Book report on WORM: The First Digital World War

Mark Bowden's nonfiction Worm is about the sophisticated Conficker malware that infected millions of computers on the Internet in 2008, 2009 and onward.  It tells the movie-like story of how a group of programmers, network specialists and tech insiders (all civilians) came together to fight Conficker.

But in a way, it's not really about computers at all.  It's about people.  After all, people created the Conficker malware, and people banded together to stop it.  It wasn't a war in the sense of terse declarations from presidents and troops massing on borders.  Governments and their agencies played little role in the conflict, mostly due to ignorance and indifference.

This was more like a little town in an old Western movie where the locals join together to stop a group of bank robbers.  (Historical note: this actually happened in the Old West, and the townies often won.)  In this case, though, the people involved were not only very smart, they were experts in their field.  Inevitably, egos and agendas clashed.

Another human angle to this is the idea that millions of people use the Internet, but most of us have little idea how it works (especially some of our elected officials).  Ask someone to explain how the vast 'network of networks' functions, and they'll wave their hands and try, but they won't make much sense. 

Most people can't tell you what year they first used the Internet.  It's such a part of our lives now that it's hard to separate it from the rest of history.  Younger people will struggle with this question because they've always had the Internet, and have trouble imagining a world without it.

Bowden does a good job of humanizing the technical conflict between 'white hat' hackers and 'black hat' hackers.  The explanations are sometimes long, but always helpful, and you don't need to be expert to enjoy the book. 

A small side note: Writers try to find and fix all the editing errors in their books, but with hundreds of pages and thousands of words to search, it's a difficult task.  I was surprised to see a half dozen simple editing errors, though, because publishers like Grove Atlantic are usually good at producing error-free books.  (I know I've had errors in my own books, so I'm not throwing stones here.)

I read Mark Bowden's books because he picks interesting topics, and then finds the right people to tell him what happened.  Worm follows that pattern, and I look forward to more like this.

(The cover pic is from Grove Atlantic.)

What is a TED conference?

Sometimes I see a TED conference mentioned in technology or business news, and I've always wondered:  What is TED? No, not the movie with the talking bear.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, and according to their website, the conferences are all about 'ideas worth spreading.'  Since 1984, people from these three industries and more have met to give, and listen to, short talks about ideas.  The conference now holds two annual meetings--one in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the other in Long Beach and Palm Springs, California, USA.  The Sapling Foundation, a private non-profit, owns TED.

I'm not sure how you get invited to TED.  About 1,500 people attend the Long Beach conference, but how are they chosen? According to the TED site, they give preference to people who, "have done something fascinating with their lives, show evidence of creativity, innovation, insight, or brilliance, are well placed to help make a difference in the world, and have made a contribution to the TED community (for example, by supporting a TED Prize wish)." 

I guess you can't just buy a ticket and show up.  Besides, the price for the 2013 conference in Long Beach is $7,500.00 USD, and $2,500 USD for the Palm Springs portion.

TED's 32-person advisory committee has some names you're probably familiar with:  Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Jeff Bezos from Amazon, plus various physicists, futurists and gurus.  Corporate partners include biggies like IBM, Sony and Delta.

A neat feature of TED is you can watch the 18-minute TED talks on iTunes, Hulu, Netflix or YouTube, with subtitles in a variety of languages.  They also give out prizes, sponsor fellowships, and have smaller, regional TEDx events.

The part of me that enjoys conspiracy theories might see TED as a sort of Geek Illuminati.  Like maybe all the tech billionaires sit in a room around a big table, and one wears a fez, and another holds a Persian cat and they talk about building a secret moon base. 

Strangely, you can't find much information on the Internet about TED, that is a non-TED supplied.  Which is odd.  Then again, how many bloggers have ever been to a TED conference, so we can really only speculate.  Although I did chuckle when I went to their forums page--one of the commenters used a familiar image as their picture--a Guy Fawkes mask.  Hmm.  What if TED joined forces with Anonymous? Now that would send me right for my foil hat.

(Here is the link to the TED site.  I really couldn't find much else, and besides, I had to stop writing and go to a meeting.  No, not a TED meeting. It was AIM, or maybe Hydra. I forget which--I'm in both.)

What is the hacker group Anonymous?

I'm reading Mark Bowden's interesting non-fiction book, WORM, and it got me thinking about the Internet, malware and hacking.  This led me to consider the well-known hacker group Anonymous.

What is Anonymous?

According to most reports, Anonymous isn't so much a single group as it is a loose coalition of hacktivists (hacker activists) who organized in 2003.  Anonymous is international, distributed, technically savvy, and...anonymous.  What makes analysis tricky here is that anyone can 'join' Anonymous simply by saying their activities take place under the Anonymous umbrella. 

Depending on where you get your news, they may be labeled 'anarchists,' 'hacktivists,' 'terrorists,' or 'vigilantes.'  I think it's always more instructive to examine what someone does, rather than what they say (try this technique on politicians.)  So let's look at some of their operations.

Operations

2008 Staged protests against Scientology, centered around Scientology censorship on the Internet. 

2009 Online attack against the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry because of their battle against online file sharing.  This was an anti-censorship move--some Anonymous members obviously support file sharing sites.  In 2012, the file share site Megaupload was also an issue.

2010 Anonymous targeted credit card companies Visa and Mastercard after they froze Wikileaks accounts.  Known as Operation Avenge Assange.

2011 Anonymous launched online attacks against a large child pornography trading site.  They may also have been responsible for attacks on government websites in Algeria, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Iran, Libya, and New Zealand.

2012 During the SOPA protests, Anonymous may have attacked websites at the FBI, Department of Justice, Recording Industry Association of America, and the Motion Picture Association of America.  They also urged Occupy Wallstreet protestors to remain peaceful, made threats against Facebook, and may have made online attacks against the Pentagon.

Are they terrorists?

I define terrorism as a deliberate attack against civilians for a political or religious purpose.  Generally, I think of this as a physical attack.  For example, the attack on the twin towers in New York in 2001--these were buildings filled with office workers.  I classify 9/11 as a terrorist attack. 

Collateral damage is not the same because the intent is different.  For example, if US forces in Afghanistan attack a building containing Taliban, and accidently kill some civilians during the battle, it's not a terrorist action.  I think US forces make an enormous effort to prevent civilian casualties, but it is impossible to completely avoid them when the enemy hides among the populace.

How about indirect harm? If an online attack takes down your credit card company it's an inconvenience and a probably a crime.  If they take down the power grid supplying electricity to a hospital, it's terrorism.

I don't know the detailed damage of every one of Anonymous's online attacks, but I don't see evidence they've physically harmed people, so I don't view them as terrorists.  Many governments may categorize their activities as criminal, but that's not the same thing as terrorism.

Surprising Conclusions

In researching this post, I was surprised to find that I agree with some of Anonymous's actions.  I am against child pornography and if governments won't take action against these websites, vigilantes should. 

In my opinion, Scientology is a scam designed to take money from people.  I am against censorship, but have mixed feelings on file sharing--as a writer who works hard on my books, I don't like the idea of people pirating them.  On the other hand, if you purchase an ebook or a song, you should be able to make backup copies for yourself. 

I am against SOPA because its benign name hid an agenda of censorship and anti-free speech.  And finally, going after repressive governments in places like Iran, Egypt and Libya makes sense to me.

I don't understand their opposition to Facebook and New Zealand, or their support for Julian Assange.  But the loose nature of Anonymous and its deliberate lack of leadership means that individuals may act in their own particular interests, and then claim they were working on behalf of Anonymous.  (Which makes me wonder how they handle that, and do they self police?)

It's up to you to make up your own mind about Anonymous and other hacker groups.  Some people fear them, others see them as the future.  But I suspect we will see more groups like this in the years ahead--I just hope they use their skills for good and not evil.

As Spiderman says, "With great power comes great responsibility."

(Here is a detailed Wikipedia article about Anonymous, and a Yahoo News article about their attack on child pornography.  And an NPR audio (with transcript) that provides some views from other hackers.  The picture is from: beforeitsnews.com)

Book Review: UNWIND by Neal Shusterman

I read a lot of books.  Or it's more accurate to say I start to read a lot of books.  But sometimes the story doesn't keep my attention, or the idea has already been done a dozen times before, and I stop.

So it was refreshing to read a novel packed with new ideas.  Not themes.  Ideas.  Ideas that make you think.  Here's Shusterman's blurb from the back of UNWIND:

"The Second Civil War was fought over reproductive rights.  The chilling resolution:  Life is inviolable from the moment of conception until age thirteen.  Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, parents can have their child 'unwound,' whereby all of the child's organs are transplanted into different donors, so life doesn't technically end.  Connor is too difficult for his parents to control.  Risa, a ward of the state, is not talented enough to be kept alive.  And Lev is a tithe, a child conceived and raised to be unwound.  Together, they may have a chance to escape--and to survive."

Most novels that use their characters and plot as simple vessels for their ideas aren't much fun to read.  They get preachy because the author clubs you over the head with their agenda.

UNWIND is fun to read.  The characters matter.  It reminds me of the best of the old school of science fiction, where writers like Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury explored new avenues and provoked thought and discussion.

When an author is able to blend ideas and entertainment with a fresh approach, I think they're working at a high level.  Yet UNWIND is an accessible read, with characters people can relate to.

If the description above intrigues you, give UNWIND a try.

(Thanks to my friend Shannon for telling me about this book, and then loaning me her copy.)

What is Crowdfunding?

The other day a buddy of mine mentioned Kickstarter, an online crowdfunding business.  But what exactly is crowdfunding, and how does it work?

Let's say you're ten-years-old and you want to open a lemonade stand.  The problem is you need money to buy lemons, a pitcher, plastic cups, a table, and materials to make a sign.

In the traditional model, your parents supply all this stuff, so they are responsible for your startup costs.  After you sell enough lemonade, maybe you can pay them back.  Or a thunderstorm comes, you pack up and go inside, and your sales are less than your parents' costs. 

In crowdfunding, you ask people to front you the money for your supplies.  They pledge money in different amounts, and after you get your stand set up, you owe them a cup of lemonade, or two cups, or however much they paid for. 

People use crowdfunding for everything from art and movies, to cell phone applications, video games, political campaigns and medical costs.  The one thing in common is that these are all projects, not long-term businesses.

Kickstarter is probably the most well-known site, but there are many others.  The way they make money is by charging fees (such as fees for processing credit card transactions), and by taking a percentage of the money you raise.  Indiegogo says on their site that they have the lowest prices, and their cut is 4%.  (I haven't checked every site, so I don't know who has the lowest fees.)

Next time someone asks you if you're interested in crowdfunding their private space trip to Mars, you may want to ask what service they're using and what fees they're paying.  And if you get a seat on the ship.

(This wiki about crowdfunding was helpful.  It lists 10 sites ranked by their web traffic, and explanations of many others.  The pic is from: kids.britannica.com)

(If you liked this article, please support my writing by purchasing one of my novels.  Thank you!)

What is the Higgs boson?

This past week, scientists at CERN laboratories in Switzerland announced they'd found the elusive Higgs boson (or at least a Higgs-like boson).  Great news! But what the heck is a Higgs boson? Let's break this question down.

Who is Higgs?

Peter Higgs is a particle theorist--a physicist who specializes in studying the tiny particles that serve as building blocks for everything.  In the 1960s, Higgs and five others came up with a theory, and a theoretical particle to go with it.

What is a boson?

A boson is a sub-atomic particle.  Say you have a water molecule--that's two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom (or H2O.)  A boson is smaller than those atoms.

What does the Higgs boson do?

When you get down to the really small scale in physics, you talk about how particles interact with fields.  In this case, the Higgs Field is a field that gives particles mass as they move through it.  Higgs bosons are the sort of currency of the Higgs Field. 

The Higgs Field and its associated boson fit in with what scientists call the Standard Model in physics.  The field and boson help provide an explanation of how things have mass.

So what does finding the Higgs boson mean?

Well, if the boson they found is a Higgs boson, it would appear to confirm the Higgs Field part of the Standard Model.  What can you do with a Higgs boson? I'm not sure.  Just as the boson is a tiny particle that is a building block for bigger things, I think this discovery is a building block for bigger discoveries.  We can't stop to rest now.  Finding the Higgs boson is just a good start.

If you could tackle any problem in science, what would you pick?

(For an interesting audiointerview with Peter Higgs, visit this post by Matin Durrani at Physics World.  This article in Yahoo News by Natalie Wolchover gives a good explanation of the Higgs Field.  And this article by Hamish Johnston at Physics World tells about CERN's big discovery.)

Did you back up your brain today?

100 gigabytes.  That's how much it takes to store your entire genetic sequence.  The amazing double helixes of your DNA--the code that holds your hereditary pattern. 

Between pictures, music and movies, you're probably using a lot more than 100 gigabytes of storage.  The computer I'm writing this on has a 600 gigabyte hard drive.  You can go out and buy a terabyte or more right now.

50 years ago, or 20 years, or maybe even 10, this would have sounded like science fiction.  The DNA double helix was discovered in 1953, but it wasn't until 1977 that the first genome was completely sequenced, and that was for a bacteria.

Now you can store your entire genetic pattern on a hard drive.  In the future, will scientists and doctors be able to take this code and build another you? They've cloned sheep, and despite the ethical questions involved, I think it's a short matter of time before they clone a person.

Even if that clone had all your same physical attributes, it wouldn't be you because it hasn't had your experiences, your memories.  But what if we could store memories on a hard drive? How much space would that take?

Scientists estimate there are 100 billion neurons in the brain.  That sounds like an impossibly large number, until you consider how our concept of numbers is changing.  The first computer I used in school had 16 kilobytes of memory.  As the years rolled by, they went to 512KB, then one megabyte, and onward in relentless lockstep with Moore's Law.

Perhaps the day will come when you can back up your brain on a hard drive.  Then if you walk out the door and a falling satellite crushes you, your relatives could pay to have your memories installed on a 'blank'--a clone body with a brain empty of any experiences. 

But would it be you? Are we simply the sum of our DNA pattern coupled with our memories?

(The 100gb number came from the May/June 2012 issue of Technology Review.  I checked the DNA dates on Wikipedia, and the neuron number on Wolfram Alpha.)