Security-Protocols

Want to make sure your search history is not being recorded and or given to some three letter agency? If so then maybe you should start using Ask.com. Ask.com has developed AskEraser which is a tool that will allow you to wipe your search history. Below is from the Ask.com press release:

“Searchers will have easy access to AskEraser and can change their privacy preference at any time. Once selected, searchers’ privacy settings will be clearly indicated on search results pages so they always know the privacy status of their searches,” the press release stated.

“As search and other online services progress, it’s important for our customers to be able to trust that their information is being used appropriately and in a way that provides value to them,” said Peter Cullen, chief privacy strategist at Microsoft. “We hope others in the industry will join us in developing and supporting principles that address these important issues. People should be able to search and surf online without having to navigate a complicated patchwork of privacy policies.”

“AskEraser is a great solution for those looking for an additional level of privacy when they search online,” said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. “Anonymous user data can be very useful to enhance search products for all users, and we’re committed to being open and transparent about how such information is used. But we also understand that there are some who are interested in new tools that will help protect their privacy further, and we will give them that control on Ask.com.”

“Anonymous user data can be very useful to enhance search products for all users, but people should have access to privacy controls based on their level of comfort around the storage of their search data,” said Doug Leeds, vice president of product management at Ask.com. “We’re committed to developing new ways to give consumers the control they are entitled to when it comes to searching online, and hope others will join us in engaging in dialogue on these important issues.”

Ask.com and Microsoft / Live.com have proposed that search engine providers, Internet advertising companies and privacy advocates engage in an active dialogue to discuss privacy considerations posed by the proliferation of search and online advertising. The goal is to determine ways that the industry can work together to define privacy principles that take these new considerations into account. The companies will be providing an update on the progress of this sometime in September.

This sure beats Google as they plan to anonymize search logs every 18 months, and set your cookie expiration to _only_ two years. The previous cookie expiration was set to 2038. Nice!!

The Reddit co-founders, Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian, sold their company to Conde Nast at the end of 2006 for an undisclosed amount. Now they’re placing two Apple G4 Powerbooks (12″ & 15″) which were used to start Reddit at this eBay auction. All of the proceeds are going to the American Brain Tumor Association.

**Luck not included**

Owning these laptops will of course do nothing to guarantee the success (or failure) of your web 2.0 startup; it just seemed like a nice pitch. Please hurry and bid before we fall even further into Internet obscurity!!!

The laptops come with all those Reddit alien stickers which Alex designed and the palm imprints of the founders themselves. The bidding is starting at $300 + $60 shipping and handling.

So im over at the iPhoneDevCamp today which is being held at the Adobe building in San Francisco. So if you are in the area, and have an iPhone and are in the mood to develop some apps stop by. You wont even need to sign an NDA to get into the building. Below is a brief description of what the iPhoneDevCamp is:

iPhoneDevCamp is an upcoming gathering, inspired by BarCamp, SuperHappyDevHouse, and MacHack, to develop web-based applications and optimize web sites for iPhone. It is a non-commercial event, organized by volunteers, with attendance free to all. By the completion of the weekend event, a number of iPhone-ready web applications and web sites will be launched to the public. The event will be held at the San Francisco offices of Adobe, and out-of-town guests are welcome.

Attendees will include web designers, developers, testers, and iPhone owners, all working together over the weekend to improve the web experience for iPhone. Development projects will include both solo and team efforts. While some attendees will wish to work solo during the event, we encourage attendees to team up, based on expertise, to work in ad-hoc project development teams. All attendees should be prepared to work on a development project during the event. You do not need to own an iPhone to attend (although, a large number of iPhones at the event will make the development and testing process much easier).

Below is a link to the iPhoneDevCamp information page:

http://barcamp.org/iPhoneDevCamp

This was taken from the iPhone Wiki Development site:

<@gj> we are focusing all of our efforts at the moment on the restore process because
<@gj> we have noticed the following functions in restored_externak:
<@gj> external:
<@gj> CreateTextFile
<@gj> SetNVRam
<@gj> UpdateBaseBand
<@gj> UpdateNOR
<@gj> these filesystem functions are the key to permitting us to do interesting things because they will open up access to the device further
<@gj> in addition, we have successfully gotten a dmg onto the phone
<@gj> we are working on a tool for this
<@gj> I can’t confirm that the dmg will actually be readable.
<@gj> or that the phone will do anything with it
<@gj> but we have a tool that does decryption/re-encryption which may be released this evening depending on the moon’s phase and the tides
<@gj> we have a generic shell that does interesting stuff with the phone
<@gj> we are extending it to cover the restore process
<@gj> because we want to be able to issue these commands
<@gj> our proof of concept is solid, we seem to be able to issue the commands
<@gj> so
<@gj> that’s where we stand
<@gj> we have a lot of work ahead
<@gj> don’t ask me silly questions like “how long”
<@gj> because if I had that answer you would have it too
<@gj> let’s see, final notes
<@gj> we hit engadget (again) and have been interviewed for some periodical in brazil
<@gj> hopefully the report will come out positive
<@gj> the dev team has some tshirts in progress, two versions
<@gj> one for the “official” team and one for interested parties
<@gj> the interested party ones will sell, not sure about giving them out to donators, that will be up to the people running the donation piece
<@gj> i’m still working “PR” as it were
<@gj> appreciate all the offers of help
<@gj> my phone is at the dev team’s disposal and my contributions are mostly around the touchscreen and radio side
<@gj> I am working hard on deciphering some of that, you can see my notes on the wiki [[Gj’s curiosities]]
<@gj> anyway, that’s all

I can tell you this, they are very very close to overwriting the firmware. There is defiantly a race among many researchers around the world right now as to who will successfully unlock the iPhone as well as the SIM card.

Also if you have an iPhone and would like to spice it up with some wallpapers, check out: ThemeMyPhone.com.

So I ended up getting an iPhone and now I must wait up to 24 hours for my previous phone # to transfer in order for this thing to activate. I was currently with sprintpcs, so I guess this could be why. So I guess the fun will start sometime tomorrow…. Blah.

*** UPDATE #2 ***

Well, its 3:29pm here right now and my iPhone still has not been activated…

*** UPDATE #3 ***

9:17pm here and my iPhone still is not activated!! Apple and AT&T sure did drop the ball on the activation part. Seems they were way to focused on making sure everyone got an iPhone rather than the activation part. I started the activation process at about 12:00pm last night.

*** UPDATE #4 ***

Its 12:57am and my iPhone has finally been activated! What a pain in the ass this has been.