Technology and society

Where does security come from?

Submitted by lishevita on Wed, 11/28/2012 - 18:00

Yesterday I wrote about the Pips Autoplate cameras that Viss found just sitting out on the Internet for all to see. But, how can hundreds of security cameras end up installed with no Internet security at all? It’s simple. Someone at the top of the corporate or government food chain didn’t think that Internet security was that important and/or they didn’t communicate down the line how important it is. The person who actually did the installation then proceeded to set the camera up with default settings and no security enabled either out of ignorance or laziness or possibly even because they were told to do so.

"They" are watching your car

Submitted by lishevita on Tue, 11/27/2012 - 23:49

According to the conversation with Viss at HAK5 (starts about 8 minutes in) there are a number of speed cameras that are constantly taking pictures of every car that passes by. This makes me wonder if a corrupt police department in need of funds couldn’t easily claim that far more drivers were speeding or running reds than was actually the case. They wouldn’t try to do that, though, would they? Nah...

But there’s something else that bothers me about what I learned from this video and some further research of my own.

BrainMeats! Ep7: Growing Things

Submitted by lishevita on Fri, 11/09/2012 - 18:09

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In this episode I talk to Melissa Rasmussen about Aquaponics, Permaculture, and her experiences in the field. She talks about her travels, the effect of these agricultural methods on the environment and food production, and their relationship to community.

During the show, Melissa mentions a few resources which you can find here:

Aquaponic Gardening, by Sylvia Bernstein - A book of basics on aquaponics and small-scale systems. Sylvia also offers porch-sized aquaponics kits through her company, Aquabundance.

AquaponicsCommunity.com - A community forum with thousands of members, most of whom have systems up and running (with pictures!) A great networking site and place to learn from others' experience.

Yes, we DO need a mom-centric hackerspace!

Submitted by lishevita on Tue, 10/30/2012 - 14:22

Even before Mothership HackerMoms launched their Kickstarter they were getting a lot of press for being the first hackerspace built by and for mothers. The disturbing thing has been the barrage of comments after each article complaining about how a hackerspace for mothers is a discriminatory thing. Even when we explain that our space is open to all, some of the commenters remain viciously angry that we would use such a mother-centric name. Non-mothers clearly feel like they are losing out on something here. What many people don't seem to understand is the pressures on mothers that brought this space to life.

BrainMeats! Episode 6: Recording Your Brains!!

Submitted by lishevita on Thu, 10/18/2012 - 13:45

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This episode is another talk from CyborgCamp Seattle 2012. This time we hear from Derek Jacoby who tells us about Open EEG and some consumer EEG devices. He talks about security and privacy issues and then talks about how to use these devices as part of the quantified self.

At the point in the talk where Derek moves from the EEG discussion into quantified self territory, we have a short interlude thanks to Spanish musician Stacco Troncoso. The piece is called Sparkly Eyes. You can find more of Troncoso's music at SoundCloud.

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