After a long delay, and then missing their own extended deadline the people in charge of the Conference Workshop I submitted a paper finally got back to me. Sadly, my paper was not accepted. Oh well, less work for me since now I don't have to put together a presentation. Plus, the paper served as a good starting place for my thesis proposal, of which I have a draft written now. So it wasn't all bad.
In other news:
In one week I will be on a plane to London. Sweet. This week will be rather tedious as attempting to concentrate on anything is short lived.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Voting Systems
I just had a fascinating conversation with one of my co-workers. We were discussing what it would take to convince the government and the populace that an Open-Source electronic voting system is the only acceptable solution for electronic voting.
Here were the main points of discussion:
1. Software Security:
Who knows the most about security? Cryptographers. Cryptographers are the most paranoid people you will ever meet, they worry about every possible thing that might go wrong with a security protocol. You know how they design good protocols? They get as many people as possible to submit ideas, then pick a few of the best, and get as many people as possible to review these to look for any problems (This is how the NSA does it). The worst possible thing you could do, and the cardinal sin of Cryptography is to try to build a secret protocol.
Therefore, in order to build a secure voting system, it should be as open to review as possible. The best way to make it open to review is to allow the populace to write it-- Open-Source. You get the work done for free, and with thousands of people reviewing the code you have a very strong assurance that the final product will be secure.
Everyone that works on the code will be afraid of leaving a vulnerability because then someone they don't like might exploit it, so they'll be very careful to make sure it's safe. This design structure coupled with the use of NSA approved, strong cryptographic protocols for information exchange provides a very high level of trust in the system. Much higher than the current garbage being sold by companies like Diebold.
2. Hardware Security:
The hardware itself needs to be secure and trusted. The design of the hardware should be open to review by the populace just as the software is. Once the leading experts in the field are satisfied with the hardware design we can move forward.
3. Operating System Security:
The voting application and the physical machine need to be secure, and so does the operating system mediating between the two. Luckily for us there are Open-Source builds of Linux distributions called SELinux (Security-Enhanced). The NSA has created these distributions and recommends them for people needing the highest possible level of security. The code is still open-source and can be reviewed by anyone using the system.
4. Accounting for Paranoia:
Now, the paranoids of the software security world will bring up the Ken Thompson Compiler Hack. If you have no idea what that is, just ignore this section. To mitigate the possibility of a compiler-inserted backdoor the people creating the software could first use standard compilers that can be expected to be safe. And if that's not enough to satisfy them, they can write their own compiler in some exotic language (to prevent the self-propagation), and use the newly compiled compiler.
5. Paper Backup:
When a person places a vote the system should display their vote on the screen in a simple, unambiguous manner. Then a cash register type tape printer (within a enclosed system) prints off the ballot and the user verifies that the screen matches the printout. The printout is then mechanically detached and dropped into a secured bucket/box. This allows the user to be sure that their ballot was correctly cast both electronically and on paper. If there is ever a question of the validity of the election the paper ballots can be manually counted, and the user has already verified that the ink on the paper showed their vote (No more hanging chad problems). For the uber-paranoid the register tape can print an ink receipt and a pressure paper (canary colored "carbon-copy") which are stapled together and dropped in. This way no tricky disappearing ink thing could work without also tampering with the pressure paper.
When you take all of these things into account you will have an electronic voting system which is extremely secure. Elections could occur more quickly and easily with tallies that are verified by trusted cryptographic protocols, as well as unambiguous, dual paper backups.
This, of course, is not a fully detailed description of a secure voting system. But it is the start of what should be done to move on from the terrible systems currently being used.
Here were the main points of discussion:
1. Software Security:
Who knows the most about security? Cryptographers. Cryptographers are the most paranoid people you will ever meet, they worry about every possible thing that might go wrong with a security protocol. You know how they design good protocols? They get as many people as possible to submit ideas, then pick a few of the best, and get as many people as possible to review these to look for any problems (This is how the NSA does it). The worst possible thing you could do, and the cardinal sin of Cryptography is to try to build a secret protocol.
Therefore, in order to build a secure voting system, it should be as open to review as possible. The best way to make it open to review is to allow the populace to write it-- Open-Source. You get the work done for free, and with thousands of people reviewing the code you have a very strong assurance that the final product will be secure.
Everyone that works on the code will be afraid of leaving a vulnerability because then someone they don't like might exploit it, so they'll be very careful to make sure it's safe. This design structure coupled with the use of NSA approved, strong cryptographic protocols for information exchange provides a very high level of trust in the system. Much higher than the current garbage being sold by companies like Diebold.
2. Hardware Security:
The hardware itself needs to be secure and trusted. The design of the hardware should be open to review by the populace just as the software is. Once the leading experts in the field are satisfied with the hardware design we can move forward.
3. Operating System Security:
The voting application and the physical machine need to be secure, and so does the operating system mediating between the two. Luckily for us there are Open-Source builds of Linux distributions called SELinux (Security-Enhanced). The NSA has created these distributions and recommends them for people needing the highest possible level of security. The code is still open-source and can be reviewed by anyone using the system.
4. Accounting for Paranoia:
Now, the paranoids of the software security world will bring up the Ken Thompson Compiler Hack. If you have no idea what that is, just ignore this section. To mitigate the possibility of a compiler-inserted backdoor the people creating the software could first use standard compilers that can be expected to be safe. And if that's not enough to satisfy them, they can write their own compiler in some exotic language (to prevent the self-propagation), and use the newly compiled compiler.
5. Paper Backup:
When a person places a vote the system should display their vote on the screen in a simple, unambiguous manner. Then a cash register type tape printer (within a enclosed system) prints off the ballot and the user verifies that the screen matches the printout. The printout is then mechanically detached and dropped into a secured bucket/box. This allows the user to be sure that their ballot was correctly cast both electronically and on paper. If there is ever a question of the validity of the election the paper ballots can be manually counted, and the user has already verified that the ink on the paper showed their vote (No more hanging chad problems). For the uber-paranoid the register tape can print an ink receipt and a pressure paper (canary colored "carbon-copy") which are stapled together and dropped in. This way no tricky disappearing ink thing could work without also tampering with the pressure paper.
When you take all of these things into account you will have an electronic voting system which is extremely secure. Elections could occur more quickly and easily with tallies that are verified by trusted cryptographic protocols, as well as unambiguous, dual paper backups.
This, of course, is not a fully detailed description of a secure voting system. But it is the start of what should be done to move on from the terrible systems currently being used.
Monday, April 14, 2008
Something to write about
I haven't updated in a while, so I've been trying to come up with something to write about. So far I have been unsuccessful, so I'll just write about being unable to come up with anything to write about.
I'm not really in the mood to rant about anything-- I'm trying to avoid getting riled up about the nonsense that's going on.
I'm feeling pretty good about today's weather though. I even decided to wear shorts today. Too bad it will be cold again tomorrow, lamers.
In one more week I will learn if my paper was accepted to the Conference Workshop I submitted to.
I discovered over the past week that my savings are disappearing much more quickly than I can sustain, so I'm making a vow to cut down spending as much as possible. Which will be difficult since I'll be going to Europe in [checks] 3 weeks. In anticipation of which I applied for a Capital One credit card, which has no interest until September, and charges no foreign transaction fee. Which is important because the majority of other credit card companies will charge you 3% on each foreign transaction you make, but you should use a credit card because the giant companies get a much better exchange rate than you ever could alone.
After I take a test in an hour and a half I will only have two finals standing between me and freedom; I'm excited.
I'm not really in the mood to rant about anything-- I'm trying to avoid getting riled up about the nonsense that's going on.
I'm feeling pretty good about today's weather though. I even decided to wear shorts today. Too bad it will be cold again tomorrow, lamers.
In one more week I will learn if my paper was accepted to the Conference Workshop I submitted to.
I discovered over the past week that my savings are disappearing much more quickly than I can sustain, so I'm making a vow to cut down spending as much as possible. Which will be difficult since I'll be going to Europe in [checks] 3 weeks. In anticipation of which I applied for a Capital One credit card, which has no interest until September, and charges no foreign transaction fee. Which is important because the majority of other credit card companies will charge you 3% on each foreign transaction you make, but you should use a credit card because the giant companies get a much better exchange rate than you ever could alone.
After I take a test in an hour and a half I will only have two finals standing between me and freedom; I'm excited.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
The Olympics - A Rant
I've had this post sitting in my drafts for a while now, but have been busy and other things kept coming up to write about. But now I have a CNN article to reference to make me all the more annoyed.
I grew up with the naive, idealistic view that the Olympic Games were about countries setting aside their differences to meet in friendly competition every 4 years. It just seemed like such a nice idea, "We don't like you, but let's have a little fun anyways." I was annoyed to grow up to discover that, like everything else, even the Olympics were tainted with whiny, lying, corrupt politicians and their political nonsense.
CNN is running an article which talks about how 15 members of the House of Representatives are "urging" President Bush to not attend the Olympic games as a protest against their human rights violations involving Tibet. First, such an action would be one of the most blatant international episodes of the pot calling the kettle black that I've seen in a long time. Aside from that it just seems so childish: "I'm not going to talk to you unless you do what I say."
I hate how whenever I read about something involving politics and politicians I feel like I'm right back in 7th grade and my classmates are fighting about who gets to be President of Student Council. It's a big, pointless, waste-of-life popularity contest, where all the contestants have resorted to digging up as much dirt about the others as possible. They greet you with a smile and shake your hand while selling you out to the corporation that writes the biggest checks.
I am a huge advocate of transparent government. Guess what elected officials, you're there to serve me. That's what the term "civil servant" is referring to, not that we serve you. As an elected or aspiring elected official you should give up certain rights in order to protect ours. You should be required to disclose all of your assets to the public. Maybe you should have all of your phones wiretapped by the same invasive laws you pass, and all of your conversations should be made public. Perhaps then you'll begin to understand why we don't like these laws. Maybe if your kid was dying in some hole of a country because of the lies you told you wouldn't be so quick to start a war by spouting those lies. Perhaps if we had a system like those of old where the leader led the army in conflict you wouldn't be so willing to invade foreign nations.
Sit up and listen America. The government exists to serve you. They should be doing what you want, not what some big company that knows how to bribe wants them to do. They shouldn't be exempted from the very laws they pass, they should be the first ones affected by them, so that they know what it is they're doing to this country.
If they're going to change the food-stamp program, they should try to live off of it for a month and see how the feel about it first. If they're going to start a war, they should go fight in it. If they're going to increase the length of patents for medical drug companies, they should see what that does to the people that can't afford the price of the prescription drugs they need for a drug that was created 12 years ago.
Stop being whiny, teenagers and start being adults. I'm sick and tired of politicians acting like they're in middle school.
Go to the Olympics and have fun, that's the whole point.
I grew up with the naive, idealistic view that the Olympic Games were about countries setting aside their differences to meet in friendly competition every 4 years. It just seemed like such a nice idea, "We don't like you, but let's have a little fun anyways." I was annoyed to grow up to discover that, like everything else, even the Olympics were tainted with whiny, lying, corrupt politicians and their political nonsense.
CNN is running an article which talks about how 15 members of the House of Representatives are "urging" President Bush to not attend the Olympic games as a protest against their human rights violations involving Tibet. First, such an action would be one of the most blatant international episodes of the pot calling the kettle black that I've seen in a long time. Aside from that it just seems so childish: "I'm not going to talk to you unless you do what I say."
I hate how whenever I read about something involving politics and politicians I feel like I'm right back in 7th grade and my classmates are fighting about who gets to be President of Student Council. It's a big, pointless, waste-of-life popularity contest, where all the contestants have resorted to digging up as much dirt about the others as possible. They greet you with a smile and shake your hand while selling you out to the corporation that writes the biggest checks.
I am a huge advocate of transparent government. Guess what elected officials, you're there to serve me. That's what the term "civil servant" is referring to, not that we serve you. As an elected or aspiring elected official you should give up certain rights in order to protect ours. You should be required to disclose all of your assets to the public. Maybe you should have all of your phones wiretapped by the same invasive laws you pass, and all of your conversations should be made public. Perhaps then you'll begin to understand why we don't like these laws. Maybe if your kid was dying in some hole of a country because of the lies you told you wouldn't be so quick to start a war by spouting those lies. Perhaps if we had a system like those of old where the leader led the army in conflict you wouldn't be so willing to invade foreign nations.
Sit up and listen America. The government exists to serve you. They should be doing what you want, not what some big company that knows how to bribe wants them to do. They shouldn't be exempted from the very laws they pass, they should be the first ones affected by them, so that they know what it is they're doing to this country.
If they're going to change the food-stamp program, they should try to live off of it for a month and see how the feel about it first. If they're going to start a war, they should go fight in it. If they're going to increase the length of patents for medical drug companies, they should see what that does to the people that can't afford the price of the prescription drugs they need for a drug that was created 12 years ago.
Stop being whiny, teenagers and start being adults. I'm sick and tired of politicians acting like they're in middle school.
Go to the Olympics and have fun, that's the whole point.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Burger King: Failed
On the way to Video Games Live on Saturday we swung through the Burger King drive-thru. Not because we particularly like Burger King, but we were hungry and the line at Wendy's was too long, and there was no line at Burger King. Now we both knew there were reasons that we don't eat Burger King, but we apparently needed those reasons re-iterated to us. Having not been there in a very long time we ask what is on the "Rodeo Burger", and then, not liking the description, decide to order a couple of Whopper Jr's. But, BK doesn't seem to care about getting your order right, and didn't read it back to us, and we instead ended up with two rodeo burgers.
Also, I had ordered a soda, but we also wanted a cup of water. We pull up to the window to pay / get our food, and I ask, "Could we also get a cup of water?" and the employee hands me my soda and with a completely straight face says, "We're out of water cups." and then turns around and walks off. Basically my brain hiccuped upon that response because it made so little sense. For those that know anything about computer processors my brain had begun computing the next train of thought assuming the answer would be, "ok". When that was not the case, I had to start the entire pipeline over again.
Apparently the robot employee handbook says something along the lines of, "Thou Shalt not serve water in a soda cup!" Logic likely being that many cheap, high-school and college students will ask for water, and then fill up with soda. This is easily detected when a clear water cup is full of a colorful and bubbly liquid. However, being in the drive-thru, and already having ordered one soda it seems unlikely that I would have driven around the building, parked, and walked inside to dump out the water and steal 8 cents worth of soda. I'm sure to the mindless drone employee this entire thought process would have taken at least an hour, so there was no hope of convincing them to give us water.
And thus we were made aware again of why we don't eat at Burger King.
Also, I had ordered a soda, but we also wanted a cup of water. We pull up to the window to pay / get our food, and I ask, "Could we also get a cup of water?" and the employee hands me my soda and with a completely straight face says, "We're out of water cups." and then turns around and walks off. Basically my brain hiccuped upon that response because it made so little sense. For those that know anything about computer processors my brain had begun computing the next train of thought assuming the answer would be, "ok". When that was not the case, I had to start the entire pipeline over again.
Apparently the robot employee handbook says something along the lines of, "Thou Shalt not serve water in a soda cup!" Logic likely being that many cheap, high-school and college students will ask for water, and then fill up with soda. This is easily detected when a clear water cup is full of a colorful and bubbly liquid. However, being in the drive-thru, and already having ordered one soda it seems unlikely that I would have driven around the building, parked, and walked inside to dump out the water and steal 8 cents worth of soda. I'm sure to the mindless drone employee this entire thought process would have taken at least an hour, so there was no hope of convincing them to give us water.
And thus we were made aware again of why we don't eat at Burger King.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Utah Symphony: Video Games Live
I went to see the Utah Symphony perform Video Games Live last night at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City. Does that sound like an incredibly nerdy thing to do? Yes, yes it does. But it was awesome, and would have been appreciated by any music lover, even without knowing the video games from which the music came. The entire performance is basically symphonic and choir arrangements of various popular video game music. The arrangements were created by veterans of the business who have won many awards for their incredible scores. Visual presentations accompanied each of the performances.
The evening opened with a quick fly through of the early days of gaming. A game of Pong was shown on the screen and the Symphony provided the bloops and bleeps of the bouncing "ball". It then moved through the more obscure games of the late 70s and 80s. After this opening piece the hosts of the show introduced the evening. I don't remember the exact order, but from there we listened to pieces involving Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor (set to actual footage from WWII), Super Mario Brothers (of course), Kingdom Hearts, Advent Rising, and Halo.
They also had with them the guy from this video playing Super Mario Brothers on the piano blindfolded. He also performed, without the blindfold, an arrangement of Final Fantasy music, as well as more intense SMB music. He was quite incredible.
For the encore they played "One Winged Angel (Sephiroth's Theme)" from Final Fantasy VII, an amazing song. And for a second encore they played the music from Castlevania. I really wish they had played more from Final Fantasy VII, specifically "Aerith's Theme" (Or "Aeris' Theme" depending on which spelling you use, the original US release had her name as Aeris, but the Japanese-English version used Aerith). That piece is incredible, one of my favorites, but alas it was only briefly heard during the piano arrangement mentioned above.
The crowd was more diverse than I had expected. There were a number of older couples there, who I now realize were likely season ticket holders and were probably somewhat unaware what the evening was going to be. There were also a number of girls there upon their own free will (meaning, not with husbands or boyfriends), including the two girls a few seats from me who were really into it the whole time, and I agree with the one in the red dress - they should have played more Final Fantasy music. (P.S. to those girls, you were hot, I'm a little confused as to how you haven't been snapped up by guys yet, hot gamer girls are not a common find.... just sayin'. So if you somehow happen to read this, and were one of the two very attractive girls sitting in the middle of the 2nd row on the 2nd tier for Saturday night's performance, send me an email and we'll talk ;-) Oh, and the married guy in front of me kept looking at your legs, hard to blame him though, the dress with the side slit up to the mid-thigh made it hard to look at anything else.)
Aaaaannyways, I enjoyed the show. I originally heard about these performance when they did their premiere show in 2003, I waited and vigilantly checked the website to hear about their tour, but no information came. Then came summer 2004 and I went home for the summer and forgot about it. I was very glad to hear about this performance from the program handed out at the Peer Gynt performance I went to a number of weeks ago. I had basically been waiting 5 years to see this show. So I'm glad I got to go, it was awesome.
Today, after church, I watched The Return of the King (extended edition, of course). I also cooked some brownies (I've been told my brownies are divine) and ate those with vanilla ice-cream. I haven't watched any LOTR in the past 4-5 months. The music in those films is incredible as well. I'm so glad that Peter Jackson did them justice and produced amazing works that can touch my emotions. Really, those movies are absolutely incredible if you understand the interaction and growth of the characters.
The evening opened with a quick fly through of the early days of gaming. A game of Pong was shown on the screen and the Symphony provided the bloops and bleeps of the bouncing "ball". It then moved through the more obscure games of the late 70s and 80s. After this opening piece the hosts of the show introduced the evening. I don't remember the exact order, but from there we listened to pieces involving Metal Gear Solid, Medal of Honor (set to actual footage from WWII), Super Mario Brothers (of course), Kingdom Hearts, Advent Rising, and Halo.
They also had with them the guy from this video playing Super Mario Brothers on the piano blindfolded. He also performed, without the blindfold, an arrangement of Final Fantasy music, as well as more intense SMB music. He was quite incredible.
For the encore they played "One Winged Angel (Sephiroth's Theme)" from Final Fantasy VII, an amazing song. And for a second encore they played the music from Castlevania. I really wish they had played more from Final Fantasy VII, specifically "Aerith's Theme" (Or "Aeris' Theme" depending on which spelling you use, the original US release had her name as Aeris, but the Japanese-English version used Aerith). That piece is incredible, one of my favorites, but alas it was only briefly heard during the piano arrangement mentioned above.
The crowd was more diverse than I had expected. There were a number of older couples there, who I now realize were likely season ticket holders and were probably somewhat unaware what the evening was going to be. There were also a number of girls there upon their own free will (meaning, not with husbands or boyfriends), including the two girls a few seats from me who were really into it the whole time, and I agree with the one in the red dress - they should have played more Final Fantasy music. (P.S. to those girls, you were hot, I'm a little confused as to how you haven't been snapped up by guys yet, hot gamer girls are not a common find.... just sayin'. So if you somehow happen to read this, and were one of the two very attractive girls sitting in the middle of the 2nd row on the 2nd tier for Saturday night's performance, send me an email and we'll talk ;-) Oh, and the married guy in front of me kept looking at your legs, hard to blame him though, the dress with the side slit up to the mid-thigh made it hard to look at anything else.)
Aaaaannyways, I enjoyed the show. I originally heard about these performance when they did their premiere show in 2003, I waited and vigilantly checked the website to hear about their tour, but no information came. Then came summer 2004 and I went home for the summer and forgot about it. I was very glad to hear about this performance from the program handed out at the Peer Gynt performance I went to a number of weeks ago. I had basically been waiting 5 years to see this show. So I'm glad I got to go, it was awesome.
Today, after church, I watched The Return of the King (extended edition, of course). I also cooked some brownies (I've been told my brownies are divine) and ate those with vanilla ice-cream. I haven't watched any LOTR in the past 4-5 months. The music in those films is incredible as well. I'm so glad that Peter Jackson did them justice and produced amazing works that can touch my emotions. Really, those movies are absolutely incredible if you understand the interaction and growth of the characters.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Book Tag
I was tagged by Alishka so here goes:
Because I'm sitting at work the closest book to me right now is kind of a toss up. Under one monitor there is JCIS 2003 Proceedings, under the other is QwestDex Provo/Orem area phone book, but because those are currently being used to raise my monitors up to eye-level, I'm going to say they don't count. So we'll move over to the stack of books on my right. On top is "Secrets & Lies"
by Bruce Schneier, so I guess it wins. 2nd place goes to "Network Security Essentials" by Stallings, and 3rd place is "Digital Image Processing" by Gonzalez and Wood. Anwyays:
Page 123 sentence 5 reads:
Here are the rules:
If you've been tagged:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.
The 5 people I tag are as follows:
1. Olympus
2. Krishna
3. Lavish
4. Uffish Thought
5. Yellow
Because I'm sitting at work the closest book to me right now is kind of a toss up. Under one monitor there is JCIS 2003 Proceedings, under the other is QwestDex Provo/Orem area phone book, but because those are currently being used to raise my monitors up to eye-level, I'm going to say they don't count. So we'll move over to the stack of books on my right. On top is "Secrets & Lies"
by Bruce Schneier, so I guess it wins. 2nd place goes to "Network Security Essentials" by Stallings, and 3rd place is "Digital Image Processing" by Gonzalez and Wood. Anwyays:
Page 123 sentence 5 reads:
It's a hard problem to solve in a large building--locks on outside doors and inside offices and keys given to specific people, badges worn by everyone and guards to check the badges, and so forth--and it's a hard problem to solve on a computer system.
Here are the rules:
If you've been tagged:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.
The 5 people I tag are as follows:
1. Olympus
2. Krishna
3. Lavish
4. Uffish Thought
5. Yellow
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