Article

Scammers sell Canberra house without owner’s knowledge | ABC News (Australia)

My Comments

Is the sale of the house meant to be?

Recently, a news item was run by the ABC News concerning scams involving the sale of houses and other real-estate property via the Internet without the owner’s knowledge. This was affecting people who own a property in another country such as a “expat” who is maintaining their former home as a rental property. I also reckon that this can also happen with other high-value high-risk transactions such as the sale of financial instruments, vehicles or collectable rarities.

What was highlighted with the scam was there was no face-to-face contact between the parties. Typically the trasaction was based around email messages, instant-messaging posts or other similar technologies, especially where the contact addresses were always changing. This could highlight the use of disposable email accounts to facilitate the transaction and avoid repudiation.

If you can’t meet the other party face-to-face because you and them are separated by distance, it would be a good idea to make voice contact, whether through the classic telephone setup or through Skype or a similar VoIP setup. I would even go as far as conducting a videocall using Skype, Viber Desktop or a similar technology as a way of confirming the identity and veracity of the other party.

As well, it is essential that you have the documents and signatures concerning the transaction verified. For an international transaction, you could engage the services of your country’s diplomatic presence in the remote country. You may also have to engage an official translator if you are dealing with documents written in a foreign language.

One thing to remember is that if there is undue urgency to complete the transaction or you find that the transaction is on terms that is out of place for one of that kind, including prices that are ridiculously high or low for the property or properties of a similar type, location or condition, you could be falling foul of a scam. As well, seek counsel from experts relating to the kind of transaction that is taking place like real-estate agents, valuers or banks.

Article

US watchdog to enforce advertised broadband quality | IT News

From the horse’s mouth

FCC

Complaint form

My Comments

There has been recent coverage about the state of US Internet service, which has been highlighted by the long Comcast customer-service call published on the Net. It is also in conjunction with issues raised concerning the consolidation of the US broadband Internet service market to protected duopolies for fixed and mobile service.

Now the FCC have passed a new rule concerning Internet service quality. This rule requires the carriers and Internet service providers to be honest about what they advertise for their bandwidth and service quality. It also opens up FCC’s complaints channel to consumers who have issues with these carriers regarding their Internet service.

The rule has done nothing about competition in the US telecommunications and Internet scene and if the competition issue was raised continuously there, it could see the quality of service rise there. This also touches the arrival of third party Internet services like municipal wireless services or Google Fiber offering a high-value fibre-to-the-premises broadband service.

Article (French language / Langue Française)

La fibre optique et la domotique débarquent dans les campings | DegroupNews

My Comments

Travelling is now becoming more of a connected affair with Internet connectivity being considered a valuable amenity wherever you stay. Even the humble campground or caravan park now offers a level of Wi-Fi-based Internet connectivity as a value-added service.

But the French have taken this further with the use of fibre-optic broadband to assure the people who lodge at these facilities have proper high-speed Internet access everywhere. They are typically in a position to do this because that country is fast becoming the poster child for a highly-competitive highly-affordable Internet service. This is in contrast to the typical cost-effective setup with one or a few Wi-Fi access points to cover the campground with Wi-Fi wireless Internet.

Yelloh Village have worked with Covage to achieve this goal and also provide an IPTV service with access to international TV channels.They have also implemented the “smart-home” concept in the bungalows or cabins that are becoming part of what the typical campground or caravan park offers. For example, when a guest leaves their bungalow, the electrical installation and hot water heater shuts down like as expected in a lot of newer hotels.

Some people may think that the idea of using a campground or caravan park for their holidaying needs is a chance to seek a humble cheap holiday but as more of these places equip themselves in a manner similar to a resort, it may become that camping in the wilderness may be the way to have that humble holiday.

Similarly, the goal to see proper rural Internet service can play in to a campground owner’s hands as a way of seeking to provide high-calibre public-access Internet to holidaymakers who are wanting to camp the “connected way”.

Article

Google Considers Bringing Google Fiber to UK | Broadband News and DSL Reports

Google aimed to build ultrafast broadband in Britain | The Telegraph (UK)

My Comments

Google are putting their fibre-optic next-generation broadband paws in to the UK market while trying to provide competitive Internet service in some US communities. It is seen to be their first foray in to the European market.

This is being achieved with them working with CityFibre, which may not be seen as adding extra competition in that market. Firstly, this is to be seen as a threat to BSkyB’s partnership and place themselves at loggerheads with a BSkyB / TalkTalk fibre-optic rollout which is passing 20,000 households in York.

But it is set to put more pressure on BT to deploy more next-generation broadband, especially as the British Internet press is complaining about BT Openreach taking a long time to roll out this service across the biggest Internet-service market outside the US. Google will also see this as a platform to run an HD-capable IPTV service which is ready for 4K UHDTV.

My question is whether Google could make further efforts in working as a competitive next-generation broadband provider for the British market, whether as a wholesale provider or as a retail provider. As well, could they be in a position to help with Scotland’s broadband goal if Scotland does go independent? Similarly, could they be able to put their claws in to other European areas like Spain, Germany and Italy with a goal to upset the applecart when it comes to competitive Internet service there.

Article (French language / Langue Française)

De nouveaux Freeplugs à 500 Mbps pour la Freebox Révolution | Freenews.fr

My Comments

Freebox Révolution now available wiht HomePlug AV500

The Freebox Révolution is the first wireless modem-router to support software updating to 802.11ac through its latest software update (mise à jour). But both the Freebox Server and Freebox Player came with the “Freeplugs” which are power supplies that integrate a HomePlug AV bridge in their functionality. This is typically to link the Freebox Player in the living room to the Freebox Server in the study or home office.

Both the “Freeplugs” were compliant to the HomePlug AV specification which worked the link at a best-case line speed of 200Mbps. This is although there are many HomePlug AV500 devices that can work the link to 500Mbps and are compliant to the IEEE 1901 specification for powerline local area networks.

Free have raised the game for the Freebox Révolution by delivering newer systems with “Freeplug” power supplies that work to the HomePlug AV500 specification rather than the older HomePlug AV specification. The only problem that I see with this is that customers who own an existing Freebox Révolution can’t easily purchase these adaptors as accessories for their existing setup i.e. they are only available to customers who are upgrading existing equipment or establishing a new installation. Personally, I would recommend that they be sold as aftermarket accessories for existing users.

On the other hand, you could use separate HomePlug AV500 devices to link these boxes while the existing Freeplugs are used simply as power supplies. This could allow you to use a uninterruptable power supply with the Freebox Server to avoid loss of telephony when the power goes down.

At least this is another example of the Freebox Révolution being considered cutting-edge for carrier-supplied consumer-premises equipment especially in an Internet-service market that has healthy competition.

Article

The danger of using PCs in hotel business centres | HOT For Security

Data thieves want to track what you type at hotel business centers | Engadget

My Comments

A very common part of the Internet landscape is the availability of public-access computers that are connected to the Internet. These were made available in schools, universities and libraries but then ended up as being part of cafes, bars and the like, including hotel business centres.

But there had to be a level of control over what software ended up on these computers so that they don’t become a conduit for mailware. Even before the Internet, there was the issue of people bringing in software on floppy disks and these were known to be a conduit for viruses. For example, the computer systems that I used at the TAFE college where I studied my computer course were connected to a network but these were set up to boot from the network where the IT department had control over the software that was made available. In some cases, the boot sequence required the computer’s local hard disk to be “swept clean” of data and the locally-required software image to be reinstalled on that hard disk.

A common reality with public-access computers nowadays is that they operate all the time the business is open, surviving the day without being rebooted. In some cases, it becomes feasible to install software on them thus allowing any “Tom, Dick and Harry” to install software off removeable media or the Internet. As well, there is a culture amongst a lot of organisations who run these computers where no-one cares about what goes on with them, usually due to technically-inept or overworked customer-service staff or IT support staff who are distant from the venues.

This has lead to situations like keylogger malware being planted on these machines because users enter personally-identifiable information in to these computers to complete transactions or communicate with others.

What can we do

If you can, use your own computer equipment to perform your sensitive communications or transactions. If you have to use a public-access computer, make sure that the machine you intend to use implements a “wipe-clean-and-install” arrangement where the local hard disks are “wiped clean” and the software reinstated from a known image after every usage session.

What venues can do

Encourage the staff to keep an eye on the public-access computers and respond to issues that the users may have with the systems. As well, they keep an eye out for any physical tampering with these systems such as installation of hardware keyloggers or similar devices.

Another issue worth considering is deploying system-management software that can either restore from a known disk image when the computer is restarted (Faronics DeepFreeze), lock down the computer (Anfibia Deskman) or provide a simple “Web kiosk” environment (Webconverger). These can limit the effect that malware can have on the public-access computers.

At least, they could keep the computers running operating systems, application software and desktop-security software that is kept updated with the latest security patches. In a lot of cases, the software could be set up with “blind updating” where the updates are downloaded and installed automatically. As well, making sure that the computers are restarted on a regular basis to be sure of updates being properly installed and can increase the effectiveness of “wipe-clean” system management software.

General comments

Personally I see the public-access computers becoming the Internet equivalent of the public pay phone – something that we are making less use of and people who use these devices regularly are seen as social pariahs. This is although they become a stop-gap measure for computing tasks when we deal with laptops or smartphones that are out of battery for example.

Article

Hacking the friendly skies: creating apps for wearables at 36,000 feet | Engadget

My Comments

There are some efforts taking place to make the wearable devices and sensors become relevant with air travel which is part of our business lives. This has been underscored by a recent “hackathon” programming contest sponsored by American Airlines to encourage the development of apps to bind wearables with the air travel experience.

The goal with this challenge was to make apps that are relevant to the passenger through the various phases of the experience i.e. checking in, passing through a security checkpoint, boarding the plane, flying using the newer inflight Wi-Fi system and having an Economy class seat as your workspace then arriving and collecting your luggage.

One application that won “first prize” in the challenge was a push-notification system that was able to let you and family / close friends know where you were in your air journey. Here, this could push messages to your phone or smartwatch or the device owned by your friend depending on where you are, and could show up electronic boarding passes as required. For your relative or friend, it would mean, for example, when to start driving out to the airport to pick you up. This application would be driven by GPS and iBeacon technology in order to get its bearings.

Another application that won the challenge was an “area social network” that applied to your flight. Here, this would tie in with Facebook and LinkedIn and the in-flight Wi-Fi to indicate whether you have “bumped in to” someone in your personal or business network by the fact that you are on the same plane. This could also work with groups that are likely to be “split up” due to travelling different classes on a long-haul jet or simply for solo travellers who are heading the same direction to do things like share cabs at the destination.

Someone even tendered a personalised proximity-signage setup which can show things like gate information for connecting flights or directions to a particular baggage carousel. I also see this application work with the hire-car scene by avoiding the need for drivers of these cars to show signboards relating to their pick-ups in the arrivals hall. This application assures privacy by deleting the information on the signs when you walk away from them.

Even the idea of travelling with your four-legged friend interstate or overseas by air on the same flight is catered for with a special collar that lets you know how they are. This could be augmented with a system that allows you to know how they are if you and the pet are on different transports once suitable technology is implemented as part of the “Internet of Things”.

This is a situation where innovation is taking place by encouraging situation-specific software development goals through programming challenges focusing on that situation.