My Thoughts on Cliff Stoll's The Cuckoo's Egg

A world without cyber espionage would be incredibly dull. At least this is what reading The Cukoo’s Egg made me think. Unfortunately I have never actually tracked down a cyber-terrorist. I am, however, aware that cyber-crime happens frequently enough to merit my caution in setting passwords on my own sensitive documents and securing my internet connections. In the current era of internet usage many more people are aware of internet crime and safety than were aware of those things during the 60’s or 70’s. This is a good thing as tools have been developed to make hacking super easy. A script kiddie is a person who does not possess the skills or doesn't use them to do their hacking, but uses a pre written program to do the job. The hacker in The Cukoo’s Egg was very much an expert in hacking and with computers in general. I believe that today we are in the dark as to how easy it is to find security vulnerabilities in software. For example, lately, many video games which have been coming out have a modified or cracked version which is distributed online with in a day of being released. It is super easy to use a program to jailbreak even proprietary hardware such as the IPhone. 

One of my favorite parts in The Cukoo’s Egg was the fact that Cliff's original career was not in computer science, he was an astronomer. I am pretty sure astronomy majors are not required to learn too much computer programming to get a degree today. At the same time I do know of a few individuals who are graduating with degrees other than computer science and are currently working in meaningful programming positions. I believe in the near future most careers will demand at least a proficient skill level in some sort of programming; even high schools are starting to incorporate programming into their curriculum. If it is not for the abilities that people should be educated in computer programming it is for the knowledge of how programs work. It would be pretty scary to have an office full of ignorant people downloading whatever software from the internet, and unknowingly compromising a secured network where a company stores and communicates its trade secrets.  The world is fast becoming subservient to the internet, relying on a search engine or database query to get information quickly; if we are not educated about the way technology we use works, we will not be a valuable asset in the workforce. 
  

One word continually came up throughout the plot, bailiwick. Bailiwick by the dictionary means: “One’s sphere of operations or particular area of interest.” It is seems incredible that the FBI was not even willing to look into this case of cyber espionage. They were so unconcerned with a cyber-crime that they told Cliff: unless there were millions of dollars missing or someone was being injured they would not take the case. Many other people said that they couldn't help out in any meaningful way, however they were very interested in the outcome of the hunt. Today we have many new technologies which are being used for various activities which are in the legal gray area. For example drones in the last couple of years have become such a reality that the FAA has had to make, and are still refining, new regulations concerning the use of un-manned air craft. Amazon has been experimenting with a drone package delivery systems which could be revolutionary to the delivery system as we know it. What is the legality of it? Should it be regulated? Whose bailiwick is it to decide?

It was very fun to read about the history of my career field. While reading I came across Cliff’s discovery of Object Oriented Programming, the battle of unix systems, and first generation software applications such as GNU-emacs. I very much appreciated being able to know how a programmer thought about and worked with the technology I have only heard of from older programmers. It was very much like reading a history book about the civil war or the roaring 20’s. Much like we read history books so that we learn from others mistakes, we should treat The Cukoo’s Egg with a similar mindset and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. 

Geneology via DNA Testing

Recently in the United Kingdom nationhood has been a hot topic, especially in the area of Wales. An article by the BBC cites a study called the CYMRU DNA project which is asking the citizens of Wales with certain last names to take DNA tests which will help create an ancestral profile of the people of Wales. The project is hoped to shed light on the true origins of the Welsh community. The testing is done through a process of DNA analysis from an individual’s saliva specimen.  I think this is a great example of the secular benefit of knowing your family’s history. As technology advances it affects how we think of our families and who is a part of our family tree. The Welsh are trying to put together a history of their nation using the latest known technology in human relationship analysis. It will be interesting to see how accurate these tests turn out to be and what significant data they uncover about their population.

Here are two recent articles which talk about the Cymru project:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-29340077

http://www.green-bay.tv/news/2014/09/26/cymru-dna-wales-project-set-to-rewrite-welsh-history/

Prospective of the Son of a Genealogy Enthusiast

As a young man I can remember my mother pouring over census records printouts which she got from a long distance pen pal with whom she corroborated her genealogical studies. Sometimes I would be dragged down to the library to accompany her in her search through public records on microfilm. I can remember when I first learned about email and how it worked; this is because it was when my mother first started using email to connect with many more of those long distance corroborators. Then came the clunky software “Ancestral File” which was a database full of previously indexed records which came from microfilm and the likes from all over the world. I remember participating in an Eagle Scout service project in which we spent hours taking down names and dates on tombstones and then entering these vital bits of information into an online database. I have watched my mother in every phase of her genealogical revolution and the work to be done becomes easier and easier as technology advances. FamilySearch.org provides a wonderful service which is a culmination of these genealogical and technological advancements. It is hard to think of a way that one could say these advancements have a negative side. Perhaps only because of the lost opportunities to create memories spending hours in the dark corners of the library or in a cemetery looking for your ancestral links.

Hyperlapse

Technology is constantly changing the way we think. This is because technology is constantly changing. Typically our Instagram feed is full of pictures of our friend’s dinner last night, everyone and their dog’s #ALSIceBuckeChallenge or inevitably our little sister’s selfies. Recently there has been a simple addition to the social media sharing landscape. “High Definition Time-lapse Video” dubbed “Hyperlape” is a new app created by Instagram which allows the user to take a video and edit the playback speed. The app then cuts up the images and splices them into a time-lapse like video. The app’s user interface is super simple, only having a record button and a slider indicating the playback speed; however the backend is very complex in how it uses the gyroscope to detect unwanted movements and cuts down on unwanted user shaking. This in turn creates a simple and smooth time-lapse video which you will most likely be seeing around social media more and more often. The next time you want to give someone a tour of your new apartment or something similar, you may turn to Instagram’s “Hyperlapse” app to create a fun and high quality video. Where as in the past you would have actually had to invite your friends over for a nice social dinner, “What a pain!”

For more on hyperlapse check out this article: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/29/on-instagrams-hyperlapse-and-fast-forwarding-to-the-future/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Revolutionary Key Duplication Process Unlocks Previously Locked Doors

Our society is constantly creating newer and faster ways of getting things done. For example, Amazon.com made shopping for specialty items just as easy as reading the news. Reading the news, for that matter, is as easy as opening an app on your phone and thumbing across interesting titles. Ironically, as I was doing just that, I found a news article from Today.com which reports a new technology allowing you to easily duplicate a key. The process is simple: take a clear picture of a key, upload it to keysduplicated.com, pay 6$ with a valid credit card, and they will ship you an exact duplicate of your key. When the idea is phrased like that, it seems like a very positive revolution in the key duplication process and you might now be thinking, “Gee, this is great! I've been wanting a spare house key to keep at the neighbors in case of an emergency.” However, if you read the article titled “New Technology CouldGive Thieves Key to Your Door, Literally”, written by Jeff Rossen at Today.com, your eyes may be opened to a very scary danger that this “revolutionary new technology” may pose. This is yet another great example of a cool new technology that some may view as revolutionary and others, a great mistake. Regardless of which you think it is, in the near future you may find yourself hiding your keys just as naturally as your credit cards or your driver’s license. 

Posted by Andrew Hyte.

The Google Effect

What are actor's names  of the four main characters in the hit 90's TV series "Seinfeld"? Are you an avid fan and know the answer to this trivia fact? Or is the first thing that comes to your mind IMDB? Humans are increasingly developing a more 'transactive memory'. This means instead of recalling a fact or answer from memory, we recall where to find this information. Many people have begun to dub this memory shift to a more transactive memory "The Google Effect." This is because a search on Google.com has become the easiest way to access information. The internet has become a human external storage system. The question is, how is the constant accessibility to information detrimental to society? Maybe this shift to a more transactive human memory is the answer. If we know where to find information it may become harder for us to actually remember a phone number, a fact, or a name. Goodness knows that our parents have a hard enough time remembering which of their children is named what. Just imagine our future generations trying to call 'Randy... er Paul... Andrew' to the dinner table.