Category Archives: Security

Poetry, Security

Hidden meanings and domain abuse

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Phishing domain names are terribly annoying. Aside from the obvious problems with people playing with the vulnerability of fonts (e.g. “O” and “0”) or taking advantage of common misspellings, there is also the issue of Unicode translations, etc.. A simple domain name can sometimes require a great deal of thought to make sure it is less susceptible to hijacking or abuse. However, the risks are not always from the outside. With that in mind, see if you can find the hidden meanings in these real domain names:

Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their web site is:
https://www.whorepresents.com

Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at:
https://www.expertsexchange.com

Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at:
https://www.penisland.net

Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at:
https://www.therapistfinder.com

There’s the Italian Power Generator company:
https://www.powergenitalia.com

And don’t forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales:
https://www.molestationnursery.com

If you’re looking for IP computer software, there’s always:
https://www.ipanywhere.com

The First Cumming Methodist Church web site is:
https://www.cummingfirst.com

And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky web site:
https://www.speedofart.com

Yes, they really are real. Snopes even confirms the marketing site for an Italian company, although the site is now “under construction”:

The powergenitalia.com domain apparently hosts the web site of a real Italian company (Powergen Italia) which sells specialized battery products.

Guerrilla marketing, accident, or intentional joke? You be the judge.

And this just had to be filed under poetry, because my guess is that if the domain owners had read/written more poetry they would have been far more immune to this kind of risk…

Energy, Security

Algeria establishes oil windfall tax

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While California debates Proposition 87, and whether oil companies should be taxed at all, Algeria has decided to place a tax on excessive profits:

From early 2007, profits accrued by firms when prices are above $30 a barrel will be taxed at between 5% and 50% depending on total output.

The tax will apply to existing production agreements between the state oil firm and private operators as well as those signed in the future.

In addition, it will be mandatory for Sonatrach to be involved in all future energy development projects and it will be entitled to a 51% stake in production and refining contracts with foreign firms.

“This will have a positive effect on future generation,” Chakib Khelil, Algeria’s energy minister, said of the measures.

“It is a gain for the public good as that will reinforce the state’s role in monitoring the sector.”

The article does not say whether any of the money from the taxes will be used to counter-act the harmful effects of petroleum waste and pollution.

History, Security

Militant turned peacemaker

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Interesting story of a man who left his violent and prejudiced upbringing to settle down and develop peaceful roots:

“My whole dream was to die as a shaheed [martyr]. At demonstrations I would open my shirt hoping to be shot – but the Israelis would never shoot at the body, so I never succeeded,” he said.

One day, in the middle of a riot, Walid was part of a group which snatched an Israeli soldier who was trying to quell the violence.

They beat him senseless and tried to lynch him, before he was rescued by troops and the group fled.

“We ran to a monastery where the nuns protected us – even they hated the Jews!”

Walid was eventually caught and imprisoned in the Muscovite Prison in Jerusalem, but was released after a few weeks.

He returned to violence straight away, bombing an Israeli bank in Bethlehem.

The story credits a visit to the US, higher education, and falling in love with a non-militant woman of a different faith as his path to redemption.

“I chose to speak out because I was a victim, as a child I was a victim of this horror. Now I see other victims, millions of them, kids.

“I was taught songs about killing Jews. You need to get rid of the education system where they are teaching this type of thing and get rid of the terrorist groups. It will take a generation, but until then, there’s not going to be peace, it doesn’t matter what kind of land settlement you have.”

A militant-turned-peacemaker, Walid wants to meet the Israel soldier he tried to kill almost 30 years ago.

His voice cracking with emotion, Walid said he would offer the soldier his hand and say to him: “‘Please understand, we were just children, brainwashed to kill you, to hate you.’ I would seek his forgiveness.”

With regard to the TTB fallacy from a few days ago, this illustrates why a universal definition of “grave moral consequences” is so hard to pin down if you try and account for people who carry deep prejudice in their heart. Remove the prejudice and it becomes much easier to see genuine threats to common values of humanity.

Poetry, Security

Poet wins lawsuit against FCC censorship

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According to the pridesource site, Wharton is hosting the decorated poet Sarah Jones:

She also received an NYCLU Calloway Award in recognition of Jones as the first artist in history to sue the Federal Communications Commission for censorship. The lawsuit resulted in reversal of the censorship ruling that had targeted her hip-hop poem recording, “Your Revolution.”

A regular uncensored guest on public radio, she has also made numerous TV appearances on HBO, NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, CNN, and in her own special, “The Sarah Jones Show,” on Bravo.

Event details are here.

The group that helped Jones fight against the FCC has provided a description of the lawsuit:

The work entitled “Your Revolution” is a protest against the degrading treatment of women in popular culture.

The lawsuit filed in federal court in New York challenges the FCC’s indecency determination for focusing on sexual terms in the work without any acknowledgment that their context is a critique of the frequently offensive treatment of women in popular hip hop music. The FCC filed a motion to dismiss arguing that the artist can not challenge the agency’s determination in federal court.

[…]

While pleased that the FCC recognized the error of its ways, we remain concerned about FCC “indecency” procedures and the harm that can be done to artists like Sarah Jones, and will continue to work on the issue.