BradSpangler.com

UPDATED: Spread this number

09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0

More: HD-DVD key fiasco is an example of 21st century digital revolt

â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘09â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘F9â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘11â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘02â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘9Dâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘74â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–â–Œâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘E3â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘5Bâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–â–Œâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘D8â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘41â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘56â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘C5â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘63â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘56â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–’â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘88â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–ˆâ–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘C0â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘
â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘â–‘

“…zero nine foxtrot nine one one zero two nine delta seven four echo three five bravo delta eight four one five six charlie five six three five six eight eight charlie zero…”

UPDATE: Kevin Rose: Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

“But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you â€™ve made it clear. Youâ€™d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we wonâ€™t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.”

From an agorist perspective, Digg.com has just tentatively been leveraged into the quasi-insurrectionary grey market from the state-dominated white market.

Tags: Cool, IT: Open Source, IT: Security, Politics by Brad Spangler
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Project Crabgrass: Software for Direct Democracy and Social Organizing

New open source social networking project that fans of both Ruby on Rails and radical politics might be interested in working on — Project Crabgrass: Software for Direct Democracy and Social Organizing.

Personally, I mainly work with PHP and, to a far lesser extent, Perl. As I grow as a programmer, though, I’m anticipating using the Model-View-Controller (MVC) approach that reportedly makes Rails so great, but still in PHP using frameworks like Cake. Still, that’s just me. If you’re getting into or are already immersed in Rails, Crabgrass definitely sounds like it might be worth lending a hand with.

Excerpt:

GOALS

The social networking phenomenon holds much promise, but it is clear that the revolution will not be hosted by myspace. We are building a web application currently called Crabgrass with these main goals:

Democratic decision-making: Our primary focus is to facilitate directly democratic decision making for groups and networks. This means easy tools for polling, voting and achieving consensus. Since different situations call for different tools, we plan to support up-down-polls, rate-many-polls, vote-for-one, ranked-voting, formal-consensus, informal-consensus, and different forms of modified consensus.

Group relationships: In social networking, the focus is on the individual and their relationship to other individuals. In organizing networks, the questions are very different. The application will make it clear how groups are related to one another and what human roles and responsibilities people have within a group. Rather than social networking, you could call it social organizing.

Security and privacy: It still requires a high degree of tech savvy in order to communicate securely. By keeping communication enclosed on a single, high-security server and by making it clear who the authorized audience is for a particular message, we can achieve a very high degree of privacy and ease of use.

Messaging platform: Dialog is the lifeblood of democratic organizations, but it is very difficult with current tools to track particular discussion threads. By using a closed system and well-defined domain space, we are confident we can combine the better elements of email, chat/im, and bulletin boards. The goal is a single system that allows users to read just what they want, to communicate in real time, and to have many views into their message space

Ease of use: Even the coolest features in the world are totally useless if people don’t use them. The sites that people actually use tend to be clean, simple, and attractive. At each step, our first priority must usability.

Developers interested in helping out should email: crabgrass@riseup.net

Tags: IT: Open Source, IT: Web, Politics by Brad Spangler
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Social bookmarking for libertarians

Just so you know — yes, it’s true. I’m one of the two diabolical bastards behind a new social bookmarking site for libertarians…

freedomSLUT: Sites, Links, URLs and Tags

The other one being, well, one of the usual suspects.

Here’s the news release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
06/01/06
POC Thomas L. Knapp
admin@freedomslut.com

NEW SITE IS FAST, EASY AND GETS (THE WORD) AROUND

The libertarian web community’s newest networking tool — a politically specific social bookmarking site — debuts today at www.freedomSLUT.com.

“Get your mind off of smut — it’s not slut, it’s capital ess ell ewe tee” says Thomas L. Knapp, one of two bloggers behind the effort. “For Sites, Links, URLs and Tags.” But, he admits, he intends to capitalize on the acronym in advertising and promotion.

Knapp, publisher of libertarian sites Rational Review and Kn@ppster, and Brad Spangler, who blogs at BradSpangler.Com and consults for several movement sites and organizations, developed freedomSLUT on the open source Scuttle platform and plan to promote it to the libertarian community as a resource for “finding or flogging” anti-state, pro-freedom bloggage, news and commentary.

“The net is in continuous transition,” says Spangler. “A tool pops up in a discrete community, spreads to the broader web, then gets specialized again. Social bookmarking started out as a tech/geek thing, then went pop, and now we’re bringing it back to a specific group whose members will find it extremely useful.”

freedomSLUT allows for private and public bookmarking, and offers browser and blog template tools to make sharing links easy and convenient.

-30-

Web sites mentioned in this release:

freedomSLUT — http://www.freedomslut.com
Rational Review — http://www.rationalreview.com
Kn@ppster — http://knappster.blogspot.com
BradSpangler.Com — http://www.bradspangler.com/blog

For more information on the software used, Scuttle, check out this Newsforge article.

Complaints can be directed to the circular file.

Tags: IT: Open Source, IT: Web, Politics by Brad Spangler
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Titan Rain: reason to switch to Linux number 247,385,621

Respected computer security guru Bruce Schneier briefly weighs in on Titan Rain, the US governments code name for an ongoing series of highly skilled and organized hacking attacks carried out against US military networks and apparently originating in China.

The expert consensus, which I’m not sure I entirely agree with, is that Titan Rain is a Chinese military effort. While I’m not in a position to know who is behind the attacks, I know enough about the general topic of IT security to also know that few, if any, can really know that either.

The publicly stated reasoning behind that expert consensus is that, in the eyes of the experts, the attacks are so well skilled and organized that they simply have to have been carried out by a foreign military. I believe that reasoning reflects a certain statist chauvinism that, in defiance of almost all evidence, government organizations are bastions of competence. Chauvinists of this stripe have failed to learn the fourth generation warfare lessons of 9/11 — that states are not the only potential players on the battlefield. The attacks could be a Chinese military effort, or they could be something else. As a matter of fact, it’s entirely possible that a Chinese military hacking effort is going on AND something else is going on.

I believe we’ll hear more about this as time goes on and, as is typical with regard to wars and governments, that some of it will be accurate and some will be misinformation. One thing you can be sure of, though, is that as networks become just another arena for warfare to be conducted in, they will become a dangerous place for innocent civilians — just like any battlefield.

Because battlefields are dangerous places to be, it then becomes incumbent on every computer user to take personal initiative to educate themselves about computer security basics and attend to taking care of those computers and networks they are responsible for.
[Read more →]

Tags: IT: Open Source, IT: Security, Politics by Brad Spangler
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Picking a Linux distribution

Sunni Maravillosa solicited advice on picking a Linux distribution:

Seeing the writing on the wall — the coming digital divide, where some users will retain control of their machines and others will have relinquished it to the likes of Microsoft and Intel — I’m getting serious about giving Linux another try.

Sunni and others: it depends on the computer, network considerations and what you want to do with it.

Someone who is new to Linux AND has a NEW computer should first go with a modern, mainstream distro until they get their legs under them.

The reason I add NEW computer on to that is that the mainstream distributions have been getting fat to where they are almost as slow as Windows. Or, as slow as Windows would be before it gets bogged down even further with spyware and viruses/trojans — approximately the first four minutes after installation.

Fedora, SUSE and Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) are the most popular ones for a reason. Ubuntu has been getting rave reviews lately, but I’ve never tried it myself. It’s surely worth a look, given that much grassroots buzz — even though I can’t give an informed opinion on it myself.

Are you accessing the internet through a broadband or dialup connection? I used to have endless trouble getting the WinModem on this box to work on RedHat 7.1 through RedHat 9. But all were perfectly fine with a broadband connection that could make use of my ethernet port. Dialup problems ended for me with Suse 9.1, which had no trouble at all with this WinModem.

One distro that I can’t recommend enough, particularly for older computers, is VectorLinux — the SOHO edition specifically. VectorLinux SOHO comes with the more full-featured KDE desktop as well as a light, stripped down desktop environment (IceWM). The whole thing is tuned for speed and has applications specifically selected for Small Office/Home Office use. It’ll put some pep in your old but not ancient machine.

From the VectorLinux web site:

VECTORLINUX is a small, fast, Linux operating system for Intel, AMD and x86 compatible systems, based on one of the original Linux distributions, Slackware. The enormously popular Slackware is the true ‘Unix’ of Linux distributions and is used by major corporations, universities and home users alike. It’s popularity stems from the fact that it is a robust, versatile and almost unbreakable system. We have produced a bloat free, easy to install, configure and maintain Slackware based system that is second to none. We include automatic hardware configuration, unique administration tools and easy package management via the Gslapt/slapt-get system. We are also known as the fastest non-source distro on the planet!

If we’re talking about a truly ancient machine (300 Mhz processor or less) — the standard edition (not SOHO) of VectorLinux or Damn Small Linux (DSL) are both good choices. DSL will reportedly give you a solid, basically serviceable desktop on a 486DX with 16 megs of RAM!

If you’re new to server administration and want to set up a server on your home network to play with, go with Fedora Core 3 or 4. After you’re more comfortable with servers — Slackware, Debian, OpenBSD and FreeBSD are all OS choices I would consider.

Finally, if you’re looking to get into small business IT consulting, pay attention to what the UserLinux people are putting together.

Shameless self-promotion: I’ve been busy as hell lately, but I am generally available for paying clients.

Tags: IT: Open Source, IT: Web by Brad Spangler
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