Question for Invictus/other 'puter types - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Jun 4, 2005

Question for Invictus/other 'puter types

Date: Jun 5, 2005

Who - as long as data is flowing to or from your on-campus computer through the campus network, it is technically (and legally) feasible for the university to view this information. This is known as feed or page 'scraping' - the problem, (for the university) is that to narrow down to specific individuals, they would need to identify the IP address the data packets are traveling to, and then associate that IP with a person or a computer. We all have dynamic IP addresses at this point, so often our IP addresses on the network is different everytime we turn on the computer. Although it would be feasible for USM to ID the current user of a specific IP address, it likely be difficult.

It would (b) be less difficult for USM to cull and then interpret data being scraped by their technical staff - there's specialized security software out there that will can gather, store and allow searching/interpretation of the gathered data.

The bottom is that USM would have to be pretty serious about gathering information on folks - a lot effort would be involved, and it would be far more feasible to target individuals rather than perfrom this activity on the campus network as a whole, and then interpret and identify content later.

Date: Jun 5, 2005

...and have no doubt that of those people being specifically targeted there is a glimmer of perverse hope that the university will do something (again) so stupid as to incite a legal battle of the highest order.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

If paranoia is affecting your work, I suggest (as I have for over a year) that you become familiar with strong encryption. PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is an excellent program for encrypting email or files using a public key - private key scheme. Once you have it set up & have generated keys using an appropriately strong password, you will be able to encrypt your information very securely. Can this encryption be cracked? Sure. Does USM have the computing facilities to crack it? I don't think so. Not even in the vaunted Polymer Science Building.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

So if I take my personal laptop on campus and access the wireless network, how safe am I?

I guess, from what I read here, the safe thing is to transport files via disk or else email to a trash account (which we all have now.) Or do as Invictus suggests.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Little old lady wrote:

So if I take my personal laptop on campus and access the wireless network, how safe am I? I guess, from what I read here, the safe thing is to transport files via disk or else email to a trash account (which we all have now.) Or do as Invictus suggests.

Well, some of us stopped using university phones for 'sensitive' conversations a couple of years ago, given the administration's announcement that "all communications" could be subject to "monitoring." Cell phones meant that no wiretapping with after-the-fact "justification" could be performed on your conversations.

Similarly, the announcement that ANY messages sent through the "usm.edu" domain could be subjected to "monitoring" means that even using your own ISP and your own computer, that the view of the henchcrew is that any message sent to or through USM has no assumption of privacy. Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption may be enough to prevent iTech and Homer Coffman's minions from immediately reading messages, but that's no guarantee. As we've seen, once you're "on the radar" of SFT's henchcrew, you have assume that their persistence can overcome any message security.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

When I quote another poster, that post appears in bold, and my response appears under it in plain type. But when I try to intercut responses to the quote, my responses also appear in bold, apparently because they are within the boundaries of the quote, which is locked on bold. What's the best way to break up a quote into several pieces and answer each piece while maintaining a clear typographic distinction between the original quote and my response--I've seen it done many times on the board, but can't figure it out.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

I just block off my part and hit bold and it makes my part regular type.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Bold Question wrote:

When I quote another poster, that post appears in bold, and my response appears under it in plain type. But when I try to intercut responses to the quote, my responses also appear in bold, apparently because they are within the boundaries of the quote, which is locked on bold.

So if I break it here, I can highlight it and hit bold.

What's the best way to break up a quote into several pieces and answer each piece while maintaining a clear typographic distinction between the original quote and my response--I've seen it done many times on the board, but can't figure it out.

And put in another response here (but I have to copy it first).

And then it's back to plain?

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Repairman wrote:

I just block off my part and hit bold

maybe I don't understand "block off"?

and it makes my part regular type.

no copy & paste?

Now plain?

Date: Jun 6, 2005

B.Q. wrote:

Repairman wrote: I just block off my part and hit bold maybe. I don't understand "block off"? and it makes my part regular type. no copy & paste? Now plain?

This has been changed to the way it was in the good old days.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Example wrote:

B.Q. wrote: Repairman wrote: I just block off my part and hit bold maybe. I don't understand "block off"?

I just blocked off the whole quote and made it bold instead of italicized. Then I blocked off this and removed the bold.

and it makes my part regular type. no copy & paste? Now plain? This has been changed to the way it was in the good old days.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Little old lady wrote:

So if I take my personal laptop on campus and access the wireless network, how safe am I?

You have to register your wireless card with iTech to use the campus network. Theoretically your communications could be traced to the card ID number, then to you. It doesn't matter whether the laptop is yours or not. If you've registered the card with iTech and are using campus bandwidth, you've opened the door to Shelby.

I suggest you walk across the street to Javawerks and use their wireless network. It's not connected to campus.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

Repairman:

When you say "block off," do you mean highlight? I've done that, hit "bold," and a box comes up. I've tried copying and pasting into the box, and just copying--neither seems to change my text.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

B.Q. wrote:

Repairman: When you say "block off," do you mean highlight? I've done that, hit "bold," and a box comes up. I've tried copying and pasting into the box, and just copying--neither seems to change my text.

Do not cut and paste. You are making it too complex. When you "highlight" the text, click on the BLACK "B" located about 2-1/2 inches above the text. You should be able to change the text from bold to regular. The "I icon will change it to and from italics. And the U will make it underline.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

B.Q. wrote:

Repairman:

When you say "block off," do you mean highlight?
OK, so can we make this plain?
I've done that, hit "bold," and a box comes up. I've tried copying and pasting into the box,
So now I'm just highlighting, not putting anything into the box
and just copying--neither seems to change my text.

Date: Jun 6, 2005

B.Q. wrote:

B.Q. wrote: Repairman: When you say "block off," do you mean highlight? OK, so can we make this plain? I've done that, hit "bold," and a box comes up. I've tried copying and pasting into the box, So now I'm just highlighting, not putting anything into the box and just copying--neither seems to change my text.

Maybe its time to call our office