The Liberty Lamp: Libertarian News & Editorials

As some readers may have noticed, there haven't been any new blog posts for a full ten days. All told, all of us here have been quite busy with the Thanksgiving holiday and various work/school schedules. The bottom line, though, is that we're back and ready for some hard-core liberty spreading action! OK, that may be an exaduration of sorts, but the basic idea behind it all is true.

To prove it, I personally have been working on a number of action projects that effect both the website proper and the Libertarian Action Network in general. Here's what's changed around here since the last time I posted:

• I purchased ad space on Free Talk Live, the world-famous liberty minded radio show that's hosted on the Web and many physical radio stations all over the US. It's only been a day or two, but people are already checking us out in greater numbers. With luck, hopefully many of these new visitors will find our resources and information useful. All visitors are appreciated and welcomed to libertarianactivism.com!
  
• I was able to get my sticky little fingers on some cool observation equipment for the LAN team. More info on this later.
  
• It has become apparent to me recently that one of our links in the Writings section was broken. The reason for this is that our web server gets really anal about URLs and is case sensitive sometimes but not always. Why this is the case is a mystery, at least for now. Anyway, the link in question (now fixed) points to the Reporters Without Borders' Blogging Handbook for Journalists. This RWB publication is a good resource to look at if you're an amateur or professional journalist or investigative reporter. You'll find everything in here from writers' style and manners to ID protection, to some cool tips on bringing more exposure to your content. Similarly, the EFF has recently published a similar info archive, focusing primarily on the legal rights of bloggers and what you can do to protect yourself from litigation or a free, all expenses paid trip to "Big Bubba's House" (aka the slammer).
  

In other news, the already excellent data encryption software, TrueCrypt has gotten even better! Not only does it support some new encryption algorythms, but it is now compatible with Linux! So far, Linux support is command-line only, but it seems to work fine on my Novell SuSE Linux 10.0 system. When you try to list mounted crypto volumes, it spits out an error saying that there's some kernel module missing, but the RPM installed just fine. I haven't had time to test it all out yet, but I have a feeling that this is just some kind of harmless bug. I'll let LAN Liberty Lamp blog readers know what the deal is ASAP. The latest version of TrueCrypt (currently v4.1) works perfectly on WinXP, though it is recommended that you safely back up and then reformat the crypto volume for guaranteed forward compatability.

I have some exciting news for today! I wrote in to the DJs of the Free Talk Live radio station and they discussed my topic on the show! In a nutshell, what I wrote in about was the demented new hand-gun ban in San Francisco that passed earlier this month. I asked them about why it is that the anti-firearms crowd thinks that guns are bad and should be abolished, yet they say nothing about removing them from the military and law enforcement. Check it out above (MP3 Format).

TALK ABOUT IT.

I was just taking a look at the daily updates on Shell City a few minutes ago when I came across this funky little command-line program called TinyDisk. This cool little program takes advantage of the TinyURL.com database to store and retrieve hidden data. By utilizing a few tricks and some 128-bit AES data encryption, one can store small ammounts of data of whatever format you want. It's not just limited to plain-text URIs- you can theoretically upload images, audio, or whatever other kind of file you want to privately share.

Because of it's randomness and encryption capabilities, a file uploaded to the TinyURL (or remote NanoURL) database, you need a special 'meta file' in order to let your computer know what data to retrieve from the DB and recombine into an original file format. When uploading, a file of this type (*.tdf) is automatically generated; if someone else did it, you'll need a copy of their TDF meta file in order to bring order to the chaos, as it were.

BTW, don't forget that The domain Phoenixoflight.com is for sale! :D

This week, LAN has been out and about in the community, doing our part to help promote social justice, end discrimination, and get the Feds off our backs. In particular, we had a rep attend a community meeting about prison privatization and the use of such facilities by the DHS Immigration & Customs Enforcement agency, or ICE. All told, the ICE reps they had there were somewhat... cold, so to speak, but we managed to get a lot done and get the ball rolling on some key issues. Stay tuned for more updates on this topic within the next month or so. In the meantime, check out the home page of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee for information on this and other constitutional and civil rights issues.

And now for some site related news. First, there have been some suggestions for changing our crew's name from the Libertarian Action Network to something like "Liberty Action Network" or "Liberty Action Project". If anyone has any input on this, feel free to let us know by replying to this blog post or by e-mailing us. Also, we recently sold our old domain name, and are now putting a new one up for bid. Check out PhoenixOfLight.com for details.

Today, I found a really cool web page that lists all the major digital cryptography algorythms, and a few more obscure ones. The list is very complete and easy to understand. Simple, comprehensable descriptions of each cipher is given, with links to further information if you want it. An example of the Blowfish cipher description is below:

" Blowfish is a block cipher designed by Bruce Schneier, author of Applied Cryptography. Blowfish combines a Feistel network, key-dependent S-Boxes, and a non-invertible F function to create what is perhaps one of the most secure algorithms available. Schneier's paper is available here. Blowfish is also described in the Concepts of Cryptography page. The only known attacks against Blowfish are based on its weak key classes."

As you can see, each entry tells you a little bit about how it works, and how secure the cipher is considered by experts. I'm definately not a math genius, so If I can at least get the gist of what these things mean, I'm sure you can too!

On a similar note, I'd like to thank the good(?) people over at Info Anarchy, from where I directly or indirectly came by the above information. Be sure to check them out for 95% of your anonymity and security needs :D.

Though I aparently naively thought they'd vote it down, the House of Representatives has just voted to include blogs in new Internet related campaign finance restrictions. What does this mean? First of all, and probably most obviously, it demonstrates that our leaders in Congress are primarily complete and utter ignoramuses (ignorami?) when it comes to voting on legislation related to technology. As usual, the majority of House members don't aparently have a clue in the world how technology and the Web work. Because they do not understand, they fear, and thus try to control and dominate it.

Secondly, the new rules, if fully ratified, will restrict YOUR right to free speech and association, as dictated by the Constitution and natural/God-given/whatever law. As we have seen so many times in the past, the majority of our national leaders are ignorant and of questionable integrity. They want to control you because they fear you and the majority of us Americans who are sick and tired of raped up the rear by greed and indifference all the time.

Remember- The maintainers of the status quo can at times seem scary. But they fear US far more than we need fear them!

ACT ON IT.

Believe it or not folks, I actually am (arguably) a somewhat cultured person. Don't believe me? Well I'll prove it! The following is the opening section of a poem by Maurice Ogden in the aftermath of World War II. It is quite long, so please click on the title link of this post for the complete text.

Hangman
by Maurice Ogden

"Into our town the Hangman came.
Smelling of gold and blood and flame
and he paced our bricks with a diffident air
and built his frame on the courthouse square

The scaffold stood by the courthouse side,
Only as wide as the door was wide;
A frame as tall, or little more,
Than the capping sill of the courthouse door

And we wondered, whenever we had the time.
Who the criminal, what the crime.
That Hangman judged with the yellow twist
of knotted hemp in his busy fist.

And innocent though we were, with dread,
We passed those eyes of buckshot lead:
Till one cried: "Hangman, who is he
For whom you raise the gallows-tree?"

Then a twinkle grew in the buckshot eye,
And he gave us a riddle instead of reply:
"He who serves me best," said he,
"Shall earn the rope on the gallows-tree..."

This poem goes along quite nicely (or badly depending on how far you look into it) with another famous piece of rhetoric you may be familiar with. Note that the following is from an early supporter of the NAZI party, who suposedly ended up in a concentration camp in the months leading up to the "official" commencement of WWII.

"In Germany, the Nazis came for the
Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me."

Remember, kiddies. You might be next!

THINK ABOUT IT.