Many people I’ve spoken to seem to think that they don’t have anything to hide, and as long as the government isn’t listening in on the actual phone conversations, then they’re fine with it. As you might guess, I’m not. This slide from 30th Chaos Communication Congress (30C3) hits the head on the nail.

I honestly don’t understand why this wasn’t more publicized. It is great news! UN votes to protect privacy in digital age (from Associated Press)

Fantastic! Only real good news about this whole NSA scandal I’ve heard in a long time.

So, James Clapper, US Director of national Intelligence, lies to Congress. First he calls the lie the “least untruthful” answer he could publicly provide, and then cites a momentary memory failure. Seven congressmen take issue with James Clapper’s testimony, but Obama administration unlikely to turn against director.

See: Republicans demand consequences for ‘willful lie’ by intelligence chief | World news | theguardian.com

Let me recap: James Clapper, a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force (you’d think he knows right from wrong, truth from lie), lies under oath to US Congress and it is not likely to have any consequences for him.

Two news items from this week have me quite uneasy.

The NSA is basically listening in on every US citizen. For the sake of argument, let me assume that they get everything. So far I don’t think we’re quite there yet here in Denmark.

Data held by the Danish police has been hacked. We’re not sure exactly what the hackers have had access to, but we do know they’ve had at least read+write access to all driver’s license data and read access to the Schengen Information System, a large European database on police and judicial co-operation. They’ve been lurking around in there undetected for 6 months. Do you believe that is all they’ve had access to? In 2011 Pentagon Admitted 24,000 Files Were Hacked too.

The other day, I was cooking, and it was time to set the table.

Suddenly I found myself standing in the storage/utility room. And I had no idea why I was there. “Peter, you need to set the table! Get back on track!” - I told myself.

So I went back into the kitchen. Looked at the table: What was missing? Ah, drinks. OK, glasses, plastic cup for my daughter, pitcher of water - check. “Hey, I’d like a Coke”, so I opened the fridge. No Cokes. Should probably put some in the fridge for next time I want a Coke. I went to the utility room, and suddenly it hit me: That is what I was doing in the storage room! Getting Cokes for the fridge!

I love watches.

Being a techie, I really can’t accept a watch that isn’t accurate. The accuracy of a quartz-crystal based watch is the minimum. I wish I could get a Rolex, Omega or other really nice looking watch, but I just can’t accept the accuracy I’ll get from a watch like that. So all the beautiful Swiss watches are out for me. But there are alternatives:

I’m currently taking a Cryptology course at Stanford University via Coursera. It came recommended by Bruce Schneier on Security: Free Cryptography Class, and I find it a great way to expand my knowledge. I really appreciate the level. Just enough for it to be challenging and stimulating, but also not too hard or too much work, so I can still fit it in with family and work.

And in addition, the courses are free!

So now here in Copenhagen, apparently traffic experts are suggesting that instead of a congestion charge similar to London’s, in the future we should have a GPS receiver in our cars that transmits our position continuously to the tax authorities. And I’m sure that somebody (who won’t be re-elected and who therefore can’t be held accountable) will declare that this is for the sole purpose of Congestion Charging. And it wouldn’t surprise me if it becomes the law.

I’ve written before about how to access SNMP agents (or other TCP or UDP services) in a network when you only have SSH access. Running a SSH VPN and then running IP Masquerading (NAT) in the remote end is the solution for me so far. Here is how it is done.

I’d like to recommend an Android App for seeing the Sun’s path in Augmented Reality (AR): Sun Surveyor. There is also Sun Seeker for iPhone/iOS, which I haven’t tried since I don’t have an iPhone.

We’re out looking for a house to buy, and for me getting the afternoon and evening sun on the terrace during summer is so incredibly important. This way, I don’t have to take the real-estate agent’s word for where the sun goes down in the summer and whether the trees will create shade on the terrace. I can check it myself. Über-cool!