Monthly Archives: March 2009

More on the Joys of Weak Passphrases

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Emergent Chaos: This Data Will Self-Destruct in 5 Seconds is a fine chaser to Pentagon Media Strategy Document Decrypted Due to Weak Passphrase.

Posted in Cryptography | Comments Off on More on the Joys of Weak Passphrases

99 Things

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Thanks to Dan Burk, Greg Rutter's Definitive List of The 99 Things You Should Have Already Experienced On The Internet Unless You're a Loser or Old or Something.

I'm guessing from the titles that I've seen maybe a quarter of them. I guess I'm something, huh?

Posted in Internet | 2 Comments

We’d Like to Know

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

Emptywheel asks, Who Watched the Torture Tapes?

And since the CIA now admits it destroyed scads of them, that's the question to ask.

Posted in Torture | 1 Comment

Pentagon Media Strategy Document Decrypted Due to Weak Passphrase

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

RISKS Digest, Wikileaks cracks key NATO document on Afghan war

Wikileaks has cracked the encryption a key NATO document relating to the war in Afghanistan. The document, titled “NATO in Afghanistan: Master Narrative”, details the key facts and themes NATO representatives are to give—and to avoid giving—to the world press.

Among the revelations … is Jordan's presence as secret member of the US lead occupation force.

…

The password is “progress”, which perhaps reflects the Pentagon's desire to stay on-message, even to itself.

Wikileaks identified four other documents on the Pentagon web site with the same password.

Remember: strong crypto isn't much use if you have a weak passphrase.

Posted in Cryptography, National Security | Comments Off on Pentagon Media Strategy Document Decrypted Due to Weak Passphrase

Crickets Chirping

Posted on March 2, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

crickets.jpgI'm hearing crickets chirping.

“Crickets Chirping” is sort of bloggers' cliche: it's often used to mean a silence so deep on some issue (where there should be noise) that one can hear the crickets. But since Sunday afternoon I'm really hearing real crickets chirping — two transparent bags of them fresh from the pet store. They're going into school with one of the kids tomorrowtoday to feed the science teacher's bearded dragon. And meanwhile, they're loud.

(The picture is nothing like what the bags look like. I just liked the picture.)

Posted in Personal | 1 Comment

Beer. Pogo Stick. Trampoline. Hospital Visit.

Posted on March 1, 2009 by Michael Froomkin

I love these Six Word Stories, many by science fiction writers.

(The story I stole for a title is by LeRoy A Warner Jr., who may or may not be an actor.)

But this one is evil.

The concept is inspired by this Hemingway story,

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

Posted in Readings | 4 Comments