BALUG Tu 2013-05-21: EFF's Seth David Schoen: HTTPS Everywhere, SSL Observatory, ...; & other BALUG News
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items, details further below: 2013-05-21: EFF's Seth David Schoen on HTTPS deployment, HTTPS Everywhere and SSL Observatory Since our last meeting: released: Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" & Ubuntu 13.04 (mini-)installfests and school installfest Got local Linux/Open Source calendars/listings? CDs/DVDs, and other "door prizes", etc. volunteering to help BALUG Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org
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Bay Area Linux User Group (BALUG) meeting Tuesday 6:30 P.M. 2013-05-21
For our 2013-05-21 BALUG meeting, we're proud to present:
Seth David Schoen[1] (Wikipedia entry)[2], Senior Staff Technologist[3] for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)[4]:
Seth will be giving a presentation/talk about HTTPS deployment and EFF's HTTPS Everywhere[5] and SSL Observatory[6] projects.
HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
SSL Observatory is a project to investigate the certificates used to secure all of the sites encrypted with HTTPS on the Web. We have downloaded datasets of all of the publicly-visible SSL certificates on the IPv4 Internet, in order to search for vulnerabilities, document the practices of Certificate Authorities, and aid researchers interested the web's encryption infrastructure.
Seth has been actively involved in discussing digital copyright law and encryption since the 1990s. He is an expert in trusted computing. In 2008, Seth collaborated with a Princeton research group led by Edward Felten that discovered a vulnerability of DRAM that undermined the basic assumptions of computer encryption security. In 2005, Schoen led a small research team at EFF to decode the tiny tracking dots hidden in the printouts of some laser printers.
EFF was founded in 1990 and continues to confront cutting-edge issues defending free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights today. Blending the expertise of lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists, EFF achieves significant victories on behalf of consumers and the general public. EFF fights for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations. From the beginning, EFF has championed the public interest in every critical battle affecting digital rights. EFF is a donor-funded nonprofit and depends on your support to continue successfully defending your digital rights.
Please RSVP if you're planning to come (see further below).
So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP to:
rsvp@balug.org
**Why RSVP??**
Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help BALUG and the Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and meeting, and with sufficient attendance, they also help ensure that we'll be able to eat upstairs in the private banquet room.
Meeting Details...
6:30pm Tuesday, May 21st, 2013 2013-05-21
Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/ 731 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA 94108 Easy PARKING: Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny: http://www.sfpsg.com/
Cost: The meetings are always free, but for dinner, for your gift of $13 cash or more, we give you a gift of dinner - joining us for a yummy family-style Chinese dinner - tax and tip included (your gift also helps in our patronizing the restaurant venue and helping to defray BALUG costs such as treating our speakers to dinner).
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Since our last meeting: released: on 2013-05-04: Debian 7.0 "Wheezy" [1] on 2013-04-25: Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail)[2] (non-LTS)
And (mini-)installfests[3][4][5] school installfest[6].
1. http://www.debian.org/News/2013/20130504 2. http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2013/04/25/ubuntu-13-04-raring-ringtail-released/ 3. http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/ubuntu-california/2405-ubuntu-hour-san-francis... 4. http://bad.debian.net/list/2013-May/003545.html 5. http://groups.google.com/group/berkeleylug/browse_thread/thread/f788c8f0c4ec... 6. http://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-talk-balug.org/2013-April/005023.html
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Got local (Linux/Open Source) calendars/listings?
There's: The BALE -- Bay Area Linux Events[1] Google Calendar: SF Bay Area Open Source/Linux Events[2] (SVLUG's) Other (Linux, Unix, Software, etc.) Local Groups[3]
1. http://linuxmafia.com/bale/ 2. https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=caj9iea2ol69b7n2uqdek4ocso%40group... 3 http://www.svlug.org/farm.php#other-local
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CDs/DVDs, and other "door prizes", etc.
Goodies we'll have at the BALUG meeting (at least the following):
CDs/DVDs, etc. - have a peek here: http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:cds_and_images_etc We may also be able to "burn" images per request or copy to USB flash, etc. Donations of blank or +-RW media, USB flash, or funding thereof, also appreciated. See the above URL for details.
We've typically also have at least a few other items up for grabs.
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volunteering to help BALUG
Want to volunteer to help out BALUG? Quite a variety of opportunities* Drop us a note at: balug-contact@balug.org Or come talk to us at a BALUG meeting. *e.g.: o assist on publicity o assist on speaker coordination/procurement, etc. o webmastering o archivist/history/retrieval/etc. o Linux Systems Administration (e.g. do/assist/learn, with/under some quite experienced and skilled Linux systems administrators). o chief/assistant cat herder o and other various/miscellaneous tasks BALUG "ought" to be doing or would be good to do (feel free to bring in ideas!)
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Twitter - you can also follow BALUG on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org
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balug-announce@lists.balug.org