Off The Hook - 12 March 2008
This is the synopsis of Off The Hook that aired on 12 March 2008. The show runs live on WBAI at 7pm on Wednesdays. Call in at 212.209.2900 or send letters to oth@2600.com. The show is also available as a high-quality podcast.
In the studio: Emmanuel, Mike, Redbird, Not Kevin
On the phone: Bernie S in Philadelphia
Chinese hackers claim to have gained access to worldwide sites including the Pentagon and are purportedly funded by that state’s government.
A computer security analyst says that a major telecommunications carrier, perhaps Verizon Wireless, is in cahoots with the FBI after he was told not to enable any security on a circuit named “Quantico” by supervisors while performing a migration. Such a lack of security gives the aforementioned circuit unfettered access to the carrier’s entire network perhaps even uploading their own firmware to customers handsets. Not Kevin points out that with GSM phones it is much easier for users to prevent such tampering with their phones, since customers have a choice and can easily change their carrier by changing the SIM card. Bernie brings up the recent CALEA legislation that allows federal agencies to bypass the step of obtaining a warrant and providing it to the phone companies. Furthermore, there is no logging of such taps making it impossible to account for wiretapping actions.
If you are suspicious of the number of mobile phones that someone has, notify the London police at 0800789321 (PDF link).
MAKE Magazine has an article for a method of blinding surveillance cameras. It uses infrared LEDs to wash out the image by flooding the camera with infrared light that isn’t visible to the naked eye but is picked up by most CCDs.
Muni drivers in San Francisco have had trouble with hooligans turning off the buses via an unlocked panel that hides a switch controlling the power for the entire bus. Those on the show first heard about this vulnerability from Shapeshifter at least 4 years ago. Bernie notes that the reason for the switches is to allow the power to be cut in an emergency, necessitating easy access to the switch.
A listener writes in about a service, EarthCaller a browser-based VOIP service that works only with Internet Explorer. The listener brings magicJack mentioned on the program a while back that allows you to use a normal phone with VOIP via a Windows computer. According to Not Kevin the Personal Computer Show hosts have one of the devices and are unimpressed with its quality.
The same listener also advocates the use of the use of 800-call-411 rather than GOOG411 because the former service doesn’t mention whether or not they record the call. Emmanuel first calls GOOG411 attempting to get the number for WBAI but gets some other business on Wall Street that sounds like Dubai. The other service, 800-call-411 comes up with WBAI immediately without fuss, though it is unable to understand WBAI’s telephone number.
“P” writes in asking for Jim’s information:
Caton Park Nursing HomeEmmanuel says that a number of people have visited Jim and it has been well appreciated.
Attn: Jim Vichench
1312 Caton Avenue, Rm. 312B
Brooklyn, New York 11226
A Massachusetts listener brings up the cell phones for train conductors test that was mentioned on last weeks show applauding the fact that the municipality is at least testing the system. The listener notes that this is better than a program in his commonwealth that equipped snowplows with GPS enable cell phones that turned out to be a complete failure.
Someone writes in to mention the new Mac OS X “virus” Newton. The letter also mentions Windows XP Black Edition and notes that it is very likely filled with malware.
Those in the studio and a listener mention that they haven’t received their vouchers for digital to standard definition converter boxes.
An amateur radio operator who also acts as a weather spotter says that hams perform a valuable public service during times of emergency.
A caller asks about HD radio, specifically whether special antennas are needed. Not Kevin points out that all HD radios contain a decoder created by iBiquity who has a patent on the technology. He and Bernie both say that HD radio is of no higher quality and doesn’t stand for High Definition, unlike new television technologies.
A question about cell phone repeaters comes from a caller and Bernie says that such systems are available, though probably not economical.