Category: Life

This is not political incorrectness. This is blatant ignorance bordering racism on behalf of Jack Thompson. What am I talking about? This quote from Jack Thompson:

“The Japanese have a contempt for our culture which is patent. There (sic) dumping of garbage into our culture is a slow motion version of Pearl Harbor.”

Jack Thompson is the lawyer that is suing game companies for the release of Grand Theft Auto, blaming it for the death of three policemen that were gunned down. His comments have to do with the fact that GTA was released for the PS2, a console system created by Sony – a Japanese company.

Insensitive? What the Japanese are doing to our kids is insensitive and racist. The Japanese have for a very long time dumped pornography into this country in a fashion they would not tolerate in their own country. It is another version of Pearl Harbor.”

No more than mere, ignorant, stereotypes. What is imported here in terms of pop culture remains with anime, and manga. Anime being animated films of a quality that beats any Disney film ever produced; and manga being comics that actually appeal to those over the age of eight. Then there’s of course the Japanese cuisine, martial arts, theatre, etc.

I’ve yet to see any semblance of “Japanese Pornography” make its way over to North America. Hentai, which can be found in some stores in Japan, is tabooed in our culture.

Read the full context here.

I was reading a very interesting article today on how Sony was using rootkits on its users. A rootkit typically hides logins, processes, files, and logs and may include software to intercept data from terminals, network connections, and the keyboard. In many sources, rootkits are counted as trojan horses.*

In a great leap of genius, Sony had decided that in order to protect its CDs from its consumers, it would install one such rootkit on computers unbeknownst to the users. These kits would prevent anyone from using the CD except through additional software mandated by Sony. Covertly installing a root kit is something that can be equated to the same ethical behaviour as installing a computer virus. Removing the unwanted Sony infection from the computer would disable the CD/DVD-ROM drive from being usable. Great.

And its in that respect that record companies simply don’t get it. First of all, they’re completely punishing their fans for purchasing their product. After all, how do these CD protections benefit the consumer in any way? The only thing that results is more nuissance for that consumer – thanks to Sony’s protection, they aren’t able to put the music they bought on an MP3 player for instance. They aren’t able to put the MP3s on their computer so that they can listen it from there.

Do they not realise that people use their computers for music these days? Nearly every student I know has some kind of MP3 jukebox set on their machines, where they shift songs between their entire music collection. The companies have been operating on a basis that their products should not be compatible with computers at all, going so far as deceivingly installing these virus-like programs. They think that that will reduce piracy. Fact is: it hasn’t, nor will it ever.

As the old addage goes: where there’s a will, there’s a way. And I’ve yet to see a CD where its contents could not be ripped. So this does not curb piracy in any way – meanwhile, it makes the CDs less appealing to the fans. Why spend $20 on a product that only half-works? A product that behaves like a computer worm and installs a rootkit?

Piracy doesn’t exist because people can do with their CDs as they see fit. It exists because people are getting fooked around by the record industries left, right, and center. Infecting PCs with worms, preventing people to listen to music they legitimately purchased, are hardly steps forward to make the CD format more appealing.

The record labels simply do not get it.

*Definition from Wikipedia

A few months ago I submitted an article to 2600 Magazine entitled “Securing your Wireless Network”.

I just got wind a few days ago that it was published for the upcoming Fall issue of the magazine. I am both excited and dissapointed at the news. Excited because I was published in a work of International repute. Dissapointed because I later discovered a few holes with my piece.

For those who aren’t familiar with 2600 Magazine, it is referred to as “The Hacker Quarterly” and deals with all issues in computer security/ingenuity, social engineering, etc. It can be picked up from most book stores in Canada and the US.

This site now has its own forums!

This is mainly going to be used as a tools to facilitate collaboration in both projects, and university classes. I don’t fancy it will be used very much at all, but nonetheless its there now.

Here are a few pictures I took at Melanie’s Wedding.

Most pictures turned out pretty poorly. Unfortunately, lower-end digital cameras really don’t tend to cope too well under poor lighting conditions (esp. with my jitter). That said, I’ll see what I can do with the existing photographs and email them out.

If you want a copy of the photos, please reply to this blog entry. Only family/family friends may have access to these.