First Blog

Many of you read that the FBI had an edge up on decrypting messages from the San Bernardino shooters.  It was reported that certain graphics could be decrypted.  Well and good.  See, http://used-ideas.blogspot.com/2016/03/messages-from-san-bernardino-shooters.html We were skeptical.  Now we see that the FBI did crack the Apple phone encryption without the help of Apple. Whew! An independent firm helped the FBI, we are told.  This is ridiculous.  Why?  Because if such decryption were possible within just a couple of months, it would have been done many more months sooner.  One could guess that Apple leaked information to Party A who in turn notified Party B, who then helped the FBI.  Apple's reputation is preserved.  Whew! What's next?  We may see is an announcement from Apple is that they have beefed up their iPhone security - maybe in the next upgrade.  They need to do this!  If Apple was using anything close to, say RSA security, the encryption would be impossible to dec

You go to meetings; so do I. If the meeting is small with just a few attending, and if the meeting about a specific topic, much can be accomplished.   Attendees are not only on the same page but often on the same sentence or even same word.   Focus, sift, winnow, achieve, do.   Move on.   Love it. Such is not the norm.   Let's talk about big meetings with lots of folks, with vague directives, with no clear focus, and without any central core other than generalized commands.   For example, "We need to get a grant," or “We need more profits for the third quarter,” or some such thing. I've been to lots of these meetings and you too .    Much time is brainstorming; that is, with conversants storming all with a blizzard of ideas, most of which are little more than chaff or specks on the wall .    Some do this just to participate.   A new idea is thrown out, not because it is relevant, but because it hasn't been mentioned earlier . (You get parti

The FBI has now announced, and announced, and announced they may have a way to access the encrypted iPhone messages of the San Bernardino shooters, without the help of Apple.  Who cares? Mostly Apple customers.  Apple has a totally vested interest in maintaining security for their would-be customers. Help the FBI, and you help yourself out of business.  But then come some cryptic announcement from Johns Hopkins that they can penetrate encrypted graphics.  According to the Washington Post, a team of researchers led by Johns Hopkins University computer scientist Matthew Green has poked a hole in Apple's iMessage encryption software.  The FBI now claims it may no longer needs the help of Apple. Fantastic.  Decrypting images is somewhat different, but entirely similar, to decrypting messages, but the cat is out of the bag.  This tacitly makes it OK to for Apple to help the government.  And maybe they have done just that with a clever cover provided by an external agent.  What a

It is said the signature of a true optimist is one who hopes for a different outcome in watching the same movie twice.  We laugh and laugh.  How can anyone, yes anyone continue with such beliefs?  Yet we do, particularly when the promise seems so real, or when the circumstances are ever so slightly different, or when we really think this time is the charm. Most of us are not such optimists as to movies.  But we are so, if the plot, characters, or situation are ever so slightly different.  This is the time... or so we hope. Case in point:  local or national elections.  We see the one party offering salvation, jobs, prosperity, retribution, redistribution, reconciliation, and otherwise personal betterment, the other offering much the same.  If you liked the first movie and the promises, and have learned to hate the alternative, you are an easy sale. You vote predictably.  Your vote is counted in the bank months before even the candidate is announced.  If the incumbent promises a big