Posts by 3ShadesofGray

Australia won't back away from data retention plan

VPN everywhere

Hi

I have been looking at this topic for some time, have come to the conclusion the 'public' will lose, and therefore would simply suggest that VPN becomes the defacto communications means. The problem I have is that when I used VPN to download I lost 50% of my bandwidth. I am also not fully clear on how to establish a reliable, permanent VPN for my entire family network, particularly without losing so much bandwidth.

So, Reg Readers/Authors, - how about a lesson on establishing permanent, simple to use VPN for the entire household, assuming some form of permanent (DSL) internet connection, and NAT firewall. In my case, thats 4 users, 2-3 devices each, all living on one house with a permanent hi-speed connection. The solution has to cater for browsing, email, on-line games and downloads. Also, services such as iTunes movies, Netflix etc...

Mac OS X and Windows 7 users...

Any takers?

Habeas data: How to build an internet that forgets

Re: Please stop trying to stick these things together

I would like to know who owns the footage from security cameras capturing my picture when I walk around town, how long is the information kept, and what are the mechanisms to gain access to the footage, by the both government, e.g. police, and private individuals.

In a city like London, reportedly covered by more cameras than most cities, what happens with that data? It seems to me there are parallells with my travels across town and my travels through the internet.

We need a separate legal entity, e.g. online avatar

For me the issue is that I cannot 'use' the internet without registering a real address and leaving real data. If I buy a book on Amazon I can't pay anonymously, if I buy tyres for the car or make a purchase of anything. As i do not read privacy statements from the likes of Google, Amazon, etc.. I end up with 50 different user accounts, credit card details etc.. and accept that another bit of my personal information is with total strangers.

My proposal, make it possible to have a separate legal identify, i.e. an avatar, issued with a credit card and shipping address etc.. This way if the legal system needs to know my real details, they can get a warrant and question the bank. Facebook and Google of the world still have my browsing data/habits so they are not significantly devalued.

For personal data, e.g. chatting with each other on facebook etc.. ( I dont use it), my guess is people have put their conversation (or profound/stupid monologue) into the public domain. Whoever the message was sent to (individual, or world + dog) have legal ownership of a copy of that data as well as the owner. same with pictures - if I publish to a group of friends, my guess is one of those friends has the right to archive it, some time before he/she becomes a non-friend.

For anonymous browsing - for me VPN performance drops my 100MB connection by 50% - so I dont think VPNs are great, unless I notch up my paranoia.

Email - I have given up. IMHO all email should be signed and encrypted by default - but it has been many years since I have bothered with that argument. It is a simple and solved technical problem of using a public key / private key pair.

The problem is legal, not technical, as per the article, we need property rights over our data, including expiry dates for browsing history etc.. The other choice is simply obfuscate data by having a few robots browse and click anywhere for us... Baffle them with bull...

How to keep your money safe if the euro implodes

Personally, living and working in Switzerland, I think it might be time to buy some nice waterfront land in Italy (maybe France and Spain as well). There has to be bargains down there for those with the cash.

Wave, Buzz... Android? What Apple teaches Google

Re: if ios / iphone 4 is so great.....

I have the Galaxy SII, the Kindle, would like to get the Kindle Fire, Nokia, PCs and Macs, Ipad v1, Ipod etc... I looked at Android as I was aware that the Apple eco systems is lock in. My phone preference is still probably the Nokia (I like battery life), but the PDA side of a smart phone is why I changed to the iPhone. But it is the little things that make life easer that I am interested it.

1. Travelling - wife, 2 kids, bunch of gadgets. Just having the same cables makes life easier.

2. Music - I have dealt with MP3 players, walkmans and Ipods - I would rather have one music library. I still don't like part of the apple eco system, i.e. dealing with families, IOS is single user, ipods and iphones are tied to specific computers etc.. (I am not a iCloud user ) but it is a lot easier than dealing with multiple systems.

3. Movies - download, convert to m4v and play via apple TV. I can still use VLC, WD Media player or other players, but I find the Apple TV connected to my amplifier a good solution for movies and music. Also Netflix and LoveFilm are only recently available in Europe - trying getting an english menu from iTunes Germany and France, let alone a english movie. The internet is 'not' global when both Amazon and iTunes have to create a different store in every country just so I can buy a book or movie. Then I have to pay extra for US iTunes gift cards, as I don't have a US or UK credit card.

4. Books - I tend to use the Kindle reader in the iPad, but am also having to deal with iBooks, e.g. purchased some books from Ciscopress they come as ePub - Kindle reader does not allow import. I can covert with calibre, but the quality of the converted book is not as high. I like the 10" screen, and the general purpose nature of the iPad, e.g. IMDB, email, kindle, web browser, newspapers (IHT), The Economist, Wolfram Calculus etc. Primarily the consumption of information....

5. Photos - my wife loves iPhoto and creating a photo album, printing it, and sending it to family. The whole system just works. Not experienced on alternatives here.

So for me, look at the system, including the wife and kids, the devices, changing countries for holiday or work regularly... Amazon may be the only real candidate to take on Apple as The Reg wrote several months ago (Orlowski I think, not 100% sure).

Why do I need 5 email addresses, accounts with everyone, most with the same password (compromise one, compromise all etc...), credit card details scattered around the Net, vendors refusing pre-paid credit cards etc... The internet is NOT global from my view.

I would love to see a report/analysis of the system, not just the devices. Some proper use cases

I just turned off my Samsung Galaxy SII and went back to my iPhone 4. Android reminds me of Linux 6 years ago - not good enough for the hassle, no eco system, why bother...

After 20 years of IT I have had enough of fragmented, half finished systems. This stuff should be like electricity - it just works. Take me to the Dementor, just take the pain away.