| Monday
August 12, 2002
Repeated from last Saturday:
We have another Internet Explorer vulnerability described
over in mail. It is said to be serious in that it could be exploited
to do serious things, although I don't know of any actual instance of its
use. More as I learn more.
As I understand it, this is a potential danger in which someone can
forge certificates. That is potentially terribly important, but so far no
one has done so. It's probably not time to panic yet, but you may want to
start looking into other web browsers, since this one apparently exploits
the intimate relationship between IE and Windows.
Repeated from last Sunday:
I have been working with the new Tablet PC and letting Windows XP drive
me mad: I don't seem to understand how to use XP and Windows 2000 server
together to create accounts on the XP machine that can log on to the net.
I'll figure it out, but it seems to take some doing. Oh well, if it were
all easy no one would pay me to do these silly things and then talk about
them.
I have got the Tablet on the network, but I have to log on to it,
rather than to the Net through it as I have in the past. I don't quite
understand what's going wrong here. Oh. Well. It's a matter of reading up
on it, and I'll do that when I get some real work done.
Meanwhile, there's a LOT to like about this Acer implementation of the
Microsoft TABLET PC concept, and I'll have more with a picture or two
later today.
NOW, I am going to go up and work on Burning Tower. More later. When I
get back I hope to take a bunch of the commentaries on the Middle East and
add them to the war pages so as to keep all that stuff together.
But before I could do that, Roland finds even more things you ought to
know about. IE SSL Flaws (Konqueror for Linux too):
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/26620.html
but see Tuesday: it's fixed.
And the PGP threat mentioned in this morning's Wall Street Journal (it
takes your cooperation to exploit it):
http://www.counterpane.com/pgp-attack.html
Following is a story about George Gilder:
The Madness of King George
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.07/gilder_pr.html
who wrote Infinite Bandwidth among other things.
7:30 PM PDT Monday 12 August 2002:
DO NOT SEND ME MAIL ABOUT THIS!!!
And now when I try to go to my web site I get
You are not authorized to view this page You
might not have permission to view this directory or page using the
credentials you supplied. If you believe you should be able to view this
directory or page, please try to contact the Web site by using any e-mail
address or phone number that may be listed on the www.jerrypournelle.com
home page. You can click Search to look for information on the Internet.
HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden Internet Explorer
Which makes no sense whatever. It seems to be the case with all
my computers, too, not just this one. WHAT NOW? I have work to do, why is
this happening? I suppose I had better get a different browser going? Has
Microsoft decided I need to be silenced? Can everyone but me read this
page? Sigh.
YES: apparently everyone but me can read this page. Thompson can get to
it. So it's local. So I will try things here.
First : shut down the satellite server and bring it up again.
That did no good. I can ftp this in but I get the forbidden
message when I try to view my own site.
Next: I will go shut down the satellite and see if I can get there by
dialup. It's not cookies or IE history since I have the same problem on
all the machines in the house.
OK. I am back and I can see my site. Through Dialup. It may have been
the satellite. It may have been something else. I need to try the
satellite again shortly but at least I am back again. I sure don't need a
lot of this. The column is in, I don't need more to write about...
On the Hatfill front, I find this paragraph from the Washington Post
rather interesting:
In June, still with no anthrax suspect in
sight, scientist Barbara Hatch Rosenberg met with the staff of Sens.
Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.), Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Charles E.
Grassley (R-Iowa). Rosenberg is a biological weapons expert from the
Federation of American Scientists and had published two scathing letters
attacking the FBI's lack of results. Rosenberg said she has been careful
never to mention Hatfill's name, but several media reported that his name
was raised in the meeting, which the FBI also attended.
If the FBI needs the Federation of American Scientists to help it
investigate the anthrax attacks, we're in trouble. On their web site they
state unequivocally that "it was an inside job" whatever that
means; that the attacks couldn't possibly be what they seemed, terrorist
attacks by some of the same people who organized 911. http://www.fas.org/bwc/news/anthraxreport.htm
This also comes from their site:
Rosenberg has become convinced that the FBI
knows who sent out the anthrax letters, but isn't arresting him, because
he has been involved in secret biological weapons research that the U.S.
does not want revealed. "This guy knows too much, and knows things
the U.S. isn't very anxious to publicize," Rosenberg said in an
interview. "Therefore, they don't want to get too close."
Does any of this make sense?
TOP
Current Mail |
CLICK HERE for
a Special Request. 
