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I found this article interesting because it actually mentions the "firesheep" add-on we discussed during class as well as the encryption of our data.

Good find. It's important to note that this piece is from 2011, shortly after the Firesheep controversy. As far as I can tell, HTTPS use is now mandatory, at least on Facebook.com. I don't know about the Facebook app, however. That might be something to look into.

Just like in Little Brother! Schneiner responds to this article here: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2008/09/gait_analysis_f.html

No credible evidence that the PlayStation 4 network was used to coordinate the #ParisAttacks. #fywscrypto https://t.co/8g6Gki4QVj - Derek Bruff (@derekbruff) November 17, 2015

Interesting that ~35% of 1000 surveyed have upped the strength of their passwords, but only 6% turned on two-factor ID, which was a major cause of the iCloud hacks going undetected for so long.

It seems that two-factor authentication would not have prevented those iCloud hacks (according to this piece: http://www.tuaw.com/2014/09/02/think-iclouds-two-factor-authentication-protects-your-privacy/), but since Apple has now changed the triggers for two-factor to include things like iCloud access, two-factor will be more helpful going forward. So it is a little surprising that more people haven't enabled it.

I'm also reminded of the ACLU's Chris Soghoian's point (https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/lessons-celebrity-icloud-photo-breach) that one reason people have crappy Apple passwords is that Apple makes you use your password so darn often. I know I get frustrated when I have to enter my (crazy long) Apple password on my iPhone just to download a free app.

WIRED's @KimZetter on encryption, back doors, and the #ParisAttacks. #fywscrypto https://t.co/nRgnRIUN64 - Derek Bruff (@derekbruff) November 17, 2015

Hacker targets toymaker VTech, finds kids' photos, videos, and chat logs, all poorly secured. #fywscrypto https://t.co/elG88Z8Eec - Derek Bruff (@derekbruff) December 1, 2015

The NSA's (useless) bulk phone metadata collection program is now over. #fywscrypto https://t.co/H7SL3S1QSQ - Derek Bruff (@derekbruff) December 1, 2015

Blackberry to stop operating in Pakistan because of government requests to monitor customer data. https://t.co/8kBg6QCEAF #fywscrypto - Derek Bruff (@derekbruff) December 1, 2015

Essentially, this paper goes through the types of gait recognition software that currently exist as well as the reliability of this software. There are a lot of different elements that influence a persons gait (like terrain, shoes, fatigue, etc.), which effects how well the software works. It's a pretty heavy read but it's really interesting if you want to just jump to a certain section and read in depth. This technology is very much out there and in development, and it is definitely being improved upon. Also, even though this paper is a little bit older, it is still being cited in a lot of more recent research papers and I thought it would give a good enough grasp on the science for our purposes.

Interesting article about Charles Baggage's computer designs finally being put to use! Found it interesting because we read about Charles Babbage and I was surprised to learn that the computer hadn't been built yet.

For the latest on Plan 28, the initiative to build Babbage's analytic engine, visit http://plan28.org/.

This resource is interesting in light of our discussing Babbage and Lovelace, as well as Ada Lovelace Day. This article is particularly interesting to me as it deals with women's contributions to significant advancements in history, many of which are often ignored or excused.

Riley, I mentioned in class that October 14th is Ada Lovelace Day, an international day for recognizing the contributions of women in science. Details: http://findingada.com/. I've wanted to organize an Ada Lovelace Day event here at Vanderbilt for a few years now, but never found the time. Let me know if you'd like to cook something up (an event? a blog series? a Wikipedia editing party?) for the 14th.

I found it really interesting that people took the fact that Lovelace made a few mistakes as an excuse to try to remove her contribution to computer programming. Male scientists and programmers also make mistakes, but we rarely see those used in an attempt to discredit them. Also, she literally designed a computer program before the computer even existed. I think we can excuse a few past mathematical errors.

What really stood out to me about this article was that they said the NSA actually pays more attention to those people who use encryption. So, in order to protect ourselves and also avoid prying NSA eyes, we should encourage people to stand in solidarity with encryption. I thought this was really interesting because I always thought that encryption would undoubtedly make everything more secure, but here they're saying that it actually attracts attention (which isn't necessarily a good thing).

When I was a kid, I read an issue of Superman in which he faces Batman's villain, the Joker. At one point, the Joker tells Superman that he's kidnapped all of Superman's best friends (Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, and so on) and locked them inside lead-lined caskets, hidden throughout Metropolis. Since the caskets are air-tight, they only have an hour to live, and Superman can't find them because his x-ray vision can't see through lead! That's what the Joker said. Actually, since Superman can't see through lead, those caskets *stood out* when he scanned the city with his x-ray vision, and he rescued all his friends in short order. Same basic idea.

You can find anything on the Internet: http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/superjoker6.jpg.

I think we can count this as cryptography. Keurig (the "K-cup" coffee maker) recently rolled out a new coffee maker that only works on coffee pods with special ink markers on their foil tops, meaning that knock-off coffee pods won't work on the new Keurig systems. (More info here: http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/30/5857030/keurig-digital-rights-management-coffee-pod-pirates.) This DRM-like scheme has now been hacked by competitors.

This article is about a smartphone that's designed specifically to help you keep your personal information secure--it lets you easily encrypt your calls and texts and search the internet privately. There's also a video about ways to encrypt your email.

Nice find. I'm reminded of DuckDuckGo, https://duckduckgo.com/, the search engine that doesn't track you. At all.

This doesn't quite follow the guidelines of the blogging assignment, I don't think, but I found it pretty interesting, so I'll share this one too. This is basically about the people who are going to be holding the keys to the building blocks of the internet. I'm not sure I understand it completely, but it sounds fascinating!

Excellent find! I heard about this security system when the author of this piece, James Ball, was interviewed for the "On the Media" podcast: http://www.onthemedia.org/story/so-many-keys/. Great stuff.

This is a PDF file of a chapter taken from a book that contains essays on many issues that arise from "big data." This chapter specifically pertains to our privacy versus security debate because it provides reasons as to why bulk data collection does not work as well as alternative options to mass surveillance.

"Richard, 10, has made this Bombe machine out of Lego, complete with wires on the back."