On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — kiki the nano bot https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/07/01/kiki.html #freeculture #bookclub
An official FBI document dated January 2021, obtained by the American association “Property of People” through the Freedom of Information Act.
This document summarizes the possibilities for legal access to data from nine instant messaging services: iMessage, Line, Signal, Telegram, Threema, Viber, WeChat, WhatsApp and Wickr. For each software, different judicial methods are explored, such as subpoena, search warrant, active collection of communications metadata (“Pen Register”) or connection data retention law (“18 USC§2703”). Here, in essence, is the information the FBI says it can retrieve:
Apple iMessage: basic subscriber data; in the case of an iPhone user, investigators may be able to get their hands on message content if the user uses iCloud to synchronize iMessage messages or to back up data on their phone.
Line: account data (image, username, e-mail address, phone number, Line ID, creation date, usage data, etc.); if the user has not activated end-to-end encryption, investigators can retrieve the texts of exchanges over a seven-day period, but not other data (audio, video, images, location).
Signal: date and time of account creation and date of last connection.
Telegram: IP address and phone number for investigations into confirmed terrorists, otherwise nothing.
Threema: cryptographic fingerprint of phone number and e-mail address, push service tokens if used, public key, account creation date, last connection date.
Viber: account data and IP address used to create the account; investigators can also access message history (date, time, source, destination).
WeChat: basic data such as name, phone number, e-mail and IP address, but only for non-Chinese users.
WhatsApp: the targeted person’s basic data, address book and contacts who have the targeted person in their address book; it is possible to collect message metadata in real time (“Pen Register”); message content can be retrieved via iCloud backups.
Wickr: Date and time of account creation, types of terminal on which the application is installed, date of last connection, number of messages exchanged, external identifiers associated with the account (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers), avatar image, data linked to adding or deleting.
TL;DR Signal is the messaging system that provides the least information to investigators.
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Let’s Move Forward https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/06/24/move-forward.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Green Comet, part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/06/17/green-comet-3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Green Comet, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/06/10/green-comet-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Green Comet, part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/06/03/green-comet-1.html #freeculture #bookclub
** week notes **
Last year I set out to rekindle my reading habit. That went well. This year’s reading has been enjoyable, but I’m not cozy with the ratio of non-fiction to fiction I’ve read this year…non-fiction (especially of the computing persuasion) far out balances the fiction I’ve read. I think this is mostly because I’ve been mired amidst a fiction book that I’ve found to be a slog…but enjoyable, too. I’d have abandoned it and moved on, elsewise. Onward!
Spring is quickly making way to summer h … ⌘ Read more
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Distress Beacon https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/05/27/distress-beacon.html #freeculture #bookclub
books
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Death off the Cuff https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/05/20/death-cuff.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Jectoons Random Vignettes https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/05/13/vignettes.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Expedition Sasquatch, part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/05/06/sasquatch-3.html #freeculture #bookclub
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@prologic omg yes! They are both ultra-right-wing assholes! The worst of the worst! Please tell me you don't listen to these guys' brain poison?
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Here I am, looking at my bookshelf, where the ‘12 rules for life’ book sits.
I found the way he had to be put in a coma to get off addiction to his medicine etc fascinating. It felt like the good old ‘do as I say, not as I do’ type of thing. But hey - regardless of who you are or how strong you portray yourself - there can always be hard issues to tackle in life.
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Expedition Sasquatch, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/04/29/sasquatch-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Expedition Sasquatch, part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/04/22/sasquatch-1.html #freeculture #bookclub
wait WHY is “book” “libro” in esperanto, but “library” is not “libraro” but “biblioteko”? Huh???
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Snowbound Blood part 4 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/04/15/snowbound-blood-4.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Snowbound Blood part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/04/08/snowbound-blood-3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Snowbound Blood part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/04/01/snowbound-blood-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
I’ve never gotten much out of a book review & don’t understand why people read or write them.
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Snowbound Blood part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/03/25/snowbound-blood-1.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Delilah H. Smith https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/03/18/dhs.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Golem, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/03/11/golem-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
9 Self-Help Books That Changed My Life ⌘ Read more
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Golem, part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/03/04/golem-1.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 26 – 29 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/02/25/life-blood-9.html #freeculture #bookclub
Lindypress Bug Fix
Just a brief note that for the past couple of days, you might’ve been unable to buy books on LindyPress.net if you are in the United States, Canada or Australia (which is a lot of you). This has now been fixed, so you can place your orders now!
The issue was that there was a silent API update that kept addresses from validating states and provinces. Note that if your order placed, it’s all okay, this is only for people for whom the site would not let place an order.
… ⌘ Read more
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 23 – 25 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/02/18/life-blood-8.html #freeculture #bookclub
** Accessibility and the product person **
This post is a slightly modified version of a talk I presented to the product practice at my work. It presents a few ways that product designers and managers can help to move accessibility forward. It is a little bit different than what I normally share, here, but, I thought it may be interesting to some folks.
[![Picture of a slide with the title “Why though?” It also includes a quote from Kat Holmes’ book Mismatch. The quote reads: “There are many challeng … ⌘ Read more
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 20 – 22 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/02/11/life-blood-7.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 17 – 19 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/02/04/life-blood-6.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 14 – 16 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/01/28/life-blood-5.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 10 – 13 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/01/21/life-blood-4.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 6 – 9 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/01/14/life-blood-3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 4 – 5 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2023/01/07/life-blood-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Life Blood, chapters 1 – 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/12/31/life-blood-1.html #freeculture #bookclub
** I read some books in 2022, and have some thoughts about computer science writing **
At the start of this year I set out to revive my long dead reading habit. After having kids it fell by the wayside. I’ve read 41 books so far this year. Mostly a mix of science fiction and nonfiction computer science books. Here’s the complete list of everything I’ve read. I’ve got mixed feelings about keeping track and sharing cou … ⌘ Read more
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Quantum Flux https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/12/24/quantum-flux.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — R. James Gavreau https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/12/17/rjg.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Colossal Cave Adventure https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/12/10/colossal-cave.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Superflu https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/12/03/superflu.html #freeculture #bookclub
On my blog: Free Culture Book Club — Redmine, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2022/11/26/redmine-2.html #freeculture #bookclub
new version (1.0.4) of introduction to uxn programming e-book: launcher and raw runes | https://compudanzas.net/introduction_to_uxn_programming_book.html
Spent the afternoon updating my tilde and now it is time to unwind with some meditation and a book!
I started adding a list of books that changed my life to my tilde at http://tilde.club/~melyanna/library/
I read 100 self-help books. Here’s what I learned… ⌘ Read more
Don Knuth really really wants to write a long site and not books. I mean…just take a look at them!
i don’t know of any Gentle Introduction to Why Prediction Markets are Awesome, à la Wait But Why, with stick figures and just going slow in on the topic, answering objections along the way. i consider it a collective action failure that no such text exists, and also that i don’t know of any book that does this (other than superforecasting)
new version of our introduction to uxn e-book with the screen auto byte and other updates in varvara devices | https://compudanzas.net/introduction_to_uxn_programming_book.html
Alright, check this out. I just kinda completed today’s project of converting a jeans into a saw bag. It’s not fully done, the side seams on the flap need some more hand sewing, that’s for sure. No, I don’t have a sewing machine. Yet?
At first I wanted to put in the saw on the short side, but that would have made for more sewing work and increased material consumption. As a Swabian my genes force me to be very thrifty. Slipping in on the long side had the benefit of using the bottom trouser leg without any modification at all. The leg tapers slightly and gets wider and wider the more up you go. At the bottom it’s not as extreme as at the top.
The bag is made of two layers of cloth for extra durability. The double layers help to hide the inner two metal snap fastener counter parts, so the saw blade doesn’t get scratched. Not a big concern, but why not doing it, literally no added efforts were needed. Also I reckon it cuts off the metal on metal clinking sounds.
The only downside I noticed right after I pressed in the receiving ends of the snap fasteners is that the flap overhangs the bag by quite a lot. I fear that’s not really user-friendly. Oh well. Maybe I will fold it shorter and sew it on. Let’s see. The main purpose is to keep the folding saw closed, it only locks in two open positions.
Two buttons would have done the trick, with three I went a bit overkill. In fact the one in the middle is nearly sufficient. Not quite, but very close. But overkill is a bit my motto. The sides making up the bag are sewed together with like five stitch rows. As said in the introduction, the flap on the hand needs some more love.
Oh, and if I had made it in a vertical orientation I would have had the bonus of adding a belt loop and carrying it right along me. In the horizontal layout that’s not possible at all. The jeans cloth is too flimsy, the saw will immediately fall out if I open the middle button. It’s not ridgid enough. Anyways, I call it a success in my books so far. Definitely had some fun.
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@prologic Re: Chat system, What if the base specification included a system for per-user arbitrary JSON storage on the server? Kind of like XEP-0049, but expanded upon. Two kinds of objects: public and private. Public objects can be queried by anyone, private objects cannot and must be encrypted with the user's private key. Public keys could be stored there, as well as anything else defined by extensions. Roster, user block list, avatar, etc.
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@prologic Re: Chat system, What if the base specification included a system for per-user arbitrary JSON storage on the server? Kind of like XEP-0049, but expanded upon. Two kinds of objects: public and private. Public objects can be queried by anyone, private objects cannot and must be encrypted with the user's private key. Public keys could be stored there, as well as anything else defined by extensions. Roster, user block list, avatar, etc.
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I would HIGHLY recommend reading up on the keybase architecture. They designed device key system for real time chat that is e2e secure. https://book.keybase.io/security
A property of ec keys is deriving new keys that can be determined to be “on curve.” bitcoin has some BIPs that derive single use keys for every transaction connected to a wallet. And be derived as either public or private chains. https://qvault.io/security/bip-32-watch-only-wallets/
What I learned from every book I read last year. ⌘ Read more
updated our introduction to uxn e-books with a new table formatting and some minor corrections | https://compudanzas.net/publications.html
published our ebook: introduction to uxn programming! | https://compudanzas.net/introduction_to_uxn_programming_book.html
** Star Wars, and a year in review **
I tried to write a“ year in review” kinda post, but it got wicked melodramatic pretty fast. This year has been a slog…it really fucking sucked.
Rather than reflect on it further, I thought I’d write about something vapid that I’ve been thinking a bit about lately instead: Star Wars.
Despite my best efforts, I’ve always loved Star Wars. As a child I spent hundreds of hours pouring over novels, and comics, and books of sch … ⌘ Read more
Ask HN: most interesting, mildly impractical, well-written books on software? [[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29306651]] #links
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — if then else, part 4 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/12/04/else4.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — if then else, part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/11/27/else3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — if then else, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/11/20/else2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — if then else, part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/11/13/else.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Sita Sings the Blues https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/11/06/sita.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Occupy This Novel!, Part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/10/30/occupy2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Occupy This Novel!, Part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/10/23/occupy1.html #freeculture #bookclub
🙌 Liked: Famicom Party ⌘ Read more
As a side effect of my post on boats I’ve now reserved a book about Vasa at the library, in order to clarify and correct the wikipedia article on it 😂
I realized this morning why I’m put off by super hero movies. They are fun, and I’ve always loved comic books, but the super hero movies of the last decade specifically, (I mean, beside being military propaganda) totally omit the potential future of any sort of utopia. They cannot envision their own undoing.
The stories are predicated on the super heros always needing something to be super against, despite having fantastical abilities to help usher in some sort of uto … ⌘ Read more
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Lightbringer, Part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/10/16/lightbringer2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Lightbringer, Part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/10/09/lightbringer.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Affair, Part 4 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/10/02/affair4.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Affair, Part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/09/25/affair3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Affair, Part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/09/18/affair2.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Affair, Part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/09/11/affair1.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Typhoon, Part 4 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/08/28/typhoon4.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Typhoon, Part 3 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/08/21/typhoon3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Typhoon, Part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/08/14/typhoon2.html Generations in a Nutshell https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/08/15/generations.html #rant #politics
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Typhoon, Part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/08/07/typhoon1.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Eroticature https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/07/31/eroticature.html #freeculture #bookclub
Important: LindyPress undergoing some updates
Although I haven’t announced in a video on the YouTube channel yet, I’m glad that there’s been a lot of interest in LindyPress.net. I haven’t done a video on it just because there are some details in the site coding we’re still figuring out, but books are already printing, shipping and arriving at some of your houses.
Just a couple technical notes:
- I switched the Stripe backend of the site over the week … ⌘ Read more
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Headshot, part 2 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/07/24/headshot.html #freeculture #bookclub
The classical book reprinting site is live! LindyPress.net
For a while, I’ve hinted that I’ve been contributing to a project to reprint out-of-print classical and medieval texts that are of hidden value, sometimes even in their original languages. I’ve worked on this project for a while and now it’s live and you can browse the first five books available.
See the site at https://lindypress.net. All works have been reformatted in XeLaTeX so that … ⌘ Read more
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Headshot, part 1 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/07/17/headshot.html #freeculture #bookclub
I’m doing this thing again where I am collecting more articles and books to read than actual doing any reading.
L’équipe Book Village - Book Village ⌘ Read more…
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — La Chute d’Une Plume https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/07/10/plume.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Solitudes and Silence, ch 10-14 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/07/03/solitudes3.html #freeculture #bookclub
The Weaving The Web Book by Tim Berners-Lee should be a required read for anyone building on the Web.
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Solitudes and Silence, ch 5-9 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/06/26/solitudes2.html #freeculture #bookclub
Decided to keep the smart-phone out of our bedroom and keep a note book instead. Already feeling lighter and fresher.
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Solitudes and Silence, ch 1-4 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/06/19/solitudes1.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Boris Munchausen https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/06/12/boris.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — The House https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/06/05/house.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Wilber & Co. https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/05/29/wilber.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Ficly https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/05/22/ficly.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — FSF Propaganda Videos https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/05/15/fsf.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Moses und Aron, ch 10-13 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/05/08/moses4.html #freeculture #bookclub
The Problems with Utilitarianism
I originally wrote this essay in 2014 or 2015 in a Chinese buffet in Athens, Georgia. I’ve changed some of it and am re-adding it here. I talk about the issues with Utilitarianism and a bad book by Sam Harris.
At a dumb intuitive level, the “ethical” idea of Utilitarianism in principle gets pretty close to what most people reflexively want from social-political affairs: the greatest good for the greatest number of people—who … ⌘ Read more
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Moses und Aron, ch 7-9 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/05/01/moses3.html #freeculture #bookclub
On the blog: Free Culture Book Club — Moses und Aron, ch 4-6 https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2021/04/24/moses2.html #freeculture #bookclub