US Presidential conversations tapped?

I was reading an article in the BBC news website when I came across the following statement: 

"Nothing in a SCIF is allowed to operate on a remote control because that's a frequency that can be tapped," he says. "Much of what is distributed is done on fibre, not copper as fibre as yet can't be hacked into."

The SCIF is a secure tent used by the President of the United States to take confidential phone calls/conferences  when he on tour somewhere. They are designed to prevent eavesdropping of the confidential information. However the follow up statement that Fibre cannot be hacked into is total rot. It is in fact very easy. strip back the insulation covering the fibre, bend it in a radius of about 2 cm and attach a laser sensor. Bob's your uncle, you can read the data traffic as if you are plugged in to the fibre. I've see this done live at a security demonstration.

Hopefully any such communication to the SCIF via copper or fibre will be end-to-end encrypted  to defeat any such line tapping.

Alaric

The great US$ pricing rip off

One of the great features of the Internet is it's truly global nature. A business can offer services without having to worry about geographic constraints. The electronic delivery cost are the same if you are Texas USA or Almaty in Kazakhstan. Coupled with credit card payment your company can have a global presence for no additional cost. For electronically delivered products you no longer have to worry about overseas shipping or warehouse costs.

It is regretful to see some  companies attempt to take advantage of this Internet opportunity by giving differential pricing depending on your location. One example of this is a company called Brighttalk.com who provide hosting of online webinars and web presentations. They target the business world around the globe. However if you are located in the UK they attempt to charge you 149 British Pounds a month for their basic subscription. If you are based in the USA, their fee is 149 US Dollars per month. On today's rate of exchange they are charging UK customers 162% of the USA price. There is no excuse for this type of price gouging.

Brighttalk use a technique called IP Address Geolocation to identify where you are based. If you are based in the USA your web browser will be show a price in USD; if you are located in the UK your web browser will show a price in GBP.  The geolocation technique detects the Internet IP address assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to your business. There are central lists of the location of the IP addresses assigned to ISPs. Those lists are used to translate  into an approximate geographic location for your business. Unfortunately for them there are techniques which allow people to change the "geographic location" of the client PC; so we can see the differential pricing. They also embed location details in "cookies" stored on your PC by them when you access their website.

Of course Brighttalk are not alone, there are USA based software companies like Adobe conduct similar inexcusable price gouging on software downloads.

The company I provide consultancy services to has a programme of video webcasts for its marketing and educational services delivered by the Internet. Needless to say we will not be using Brighttalk. That company has been blacklisted by us for its I-gouging practices. We are not the only people upset by Brighttalk.

Alaric

Councils attack Scouts

Under the the need to save public money Local Authorities in the UK have cut libraries. In some areas they've halved the number of branch libraries. These "savings" are disproportionate and politically motivated cuts aimed to punish the Coalition Government for reining in the excessive expenditure of  the Local Authorities. 

The reason for the national government cuts are because the the previous Labour Government was massively overspending while at the same time failed to regulate UK banks. They have left the country with massive debts and equally massive additional interest payments on the debt.

Now the local authorities are attacking voluntary organisations such as the Scouts Association by massively increasing the rents paid by scout groups for the "rental" of public rooms and halls. The Local Authorities know such fees will attract wide public concern. I do not need to provide any explanation of the useful social function provided by the volunteer charity organisation called the Scout Association. It is again a politically motivated decision.

At the same time we hear of over 2000 local authority employees paid more than £100,000 a year. Before increasing the fees to charities local authorities should be looking closer to home and cutting the excessive salaries of their own bloated bureaucrats. There were massive increases in Council Taxes over the past 10 years, way above the rate of inflation. What have they done with all of that money other than been profligate?

Alaric

Thinking of a USA holiday?

If you go to the USA for a holiday think twice about using an ATM to get cash US dollars. The banks out there are looking to charge $5 a withdrawal. That is on top of any charge by your domestic bank for a foreign currency transaction. Now that is what I call price gouging by overpaid Banking executives.

The banks introduced ATM as a cost saving. It meant they could reduce the level of tellers at the bank counter. It now looks like they are now pushing the service as a revenue stream.

I like visiting the USA, but this type of price gouging coupled with the "reception" at immigration where you are fingerprinted like a common criminal does rather push the country down the level of attractiveness.

Alaric

Yodel with delight

I have had an unexpected additional day/night in Geneva. I knew that would happen as soon as I approached their telecomms room. The dead table on the floor indicates the great care they bestow on their room. The ancient dusty ceiling tiles are another hint. This is just an initial glance of the greater horrors I saw later.

Their comms room

It contrasts a lot with the hotel room they booked me into for my stay. I hate to say it but if they spent the same money on their technology rooms I wouldn't have to be paying them a visit.

Hotel room

I'm surprised the normally so efficient Swiss workers allow this to happen, but life is full of surprises. Most of the stuff is fairly cosmetic and can be tidied with a few day's work. Their CEO was astonished when I took him through the obvious security errors in their set up.

Alaric

Your wireless microphone will be banned

Amazing what odd snippets of information you come across while travelling. Apparently in the UK many of the wireless microphones will be banned in 2012. The radio frequency they use is being/has been sold off by Ofcom.

Searching on Google soon finds references to the issue. Here's one.

Channel 69 will be permitted in London in 2012  during the Olympic Games.

Alaric

Credit card Government - we are now seeing the bill

The previous UK government made great use of a form of credit card spending called Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) to build hospitals and schools. The loved this method because it "hides" the actual committed expenditure from the normal measures of government debt/expenditure.  The idea is to get private investment in return for agreeing to lease back the building/facility for a long time from the private company. These deals can last forty or fifty years. A good idea except that the actual long term costs are enormous. 

Now the National Health Service is  reaping the wind as a consequence. A BBC report gives just one example of this in a Hampshire hospital. The hospital was rebuilt using PFI. Now the local Health Trust cannot afford the charges from the PFI private company and wards are being closed. This happening throughout the country. Front-line clinical staff, nurses and doctors are losing their jobs as a consequence.

When the PFI contracts are set up the private companies borrow the money to finance the project (it doesn't appear on the government books). The cost of the loan is then charged back to the local Health Trust, plus any administration costs involved in providing the service. Unfortunately the contracts normally give the PFI company exclusive rights to provide the accommodation services for the long duration of the PFI contract. There are literally no limits to the charges levied.  It gives rise to light bulbs that cost £85 when replaced by the PFI contractor. The private companies (and Banks) make an absolute killing on this racket. 

One other trick is the PFI companies refinance the original loan at a lower interest rate than the original loan. They then pocket the difference in interest rate payments with no sharing with the NHS or tax payers.

We have burdened the next generation with enormous costs because the previous government was not honest about its true expenditure requirement. It would have been far cheaper if the government had borrowed the money themselves. The politicians who allowed this to happen despite warnings will retire on fat pensions funded by the tax payer. Their will be no penalty for their financial negligence. 

Alaric