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Don't mean to be a Nosey Parker, but it's nearly 8:00pm. Did everything get taken care of OK?

UPDATE 1 - Q+A - BlackBerry technology explained http://www.reuters.com/article/idCAN1213222020100812?rpc=44 Thu Aug 12, 2010 4:55pm EDT By Jim Finkle and Alastair Sharp Aug 12 (Reuters) - Research In Motion (RIMM.O) (RIM.TO) is at standstill with the Indian government over demands that the company provide authorities a way to read encrypted email messages that travel across BlackBerry's network. The government said it will shut down RIM's email and messaging services in India if the company doesn't comply with its demands by Aug. 31. India -- and several other countries -- say their inability to monitor BlackBerry traffic undermines efforts to protect national security. Here are questions and answers that explain how the BlackBerry system works and why governments consider it so threatening: Q. What steps does RIM take to make sure that the email of its business customers cannot be intercepted by third parties? A. RIM uses powerful codes to scramble, or encrypt, email messages as they travel between a BlackBerry device and a computer known as a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) that is designed to secure those emails. Governments in India and elsewhere say criminals use BlackBerrys to conduct their business because they know the government cannot monitor their chatter. The encrypted messages can only be unlocked with software "keys" that are located either on the BlackBerry device itself, or at a particular customer's BlackBerry Enterprise Server. RIM says it does not have a master key that controls every system in its network. Q. Do RIM's consumer customers get the same level of email security as businesses? A. No. Email for consumers and small businesses is not protected by the same system of keys that encrypts corporate messages. BlackBerry's consumer service runs on a system known as BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS), which is less daunting for authorities to crack. Q. Is BlackBerry's security different from other smartphone vendors? A. Yes. All BlackBerry traffic runs through RIM data centers, which help manage the devices and traffic, identifying anomalies that might present security concerns. Traffic on products from rivals such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Google Inc (GOOG.O), Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) does not go through centralized data centers. Yet those devices do offer powerful encryption technology for scrambling messages. Unlike BlackBerry, which provides its own security software, its rivals generally provide encryption technology through partners including units of EMC Corp (EMC.N), Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) and McAfee Inc (MFE.N). Q. Can RIM unscramble a message encrypted by one of its business customer's BlackBerrys? A. RIM says it cannot unscramble data of its enterprise customers because it does not possess the keys needed to do so. RIM can likely identify the senders and recipients of emails and log items such as when they were sent or whether they had attachments. Q. Saudi Arabia, India and the UAE have complained that RIM won't give them the same kind of access to tap into BlackBerry networks that other countries, including the United States, get. What level of access does the U.S. government enjoy? A. Authorities in the United States and in European countries such as Britain and Germany can seek a court order to tap BlackBerry traffic, giving them access to messages sent over the network. Officials at Research In Motion declined to talk about how they provide such access. It is possible that governments make such requests directly to RIM's customers. Q. If the data is encrypted, how is it possible for the government or RIM to install a wire tap? A. Bruce Schneier, an expert in encryption who is chief security technology officer for BT, said that it is relatively simple. Authorities just need to put an eavesdropping box on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which decrypts the data to gather a reconstituted message. Another alternative would be to install spyware on the handheld device itself. Q. How strong is the BlackBerry encryption? Is it possible for government code crackers to break the encryption on their own, without help from RIM? A. Some analysts speculate that may be the case. But breaking encrypted code is no easy task - it is a slow process that requires tremendous skill and powerful computers. RIM's enterprise system offers two transport encryption options, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Triple Data Encryption Standard (Triple DES). A BlackBerry device will by default choose the 256-bit encryption of AES for transport layer encryption. Triple DES is a two-key algorithm that generates message and device transport keys. Q. Has RIM made any concessions to India ahead of the Aug 31 deadline? A. Yes. RIM has offered to track email message feeds for the Indian government, which could include providing services such as compiling detailed logs of a particular user's correspondence. But RIM still has not agreed to India's key demand - that they hand over unencrypted messages. RIM officials did not respond to requests for comment on how they plan to address this obstacle. Q. Has RIM made any concessions elsewhere? A. Yes. In Saudi Arabia the firm has agreed to hand over codes used to encrypt traffic of its BlackBerry Messenger instant messaging service. RIM was also delayed from entering Russia and China for several years while intelligence agencies worked through their concerns. Little is known about any compromises reached, but Russia has tight rules on where RIM can locate BES servers for corporate clients in that country. Q. BlackBerry Messenger is offered to both corporate and consumer clients. Do corporate customers get a more secure version of the service? A. The service is a form of instant messaging that bypasses the BlackBerry Enterprise Server and corporate networks. It runs on a proprietary system known as PIN encryption that is not as powerful as the options available on the BES email system. By default, all BlackBerrys ship with a global PIN encryption key that allows users to unscramble messages sent from any BlackBerry. But corporate customers can choose to install their own key that allows them to restrict access to users within their enterprise. (Reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston and Alastair Sharp in Toronto; editing by Peter Galloway)

Indeed! I think what was unique about the 2008 financial meltdown was the role played by the "shadow banking system", a significant and largely unregulated component of the economy at the time. These are the Wall Street folks who, among other things, bundled up subprime mortgages, got the ratings agencies to declare the bundles safe, leveraged them enormously through derivatives and such, and then sold them throughout much of the world's economy. In the past, when someone defaulted on a mortgage, the exposure was for the amount of the mortgage and the loss was limited to the bank that held it. The new shadow system, on the other hand, amplified the exposure tremendously and distributed it throughout the U. S. economy and to anyone who was tied to it. The way they were able to highly leverage subprime mortgages meant that, when the defaults began, the effect was many times greater than under the old one-mortgage-one-bank system. Not only was the effect greater, but it was nearly impossible to tell who had the exposure and the risk. This was a primary reason that nobody wanted to lend; they just didn't know where the risks were. They still don't. While traditional banks had been regulated to prevent such dangerous and destabilizing activities, the new financial institutions were not. At one point, these "shadow institutions" were nearly as big as the traditional banks, and were responsible for about half of all lending in the U. S. When they finally started to fail, beginning with Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, they risked taking the entire U. S. economy with them. Without the 2008 bailout program, we may have entered the economic dark ages. We're not out of the woods yet, although there is at least now a greater awareness of what the Wall Street wizards created and there are attempts to keep them from doing it again. Investment bankers took the better part of a decade to build up this alternate economy, and it may take us a little while to dismantle it. Also troubling is that the bonus-addicted shadow bankers are probably trying to figure out some new whiz-bang financial folderol that will skirt the new regulations. Those who believe that throwing out the current batch of politicians will suddenly solve our economic problems are, in my opinion, being a bit naive, especially if they replace them with other politicians who believe thoughtful regulation of the financial markets is a bad thing. It may make folks feel better for a short while, but Wall Street is where the economic minefields are. Washington can only help keep us from stepping on them. Or not. I think the job we have before us now is to restore confidence in our economic institutions, as only then will it make sense to start investing again. And helping restore that confidence is the the role I see government playing. Not that a few good WPA projects wouldn't be nice while we're waiting.

I guess I'm hearing enough about Google to start moving even further away from them and their policies and practices. A year ago, I emailed a friend about HDTV dimensions and gave it the cutesy subject line "Size matters". He uses Gmail and got my missive along with attached ads for penile enhancers and plus-size brassieres. That's when I first discovered that Gmail reads private emails and, based on content, attaches advertising it deems relevant. Lesson learned, I vowed I'd never sign up for Gmail myself, and would further self-censor anything I sent to friends who are Gmail users. Prodded by your post, and once again in your debt, I've just learned that Google stores search IP's for eighteen months currently, versus six months for Bing. So, I'll make Bing my default search engine for the nonce, as a wee small form of protest. As usual, the Europeans are way ahead of us on privacy issues and are presently thumping Google on their practices. A fat lot of good it will do them, most likely, but their hearts are in the right place. There's a Netherlands-based search engine called ixquick that prides itself on not storing IP addresses at all but, predictably, their span of search results is close to nil. At least as far as Ralph Woods photos. By the by, I sometimes check to see who's signed in to MER, and often find Google listed as they crawl around checking to see what's new with us. They're here now. Hey, Eric, wassup!

Did you happen to notice which way he went? PS: Congrats on the well-deserved honor!

And he could get up to seven years in prison? Good thing we're building more jails!

Well said, Anton!

Terrific posts, tomcal! The guys are all sexy, and the stories are informative and very entertaining. Thank you!

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee is delivering an open letter to Google next week, asking them to honor their corporate motto and not be evil. There are already more than a quarter million signatures, and the idea is to send a clear message to Google that its users are watching. It would definitely be a buzzkill to find tomcal's Rio sauna boy pictures and eeyore's videos slow to a crawl. But what if this evening's escort profile stops loading just below the belly button? Anyone who wants to offer a website with usable graphic content would have to pay for the privilege, and that usually means charging user fees, becoming a megasite with lots of advertising, or just shutting down completely - a real stake in the heart for the little guy. Even worse, phone service, radio, and television are increasingly delivered over the internet. How clearly and quickly do you want your phone call to go through? One thing that really frosts my butt is that the internet was developed with taxpayer money beginning with a DARPA project in the mid-sixties. Sticking a private company's tollbooth in the middle of it seems to me analogous to sticking one on I-90. You might consider signing the PCCC's letter if you're so inclined.

Thanks, Lucky, et al, for the info. I liked Target, but will avoid them in the future. Walmart's having trouble getting a foothold in my area, thank goodness. I'd prefer buying from a local company, if I could find one. One unhappy bit of fallout from corporate takeover of the economy is that it's harder and harder to know where my widow's mite (many thanks to AdamSmith for that one!) ends up. I've been buying stuff from Amazon.com, but am not sure what ruinous causes they might be supporting, if any. Apparently, last year's gay book kerfuffle was the work of a lone hacker, rather than a policy decision by Amazon. Much obliged to anyone who knows the scoop on Amazon.

Tell me! I was looking for a 3-foot hdmi cable, and my local Best Buy had only one in stock - for $50! Ended up buying it from a CVS drug store for $20. If I had wanted to wait a few days, I could have bought it on-line for less than $10. I'm not against folks making a profit, but really! Didn't know about their anti-gay funding until these posts. Thanks guys! They're officially off my list.

I wrote myself a 'POP' cookie (Poor Old Pervert). It tells outside browsers that I'm elderly, financially challenged, and engaged in a rather seedy alternative lifestyle. I hardly ever hear from advertisers, save the odd viatical firm.

I think I paid him $120. Four or five hours with either of us would have covered the monthly mortgage on a decent house at the time.

Vulgar is the word, exactly.

My first escort experience was an hour with Rick Donovan in the early eighties. As we were putting our clothes back on, he mentioned he was checking out investments in the Cayman Islands. I shouldn't wonder!

A few years ago, I read a book called The Number: How the Drive for Quarterly Earnings Corrupted Wall Street and Corporate America. It traced the well-meaning origins of laws that required publicly traded corporations to begin publishing quarterly financial reports, how the quarterly earnings number became the measure of a company's performance, and the (mostly) unintended consequences that followed. Those of you who have worked for a Fortune 1000 company will know the incredible pressure to deliver increased earnings quarter after quarter after quarter. Bonuses, promotions, and job security are all dependent on this single metric. Woe betide the manager who cannot get more and more profit dollars to the bottom line, quarter after quarter, by whatever means necessary. Price increases, cheaper ingredients and raw materials, offshore manufacturing, staff reductions, reduced service levels, fee increases, new kinds of charges, acquisitions and consolidations, elimination of competitors - whatever it takes - will be used to transfer more of your dollars to the company's bottom line. Obviously, much of this is not in the interest of the American consumer, and the bigger the companies get, the less power we consumers have to resist. As others have said, it is more and more difficult to find alternatives to the large predatory corporations. Banking is one example, food is another. What to do about it? There are three things I can think of, and I'm looking for more. First, I try to avoid supporting the largest corporate offenders where possible: if I can avoid a purchase altogether, wait till it's on sale, or get it from a local business, I will. Second, I'm sharing my thoughts with others in my community, including here. And, third, I'm becoming more tolerant of government regulation; not that I want big government in my life, but I want big business in my life even less. If anyone has any other useful forms of resistance, I'm all ears.

Ranking a close second is the abrupt closure of a favored website.

It is difficult to mince in tennis shoes.

Ostriches, my friend, ostriches! The next big thing! No time like the present! All phone lines are open!

Well said! You seem like a very interesting person yourself, Lucky, a man who pays attention to new trends and has a real talent for spotting and responding to the next big opportunity. I'm sure you're aware of the difficulty of finding delicious, nutritious, low calorie sources of healthy protein, and would be eager to invest a measly few thousand dollars in a business that could easily return millions in no time at all! Chances like this don't come along every day and, with interest at an all-time high, I've taken the liberty of offering you this urgent personal invitation. Lucky, are you ready for another August Challenge?? Please respond soon, as time is running out!!

What a nice story and wonderful memories! Thanks for sharing.

What an interesting post! It made me realize I don't have anything interesting to say either. Readying myself for Lucky's challenge, I turned to WikiAnswers and a few other sites to see if I could figure out how to become a more fascinating person. Here's what I've got so far. How To Be Interesting ● Be interested in others. Learn as much as you can about them! ● Talk to strangers. If you see someone you don't know, ask if you may pull up a chair. ● Be open in discussions. Let others know you value their opinions too! ● Take up an interesting hobby. People will love hearing how you spend your time! ● Dare to be different. People are always attracted to someone who stands out from the crowd! Looks like a lot of work ahead. Wish me luck!

Is this what you're looking for? (I think you may have an extra 'http://' in there you rascal! ) Hope you don't mind that I'm getting a head start on my August posts, as the month itself has some busy days.

Comin' through: the wry I have missed your posts, StuCotts, and will stay long beyond August to catch up. A thought just occurred. Would that make me - wait for it - ?? Ba-da-boomp! With regard to Levi et al, they probably weren't planning to spend their adolescent years in the public eye. I doubt I'd have handled it any better if a gaggle of reporters had shown up one day on my front lawn just because McCain felt he needed him somethin' different. It does make me feel a little guilty carrying on so about a couple of Alaskan teenagers who would probably rather be gutting a caribou.

Well you've certainly come to the right place! I don't recall posting anything even remotely deep or profound since at least 1997.