The British Computer Society (BCS), the professional body for IT workers in the UK, was kind enough to publish a review of my book Brown Dogs and Barbers recently and gave it a roaringly good verdict – 9 out of 10. Here is a link to the review.
Of course, it’s very nice for someone to pay your work compliments, like being called “eloquent” and having an “easy, engaging style”. But there are other things in the review which I’m particularly pleased to read because they show that I’m achieving my goals for the book.
For instance, the reviewer agrees with me that the book is “aimed squarely at the intelligent layperson, it requires no prior expertise and sits within the genre of popular science.” I’m glad that I have managed to present these ideas in an understandable way that requires no background knowledge.
Furthermore, the reviewer recommends the book to target audiences that I also intended to shoot for: “IT professionals, teachers, parents and their teenage children will all find it an invaluable introduction to the key concepts and their practical application.” This is especially nice to read as I now know that the reviewer is in the field of education, working at a British school and active in the Computing at School BCS working group.
In the reviewer’s opinion (and mine too) Brown Dogs and Barbers is also a book that’s relevant to people already working in IT, stating: “If you have no background in computer science, this book will be a revelation. And if you think you know what computer science is about, this book will invoke connections you may never have considered before.”
If you’d like to read for yourself what prompted this review, you can order my book online at Smashwords or Amazon, where there are also samples to try before you buy.
Brown Dogs and Barbers, the computer science book for everyone, is now available to buy online. There’s even a new landing page where you can find free excerpts and links to online shops: browndogsandbarbers.com.
Right now you can get it from several distribution channels, including Amazon (find it your nearest Amazon outlet, like the US, Canada, UK or Germany) and Smashwords. Other retailers, like iTunes, are also currently preparing it for sale in their webstores. More news on those as I receive word.
In this post, I’ll describe a few alternative FLOSS programs for any proprietary software you might be using to handle your sensitive data. Exactly how FLOSS makes life harder for peeping toms I’ll describe in a follow-up post.
In recent months we’ve learned about how the national security services of various countries have been spying on their citizens — and using the citizens’ own computers to do it. What’s more, the largest IT companies (household names like Google and Microsoft) have admitted to assisting the security services in their quest to monitor everything we do online. Understandably, many people don’t approve. But hey, what can you do? If the government wants to break into your computer or listen in on your Internet transmissions, is there really anything you can do to stop them?
I suppose espionage has been with us so long it’s just a fact of life — after all, some call spying the second-oldest profession — so it won’t be going away any time soon. But if you’re concerned about your data being available to anyone who cares to try and grab it, using FLOSS (Free, Libre or Open Source Software) offers a way to combat snoopers and eavesdroppers.
Why not consider the following alternatives?
Operating System: Linux
The operating system is the ultimate master of a computer. It manages everything your computer does at every level and so is responsible for authorising access. This makes the choice of operating system a critical part of IT security.
Tux: The Linux Mascot
It therefore pays to know what an operating system is doing. Most computer users today have some form of Microsoft Windows installed on their machine. But, since Windows is a proprietary program (i.e. you can’t read the source code) it’s extremely difficult to know exactly what Windows is up to. Is there a little piece of functionality somewhere that secretly opens up a back door or reports some unauthorised information back to a server somewhere? It’s exceedingly hard to tell.
With a FLOSS operating system like Linux, such a question is easier to answer because all of its source code is publicly available to read. Yes, you personally might not be able to read computer code, but there are thousands of coders who routinely read through Linux’s source. Assuming no vast conspiracy exists among these largely voluntary programmers, we can imagine that the whistle would be blown pretty quickly if someone tried to sneak some spy-friendly routines into Linux (an example of which occurred in 2003).
Still, there are many flavours of this flagship operating system to choose from. Even in the world of Linux, privacy issues turn on your choice of flavour. Ubuntu Linux for example, arguably the most popular and user-friendly, recently rubbed many users up the wrong way after introducing a “feature” that automatically shares some of your information with Amazon.
Email: Kolab — Cloud Storage: ownCloud
What can you do to stop people reading through your mail? There are actually two main issues here. One is related to what I’ve already been talking about: namely, if the source code to your email program is a secret, you can’t know for sure what it’s doing.
The second is: where is your data? In today’s world of the cloud, your data — whether it’s emails or files shared via a service like Dropbox — is probably stored on some anonymous, remote server thousands of miles away rather than your own machine. Someone else is therefore managing access to your data. In such cases, as recent allegations have suggested, it is possible for them to grant access to people whom you know nothing about.
For email and cloud storage, I nominate Kolab and ownCloud as alternatives respectively. Kolab (as I’ve written about elsewhere) is an email service that prides itself on being built from 100% free software. OwnCloud is a file-sharing web application whose entire codebase is available on GitHub. So how can you get hold of them?
In both cases, professional IT companies host the application on their servers and you can set up an account with them and use the software. Admittedly, just like with GMail or Dropbox, you’re taking the word of these organisations that your data is safe with them. But with Kolab and ownCloud, you’re not forced to trust such companies. If the want to take greater steps to protect your data, then you can do something that isn’t possible with Google and Dropbox: you can set up your Kolab email or ownCloud storage on your own server and thus empower yourself with responsibility for your data. Many organisations are beginning to do this, thus taking on the responsibility and becoming the sole gatekeepers to their own data. What’s to stop you doing the same?
VoIP: ?
The other great revelation from the PRISM scandal was the collection of data from Skype calls. Skype is one of the most popular VoIP programs and I’ve seen it used regularly by universities, companies large and small, as well as private users by the million. So what FLOSS alternative exists as a more secure alternative?
To be honest, I’m not sure. Alongside the operating system, email and cloud storage, VoIP is one of the most important components for addressing IT privacy. But I also think it’s one of the weakest sectors in which FLOSS competes. I’d love to hear recommendations and success stories in the area of open source VoIP, but sadly even my very geekiest of friends use either Skype or Google Hangouts.
The second is: where is your data? In today’s world of the cloud, your data — whether it’s emails or files shared via a service like Dropbox — is probably stored on some anonymous, remote server thousands of miles away rather than your own machine. Someone else is therefore managing access to your data. In such cases, as 