Categories
technology

casting a a dark adapted net

The recent launch of the latest version of the Freenet Peer-to-Peer file sharing software has attracted a great deal of media coverage. Every credible paper in Ireland and the UK covered it and most pondered the same question. Is it ethical to create software where the creator knows that it will be used in fraud and theft? OK, we’re not pulling any punches here. Ian Clarke is without doubt a brilliant software designer and is an idealist at heart but as Conor Flynn of RITS Security points out in last week’s Sunday TImes

“The Freenet system group say it’s for sharing information and they can’t help it if people abuse it. They know damn well that it will be.”

Ian’s site is endearingly lowkey but his comments about unprizer being his “first serious venture in capitalism” are a bit disingenuous. I presume he’s been living in a kibbutz all these years then :-P. Seriously though, darknets are compelling technology enabling data distribution to be effectively hidden from network users. I can see the applications in permitting freedom of information & within countries with oppressive governments but this can’t disguise the fact that most of the goals that Ian talks about for freenet involving subverting the information and copyright legislation in the country in which it’s used. It promotes anarchy in an era where many are becoming increasingly concerned about their security and ever more permissive of the measures their governments take to guard that security. The ethics of darknet technology are similiar to gun manufacture. It’s welcomed in equal measure by peacekeepers and violent terrorists. True freedom of speech exists where a country’s people and government agree that people can express their opinions regardless of it’s unpopularity, subversiveness etc. When this is practiced the source of commentary does not have to hide in a dark alley or a darknet. This is IMHO a more admirable ideal than anarchy. Darknets have a deterrent factor but they should not become an end in themselves in promoting freedom of speech.

Categories
humour

Sig-assassin

With apologies to taint.org. I picked up the following from the Irishblogs aggregator. I’ve often thought there was a requirement for a sig removal tool which scours emails for phrases like “[Dd]isclaimer”, “[Tt]he information contained”,”[Uu]nauthori[sz]ed use”, etc. and strips the offending lines and surrounding paragraphs from the emails while updating spamhaus with the offending address. A spot of tarpitting might also be a necessary component of such a solution. Ok, I’m kidding & would never condone such an action but many sigs such as these are essentially spam anyway. Just because I’m engaged in communication with an employee of a large Scottish financial institution doesn’t mean that I wish to participate in an email marketing campaign for their services.

Categories
finance

Hire purchase agreements in Ireland

I posted a few weeks ago about asset financing in Ireland. I recently discovered the following caveat on the abundantly useful oasis.gov.ie. Hire purchase agreements are increasingly popular in Ireland but many consumers are unaware of the protections afforded them under the 2nd Amendment to the Hire Purchase Act of 1960. Here’s a direct quote from Oasis.gov on the “one third rule”

The finance house can only repossess the goods under certain circumstances. If the consumer has not yet paid off one-third of the total hire purchase cost, the owner can repossess the goods at any time without taking legal action against the consumer.
However, if the consumer has paid one-third or more off the total hire purchase cost, the owner cannot repossess the goods without taking legal proceedings. Any deposit that is paid at the start of the agreement or the value of any trade-in for example, is taken into account in calculating one third of the cost.
If this “one-third” rule is breached by the owner, the consumer is entitled to end the agreement and can seek a refund of all payments made.

Very useful to know. Once the one-third threshold is exceeded the finance company cannot repossess the rented item without first issuing legal proceeding which means that well-intentioned consumers who miss a payment after this period will not be subject to an ill-considered repossession.

Categories
technology

Moving movable type

Despite what I’d been told, moving Movable Type was an absolute doddle 😀. I followed the following steps, just in case any of my friends have to do it and aren’t sure how to go about it.

  1. tar the MT directory
  2. mysqldump the mt database using the command line or cPanel
  3. Untar the mysql database to the new director structure on the new server
  4. restore the mysql database on the new server
  5. recreate the database user account on the new server with the same name priviledges and password (or use new settings & go to next step
  6. update the mt.cfg file located in the MT cgi-bin director with revised settings for hostname, directories, database, user and password.
  7. and your off

Hope I’ve been of assistance.