Sensitive

Do not use wireless networks that allow you to connect without requiring a pass code.  You may be tempted to use that open network when you don’t have other options, but if you do, you now run the risk of your Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Flickr (and more) accounts being hijacked.  Three days ago, a freelance software developer named Eric Butler released a Firefox add-on named Firesheep1.  Firesheep2 allows anyone connected to the same open network as you to eavesdrop on your browsing sessions with the above websites and to play like they are you—all at the double-click of a mouse button.  Butler claims this is possible because websites have ignored the responsibility to protect their users adequately.  “They've been ignoring this responsibility for too long, and it's time for everyone to demand a more secure web. My hope is that Firesheep will help the users win.”  Firesheep is raising awareness, but I doubt we’ll see any “users win” anytime soon.  So, when you are about to connect to an unsecure network and Windows tells you that information sent over this network might be visible to others, it’s really not joking.

1 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2371465,00.asp
2 http://codebutler.com/firesheep

Great Great, Thrice Removed

“Put your contact information on this sheet if you are interested in the upcoming family history course” the woman at the front of the classroom said.  When the paper got around to me I wrote my name and email address on it without hesitation.  I felt that finally a motivator to help me learn about my ancestors arrived.  Among other reasons, helping FamilySearch (a genealogy website) digitize census records made me want to find out more about my ancestors.   Once, when I asked my uncle and grandma how much is known about our family and how far back, they told a few stories and gave a vague sense that everything is researched already—apparently all the way back to Adam.  My uncle was nice enough to give me a Personal Ancestral File documenting the family tree on my father’s side, but that doesn’t mean I can automatically translate those names to lives and photographs.  So with the opportunity to take a course, I figure now is as good a time as any to start down my own path of genealogical research.  Who knows what I will discover, but it’s bound to be illuminating.

Orange Hat

1,269 search results.  That’s how many books Amazon.com stocks on the topic of hacking.  It is strange to think that twenty years ago, when The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage was published, very few people thought about computer security, let alone published stories or books on it.  Computer networks were built around mutual “trust” and “ethical behavior.”  Naiveté ruled the day.  Times sure have changed.  Scan headlines today and you’ll find plenty of people using their computers unethically.  One can’t even imagine the world without virus scanners, firewalls, and regular security updates.  Hacking is now the trendiest hobby since the pet rock—amusing to some, but silly to the rest.  Wouldn’t it be nice if hacking went away, just like that ridiculous rock?  Unfortunately that’s about as easy as getting criminals to stop committing crimes.  Until we figure that one out I’ll continue to install those pesky security updates that protect me from the hacker at the next computer over.

Girls are different from Boys

“How did you feel the first time you pwned a n00b?” my group member asked his cousin.  We were about to start interviewing students on camera for a group project on gaming addiction, so we were excited to have a dry run of our questions on a girl from the Computer Science department.  We continued to press her by displaying a printout of several video game characters.  “Can you name these characters?” we asked her.  She had no idea.  This was a surprise to me because I thought gaming was a hobby everyone in the CS department shared.  Later, when I expressed my amazement to the same group member, he replied “Yeah man, she’s a girl.”  I guess gender still matters when it comes to gaming, even within the CS department.

Oh, and it felt awesome the first time I pwned a n00b.

Building

Last summer I declined an internship to work for the LDS Church in their Technology department.  I am a member of the Church and am studying a technical subject in school, so you would think that I would jump at the opportunity.  Nevertheless, I felt to work for a different employer in New York City—an experience very opposite to the promise of a quiet summer in Utah.  While I was surprised and even a little hesitant toward my decision, I am now realizing that there are ways to build the Kingdom outside of direct employment by the Church.  I think about the myriad technologies that the Church uses to spread the gospel, and the fact that they were mostly not invented at Church HQ.  Someone has to invent them though—perhaps that will be me.  Or perhaps my services will be better utilized elsewhere for a different reason.  There is no way to tell now and only heeding future promptings will guarantee me to choose aright.