NSA
gregladen | July 7, 2014When I first became a regular user of Linux, several years ago, I tried out different text editors and quickly discovered that emacs was my best choice. By coincidence, about that time I ran into an old emacs manual written by Richard Stallman in the dollar section of a used booksore. In that edition, near the end of the book, was a section on “Mail Amusements.” This documented the command “M-x spook” which adds “a line of randomly chosen keywords to an outgoing mail message. The keywords are chosen from a list of words that suggest you are discussing something subversive.” (I note that the…
gregladen | March 21, 2014Aside from its tragic nature and its apparent media value as a mystery greater than who will be the Next American Idol, the apparent disappearance of flight 370 has another meaning, I think, that has been entirely missed as far as I can tell.
The other day I was having a conversation with some colleagues, which led to someone quoting Stallman, which in turn led to noting that Stallman refuses to use a smart phone (or any cell phone, perhaps, can't remember) because of the danger of being constantly tracked by the authorities. I note that my "smart phone" is dumb as a brick. Whenever I need…
gregladen | August 14, 2013Or, at least, I'm surprised that this earlier implemented solution has not been mentioned in all the discussion about NSA spying.
Richard Stallman invented an approach to obviating the NSA's attempts to spy on email. He included it in emacs, the world's greatest text editor. Here how it works, from the manual. The "M" is the "alt" key (for all practical purposes) and "M-x followed by a word implements the command attached to that word.
32.6 Mail Amusements
M-x spook adds a line of randomly chosen keywords to an outgoing mail message. The keywords are chosen from a list of words that…
catdynamics | July 18, 2013Ok, straight from cosmology to cybersecurity: the Aspen Institute is running an "Aspen Security Forum" with several days of events.
Tonight General Keith Alexander, head of the NSA is doing a forum with NBC's Pete Williams.
I got a ticket and got here early, as the heavens opened up and the lightning flashed. Despite the weather a lot of people are trickling in.
The Homeland Security folks are discretely tucked away behind the pavilion under the trees - seem to be trying to stay out of the rain.
Don't expect much news stuff, more here for curiousity and to hear the tone.
Aspen Institute…
