Denial | Personal Firewall Rules

Since the occurrences of the last few weeks, my "personal firewall settings" automatically configured to DENY ALL. Essentially reverting to no unwarranted connections with anyone, total severance from anything that could be a risk.

I feel that I simply am in no way ready at all to allow anyone any level of access whatsoever to myself, as it could lead to harm for everyone involved. Quite simply, any idea of "moving anywhere from where I am" feels too fraught with risk to contemplate.

This has lead to the peculiar problem of perception. No person can truly be an island, they must let *someone* be close to them in some way, lest they become completely detached.

Therefore, I figured "Fuck people, I have research, work, and a cat.". Seriously. Who needs people when they have a wonderful fluffy ball of cuteness that will never judge them or let them down, so long as they give it care and attention?

Seems this will not hold for long. I already start seeing myself growing ever more detached from the world away from work and keyboard, and without something, anything, to do, I find myself completely adrift and at a total loss. I already feel myself growing colder and more dead as a person, becoming nothing more than a fucking drone that accepts data and outputs research.

As a knock on effect, this "chilling" effect has in some ways affected my ability to be creative or imaginative in any real way, which leads to my ideas being less "Inventive" and moreso a rehashing of prior art with a slight twist.

To add a complication, I find that I do not want to be an isolated islet in the world, as I realize the quality of life of such an existance is quite frankly, fucking terrible. Yet I cannot see too well outside, the sea be misty as fuck. Visibility is low, and I cannot allow self to act without a proper amount of foresight and planning.

I sit here, looking around and see "people". People I know, people I consider friends. And I find that I simply see them as representations of data, manifestations of the functions in their minds that process input and fire off output at seemingly random times. Complex algorithms that I cannot be bothered solve.

This lack of motivation is having a seriously fucking murderous effect on everything except my work. I go at assignments and research full speed ahead, yet simpler things like socializing feel like a bit of a chore.
Which is probably why I am not interacting with anyone right now, instead being absorbed completely in writing this and listening to some music.

I suppose I will unplug for a while... Allow some inbound access. Maybe to something harmless like the "webserver" or "Chat service"/

The Difference

I rarely, if ever, tell someone to shut the fuck up. I respect the right everyone has to their freedom of speech -  fuck, I might end up inside for fighting for it.

However, there are some fucking exceptional cases. For example, pointless bickering.

Seriously. As much as I encourage healthy debate, and ask everyone to question EVERYTHING, I do have to wonder.

What is the point in arguing over the most pointless non-issues ever? Or making claims you cannot substantiate in the first place? Or making accusations, using them as a weapon, and not bothering to check if they were accurate in the first place?

If you are going to accuse someone of something, or make claims about them, at least make sure your facts are, in fact, FACTS, before opening your fucking mouth.

Bullshitting about people, or spreading lies, only serves to dig you a pretty fucking big hole. And unless you are capable of apologising after, you are, essentially, fucked. That tower of lies you try to build will end up collapsing and fucking BURYING you.

That, is why I tell people to shut the fuck up. If you do not know what you are saying is true, do not bother saying it. Words are pretty damn sharp when wielded correctly, but everything you say is a double edged sword. So take care not to slice your nose off to spite your face.

TL;DR: Unless facts 100% verifiable; STFU.

Pointless Dramatics

So, the last week has seen some absolutely fucking pointless drama. Drama that has been stirring for quite a while, but nontheless is absolutely pointless and is pissing off people, not just myself.

So, I totally understand that humans are humans, and naturally will not get along all the time. As a species, we are fundamentally insane. Lock two of us in a room, and we start figuring out reasons to kill eachother. That's why we invented religion and politics.

Normally people will just comply with the societal norm of STFU and deal with it. Be the bigger person.

However, when one persons absolute dislike of another, despite it being a case of "pot, kettle" per se, is accompanied by their vitriolic hatred and need to expiate the other person from damn near everything, it becomes a problem.

So then it gets complicated. They start trying to involve others in their little drama. At first the others think it is some kind of joke. Perhaps some of the others have a latent dislike of the targeted individual anyway. Within a very short period of time, it becomes something rather unpleasant - an almost religious hatred and discrimination against the individual.

Those who are not swayed to hate, are either targeted immediately for "reeducation", or are treated with some level of hostility. This leads to them getting pissed off with the ridiculousness of the whole situation, and an epic shitload of drama occurring. During which... The cycle repeats.

Now this person is targeted also, however seeing as they were originally an insider, this fragments the group to a degree, to the point where friends feel they must choose sides, and both sides will try convince the general populace (of the group) that they are correct. This leads to complete disintegration of the group, over something that was not even the issue to begin with.

I see this happening at the moment among a group of my friends, a number of pointless wedges being driven between people. Some people have genuine grievances or genuine dislike of eachother, but they coexist peacefully, ignoring one another. However, there is a spark. And someone has gone and decided to douse it with a gallon of petrol...

For those who genuinely mean to be completely neutral, this becomes somewhat akin to walking on a tightrope. While balancing a gallon bucket of nitroglycerin on your nose, and a lit cigar in your mouth. Next to fucking impossible. Compromises must be made, which makes you seem distant to some and slightly untrustworthy to others (see prior post, I dont give a shit if I appear untrustworthy). In general, it becomes a righteous pain in the arse.

What makes me extremely confused is that these are fucking so called adults we are talking about, not a bunch of children. These people should have the maturity to understand that they will not like everyone they meet, and that other people may like the people they dislike.

Which leads to my conclusion. As fx of Phenoelit (one of my heroes) said at his Zeronights keynote speech:

There are 100 types of people you will meet:
00: Asshole
01: Asshole Considered Nice
10: Nice Considered Asshole
11: Nice

The middle ground grey areas make up more than 50% of the people you will ever meet. You will met few truly nice people, and few truly fucking evil people. Most will fall somewhere in the middle, and most of the time, your perception will be completely fucking wrong...
So please do not fucking impose it on everyone else.

// EOR

Guide to the Budget in 2013

You are getting completely shafted.

Emigrate.

That is all the advice I have.

// On a more serious note...

Form a co-op with friends! Grow your own tobacco! Brew your own beer!

NOW IS THE TIME TO GET ANGRY (if you are still calm!)

Re: Last Post - Priv Escalation

Just a short piece outlining a flaw in the privilege separation/enforcement doctrine I was explaining in my last article.

As said, in "usermode" there is "user" and "root", wherin user has extremely limited privileges as compared to "root". There is also the "middle ground" wherin a user has "sudo" privileges, wherin they can execute some actions as if they were an administrator.

I also outlined how if a "user" once had these privileges, and they were lost, they may still have "hooks" in place (psychological hooks) that allow them unwanted access at a later date.

Now to explain what this "sudo" really is... It is the unfettered trust offered by a close relationship, especially where romance is involved. Wherin one opens oneself up to an unthinkable degree to another person, rendering themselves vulnerable. In essence, the "heart".

The problems this can cause are immense. People who are attracted to someone often allow the person they are attracted to an unwarranted level of trust, in the hope the other person will reciprocate.

This leads to major problems in the event the other person decides to abuse this... Essentially gaining some degree of control over the overardent paramour who wishes for things to work out. Most often seen in abusive or suchlike relationships where one person is abusing the other persons trust to an unimaginable degree, but because they have enough "privileges" to do so, the person being royally fucked over does not see this until it is already too late.

Why do I explain it like so? Well, imagine what happens after a normal relationship splits up. There will be "fragments" left floating around both persons "filesystems", often fragments which are "privileged". These essentially are the psychological hooks left behind after a relationship which makes one want to "try again". Unless the person removes those, they will be incapable of correctly moving on, completely fucking up future relationships.

What the main message here is, no matter how locked down your "Trust No One" shit is, once you let someone in... it is incredibly hard to get rid of them without spending a good amount of time working on it.

Dropping Privs

People often have thought that I am too bloody paranoid at times, and more than once my inability to trust has lead to things falling apart. Trust, to me, is essentially a massive liability. Trust someone with anything, and you essentially hand them a loaded gun, with your name on every bullet.

I find the best way to treat "Trusting people" is to use the doctrine common to infosec people, that of "Least Privilege". i.e. where everyone is hostile and/or a untrustworthy backstabbing asshole until proven otherwise, and even then, they are treated as if they may well become hostile at any given point in time. This way, I manage to avoid getting completely fucked over... most of the time.

Unfortunately, society conditions us otherwise. As people, we are trained to trust people and tell all. Society as a whole ostracise's those who keep to themselves as paranoid or loners. In general, it is easier to take the risk of trusting too much, than put up with the social stigma associated with not trusting at all.

When we trust someone, they implicitly will begin to trust us. If we do not trust someone, they will instinctively mistrust us. Therefore, those of us who refuse to blindly trust are seen as dangerous individuals with something to hide.

I found that making myself deliberately vulnerable was not a solution to the problem of social ostracism due to my paranoia, so I found a different solution, based on privilege levels in modern operating systems.

In "Ring 3", or "usermode", we have "External" (automatically assumed to be hostile), guest (assumed to be hostile, but granted some privileges such as communication), "user" (granted several privileges, but not trusted with anything important to my survival or wellbeing unless strictly necessary, i.e. associates and friends), and "administrator", or "root", who is given the impression they have complete trust. This is reserved for "myself".

We then have the "Ring 0", or "kernelmode". This level of trust is denied to even myself, and is left to things like autonomous reactions, instinct, and other such survival instincts built in over time. Occasionally this may be overridden by directives from "root", but in Ring 0, at kernelmode, the only thing that matters is keeping myself from going unstable or ending up dead/injured. This is the "Self Preservation" part which enforces the other privilege seperations.

The funny thing is, this level of seperation is actually completely workable within the constraints of the human mind. The higher mind, or upper brain, is known as the "modern brain". It handles emotions, empathy, and other such vulnerable functions. The survival instincts and "base self preservation" is kept in the brain stem, or "old brain". To me, this is where the Ring 0 code is kept, well the fuck away from usermode. Can you imagine the havoc that could be caused by thinking yourself into stopping your own heartbeat?

In the end, this system can fail. If one day a user has "sudo" esque privileges, wherin they have almost unfettered access to certain usermode utilities, and they are dropped to "guest" or other levels, they can still leave "hooks" behind and regain some level of access as they please, if their privs are not dropped correctly. This leads to things like people being able to implant suggestions long after being determined to be hostile, and means that granting anyone any privileges whatsoever, is a major security risk to my own sanity.

TL;DR: The best way to go about things is trusting fucking no one, no matter how segmented you keep things. No matter what, someone will manage to abuse the privs they were granted and screw you over at a later date. Enforcing a strict rule of "least privilege" is the best way to avoid unnecessary fucking about, and at least gives untrusted people the impression they are somewhat trusted, avoiding ostracism from society for breaching the societal norm of trusting people.

Why ACAB is retarded

-->

Why “ACAB” is Retarded (This mainly applies to the west, I make exception for the Israeli Occupation Forces who are bastards.)

In the past few months, I have been carefully observing the Occupy movement and various other Anti Capitalist/Left Wing movements, and some of the things I have observed, have, quite frankly, being fucking retarded.

Prime among those, is the “ACAB” (All Cops Are Bastards, not someone failing hard at alphabet...), “FTP” (Fuck The Police, not File Transfer Protocol as I first thought on instinct...) and other anti police slogans.

Seriously. Do you guys REALLY expect the cops to treat you with kid gloves when you are screaming obscenities at them? When you generalize and brand ALL cops with the same brush? Sure, some police officers may have (certainly have) violated your rights, been guilty of police brutality, used excessive force, and otherwise been bastards.

What you fail to realize, is that there are MANY other cops who have NOT done so. And by tarring them all with the same fucking brush, you simply antagonize them. I have watched countless hours of livestreams, and to be completely honest, I saw more incidences of police officers standing down than I did of them brutalizing protesters. And I saw a fair bit of protesters being treated with brutality. Yet, even in cases where the police stood down, or otherwise were being nice, the hashtags remained the same “FTP” and “ACAB” prime among them.

The police are just doing their job. If they get orders to clear out some protesters, they have no choice but to do so, or lose their job AND face criminal charges for disobedience. And to be completely honest, I see NO reason for a police officer to risk their job, and/or their freedom, for a bunch of people who treat them with the utmost contempt, either screaming obscenities at them or referring to them in a derogatory manner.

I myself have seen excessive force in person, at protests in 2010 I got a little too close for comfort to flailing batons and horses. I had to call ambulances for people who were hit repeatedly with ASP extendable batons or, in one case, kicked in the face by a horse. I cannot “unsee” the image of a young lady being carried past police lines with her face a mask of blood and shredded tissue, having recieved a hoof to the head. I have been raided and thousands of euros of my property damaged, destroyed or seized. Priceless data – irreplacable software and designs – gone forever. Yet I still have the utmost respect for the police. I have no contempt, no anger toward them.

Why?

Because without them, we would be completely and utterly fucked. Those same people you see screaming “FTP” or “ACAB” slogans are the EXACT SAME ONES who will go running to the boys in blue the second the SLIGHTEST thing happens to them. And they will have no gratitude when some officer maybe risks their life or health to help them out. Nope. They will continue screaming their retarded slogans, continue calling cops “pigs”.

This is not to say I love the police either. I have many criticisms of policing, and often think things can go too far. Surveillance powers granted to them are, in my opinion, fucking ridiculous. The use of informants and entrapment reprehensible. The fact these are permissable under the excuses of “pedophiles”, “terrorists”, “organized criminals” and “human trafficing” is a load of bollocks – once they are granted those powers in “special cases” it is not long before they are used against Joe Soap who forgot to pay his fucking household charge.

Excessive use of force and tactics/weapons used by riot police is another thing I take issue with – the ASP baton can easily kill if used wrongly, tear gas is potentially carcinogenic, and tazers are lethal in many cases. The “Less than lethal” grenades are more like “Less likely to kill you but hey – dead people cannot sue anyway” grenades, the water cannon and use of horses/dogs are scarily reminiscent of the equal rights protests in the 60's.

Oddly enough, if one investigates, one finds there are often reasons for these tactics. Most officers are taught to strike muscle masses with the ASP baton (for fear of breaking a victims bones), which is ineffective, requiring multiple strikes (bludgeoning) to take down a subject.

Tear gas has been shown to be a double edged sword – in the 1980's students made their own and retaliated.

Kettling is using the divide and conquer principle, which brings me to a rant about the militarization of police forces, which I am skipping because it is TL;DR nonsense.

All these things are the “Bad side” of policing, and they get a lot of coverage. But what about the good things the cops do? Like (try) prevent crime?

Now, it is well known the police cannot magically prevent crime, and that they only occasionally can track down that bastard who nicked your wallet in CP's, but.

Imagine a world without policing.

Anarchy. Crime everywhere. You would likely be shot or stabbed or beaten within mere minutes, as there would be no fear of legal ramifications, no reason to NOT be a criminal.

This, is the finest example of carrot/stick. Except there is no carrot really, just a big stick. If you fuck up and violate the law (usually by violating someone elses rights), you get a smack. If not, you are OK. Most of the time.

Anyways, to reiterate.

For an activist movement to take an anti-police stance, is likely one of the most idiotic things they can do.

Why?

1. Antagonizing them. Can you expect officers to treat you with kindness when you are calling them “pigs” and “bastards” all the fucking time? How would YOU feel if you were called a bastard by a police officer? Fit to sue I bet...
2. Division. Police officers are not some ruling elite, they are part of the working class of society, whether you fucking like it or not. They work shit hours, have to deal with scumbags and wankers all day, and get bugger all pay worth mentioning. Not to mention the risks they take. They are part of what you CLAIM to be fighting for, yet you shun them. Nice one, hypocrite.
3. Expectations. If you are known to the police as anti police, the day you need them, do not be fucking surprised if they are reluctant to help. They have other cases. Ones they may decide are more important than yours. Ones involving people who are NOT calling them bastard pigs all the fucking time.

Thank you, that is all.