Computer Technology

Advances in these technologies have resulted in an enormous amount of near real-time information being potentially available to individuals anywhere at anytime. The "intelligence" level of systems and our confidence in their ability has also increased dramatically to the point where life and death decisions are now routinely being made automatically by computers, albeit with some degree of human supervision.

	11 Myths of Surge Protection	by Wendell H. Laidley
	Because transient analysis is complex and not widely understood by computer users, a number of myths have grown up around the subject of surge protection over the years.
	A History of ARPAnet
	ARPANET was an experiment in resource sharing, and provided survivable (multiply connected), high bandwidth (56 Kilobits per second) communications links between major existing computational resources and computer users in academic, industrial, and government research laboratories.
	A History of CSNet
	In the spring of 1980, CSNET [Computer Science Network], was defined and proposed to NSF as a logical network made up of several physical networks of various power, performance, and cost. NSF responded with a five year contract for development of the network under the condition that CSNET was to be financially self-supporting by 1986.
	A Primer on Embedded Controllers and Microcontrollers
	A controller is used to control (makes sense!) some process or aspect of the environment. A typical microcontroller application is the monitoring of my house. As the temperature rises, the controller causes the windows to open. If the temperature goes above a certain threshold, the air conditioner is activated.
	A Study of Open Source Database and Scripting Technologies	by Salih Kansoy
	This small paper, looks at some of the most widely used Open Source Database and Scripting Technologies, it covers MySQL, GnuSQL, mSQL, PostgreSQL from the database technologies and more, along with the following scripting technologies, PHP, PERL, TCL, PYTHON. Anyone who is intending on using any or researching such technologies should definitely have a read through this paper.
	Ada: Enchantress of Numbers
	Ada was remarkable for being one of the most picturesque characters in the history of computing as well as the most prescient about the computer revolution. As Howard Rheingold wrote in his review in Whole Earth: "Her letters are some of the classic founding documents of . . .computer science written a century before ENIAC. "
	Answers to Questions about Fuzzy Logic and Fuzzy E
	Archive File Formats
	A multi-platform guide to archive file formats
	BABEL: A Glossary of Computer- oriented Abbreviatio
	Basic P2P Filesharing Guide	by Trace
	A small guide about obtaining multimedia from the internet.
	Bypassing Microsoft's DRM Software	by anth0r
	Alright, so you don't feel like paying a whole dollar for the ability to burn your downloaded music when using Napster eh?
	Can You Trust Your Computer?	by Richard Stallman
	Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call "trusted computing," large media corporations, together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you.
	Cleaning Keyboards	by David R. Bivens
	In the process of owning and operating a PC, you will, no doubt, find a point in time that the keyboard causes strange and irritating things to happen to your fond finger strokes. Nine times out of ten, this is caused by DIRT!
	Computer File Extentions, Part 1(A-F)
	List of computer file extentions
	Cyberinsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly	by Daniel Geer, Rebecca Bace, Peter Gutmann, Perry Metzger, etc.
	How The Dominance of Microsoft's Products Poses a Risk to Security
	DOS Commands	by -@OsiriS@-
	Simple DOS Commands for those of you who are actually intrested, and some just to mess around with.
	Dispelling Myths about the GPL and Free Software	by John Viega and Bob Fleck
	One of the most disturbing aspects of the hype surrounding the de Tocqueville report is the shockingly wrong implication that free software may leave the United States government open to more risk from terrorist organizations than if using proprietary software. In this paper, we will dispel this myth, along with thirteen other misconceptions that are often used to scare corporations and governments away from using free software, particularly that licensed under the GPL.
	ESC Codes for HP LaserJet and LaserJetII and compa
	Encartaism	by Eudoxus
	The demise of broad, non-biased information and the slovenly convenience of 'drive-thru' information access are putting us on a collision path with oblivion.
	Free as in Freedom	by Sam Williams
	Richard M. Stallman, a staff software programmer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (AI Lab), discovered the malfunction the hard way.
	Freeing the Mind: Free Software and the Death of Proprietary Culture	by Eben Moglen
	We are doing something else. We are changing what software is, not just how its made, but how it works in relation to all the other aspects of human intellectual production. We are doing that for a reason. The reason, which was sketched out by my colleague, friend, and client Richard Stallman in the early nineteen eighties, is to protect the ethical right to share information.
	General Guide to Customizing XP for the Optimal Performance	by Caleb Fischer
	As the title says this is a General Guide to Customizing XP for the Optimal Performance.
	Gmail Bedfellows
	Conservative nut-house the Heritage Foundation, usually content with slavishly supporting Bush, congratulating themselves about invading other countries and fighting to outlaw abortion, has weighed in on Google's new Gmail service.
	Half Life 2 BETA Review	by Snoopy
	Okay, lots of stuff missing here, but let's not forget it's still a BETA.
	High-Tech Heroin	by Richard Forno
	Dostoevsky once wrote that "in the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.'" His prophecy is relevant when examining the modern Information Age -- a dark,corporate-controlled society predicted by such artistic legends as Bruce Sterling, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and William Gibson ­ and is the focusof this article.
	History and Overview of the SCSI Interface
	Although only a few computer experts know this technology in depth, most people have probably heard of this interface since it is not a newly emerged name. In fact, the first concept of SCSI can go back to year 1979. At that year, Shugart Associates, a disk drive manufacturer was seeking a new universal interface for future disk drives, which led to the creation of the Shugart Associates Systems Interface(SASI), the very early predecessor of SCSI.
	How Games Use CD Key Information Online	by Otakon
	CD key information and how they work online. Covers mostly for half life security, might update later on BF1942, Diablo and other popular games.
	How NSA Access Was Built Into Windows	by Mortose-Mortland
	The first discovery of the new NSA access system was made two years ago by British researcher Dr Nicko van Someren. But it was only a few weeks ago when a second researcher rediscovered the access system. With it, he found the evidence linking it to NSA.
	How to Choose a Good Password
	The fundamental reason why attacking or trying to guess the user's password or phrase will increasingly be the focus of cryptanalysis is that the user's choice of password may represent a much simpler cryptographic key than optimal for the encryption algorithm. This weakness of the user's password choice provides the cryptanalytic wedge.
	How to Safely Install iMesh Without Spyware, etc.	by Xtreme
	Herein I present a method of installing the iMesh P2P application without dangerous spyware/parasites. I also show how to partially control banners.
	Hungarian Naming Convention	by Jerry Huston
	Hungarian Naming Convention can be used for variable or identifier naming in languages such as C, C++, Pascal, Fortran etc. It was first used commercially at Microsoft from Charles Simonyie PHD thesis.
	Internet Security and Privacy for Activists and Citizens	by Leftism
	This is intended to be a very basic introduction to Internet security and privacy issues for activists and citizens. It is not meant to be an exhaustive text of all the issues, nor does it deal with any of the issues in great depth. My intention is not to teach the theoretical or technical basis for security on the Internet, but rather to enable the user to protect his/her security and privacy as quickly and easily as possible.
	Linux Cheatsheet	by Aeon
	General Introduction to Linux - most used commands, programs, how to install/compile programs, re-compile linux kernel, etc.
	Making Your Own Ribbon Cable
	Most clones use prefabricated gray ribbon cables from Taiwan. These are of low quality. I find cables are to blame in a surprisingly high percentage of supposed "disk" failures.
	Malicious Data and Computer Security	by W. Olin Sibert
	Traditionally, computer security has focused on containing the effects of malicious users or malicious programs. However, as programs become more complex, an additional threat arises: malicious data. This threat arises because apparently benign programs can be made malicious, or subverted, by introduction of an attacker's data--data that is interpreted as instructions by the program to perform activities that the computer's operator would find undesirable.
	Microsoft DRMOS Palladium -- The Trojan Horse OS
	Although it has been difficult to clearly articulate to the general computer user, it should now be clear the DMCA represents not only risk to fair use and other such issues, but represents a tool by which new technologies such as the DRMOS can be enforced. It and other new laws (SSSCA/CBDTPA) are the legal infrustructure required to make the public use these new DRM technologies and enforce punishment/fines when they are circumvented.
	Microsoft Research Digital Rights Management (DRM) Talk	by Cory Doctorow
	I'm here today to talk to you about copyright, technology andDRM, I work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation on copyrightstuff (mostly), and I live in London.
	Microsoft's Really Hidden Files: A New Look At Forensics	by The Riddler
	There are folders on your computer that Microsoft has tried hard to keep secret. Within these folders you will find two major things: Microsoft Internet Explorer has not been clearing your browsing history after you have instructed it to do so, and Microsoft's Outlook Express has not been deleting your e-mail correspondence after you've erased them from your Deleted Items bin. (This also includes all incoming and outgoing file attachments.) And believe me, that's not even the half of it.
	National Security and Individual Freedoms: How the DMCA Threatens Both	by Richard Forno
	The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a piece of legislation rushed through Congress by the entertainment industry lobbyists to protect its monopoly on commercially-developed digital content, cartels, price-fixing, and maintaining its status quo as the single entity that can direct what should be popularor used by the consumer masses.
	Network-Centric Warfare and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies, Meet Napster!	by W. Scott Gureck
	The question, then, is why not augment traditional, low-tech coordination tools such as the CMOC or LNOs, with a high-tech tool that extends the benefits of NCW to the many PVOs and NGOs who wage war against hunger and disease every day? As one of the U.S. government's principal mechanisms for assisting people at risk in complex emergencies, there should be a way to incorporate them into the military's NCW architecture. Indeed, I believe there is a way, and it can be found in the technology and business model behind Napster.
	New Government Software	by -@OsiriS@-
	New Programs the G-Men are using.
	Participating With Safety	by Paul Mobbs
	A series of briefings on information security and online safety for civil society organisations
	PolyWorld: Life in a New Context
	The ecological simulator, PolyWorld (PW), presented and discussed in this paper, is one instantiation of these ALife motivations and principles. PolyWorld attempts to bring together all the principle components of real living systems into a single artificial living system.
	Radio and Your Computer	by unknown
	One of the most frustrating problems about using computers with radios, is the amount of RFI generated by these machines.- A guide to cutting down the radio frequency interference
	SCO Smear Campaign Can't Defeat GNU Community	by Richard Stallman
	Unix is a complete operating system, but Linux is just part of one. SCO is using the popular confusion between Linux and the GNU/Linux system to magnify the fear that it can spread.
	SVChost Tutorial	by Aeon
	Description of what the windows 'SVChost' process and why there are always more than one running on your system.
	Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory	by Peter Gutmann
	The second problem with official data destruction standards is that the information in them may be partially inaccurate in an attempt to fool opposing intelligence agencies. By deliberately under-stating the requirements for media sanitization in publicly-available guides, intelligence agencies can preserve their information-gathering capabilities while at the same time protecting their own data using classified techniques.
	Security in a Public World: A Survey	by DCE Team at Stanford
	Cryptography allows users to disguise data do that attackers gain no information from listening to the information as transmitted. Authentication allows clients and servers to securely determine each other*s identities. In this paper, we are going to discuss two cryptography techniques: RC4, and MD5, as well as one authentication technique: Kerberos.
	Simple Password Generator	by Niels Provos
	Choose a master password, and then use this script to generate sub-passwords for different sites.
	Super DMCA State Laws and How They Take Your Privacy	by Edward Felton
	Several states are currently considering bills that purport to update existing laws against theft of cable and telephone service. As written, these bills would apparently ban legitimate computer security measures that are used routinely by enterprises large and small.
	TAKEDOWN: Targets, Tools, & Technocracy	by Robert David Steele
	Everything we are doing today, from the PCCIP to the Information Operations activity at Fort Meade, to the billions of dollars being spent on the current and planned force structure, is out of touch with the reality that pioneers--Alvin Toffler, Martin Libicki, Winn Schwartau--have been trying to articulate. It is out of touch with the reality that Eric Bloodaxe, Emmanuel, Phiber Optic, Dark Angel, Andy Mueller-Maguhn and many, many others have been actively demonstrating.
	TCPA FAQ	by Ross Anderson
	TCPA stands for the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance, an initiative led by Intel. Their stated goal is `a new computing platform for the next century that will provide for improved trust in the PC platform.' Palladium is software that Microsoft says it plans to incorporate in future versions of Windows; it will build on the TCPA hardware, and will add some extra features
	Testimony of Mark M. Ishikawa CEO BayTSP.com
	Adult webmasters often risk obscenity prosecution in those areas that have more restrictivelocal standards. BayTSP.com has developed a product to address this very issue. 2257 FilterSM allows webmasters to make specific files available based on the geographic location ofthe user. Webmasters who utilize this "electronic stop light" that has been embedded in online graphic, video, text, and audio files can automatically filter out "obscene" material, as defined by the user's local community standards, and have this material replaced by content that is more acceptable.
	The Ethics of Information Warfare and Statecraft	by Dan Kuehl
	What constitutes an "act of war" in the "information age. This is a question that most members of the "IW community" have wrestled with, and it's a question that places one squarely on the horns of a dilemma: if you cannot easily answer whether an act belongs to the legal codes of war or peace, how can you make a determination of the act's ethical status?
	The Internet as a National Security Studies Resource	by William M. Arkin
	The 1999 war in Yugoslavia was probably the first high-profile conflict in which both adversaries were completely "wired" societies. Not only then did the now-expected special websites emerge, but the Internet itself became a genuine factor in the war. The Yugoslav government deftly used the web to disseminate releases and photographs relating to civilian collateral damage. There were claims of hackers, and there was genuine government interference in Internet access. Computer network attack was a part of NATO's arsenal.
	The Metaphors of the Net	by Sam Vaknin
	A decade after the invention of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee is promoting the "Semantic Web".
	The Shocking Truth About Digital Signatures and Internet Commerce	by Jane K. Winn
	It has been an article of faith for several years now among many observers that digital signatures will be the "next big thing" for Internet commerce. That unrealized potential is consistently mistaken for actual use in the marketplace, however, leading to countless wildly inaccurate journalistic accounts of digital signatures as the "most popular" or "most important" system for Internet contract formation.
	The Tao of Programming	by Geoffrey James
	Mr. James' gentle and intelligent retelling of the idea of the Tao redone for programming, hardware, and software. This sort of file, meant to be a light parody of another, more famous work, ends up standing up pretty well on its own.
	The Third Step - Preserve the Electronic Crime Scene	by Michael R. Anderson
	Another concern of the computer investigator, is the running of any programs on the subject computer. Criminals can easily modify the operating system to destroy evidence when standard operating systems commands are executed. In the training courses that I teach, I have the students modify the operating system such that the execution of the DIR command destroys simulated evidence.
	The Unintended Consequences of Information Age Technologies	by David S. Alberts
	Advances in these technologies have resulted in an enormous amount of near real-time information being potentially available to individuals anywhere at anytime. The "intelligence" level of systems and our confidence in their ability has also increased dramatically to the point where life and death decisions are now routinely being made automatically by computers, albeit with some degree of human supervision.
	The Use of Computers to Support Oppression	by Monal Chokshi
	Computer technology enabled the government to organize and enforce such an atrocious system of segregation and control. More than any other single technological advancement, the computer fostered the concentration of administrative power in the hands of Africa's white elite.
	UNIX IP Stack Tuning Guide v2.7	by Rob Thomas
	The purpose of this document is to strengthen the UNIX IP stack against a variety of attack types prevalent on the Internet today. This document details the settings recommended for UNIX servers designed to provide network intensive services such as HTTP or routing (firewall services).
	Uninterruptible Power Supply FAQ
	This is a FAQ document on Uninterruptible Power Supplies. It is intended to provide a starting point for those people that want to find out what they are, what they do, and what's available.
	Unix Commands You Need to Know	by -@OsiriS@-
	Basic commands for Unix that could come in very handy.
	Using A CGI Proxy to Bypass Internet Filters	by Falcon
	This is a very easy method on gaining access to blocked web sites.
	What's In A Password	by James Gates
	All through history, groups ranging from governments to guilds have made frequent use of passwords. These have been different forms of secret sign-and-countersign or challenge-and-response systems. Typically, they have been used to distinguish those who belong to a particular group from those who do not.
	Why "Free Software" is better than "Open Source"	by Free Software Foundation, Inc.
	The term ``free software'' has an ambiguity problem: an unintended meaning, ``Software you can get for zero price,'' fits the term just as well as the intended meaning, software which gives the user certain freedoms. We address this problem by publishing a more precise definition of free software, but this is not a perfect solution; it cannot completely eliminate the problem.
	Why Artificial Intelligence is Impossible	by dagnabitt
	Summarizes Good Old Fasioned Artificial Intellegence (GOFAI), and Connectionism as attempts to understand artificial intellegence by focusing on description of function alone. My thesis is that by doing this both theories ignore elements of human intellegence that are intrinsic to it (motive, biopsychophysical coercion), and which will prevent the actualization of human intelligence in any machine created by man.
	Why Software Should Be Free	by Richard Stallman
	A friend once told me of working as a programmer in a bank for about six months, writing a program similar to something that was commercially available. She believed that if she could have gotten source code for that commercially available program, it could easily have been adapted to their needs. The bank was willing to pay for this, but was not permitted to--the source code was a secret. So she had to do six months of make-work, work that counts in the GNP but was actually waste.
	Why a Normal Delete is Not Sufficient	by Simon Richard Bascom
	Not so long ago, simple system commands were held to be a "secure" method of file deletion. When these were found to offer very little "true" security, utilities became available that were able to overwrite the related disk sectors. It seemed that these would surely be foolproof ; but no! Of these new deletion utilities, most were considered too weak for their use to be allowed within the Civil Service.(UK)
	Windows Debug Command	by Dustin Cogburn
	This is a tutorial on how to use a very powerful tool in windows xp, known as the debug command. Dont underestimate it. It is written mostly for beginners, but experts can use it also.