WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net, technology and science news
by Alan Lenton
Winding Down is a bit more heavy duty this week. We start with a look at the Catalan referendum and the implications for the internet, then consider the Deloitte hack, we move a little closer to home with a couple of warnings, one about websites using your computer for Bitcoin mining, and another about problems with the latest macOS update. That’s followed by Microsoft and quantum computing, not to mention special copies of the boss’s new book for Microsoft employees. Pictures has some amusing .gif pictures, an ‘Extra’ section has information on a job fair, and I hope you like the quote in ‘Coda’. For the more avid WD reader the ‘Scanner’ section has URLs pointing to material on the Larsen Ice Shelf split, Equifax, cloud encryption, an airline check-in software crash, and finally two URLs on Uber’s (much deserved) trials and tribulations.
Just a little light reading over your Sunday breakfast table...
Analysis: The Internet and the Catalan referendum
The internet has become part of the political dispute between the Spanish government and the Catalan area. Basically, the Catalan regional parliament voted for a referendum on independence, which the national government declared illegal, arresting Catalan leaders and closing down offices. Needless to say, the internet became an important communications link for the Catalans.
The national government recognised this, and rapidly started to pressure ISPs to close down pro-Catalan websites. When this proved to be difficult they raided the offices of the Catalan .cat registry operator, PuntoCat, arrested some of the staff and seized all the computers. Of course, there are ways around it and the domain is currently being redirected to assemblea.eu, which is outside the national government’s authority.
Ironically, there is no certainty that a referendum would produce a majority for independence, polls indicate a fairly even split (perhaps similar to the UK’s recent Scottish referendum). However, there is a very clear majority in favour of having a referendum, a majority that has probably been increased by the national government’s heavy handed actions.
The government hasn’t by any means been able to ‘shut off’ the internet in Catalonia but it has made it a lot more difficult to access Catalan information. Other governments are watching this much more closely than you might imagine, and each time something like this happens, they move a step closer to ensuring they can close down access for their own citizens. If you think this is unlikely, you should read Tim Wu’s fascinating book ‘The Master Switch’ (my review of it here: http://www.ibgames.net/alan/morereading.html#themasterswitch).
Even if the Catalans voted to break away, such a Catalan state would not be recognised by any other state, because all have their own similar, if not so acute, problems. For instance, the UK with Scotland and Northern Ireland, France and Brittany, Belgium and Flanders, China with Tibet and with the Uyghurs, and the Kurds in Turkey and Iraq. Of course, the Catalans aren’t the only fractious group in Spain – Basque separatists spent most of the second half of the 20th Century fighting a guerrilla war against the Spanish national government!
I have no idea what the end result of the conflict in Spain is likely to be, though I feel pretty confident in predicting it won’t just go away. However, I suspect that one result is that most governments will be looking for more efficient ways to control the internet, and will be looking to China for the sort of techniques they want.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/27/spain_expands_dns_blocking_over_catalan_independence_vote/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/27/brazil_dot_amazon_gtld [A classic dispute between a government and the Internet’s Overseer, ICANN -AL]
Shorts:
I see that Deloitte, one of the ‘big four’ accounting firms, had its (lack of ) security breached recently. This attack seems to mostly affect blue chip companies that were its customers. Whether they will remain its customers for much longer is a matter for debate. Obviously, hacking is no laughing matter, but I must admit I snurfed my first coffee of the morning when I looked at security researcher Marcus Ranum’s take on recent security breaches. It is a form for reporting the comments of ‘security experts’. Read it carefully – I think you will, like me, find it funny, as well as poking fun at the experts and the companies involved.
http://www.ranum.com/security/computer_security/editorials/generator/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/25/deloitte-hit-by-cyber-attack-revealing-clients-secret-emails
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/26/deloitte_leak_github_and_google/
https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/breach-at-deloitte-exposes-emails-client-data/d/d-id/1329973
Homework:
OK. Here are a couple of things that you need to be aware/beware of.
The first is that a few (so far) websites are trying alternative methods of making cash to support themselves, since advertising doesn’t support them (or anyone else, if the truth be known). What they are doing is using your computer to do Bitcoin mining. This has two effects, it uses up your computer resources, slowing everything else down, and it jacks up your electricity bill. The website gets the rewards the work generates. Currently, only Pirate Bay and video streaming service Showtime have been spotted using it, but I don’t doubt that others will follow in the footsteps.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/27/pirate-bay-showtime-ads-websites-electricity-pay-bills-cryptocurrency-bitcoin
The second is a warning for Mac owners. There appear to be some serious flaws in the latest version of the macOS – aka High Sierra. Apparently, among other things peripherals can stop working, for instance Wacom Tablets. I’m not a Mac person, so I can’t really comment, but if you use a Mac regularly, I’d suggest you read the URL to get a more accurate picture of what’s involved before committing to the upgrade.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/26/so_should_i_upgrade_to_macos_high_sierra/
Geek Stuff:
Quantum computing is slowly starting to move mainstream, even though there are no commercial quantum computers yet. However, Microsoft’s latest announcement may well be of interest to budding quantum programmers. It seems that later on this year there will be a new quantum computing language available , and specifically, it will be built into Visual Studio.
Since there are no quantum computers available yet, you have to run the quantum programs you write on a simulator. If idea is that you can start learning quantum programming now, you will be ready for it in the future – using a Microsoft proprietary language of course. If I wanted to be ultra-cynical, I would suggest that this is an attempt by Microsoft to lock up a future field of computing using a language that it owns.
However, I have to confess that I am intrigued, and sorely tempted now that the community version of Visual Studio is free (as in free beer) and very usable. I await their offering with interest...
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/98/11169.html
Commiserations to any of my readers who work for Microsoft. You are all about to get a special annotated version of the boss’s new book ‘Hit Refresh’. I’m sure you’ll enjoy having an edition with annotations, marking, and highlights that make sure you don’t miss the bits he considers
important. Clearly he considers the staff too dumb to work it out for themselves... Ick!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/28/microsoft_gives_all_staff_marked_up_
employee_edition_of_satya_nadellas_new_book/
Pictures:
I thought readers might like a little amusement in this section for a change, so I thought I would direct you to some rather nifty .gif animations by Japanese film maker and animator Atusuki Segawa. He has taken a number of classic Japanese woodblock prints, and added a few modern animations. Very clever and amusing.
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2017/08/14/ukiyo-e-come-to-life-in-new-animated-gifs-by-atsuki-segawa/
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2015/08/17/classical-ukiyo-e-come-to-life-in-animated-gifs/ [These are some earlier ones I mentioned two years ago -AL]
Extra:
This next bit is unusual for Winding Down, but I felt that there are enough people who read Winding Down who might be interested that I made an exception on this occasion!
The US government is having a hiring fair in November, where they are primarily interested in cybersecurity but they’re open to folks with technological backgrounds too. Rather uniquely, they’ll be doing on-the-spot conditional job offers (if you know anything about the government, you know that’s incredible!). If you or anyone you know might be interested, please pass this info along.
Note – You do have to be there in person in Silver Spring, Maryland though.
https://www.cio.gov/hiringevent/
Coda:
This week’s quote is one I use as my e-mail sig: “The thing about quotes you find on the Internet is that you can never be certain of their validity...” – Abraham Lincoln
Scanner:
Massive iceberg’s split exposes hidden ecosystem
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/massive-icebergs-split-exposes-hidden-ecosystem1/
Equifax CEO falls on his sword weeks after credit biz admits mega-breach
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/26/equifax_ceo_resigns/ [Note that shares have dropped over quarter since the hack was announced – AL]
Companies push to for cloud encryption
https://www.darkreading.com/cloud/companies-push-to-decode-cloud-encryption/d/d-id/1330000
Major check-in software crash round the world
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/28/worldwide-airport-chaos-check-in-computer-systems-crash/
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/passengers-face-chaos-after-airport-checkin-systems-crash-across-globe-a3645816.html
http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/28/news/airport-outages-global-airlines/index.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/28/amadeus_booking_software_outages_
lead_to_global_delayed_flights/
Uber sued at least 435 times in 2017, says report
http://dailycaller.com/2017/08/23/uber-sued-at-least-435-times-in-2017-says-report/
Shock: Brit capital strips Uber of its taxi licence
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/09/22/uber_stripped_of_licence/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb and Fi for drawing my attention to material for Winding Down.
Please send suggestions for stories to alan@ibgames.com and include the words Winding Down in the subject line, unless you want your deathless prose gobbled up by my voracious Thunderbird spam filter...
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
1 October 2017
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist, the order of which depends on what he is currently working on! His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/index.html.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html.
