show up at the stand of <a href="http://sonen.ifi.uio.no/">Åpen +Sone from the Computer Science department of the University of +Oslo</a>. The presentation will show the nearby mobile phones (aka +IMSIs) as dots in a web browser graph, with lines to the dot +representing mobile base station it is talking to. It was working in +the lab yesterday, and was moved into place this morning.</p> + +<p>We set up a fairly powerful desktop machine using Debian +Buster/Testing with several (five, I believe) RTL2838 DVB-T receivers +connected and visualize the visible cell phone towers using an +<a href="https://github.com/marlow925/hopglass">English version of +Hopglass</a>. A fairly powerfull machine is needed as the +grgsm_livemon_headless processes from +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/gr-gsm">gr-gsm</a> converting +the radio signal to data packages is quite CPU intensive.</p> + +<p>The frequencies to listen to, are identified using a slightly +patched scan-and-livemon (to set the --args values for each receiver), +and the Hopglass data is generated using the +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/IMSI-catcher/tree/meshviewer-output">patches +in my meshviewer-output branch</a>. For some reason we could not get +more than four SDRs working. There is also a geographical map trying +to show the location of the base stations, but I believe their +coordinates are hardcoded to some random location in Germany, I +believe. The code should be replaced with code to look up location in +a text file, a sqlite database or one of the online databases +mentioned in +<a href="https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher/issues/14">the github +issue for the topic</a>. + +<p>If this sound interesting, visit the stand at the festival!</p> - Coz can help you find bottlenecks in multi-threaded software - nice free software - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Coz_can_help_you_find_bottlenecks_in_multi_threaded_software___nice_free_software.html - Thu, 11 Aug 2016 12:00:00 +0200 - <p>This summer, I read a great article -"<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login/summer2016/curtsinger">coz: -This Is the Profiler You're Looking For</a>" in USENIX ;login: about -how to profile multi-threaded programs. It presented a system for -profiling software by running experiences in the running program, -testing how run time performance is affected by "speeding up" parts of -the code to various degrees compared to a normal run. It does this by -slowing down parallel threads while the "faster up" code is running -and measure how this affect processing time. The processing time is -measured using probes inserted into the code, either using progress -counters (COZ_PROGRESS) or as latency meters (COZ_BEGIN/COZ_END). It -can also measure unmodified code by measuring complete the program -runtime and running the program several times instead.</p> - -<p>The project and presentation was so inspiring that I would like to -get the system into Debian. I -<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=830708">created -a WNPP request for it</a> and contacted upstream to try to make the -system ready for Debian by sending patches. The build process need to -be changed a bit to avoid running 'git clone' to get dependencies, and -to include the JavaScript web page used to visualize the collected -profiling information included in the source package. -But I expect that should work out fairly soon.</p> - -<p>The way the system work is fairly simple. To run an coz experiment -on a binary with debug symbols available, start the program like this: - -<p><blockquote><pre> -coz run --- program-to-run -</pre></blockquote></p> - -<p>This will create a text file profile.coz with the instrumentation -information. To show what part of the code affect the performance -most, use a web browser and either point it to -<a href="http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/">http://plasma-umass.github.io/coz/</a> -or use the copy from git (in the gh-pages branch). Check out this web -site to have a look at several example profiling runs and get an idea what the end result from the profile runs look like. To make the -profiling more useful you include &lt;coz.h&gt; and insert the -COZ_PROGRESS or COZ_BEGIN and COZ_END at appropriate places in the -code, rebuild and run the profiler. This allow coz to do more -targeted experiments.</p> - -<p>A video published by ACM -<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE0V-p1odPg">presenting the -Coz profiler</a> is available from Youtube. There is also a paper -from the 25th Symposium on Operating Systems Principles available -titled -<a href="https://www.usenix.org/conference/atc16/technical-sessions/presentation/curtsinger">Coz: -finding code that counts with causal profiling</a>.</p> - -<p><a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz">The source code</a> -for Coz is available from github. It will only build with clang -because it uses a -<a href="https://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=55606">C++ -feature missing in GCC</a>, but I've submitted -<a href="https://github.com/plasma-umass/coz/pull/67">a patch to solve -it</a> and hope it will be included in the upstream source soon.</p> - -<p>Please get in touch if you, like me, would like to see this piece -of software in Debian. I would very much like some help with the -packaging effort, as I lack the in depth knowledge on how to package -C++ libraries.</p> + Easier recipe to observe the cell phones around you + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Easier_recipe_to_observe_the_cell_phones_around_you.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Easier_recipe_to_observe_the_cell_phones_around_you.html + Sun, 24 Sep 2017 08:30:00 +0200 + <p>A little more than a month ago I wrote +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html">how +to observe the SIM card ID (aka IMSI number) of mobile phones talking +to nearby mobile phone base stations using Debian GNU/Linux and a +cheap USB software defined radio</a>, and thus being able to pinpoint +the location of people and equipment (like cars and trains) with an +accuracy of a few kilometer. Since then we have worked to make the +procedure even simpler, and it is now possible to do this without any +manual frequency tuning and without building your own packages.</p> + +<p>The <a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/gr-gsm">gr-gsm</a> +package is now included in Debian testing and unstable, and the +IMSI-catcher code no longer require root access to fetch and decode +the GSM data collected using gr-gsm.</p> + +<p>Here is an updated recipe, using packages built by Debian and a git +clone of two python scripts:</p> + +<ol> + +<li>Start with a Debian machine running the Buster version (aka + testing).</li> + +<li>Run '<tt>apt install gr-gsm python-numpy python-scipy + python-scapy</tt>' as root to install required packages.</li> + +<li>Fetch the code decoding GSM packages using '<tt>git clone + github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher.git</tt>'.</li> + +<li>Insert USB software defined radio supported by GNU Radio.</li> + +<li>Enter the IMSI-catcher directory and run '<tt>python + scan-and-livemon</tt>' to locate the frequency of nearby base + stations and start listening for GSM packages on one of them.</li> + +<li>Enter the IMSI-catcher directory and run '<tt>python + simple_IMSI-catcher.py</tt>' to display the collected information.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>Note, due to a bug somewhere the scan-and-livemon program (actually +<a href="https://github.com/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/issues/336">its underlying +program grgsm_scanner</a>) do not work with the HackRF radio. It does +work with RTL 8232 and other similar USB radio receivers you can get +very cheaply +(<a href="https://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=rtl+2832">for example +from ebay</a>), so for now the solution is to scan using the RTL radio +and only use HackRF for fetching GSM data.</p> + +<p>As far as I can tell, a cell phone only show up on one of the +frequencies at the time, so if you are going to track and count every +cell phone around you, you need to listen to all the frequencies used. +To listen to several frequencies, use the --numrecv argument to +scan-and-livemon to use several receivers. Further, I am not sure if +phones using 3G or 4G will show as talking GSM to base stations, so +this approach might not see all phones around you. I typically see +0-400 IMSI numbers an hour when looking around where I live.</p> + +<p>I've tried to run the scanner on a +<a href="https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi">Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 +running Debian Buster</a>, but the grgsm_livemon_headless process seem +to be too CPU intensive to keep up. When GNU Radio print 'O' to +stdout, I am told there it is caused by a buffer overflow between the +radio and GNU Radio, caused by the program being unable to read the +GSM data fast enough. If you see a stream of 'O's from the terminal +where you started scan-and-livemon, you need a give the process more +CPU power. Perhaps someone are able to optimize the code to a point +where it become possible to set up RPi3 based GSM sniffers? I tried +using Raspbian instead of Debian, but there seem to be something wrong +with GNU Radio on raspbian, causing glibc to abort().</p> - Sales number for the Free Culture translation, first half of 2016 - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Sales_number_for_the_Free_Culture_translation__first_half_of_2016.html - Fri, 5 Aug 2016 22:45:00 +0200 - <p>As my regular readers probably remember, the last year I published -a French and Norwegian translation of the classic -<a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/">Free Culture book</a> by the -founder of the Creative Commons movement, Lawrence Lessig. A bit less -known is the fact that due to the way I created the translations, -using docbook and po4a, I also recreated the English original. And -because I already had created a new the PDF edition, I published it -too. The revenue from the books are sent to the Creative Commons -Corporation. In other words, I do not earn any money from this -project, I just earn the warm fuzzy feeling that the text is available -for a wider audience and more people can learn why the Creative -Commons is needed.</p> - -<p>Today, just for fun, I had a look at the sales number over at -Lulu.com, which take care of payment, printing and shipping. Much to -my surprise, the English edition is selling better than both the -French and Norwegian edition, despite the fact that it has been -available in English since it was first published. In total, 24 paper -books was sold for USD $19.99 between 2016-01-01 and 2016-07-31:</p> - -<table border="0"> -<tr><th>Title / language</th><th>Quantity</th></tr> -<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Culture Libre / French</a></td><td align="right">3</td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Fri kultur / Norwegian</a></td><td align="right">7</td></tr> -<tr><td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">Free Culture / English</a></td><td align="right">14</td></tr> -</table> - -<p>The books are available both from Lulu.com and from large book -stores like Amazon and Barnes&Noble. Most revenue, around $10 per -book, is sent to the Creative Commons project when the book is sold -directly by Lulu.com. The other channels give less revenue. The -summary from Lulu tell me 10 books was sold via the Amazon channel, 10 -via Ingram (what is this?) and 4 directly by Lulu. And Lulu.com tells -me that the revenue sent so far this year is USD $101.42. No idea -what kind of sales numbers to expect, so I do not know if that is a -good amount of sales for a 10 year old book or not. But it make me -happy that the buyers find the book, and I hope they enjoy reading it -as much as I did.</p> - -<p>The ebook edition is available for free from -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Github</a>.</p> - -<p>If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native -language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in -touch.</p> + Datalagringsdirektivet kaster skygger over Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Datalagringsdirektivet_kaster_skygger_over_H_yre_og_Arbeiderpartiet.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Datalagringsdirektivet_kaster_skygger_over_H_yre_og_Arbeiderpartiet.html + Thu, 7 Sep 2017 21:35:00 +0200 + <p>For noen dager siden publiserte Jon Wessel-Aas en bloggpost om +«<a href="http://www.uhuru.biz/?p=1821">Konklusjonen om datalagring som +EU-kommisjonen ikke ville at vi skulle få se</a>». Det er en +interessant gjennomgang av EU-domstolens syn på snurpenotovervåkning +av befolkningen, som er klar på at det er i strid med +EU-lovgivingen.</p> + +<p>Valgkampen går for fullt i Norge, og om noen få dager er siste +frist for å avgi stemme. En ting er sikkert, Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet +får ikke min stemme +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Datalagringsdirektivet_gj_r_at_Oslo_H_yre_og_Arbeiderparti_ikke_f_r_min_stemme_i__r.html">denne +gangen heller</a>. Jeg har ikke glemt at de tvang igjennom loven som +skulle pålegge alle data- og teletjenesteleverandører å overvåke alle +sine kunder. En lov som er vedtatt, og aldri opphevet igjen.</p> + +<p>Det er tydelig fra diskusjonen rundt grenseløs digital overvåkning +(eller "Digital Grenseforsvar" som det kalles i Orvellisk nytale) at +hverken Høyre og Arbeiderpartiet har noen prinsipielle sperrer mot å +overvåke hele befolkningen, og diskusjonen så langt tyder på at flere +av de andre partiene heller ikke har det. Mange av +<a href="https://data.holderdeord.no/votes/1301946411e">de som stemte +for Datalagringsdirektivet i Stortinget</a> (64 fra Arbeiderpartiet, +25 fra Høyre) er fortsatt aktive og argumenterer fortsatt for å radere +vekk mer av innbyggernes privatsfære.</p> + +<p>Når myndighetene demonstrerer sin mistillit til folket, tror jeg +folket selv bør legge litt innsats i å verne sitt privatliv, ved å ta +i bruk ende-til-ende-kryptert kommunikasjon med sine kjente og kjære, +og begrense hvor mye privat informasjon som deles med uvedkommende. +Det er jo ingenting som tyder på at myndighetene kommer til å være vår +privatsfære. +<a href="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/How_to_talk_with_your_loved_ones_in_private.html">Det +er mange muligheter</a>. Selv har jeg litt sans for +<a href="https://ring.cx/">Ring</a>, som er basert på p2p-teknologi +uten sentral kontroll, er fri programvare, og støtter meldinger, tale +og video. Systemet er tilgjengelig ut av boksen fra +<a href="https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/ring">Debian</a> og +<a href="https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ring">Ubuntu</a>, og det +finnes pakker for Android, MacOSX og Windows. Foreløpig er det få +brukere med Ring, slik at jeg også bruker +<a href="https://signal.org/">Signal</a> som nettleserutvidelse.</p> - Vitenskapen tar som vanlig feil igjen - relativt feil - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Vitenskapen_tar_som_vanlig_feil_igjen___relativt_feil.html - Mon, 1 Aug 2016 16:00:00 +0200 - <p>For mange år siden leste jeg en klassisk tekst som gjorde såpass -inntrykk på meg at jeg husker den fortsatt, flere år senere, og bruker -argumentene fra den stadig vekk. Teksten var «The Relativity of -Wrong» som Isaac Asimov publiserte i Skeptical Inquirer i 1989. Den -gir litt perspektiv rundt formidlingen av vitenskapelige resultater. -Jeg har hatt lyst til å kunne dele den også med folk som ikke -behersker engelsk så godt, som barn og noen av mine eldre slektninger, -og har savnet å ha den tilgjengelig på norsk. For to uker siden tok -jeg meg sammen og kontaktet Asbjørn Dyrendal i foreningen Skepsis om -de var interessert i å publisere en norsk utgave på bloggen sin, og da -han var positiv tok jeg kontakt med Skeptical Inquirer og spurte om -det var greit for dem. I løpet av noen dager fikk vi tilbakemelding -fra Barry Karr hos The Skeptical Inquirer som hadde sjekket og fått OK -fra Robyn Asimov som representerte arvingene i Asmiov-familien og gikk -igang med oversettingen.</p> - -<p>Resultatet, <a href="http://www.skepsis.no/?p=1617">«Relativt -feil»</a>, ble publisert på skepsis-bloggen for noen minutter siden. -Jeg anbefaler deg på det varmeste å lese denne teksten og dele den med -dine venner.</p> - -<p>For å håndtere oversettelsen og sikre at original og oversettelse -var i sync brukte vi git, po4a, GNU make og Transifex. Det hele -fungerte utmerket og gjorde det enkelt å dele tekstene og jobbe sammen -om finpuss på formuleringene. Hadde hosted.weblate.org latt meg -opprette nye prosjekter selv i stedet for å måtte kontakte -administratoren der, så hadde jeg brukt weblate i stedet.</p> + Simpler recipe on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher using Debian + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Simpler_recipe_on_how_to_make_a_simple__7_IMSI_Catcher_using_Debian.html + Wed, 9 Aug 2017 23:59:00 +0200 + <p>On friday, I came across an interesting article in the Norwegian +web based ICT news magazine digi.no on +<a href="https://www.digi.no/artikler/sikkerhetsforsker-lagde-enkel-imsi-catcher-for-60-kroner-na-kan-mobiler-kartlegges-av-alle/398588">how +to collect the IMSI numbers of nearby cell phones</a> using the cheap +DVB-T software defined radios. The article refered to instructions +and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjwgNd_as30">a recipe by +Keld Norman on Youtube on how to make a simple $7 IMSI Catcher</a>, and I decided to test them out.</p> + +<p>The instructions said to use Ubuntu, install pip using apt (to +bypass apt), use pip to install pybombs (to bypass both apt and pip), +and the ask pybombs to fetch and build everything you need from +scratch. I wanted to see if I could do the same on the most recent +Debian packages, but this did not work because pybombs tried to build +stuff that no longer build with the most recent openssl library or +some other version skew problem. While trying to get this recipe +working, I learned that the apt->pip->pybombs route was a long detour, +and the only piece of software dependency missing in Debian was the +gr-gsm package. I also found out that the lead upstream developer of +gr-gsm (the name stand for GNU Radio GSM) project already had a set of +Debian packages provided in an Ubuntu PPA repository. All I needed to +do was to dget the Debian source package and built it.</p> + +<p>The IMSI collector is a python script listening for packages on the +loopback network device and printing to the terminal some specific GSM +packages with IMSI numbers in them. The code is fairly short and easy +to understand. The reason this work is because gr-gsm include a tool +to read GSM data from a software defined radio like a DVB-T USB stick +and other software defined radios, decode them and inject them into a +network device on your Linux machine (using the loopback device by +default). This proved to work just fine, and I've been testing the +collector for a few days now.</p> + +<p>The updated and simpler recipe is thus to</p> + +<ol> + +<li>start with a Debian machine running Stretch or newer,</li> + +<li>build and install the gr-gsm package available from +<a href="http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/">http://ppa.launchpad.net/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/ubuntu/pool/main/g/gr-gsm/</a>,</li> + +<li>clone the git repostory from <a href="https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher">https://github.com/Oros42/IMSI-catcher</a>,</li> + +<li>run grgsm_livemon and adjust the frequency until the terminal +where it was started is filled with a stream of text (meaning you +found a GSM station).</li> + +<li>go into the IMSI-catcher directory and run 'sudo python simple_IMSI-catcher.py' to extract the IMSI numbers.</li> + +</ol> + +<p>To make it even easier in the future to get this sniffer up and +running, I decided to package +<a href="https://github.com/ptrkrysik/gr-gsm/">the gr-gsm project</a> +for Debian (<a href="https://bugs.debian.org/871055">WNPP +#871055</a>), and the package was uploaded into the NEW queue today. +Luckily the gnuradio maintainer has promised to help me, as I do not +know much about gnuradio stuff yet.</p> + +<p>I doubt this "IMSI cacher" is anywhere near as powerfull as +commercial tools like +<a href="https://www.thespyphone.com/portable-imsi-imei-catcher/">The +Spy Phone Portable IMSI / IMEI Catcher</a> or the +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker">Harris +Stingray</a>, but I hope the existance of cheap alternatives can make +more people realise how their whereabouts when carrying a cell phone +is easily tracked. Seeing the data flow on the screen, realizing that +I live close to a police station and knowing that the police is also +wearing cell phones, I wonder how hard it would be for criminals to +track the position of the police officers to discover when there are +police near by, or for foreign military forces to track the location +of the Norwegian military forces, or for anyone to track the location +of government officials...</p> + +<p>It is worth noting that the data reported by the IMSI-catcher +script mentioned above is only a fraction of the data broadcasted on +the GSM network. It will only collect one frequency at the time, +while a typical phone will be using several frequencies, and not all +phones will be using the frequencies tracked by the grgsm_livemod +program. Also, there is a lot of radio chatter being ignored by the +simple_IMSI-catcher script, which would be collected by extending the +parser code. I wonder if gr-gsm can be set up to listen to more than +one frequency?</p> - Techno TV broadcasting live across Norway and the Internet (#debconf16, #nuug) on @frikanalen - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Techno_TV_broadcasting_live_across_Norway_and_the_Internet___debconf16___nuug__on__frikanalen.html - Mon, 1 Aug 2016 10:30:00 +0200 - <p>Did you know there is a TV channel broadcasting talks from DebConf -16 across an entire country? Or that there is a TV channel -broadcasting talks by or about -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625529/">Linus Torvalds</a>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625599/">Tor</a>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/624019/">OpenID</A>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625624/">Common Lisp</a>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625446/">Civic Tech</a>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625090/">EFF founder John Barlow</a>, -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/video/625432/">how to make 3D -printer electronics</a> and many more fascinating topics? It works -using only free software (all of it -<a href="http://github.com/Frikanalen">available from Github</a>), and -is administrated using a web browser and a web API.</p> - -<p>The TV channel is the Norwegian open channel -<a href="http://www.frikanalen.no/">Frikanalen</a>, and I am involved -via <a href="https://www.nuug.no/">the NUUG member association</a> in -running and developing the software for the channel. The channel is -organised as a member organisation where its members can upload and -broadcast what they want (think of it as Youtube for national -broadcasting television). Individuals can broadcast too. The time -slots are handled on a first come, first serve basis. Because the -channel have almost no viewers and very few active members, we can -experiment with TV technology without too much flack when we make -mistakes. And thanks to the few active members, most of the slots on -the schedule are free. I see this as an opportunity to spread -knowledge about technology and free software, and have a script I run -regularly to fill up all the open slots the next few days with -technology related video. The end result is a channel I like to -describe as Techno TV - filled with interesting talks and -presentations.</p> - -<p>It is available on channel 50 on the Norwegian national digital TV -network (RiksTV). It is also available as a multicast stream on -Uninett. And finally, it is available as -<a href="http://beta.frikanalen.no/">a WebM unicast stream</a> from -Frikanalen and NUUG. Check it out. :)</p> + Norwegian Bokmål edition of Debian Administrator's Handbook is now available + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_is_now_available.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Norwegian_Bokm_l_edition_of_Debian_Administrator_s_Handbook_is_now_available.html + Tue, 25 Jul 2017 21:10:00 +0200 + <p align="center"><img align="center" src="http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/images/2017-07-25-debian-handbook-nb-testprint.png"/></p> + +<p>I finally received a copy of the Norwegian Bokmål edition of +"<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/">The Debian Administrator's +Handbook</a>". This test copy arrived in the mail a few days ago, and +I am very happy to hold the result in my hand. We spent around one and a half year translating it. This paperbook edition +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/get/#norwegian">is available +from lulu.com</a>. If you buy it quickly, you save 25% on the list +price. The book is also available for download in electronic form as +PDF, EPUB and Mobipocket, as can be +<a href="https://debian-handbook.info/browse/nb-NO/stable/">read online +as a web page</a>.</p> + +<p>This is the second book I publish (the first was the book +"<a href="http://free-culture.cc/">Free Culture</a>" by Lawrence Lessig +in +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">English</a>, +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">French</a> +and +<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Norwegian +Bokmål</a>), and I am very excited to finally wrap up this +project. I hope +"<a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/rapha%C3%ABl-hertzog-and-roland-mas/h%C3%A5ndbok-for-debian-administratoren/paperback/product-23262290.html">Håndbok +for Debian-administratoren</a>" will be well received.</p> - 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> - -<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> - -<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> + «Rapporten ser ikke på informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig integritet» + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Rapporten_ser_ikke_p__informasjonssikkerhet_knyttet_til_personlig_integritet_.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/_Rapporten_ser_ikke_p__informasjonssikkerhet_knyttet_til_personlig_integritet_.html + Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:50:00 +0200 + <p>Jeg kom over teksten +«<a href="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/06/21/killing-car-privacy-by-federal-mandate/">Killing +car privacy by federal mandate</a>» av Leonid Reyzin på Freedom to +Tinker i dag, og det gleder meg å se en god gjennomgang om hvorfor det +er et urimelig inngrep i privatsfæren å la alle biler kringkaste sin +posisjon og bevegelse via radio. Det omtalte forslaget basert på +Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) kalles Basic Safety Message +(BSM) i USA og Cooperative Awareness Message (CAM) i Europa, og det +norske Vegvesenet er en av de som ser ut til å kunne tenke seg å +pålegge alle biler å fjerne nok en bit av innbyggernes privatsfære. +Anbefaler alle å lese det som står der. + +<p>Mens jeg tittet litt på DSRC på biler i Norge kom jeg over et sitat +jeg synes er illustrativt for hvordan det offentlige Norge håndterer +problemstillinger rundt innbyggernes privatsfære i SINTEF-rapporten +«<a href="https://www.sintef.no/publikasjoner/publikasjon/Download/?pubid=SINTEF+A23933">Informasjonssikkerhet +i AutoPASS-brikker</a>» av Trond Foss:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +«Rapporten ser ikke på informasjonssikkerhet knyttet til personlig + integritet.» +</blockquote></p> + +<p>Så enkelt kan det tydeligvis gjøres når en vurderer +informasjonssikkerheten. Det holder vel at folkene på toppen kan si +at «Personvernet er ivaretatt», som jo er den populære intetsigende +frasen som gjør at mange tror enkeltindividers integritet tas vare på. +Sitatet fikk meg til å undres på hvor ofte samme tilnærming, å bare se +bort fra behovet for personlig itegritet, blir valgt når en velger å +legge til rette for nok et inngrep i privatsfæren til personer i +Norge. Det er jo sjelden det får reaksjoner. Historien om +reaksjonene på Helse Sør-Østs tjenesteutsetting er jo sørgelig nok et +unntak og toppen av isfjellet, desverre. Tror jeg fortsatt takker nei +til både AutoPASS og holder meg så langt unna det norske helsevesenet +som jeg kan, inntil de har demonstrert og dokumentert at de verdsetter +individets privatsfære og personlige integritet høyere enn kortsiktig +gevist og samfunnsnytte.</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 - -<pre> -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> -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 @@ - }); - }); - -- var SERVER_URL = 'https://textsecure-service-staging.whispersystems.org'; -- 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 -@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ - ;(function() { - 'use strict'; -- var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 0; -+ var BUILD_EXPIRATION = 1474492690000; - - window.extension = window.extension || {}; - -EOF -</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> + Updated sales number for my Free Culture paper editions + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Updated_sales_number_for_my_Free_Culture_paper_editions.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Updated_sales_number_for_my_Free_Culture_paper_editions.html + Mon, 12 Jun 2017 11:40:00 +0200 + <p>It is pleasing to see that the work we put down in publishing new +editions of the classic <a href="http://www.free-culture.cc/">Free +Culture book</a> by the founder of the Creative Commons movement, +Lawrence Lessig, is still being appreciated. I had a look at the +latest sales numbers for the paper edition today. Not too impressive, +but happy to see some buyers still exist. All the revenue from the +books is sent to the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/">Creative +Commons Corporation</a>, and they receive the largest cut if you buy +directly from Lulu. Most books are sold via Amazon, with Ingram +second and only a small fraction directly from Lulu. The ebook +edition is available for free from +<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig">Github</a>.</p> + +<table border="0"> +<tr><th rowspan="2" valign="bottom">Title / language</th><th colspan="3">Quantity</th></tr> +<tr><th>2016 jan-jun</th><th>2016 jul-dec</th><th>2017 jan-may</th></tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/culture-libre/paperback/product-22645082.html">Culture Libre / French</a></td> + <td align="right">3</td> + <td align="right">6</td> + <td align="right">15</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/fri-kultur/paperback/product-22441576.html">Fri kultur / Norwegian</a></td> + <td align="right">7</td> + <td align="right">1</td> + <td align="right">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td><a href="http://www.lulu.com/shop/lawrence-lessig/free-culture/paperback/product-22440520.html">Free Culture / English</a></td> + <td align="right">14</td> + <td align="right">27</td> + <td align="right">16</td> +</tr> + +<tr> + <td>Total</td> + <td align="right">24</td> + <td align="right">34</td> + <td align="right">31</td> +</tr> + +</table> + +<p>A bit sad to see the low sales number on the Norwegian edition, and +a bit surprising the English edition still selling so well.</p> + +<p>If you would like to translate and publish the book in your native +language, I would be happy to help make it happen. Please get in +touch.</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> + Release 0.1.1 of free software archive system Nikita announced + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Release_0_1_1_of_free_software_archive_system_Nikita_announced.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Release_0_1_1_of_free_software_archive_system_Nikita_announced.html + Sat, 10 Jun 2017 00:40:00 +0200 + <p>I am very happy to report that the +<a href="https://github.com/hiOA-ABI/nikita-noark5-core">Nikita Noark 5 +core project</a> tagged its second release today. The free software +solution is an implementation of the Norwegian archive standard Noark +5 used by government offices in Norway. These were the changes in +version 0.1.1 since version 0.1.0 (from NEWS.md): + +<ul> + + <li>Continued work on the angularjs GUI, including document upload.</li> + <li>Implemented correspondencepartPerson, correspondencepartUnit and + correspondencepartInternal</li> + <li>Applied for coverity coverage and started submitting code on + regualr basis.</li> + <li>Started fixing bugs reported by coverity</li> + <li>Corrected and completed HATEOAS links to make sure entire API is + available via URLs in _links.</li> + <li>Corrected all relation URLs to use trailing slash.</li> + <li>Add initial support for storing data in ElasticSearch.</li> + <li>Now able to receive and store uploaded files in the archive.</li> + <li>Changed JSON output for object lists to have relations in _links.</li> + <li>Improve JSON output for empty object lists.</li> + <li>Now uses correct MIME type application/vnd.noark5-v4+json.</li> + <li>Added support for docker container images.</li> + <li>Added simple API browser implemented in JavaScript/Angular.</li> + <li>Started on archive client implemented in JavaScript/Angular.</li> + <li>Started on prototype to show the public mail journal.</li> + <li>Improved performance by disabling Sprint FileWatcher.</li> + <li>Added support for 'arkivskaper', 'saksmappe' and 'journalpost'.</li> + <li>Added support for some metadata codelists.</li> + <li>Added support for Cross-origin resource sharing (CORS).</li> + <li>Changed login method from Basic Auth to JSON Web Token (RFC 7519) + style.</li> + <li>Added support for GET-ing ny-* URLs.</li> + <li>Added support for modifying entities using PUT and eTag.</li> + <li>Added support for returning XML output on request.</li> + <li>Removed support for English field and class names, limiting ourself + to the official names.</li> + <li>...</li> + +</ul> + +<p>If this sound interesting to you, please contact us on IRC (#nikita +on irc.freenode.net) or email +(<a href="https://lists.nuug.no/mailman/listinfo/nikita-noark">nikita-noark +mailing list).</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> + Idea for storing trusted timestamps in a Noark 5 archive + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_trusted_timestamps_in_a_Noark_5_archive.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Idea_for_storing_trusted_timestamps_in_a_Noark_5_archive.html + Wed, 7 Jun 2017 21:40:00 +0200 + <p><em>This is a copy of +<a href="https://lists.nuug.no/pipermail/nikita-noark/2017-June/000297.html">an +email I posted to the nikita-noark mailing list</a>. Please follow up +there if you would like to discuss this topic. The background is that +we are making a free software archive system based on the Norwegian +<a href="https://www.arkivverket.no/forvaltning-og-utvikling/regelverk-og-standarder/noark-standarden">Noark +5 standard</a> for government archives.</em></p> + +<p>I've been wondering a bit lately how trusted timestamps could be +stored in Noark 5. +<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trusted_timestamping">Trusted +timestamps</a> can be used to verify that some information +(document/file/checksum/metadata) have not been changed since a +specific time in the past. This is useful to verify the integrity of +the documents in the archive.</p> + +<p>Then it occured to me, perhaps the trusted timestamps could be +stored as dokument variants (ie dokumentobjekt referered to from +dokumentbeskrivelse) with the filename set to the hash it is +stamping?</p> + +<p>Given a "dokumentbeskrivelse" with an associated "dokumentobjekt", +a new dokumentobjekt is associated with "dokumentbeskrivelse" with the +same attributes as the stamped dokumentobjekt except these +attributes:</p> + +<ul> + +<li>format -> "RFC3161" +<li>mimeType -> "application/timestamp-reply" +<li>formatDetaljer -> "&lt;source URL for timestamp service&gt;" +<li>filenavn -> "&lt;sjekksum&gt;.tsr" + +</ul> + +<p>This assume a service following +<a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3161">IETF RFC 3161</a> is +used, which specifiy the given MIME type for replies and the .tsr file +ending for the content of such trusted timestamp. As far as I can +tell from the Noark 5 specifications, it is OK to have several +variants/renderings of a dokument attached to a given +dokumentbeskrivelse objekt. It might be stretching it a bit to make +some of these variants represent crypto-signatures useful for +verifying the document integrity instead of representing the dokument +itself.</p> + +<p>Using the source of the service in formatDetaljer allow several +timestamping services to be used. This is useful to spread the risk +of key compromise over several organisations. It would only be a +problem to trust the timestamps if all of the organisations are +compromised.</p> + +<p>The following oneliner on Linux can be used to generate the tsr +file. $input is the path to the file to checksum, and $sha256 is the +SHA-256 checksum of the file (ie the "<sjekksum>.tsr" value mentioned +above).</p> <p><blockquote><pre> -&lt;?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?&gt; -&lt;mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info"&gt; - &lt;mime-type type="audio/x-rosegarden"&gt; - &lt;sub-class-of type="application/x-gzip"/&gt; - &lt;comment&gt;Rosegarden project file&lt;/comment&gt; - &lt;glob pattern="*.rg"/&gt; - &lt;/mime-type&gt; -&lt;/mime-info&gt; +openssl ts -query -data "$inputfile" -cert -sha256 -no_nonce \ + | curl -s -H "Content-Type: application/timestamp-query" \ + --data-binary "@-" http://zeitstempel.dfn.de > $sha256.tsr </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>To verify the timestamp, you first need to download the public key +of the trusted timestamp service, for example using this command:</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 -% +wget -O ca-cert.txt \ + https://pki.pca.dfn.de/global-services-ca/pub/cacert/chain.txt </pre></blockquote></p> -<p>The fix was to add "audio/x-rosegarden;" at the end of the -MimeType= line.</p> +<p>Note, the public key should be stored alongside the timestamps in +the archive to make sure it is also available 100 years from now. It +is probably a good idea to standardise how and were to store such +public keys, to make it easier to find for those trying to verify +documents 100 or 1000 years from now. :)</p> + +<p>The verification itself is a simple openssl command:</p> + +<p><blockquote><pre> +openssl ts -verify -data $inputfile -in $sha256.tsr \ + -CAfile ca-cert.txt -text +</pre></blockquote></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> +<p>Is there any reason this approach would not work? Is it somehow against +the Noark 5 specification?</p>