[BALUG-Announce] BALUG Tu 2013-05-21: EFF's Seth David Schoen: HTTPS Everywhere, SSL Observatory, ...; & other BALUG News

[Michael Paoli]

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-francisco/
4. http://bad.debian.net/list/2013-May/003545.html
5.  
http://groups.google.com/group/berkeleylug/browse_thread/thread/f788c8f0c4ecb96a
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.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles
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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http://www.balug.org/