Tag: history

Symantec is anti-security

Why Symantec shouldn’t be trusted with anything, certainly not “security”

In this timeline of events, it becomes obvious that many examples selected were of a specific CA’s failures. This CA was intentionally chosen to show that these concerns are not isolated one-off incidents from a variety of unrelated CAs, but a long-term pattern of behavior. Unfortunately, a number of CAs have similarly problematic histories, so these issues are by no means limited to this single CA. The most vocal critics of the SHA-1 deprecation in the CA industry, and the most vocal advocates of ways in which to extend the dates, have repeatedly abused the concessions and delays afforded in the past, to the point of causing serious and long-lasting harm to the security of the Internet.

The forgotten slaves of Tromelin Island

On July 31, 1760, L’Utile, a ship of the French East Indian Company loaded with an illegal cargo of ~160 Malagasy slaves, was shipwrecked on a barren, windswept islet now known as Tromelin Island, 500 km east of Madagascar. The French crew, with the help of the surviving Malagasy, built a makeshift boat and set sail for Madagascar 2 months later, leaving behind 60 Malagasy with 3 months’ provisions, a letter recognising their good conduct and the promise that someone would come back for them. Weeks passed, then months, then years. Since 2006, archaeological teams have gone to Tromelin to examine the wreck site and learn about the lives of the marooned Malagasy

Medieval fingerprints

A new study will apply modern forensic crime solving techniques to the Middle Ages by examining the hand and fingerprints left on wax seals from the 12th to 14th centuries. The prints will also literally be run through AFIS, comparing fingerprints that are at least 700 years old to modern ones. Researchers are looking for any close or approximate matches even over centuries. Any such discoveries will contribute significantly the study of print identification, which isn’t as well-established, scientifically speaking, as some TV programs would have you believe.

Computing could have started 100 years earlier

So, OK: would the Analytical Engine have gotten beyond computing mathematical tables? I suspect so. If Ada had lived as long as Babbage, she would still have been around in the 1890s when Herman Hollerith was doing card-based electromechanical tabulation for the census (and founding what would eventually become IBM). The Analytical Engine could have done much more. But none of this actually happened, and instead Ada died young, the Analytical Engine was never finished, and it took until the 20th century for the power of computation to be discovered.

this is very fascinating. if ada hadn’t died so young, perhaps the age of computing would have started 100 years earlier.

History of the passport

For centuries prior to the introduction of the modern passport during World War I, travel documents were generally simple letters of introduction granting special access to society’s elite. They were required of some places, but not others. For a long time, up until the second half of the 19th century, it was legal for a person of any country to go to the French or Belgian consulate and obtain one of their passports for travel. It was a loosely regulated, seemingly arbitrary system. By the early 20th century, however, the modern passport was introduced—and soon came to be seen as a document that placed the trustworthiness of an individual in doubt. During World War I, in response to fears about the wrong people crossing the wrong borders, new travel document requirements were introduced to ramp up security and control emigration. This caused consternation among the public. The British became particularly offended when, in 1914, passports demanded written details about their appearance, and soon after, a photograph. These oversimplifications of identity made travelers feel as though they were being treated like criminals, complete with descriptions or mug shots. It was front page news when, in 1919, US President Woodrow Wilson needed to have a passport created so that he could travel to Versailles.

Ultrasociety

another must read, Peter Turchin’s Ultrasociety, How 10 ka of War Made Humans the Greatest Cooperators on Earth. This seems like an excellent complement to Ian Morris’ War! What Is It Good For?: Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots, which I have not managed to get to read, in part because I want to hit Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve. Yet I’ve read a fair number of Peter’s books (see my 10 questions for him), so I’ll probably be moving this up the stack.

Peter is a serious thinker, and human social complexity and cooperation is an important, and unresolved topic (I am not as sanguine or flip on this David Sloan Wilson).