121

Suggestions & Concerns / SSL configuration hardening

« on: May 30, 2015, 09:08:24 AM »

In order to combat the Logjam attack against DH key negotiation in TLS, I have restricted our server's supported ciphers and generated stronger DH parameters, per the advice of the cryptographers who published the vulnerability. This impacts any services which use SSL, including the forum, IRC and webchat.

I don't expect anything to break as a result, but please let me know if you are unable to access any services. As SSL is optional on the forum, you can use the non-SSL version to post if you cannot use SSL.

122

Status Notices / Unplanned outage, 2015-05-30

« on: May 30, 2015, 06:30:28 AM »

The server that hosts the website, forum, wiki and IRC was unreachable for about five hours, from about 01:35 to about 06:25 UTC, 2015-05-30. This was due to a power outage at the data centre where these services are hosted; more information is available in the hosting provider's status notice.

I'd like to thank pizaaplanet for getting the word out on social media as things began.

123

Suggestions & Concerns / Reforming the Manifesto

« on: May 27, 2015, 12:28:55 AM »

I won't have time to write up any specific wording until Saturday, but I have some ideas for Manifesto amendments to restructure the way things are run.

For some background, the catalyst for this change was pizaaplanet's resignation. While he and I may disagree on the nature of the problem, I think we both agree that there is a problem, and that's what I'm aiming to address here. None of us can change what's already happened, but we can try to extract lessons from past events.

This thread is just a brain dump of the things I've been thinking about. I'd like to get some idea of whether there is broad support for these changes before pushing them any further.

Here's what I'd like to change, in a nutshell:

Establish a Manifesto amendment process

The current Manifesto text says that:

Amendments to the manifesto may only be made with the express
authorisation of both Steven McDonald ("Parsifal") and "pizaaplanet".
Every new revision must be given a new version number, which
shall be an integer that is numerically greater than every
previously published manifesto version.

I would like to replace this with a popular vote. Ultimately, the Manifesto is there to govern how we represent you, and anyone should be able to propose and vote on amendments.

This would be the first change, to enable other changes below to be voted on by you.

Prohibit administrators from moderating

This was raised (by Thork, in fact) just a few days after this website was founded. At the time, I thought it was a good idea, and I refrained from moderating for a while on a voluntary basis without codifying it into the Manifesto.

However, I believe admins doing the bulk of the moderation is one of the primary contributing factors to recent events. When there is a dispute between two moderators, that dispute can be resolved by an admin, as an impartial observer. As we have observed, a dispute between two admins can spiral out of control, with nobody having the ability to step in and make a final decision.

Therefore, I propose that we draw a distinction between the types of activities delegated to admins and mods, with a provision that admins should refrain from moderating entirely under normal circumstances. The exact wording of this will be difficult to get right, but I believe it will be worthwhile.

Establish a democratic election process for moderators

I would like to trial a democratic appointment process for moderators. Specifically, I would like to open nominations and hold a popular vote to elect two new moderators, with some criteria set to measure success of the trial. If successful, it merits consideration to amend the Manifesto to provide for regular moderator elections.

The goal of this change is two-fold. First, it encourages moderators to be responsible to the people they moderate on behalf of, if they wish to be re-elected. Second, it gives you, the people, a greater say in how things are run.

124

Status Notices / Scheduled maintenance, 2015-05-30

« on: May 26, 2015, 01:41:53 AM »

The homepage, forum, wiki and IRC will be going offline for about five minutes on 2015-05-30, between 07:00 and 07:15 UTC.

For convenience, this means:

EDT (USA east coast):
2015-05-30, 03:00-03:15

BST (UK):
2015-05-30, 08:00-08:15

AEST (Australia east coast):
2015-05-30, 17:00-17:15


The intent is to install security updates on the server which hosts the homepage, forum, wiki and IRC. These will be non-disruptive to functionality, as the server is running a stable OS release that gets critical fixes only.

125

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Irish marriage equality referendum

« on: May 23, 2015, 09:45:35 AM »

Ireland went to the polls yesterday to vote in a referendum on providing for equal marriage rights in their constitution. Based on the reports I've read, there was a significantly higher turnout than expected, and polls predict a Yes victory.

I'll be keeping my eye on this. The results are due to be announced in another few hours; with any luck, common sense has prevailed and Ireland has voted to end marriage discrimination.

126

Philosophy, Religion & Society / The modern farce that is Anzac Day

« on: April 25, 2015, 12:25:22 AM »

Today is Anzac Day in Australia and New Zealand; a day supposedly intended for honouring the ANZAC soldiers that fought in the world wars, and more broadly to honour all Australian soldiers who have died for their country in any war. Yet, in our haste to remember them, we seem to have forgotten the principles and liberties which those soldiers fought and died to preserve.

Two weeks ago, Australian supermarket chain Woolworths was reprimanded by government for using the word "Anzac" in a seasonal advertisement, under an archaic law from 1920 which provides the Minister for Veterans' Affairs sole discretion over acceptable use of that sacred word. I could go into various reasons why the appointment of that ministerial post is undemocratic, and therefore a vague (at best) reflection on the will of the Australian people, but the point I have to make is more broad than that.

Australian soldiers fighting in World War II and the Vietnamese War were trying to protect Australian interests from Japanese militarism and Vietnamese communism, respectively. They opposed the influence of authoritarianism on Australian society, and many gave their lives to ensure the liberties we hold dear could be taken for granted in years to come. What a contrast total government control over the use of a single word, chipping away at our freedom of speech, makes against that goal.

I think Australia needs to ask itself the following question: Do we really want to honour the sacrifices of the soldiers who died for our liberties by restricting those same liberties in their name? If the answer is yes, then I fear this country was not worth dying for. If it is no, then scrap this ridiculous law and let Woolworths run its advertising campaign. If Australians truly disapprove of it, they will boycott Woolworths and it will learn its lesson without government interference.

127

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Medicinal cannabis trial in Australia

« on: April 19, 2015, 09:25:36 AM »

Three Australian states (NSW, Victoria and Queensland) and one territory (ACT) have agreed to begin trialling cannabis for medicinal use for serious illnesses. If successful (as I have no doubt it will be), this could open the door to more progressive drug laws in the future.

Despite being blocked in Tasmania and Western Australia, I'm very optimistic about this move. Australia has developed a tendency to fall behind on social policies in recent years, including those regarding drugs, marriage equality, freedom of speech and freedom of religion, and while the situation at the moment is far from dire, it will become so if we don't start keeping pace with progressive governments in Europe and North America. The first step has now been taken, at least on the drug front.

My eventual hope is that this trial, combined with the NSW government's obvious concern for alcohol-related violence in Sydney, will lead them to decriminalising recreational marijuana as an alternative to Sydney's decadent alcohol culture.

128

Announcements / Web chat now available

« on: April 11, 2015, 01:42:49 AM »

A long-awaited feature, the ability to get onto our IRC channel using a web client, is now available. Simply navigate to https://irc.tfes.org/ in your web browser, enter a nickname, and you'll be chatting with us in real time.

129

Suggestions & Concerns / Web chat for IRC

« on: April 05, 2015, 01:59:02 PM »

We now have a basic web chat set up:

https://irc.tfes.org/

It basically works, although there are one or two kinks I'd like to straighten out at some point. I'd like to ask the regulars (particular those who find IRC difficult) to give it a try and let me know if they think it's useful, or if there's anything they think is missing.

I'll be adding it to the homepage at some point in the next week if all goes well.

130

Arts & Entertainment / FES Civilization V game: 2015-04-05, 15:00 UTC

« on: April 04, 2015, 10:01:22 PM »

pizaaplanet and I are organising a Civ game at 15:00 UTC tomorrow. I know there are a few other people on FES who play Civ, and it'd be cool to have more humans to play with rather than the shitty AI.

If anyone wants to join, either PM me or pizaaplanet or get on IRC before 15:00 UTC so we can add each other on Steam and get the game rolling.

Our typical game is standard length, with a Small Continents map and simultaneous turns. I feel most comfortable on King difficulty; pizaaplanet usually goes with Emperor.

131

Status Notices / Scheduled maintenance, 2015-04-11

« on: April 04, 2015, 02:52:02 PM »

The forum, wiki and IRC will be going offline for about five minutes on 2015-04-11, between 07:00 and 07:15 UTC.

For convenience, this means:

EDT (USA east coast):
2015-04-11, 03:00-03:15

BST (UK):
2015-04-11, 08:00-08:15

AEST (Australia east coast):
2015-04-11, 17:00-17:15


The intent is to install security updates on the server which hosts the forum, wiki and IRC. These will be non-disruptive to functionality, as the server is running a stable OS release that gets critical fixes only.

132

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Marriage equality in Australia

« on: April 01, 2015, 02:03:58 PM »

Amidst the government's many and varied fuck-ups of late, there's one issue being discussed in Parliament that's largely been tossed aside by the media, as they focus on budget cuts, refugee mistreatment and Internet censorship. Recently, a member of our Liberal Democrats (a minor party holding only one seat in Parliament), Senator David Leyonhjelm, introduced a bill to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia.

It's a touchy subject for many politicians, with Labor having allowed their members a conscience vote, but the Coalition (which presently controls a majority in the House of Representatives) still forcing their representatives to vote against the issue, which has effectively prevented any possibility of this legislation being passed. Leyonhjelm seems to be hedging his bets, trying to introduce the matter slowly; the bill in question was drafted some months ago, but not introduced until very recently. Unless the Coalition changes its position on a conscience vote, however, there's not much hope.

Senator Leyonhjelm recently penned an article outlining the intent of the bill. I agree with everything he says in the article, as usual for the Liberal Democrats' social policies, but the thing that I find disturbing about it is the hate mail (shown as an image about halfway down) from someone who seems to think that the Senator should be shot in the stomach for daring to stand up for civil liberties.

If anything, Leyonhjelm having the balls to stand up for this issue in Parliament while the major parties are bickering over who's done the most damage to the economy in the past decade has made me seriously consider voting Liberal Democrats next election. There are a few socially progressive parties with seats in the Senate at the moment (most significantly, the Greens), but the Lib Dems seem to be the only ones putting their money where their mouth is.

Here's hoping the Coalition follows Labor into the 21st century and gives their members a conscience vote on marriage equality this year.

133

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Australian data retention laws

« on: March 27, 2015, 09:52:19 AM »

Yesterday, Federal Parliament passed new draconian data retention laws for Australian ISPs, with bipartisan support from both of our major parties. As I alluded to in a previous thread, I intend to set up a private VPN server (probably hosted by Linode in Japan, but I'm still considering my options) to tunnel traffic through in order to avoid being bitten by this new legislation; I'll quite happily allow my ISP to keep detailed records of my encrypted traffic out of the country.

Also as I mentioned in that thread, anyone here (in Australia or elsewhere) who would like a free VPN is welcome to use mine once I get it set up.

134

Technology & Information / OpenBSD 5.7

« on: March 13, 2015, 08:04:41 AM »

OpenBSD 5.7 went on pre-order today at the OpenBSD store. Looks like it's a Blues Brothers theme for this one; I can't wait to hear the release song.

I'll be putting in my order later tonight, along with a variety of merchandise (I'm doing a bulk order for the office). For just £35, this Blues Brothers-themed OS could be yours! (I'm actually being serious; 5.6 was the first release I actually bought, and the quality of packaging and artwork that comes with these releases is very impressive.)

The official release date is 1 May, but in practice, pre-ordered CDs are sent early and usually arrive before the release is available online. Yet another reason to buy a copy!

135

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Australians are sick of being lectured to by the UN, says Abbott

« on: March 09, 2015, 12:10:18 PM »

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-australians-sick-of-being-lectured-to-by-united-nations-after-report-finds-antitorture-breach-20150309-13z3j0.html

This guy. Fuck. Seriously.

Abbott's tenure is now well beyond a joke. I thought things were bad towards the end of last year, when his party restricted the wearing of burqas in Parliament House and passed new anti-terrorism laws reminiscent of America's PATRIOT Act. He repealed the carbon tax and consistently avoids directly answering questions from Labor and Greens representatives about environmental issues in Parliament. On a more entertaining note, he and his party have made various embarrassing blunders over the past few years.

But this is just inexcusable. Not taking torture allegations from the UN seriously is not something anyone I know wants this country to be associated with. I suppose the silver lining here is that this will only serve to drive the Coalition's popularity down further before the next election.

136

Philosophy, Religion & Society / New South Wales state election 2015

« on: March 08, 2015, 10:35:39 AM »

Here in New South Wales, we're facing another state election in three weeks. Personally, I don't have high hopes; I suspect we're going to end up with another Coalition government, although the polls are pretty close so it could be a hung parliament. In an attempt to influence the result in that direction, since I live in a safe Liberal electorate and thus my vote won't count for very much, I donated $250 to the Greens today.

I'm not in full agreement with all of the Greens' policies, but they're the only party with vaguely sensible views that has even the slightest chance of gathering enough votes to get seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house). The best realistic outcome we can hope for is a hung Parliament with the Greens and some Independents making up the crossbench; the most likely government would then be a Labor/Greens coalition.

Election day is in 20 days. Here's hoping.

137

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Individual rights and responsibilities versus state protection of citizens

« on: March 08, 2015, 04:49:01 AM »

I just took this again for the first time in four years, and apparently I'm drifting slowly to the right:

While we're giving explanations of our views, I'll outline how and why my views have changed.

The primary driver for my move to the right is a focus on individual rights and responsibilities, particularly with regard to purchasing decisions. For example, I believe that businesses are well within their rights to do all of the following things:

• Run a pub where smoking is permitted, and expect support from the law.
• Run a pub where smoking is prohibited, and expect support from the law.
• Sell marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs for recreational use.
• Sell mince containing unusual ingredients, such as horse meat.
• Pre-install abhorrently insecure malware on laptops. This is a terrible business decision, but it is not wrong.
  
• Provide assisted suicide services, subject to some regulation to avoid this becoming an easy option for people with temporary depression.

In all of the above cases, I believe that the role of government is not to prohibit, but to regulate; the government should ensure that products are labelled with accurate and complete information as to their contents, so that consumers may make educated decisions.

On the other hand, the reason I am still in the green quadrant is that I still feel there is a place for stronger regulations when it comes to business decisions that affect society and the environment. When purchasing decisions impact the world around us, rather than only the person making the decision, the government needs to step in and provide incentives for businesses and consumers to do the right thing. The much-debated carbon tax in Australia is an example of this, as is the gun control issue.

On civil liberties (the vertical scale), my position is unchanged. Gun control is probably the only issue I don't agree with your average libertarian on. I strongly believe in equality for men and women of all races, gay marriage, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to use drugs and drastically reduced copyright and patent laws. A government's role is to protect its people, not protect antiquated customs and traditions.

138

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Political compass

« on: March 07, 2015, 09:53:21 AM »

There were a few threads about this on the old site. For those not in the know, the Political Compass is an attempt to engineer a test that maps political beliefs onto a two-dimensional graph. It's far from perfect, but I find it interesting to see how my views have changed over the years.

See also: http://politicalcompass.org/

I just took this again for the first time in four years, and apparently I'm drifting slowly to the right:



Compare with my previous result from 2011.

139

Status Notices / Scheduled maintenance, 2015-03-05

« on: March 02, 2015, 04:10:18 AM »

The forum, wiki and IRC will be going offline for up to two hours on 2015-03-05, between 05:00 and 07:00 UTC.

For convenience, this means:

EST (USA east coast):
2015-03-05, 00:00-02:00

UTC (UK):
2015-03-05, 05:00-07:00

AEDT (Australia east coast):
2015-03-05, 16:00-18:00


This maintenance is being initiated by the hosting provider in order to rectify a security issue with the virtualisation software used for the VPS. While there is a two-hour window allocated, the actual downtime will likely be much less. For more information, see the Linode status page for this maintenance.

We will be taking this opportunity to install security updates on the server which hosts the forum, wiki and IRC. These will be non-disruptive to functionality, as the server is running a stable OS release that gets critical fixes only.

140

Technology & Information / I finally caved

« on: February 12, 2015, 05:59:41 PM »

I just bought an Apple laptop. Specifically, an iBook G4.

I am looking forward to getting my hands on this and replacing OS X with OpenBSD.