Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
May 08
Call for Participation – DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN 59 in Johannesburg, South Africa
Would you like to share your ideas about DNSSEC or DANE with the wider community? Have you created a new tool or service? Have you found a way to use DNSSEC to secure some other service? Do you have new statistics about the growth or usage of DNSSEC, DANE or other related technology?
If so, and if you will be in Johannesburg, South Africa, for ICANN 59 in June 2017 (or can get there), please consider submitting a proposal to speak at the ICANN 59 DNSSEC Workshop!
Please send a brief (1-2 sentence) description of your proposed presentation to dnssec-johannesburg@isoc.org by Friday, 19 May 2017.
As with all of these sessions at ICANN meetings, it will be streamed live so that you can participate remotely if you will not be there in South Africa. (And I will note that this time I will not be attending in person.)
The full Call for Participation with more information and examples is below.
Call for Participation — ICANN DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN59 Policy Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa
The DNSSEC Deployment Initiative and the Internet Society Deploy360 Programme, in cooperation with the ICANN Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SSAC), are planning a DNSSEC Workshop at the ICANN59 Policy Forum 26-29 June 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The DNSSEC Workshop has been a part of ICANN meetings for several years and has provided a forum for both experienced and new people to meet, present and discuss current and future DNSSEC deployments. For reference, the last Policy Forum DNSSEC Workshop was at the ICANN meeting in Helsinki, Finland on 27 June 2016. The presentations and transcripts are available at: https://icann562016.sched.com/event/7NCj/dnssec-workshop-part-1.
The DNSSEC Workshop Program Committee is close to finalizing the 3-hour program. Proposals will be considered for the following topic areas and included if space permits. In addition, we welcome suggestions for additional topics either for inclusion in the ICANN59 workshop, or for consideration for future workshops.
1. DNSSEC Deployment Challenges
The program committee is seeking input from those that are interested in implementation of DNSSEC but have general or particular concerns with DNSSEC. In particular, we are seeking input from individuals that would be willing to participate in a panel that would discuss questions of the nature:
— What are your most significant concerns with DNSSEC, e.g., implementation, operation or something else?
— What do you expect DNSSEC to do for you and what doesn’t it do?
— What do you see as the most important trade-offs with respect to doing or not doing DNSSEC?
We are interested in presentations related to any aspect of DNSSEC such as zone signing, DNS response validation, applications use of DNSSEC, registry/registrar DNSSEC activities, etc.
2. Preparation for Root Key Signing Key (KSK) Rollover
In preparation for the root KSK rollover, we would like to bring together a panel of people who can talk about what the potential impacts may be to ISPs, equipment providers and end users, and also what can be done to potentially mitigate those issues. In particular, we are seeking participation from vendors, ISPs, and the community that will be affected by distribution of new root keys. We would like to be able to offer suggestions out of this panel to the wider technical community. If you have a specific concern about the Root Key Rollover, or believe you have a method or solution to help address impacts, we would like to hear from you. For more information on the root KSK rollover see the guide at: https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/ksk-rollover-quick-guide-prepare-systems-03apr17-en.pdf.
If you are interested in participating, please send a brief (1-2 sentence) description of your proposed presentation to dnssec-johannesburg@isoc.org by Friday, 19 May 2017
Thank you,
Julie Hedlund
On behalf of the DNSSEC Workshop Program Committee:
Mark Elkins, DNS/ZACR
Jean Robert Hountomey, AfricaCERT
Jacques Latour, .CA
Xiaodong Lee, CNNIC
Russ Mundy, Parsons
Ondřej Surý, CZ.NIC
Yoshiro Yoneya, JPRS
Dan York, Internet Society
May 06
TDYR 327 – A Personal Update About Why I Have Been Less Visible
I haven't published a TDYR episode in almost a month, haven't published many blog posts since March, and haven't been very active on social media... here is a bit about why...
May 04
Jakarta Declaration Calls on Governments to Recognize Legitimacy of Encryption (Featured Blog)
Today in Indonesia, media leaders gathered at UNESCO's World Press Freedom Day event issued the "Jakarta Declaration" calling on governments of the world to recognize the importance of a free and independent media in creating "peaceful, just and inclusive societies". The declaration calls on governments to take steps to support the freedom of the press, and, in the midst of the many actions was this statement: Recognise the legitimacy of the use of encryption and anonymisation technologies More...
Apr 07
TDYR 326 – Initial Thoughts On Mastodon
The Mastodon social network is getting a great bit of buzz. In this episode I provide some initial thoughts on what is going on. You can find me at https://mastodon.social/@danyork
Apr 07
TDYR 325 – Why Every Business Needs Encryption
"Why should I care about encryption? How does it affect my business?" In this episode I give a simple example of why encryption is important for every business, government or organization. See more at http://danyork.me
Apr 05
Encryption is critical for business communication
Imagine if all your business contracts were sent to customers written on postcards. Everyone who happened to see the postcard could see exactly what you were going to charge the customer, how many of your product the customer is going to order - and all of the information about the customer.
Your competition, naturally, could take that information and send a contract to that customer of yours that undercuts your proposal and offers better terms. They could also share that information with others to let them know that this customer buys from you. (Or, at least, they used to!) Your customer, too, could potentially see what you are charging other customers.
Now... STOP imagining - THIS IS HOW THE INTERNET WORKS TODAY!
Dan York
Apr 05
Encryption is critical for business communication
Imagine if all your business contracts were sent to customers written on postcards. Everyone who happened to see the postcard could see exactly what you were going to charge the customer, how many of your product the customer is going to order – and all of the information about the customer.
Your competition, naturally, could take that information and send a contract to that customer of yours that undercuts your proposal and offers better terms. They could also share that information with others to let them know that this customer buys from you. (Or, at least, they used to!) Your customer, too, could potentially see what you are charging other customers.
Now… STOP imagining – THIS IS HOW THE INTERNET WORKS TODAY!
In the physical world, of course, we don’t do this. We fold up contracts and we put them in envelopes. We might then put the sealed envelope inside a larger courier envelope. If we are really paranoid we might put them inside “tamper-proof” envelopes – or envelopes that can only be opened with a specific key.
But in the online world we don’t have these same protections by default. Every message you send has historically been broken down into many small packets and sent – unprotected – across the Internet. This is the digital equivalent of sending everything on postcards.
We need to protect our online business communication.
We need digital envelopes
The solution we have is to use encryption to protect our online information. We need to stop sending postcards – and put digital envelopes around all of our data.
We need to encrypt the information when we are sending it between people. We do this today online with technologies such as the HTTPS “lock” we see in our browsers (which is actually Transport Layer Security or “TLS”, formerly called “SSL”).
If we are to have safe, secure, and trusted economic transactions over the Internet we must know that only the people involved with the transaction can see the information.
We need digital envelopes – THAT is why we need encryption.
Learn more:
P.S. Some readers might notice that regular physical envelopes can be opened at the post office, in the company mail room, by customs officials at a border, or by other people who intercept the envelopes. That is true in the online world, too. There are different types of encryption. Some can be intercepted by people in the middle (what we call “hop-by-hop” encryption) and some types of encryption are secure between the sender and receiver (what we call “end-to-end” encryption). But that’s the topic for another blog post…
The post Encryption is critical for business communication appeared first on Internet Society.
Mar 28
Facebook Adds Stories to iOS/Android Apps to Try to Kill Snapchat
Facebook truly DESPISES Snapchat!
As documented in a blog post today, Facebook has now added "Stories" to their main mobile apps. Just like Snapchat, these stories:
- expire after 24 hours
- can be either images or videos
- have all sorts of filters and effects you can add
- this includes a "masks" feature similar to Snapchat "lenses" that can change someone's face
- can also be sent directly to one or more of your friends
- and just like Snapchat, the recipient can view the photo - and then view the photo once more in 24 hours
- can be created by simply swiping to the right to rapidly access the camera
If you reload your iOS or Android app today, you should see that the top of the app has changed. You now have:
- a camera icon in the upper left corner that lets you open the camera
- a "Direct" icon that gets you to images or videos sent directly to you. (Yet another messaging inbox.)
- a bar of icons of all the friends who have posted Stories so far
And, as mentioned before, you can now swipe to the right to access the camera. If you don't have this feature today, you should within the next day or so.
Cloning Snapchat again and again...
Adding "Stories" to the main Facebook app comes as no surprise. It's been clear for a while that Facebook was jealous of all the people using Snapchat and wanted to bring them back inside Facebook's shiny walled garden. Facebook had already rolled out "stories" in their other Messaging apps:
- Instagram Stories
- WhatsApp Status
- Facebook Messenger "My Day"
Of these, Instagram Stories has been viewed as successful. The WhatsApp and Messenger launches have been very recent and so it's not clear how many people will use them.
How will Facebook differentiate from Snapchat?
In their blog post, Facebook notes that:
Over the coming months, we plan to introduce new ways for the Facebook community to create their own frames and effects that can be used on any photo or video created with the new Facebook camera. Our goal is for the camera to be a home to hundreds of dynamic and fun effects that give you new ways to connect with friends, family, and your community.
We hope that with the new Facebook camera, Stories and Direct, it will be easier than ever to see the world through each other’s eyes
While it is possible in Snapchat to create a custom "geofilter", this teaser from Facebook sounds like a great bit more.
Facebook, of course, has a huge userbase. As I wrote in my "Directory Dilemma" post a few years back, users will use an app for messaging if the people they want to communicate with use that app. And the reality is that Facebook is the center of many people's communication.
So on one level, Facebook doesn't need to differentiate from Snapchat. They simply need to provide this functionality... and hope that this keeps people from opening up the yellow ghost app.
And of course, Facebook still supports regular text posts, photos, links, all of which last longer than 24 hours. They also have Facebook Live video streaming.
This is just really a way to bring "ephemeral messaging" (messages that disappear after a period of time) inside of Facebook's walls.
How many places can people post "stories"?
The question to me is really:
how many places can people realistically post their 24-hour "stories"?
Right now people have at least FIVE major options:
- Snapchat
- Facebook Messenger
... and any other apps that are copying Snapchat right now.
The reality is that users won't post to all of them. They'll choose one... maybe two... and that will be it.
Many people will probably choose to stay right inside of Facebook's walls and use that. Or, if they are already using Instagram Stories, they may stay there.
But what about Facebook Messenger?
One curious aspect of this announcement is bringing direct messaging BACK INSIDE the Facebook mobile app.
Facebook has spent a couple years now moving messaging OUT of the "Facebook" app. They have forced people to use Facebook Messenger to send and receive direct messages on a mobile device.
Now using the "Direct" inbox, we can send and receive messages inside the Facebook app again.
Granted, the messages can only be viewed twice within 24 hours - and they are in the form of images or videos. But we do have messages in the Facebook app again.
It will be interesting to see how Facebook evolves these many different messaging and "stories" channels they have.
Which will YOU choose?
If you have read this far... do you see yourself using the Facebook Stories?
Or will you stay with Snapchat? or Instagram Stories?
Or are you using WhatsApp Status or Facebook Messenger "My Day"?
Or do you just wish this whole "Stories" format would go away? ;-)
Please do leave comments here or wherever this article appears on social media.
P.S. There are many other stories about Facebook Stories appearing today.
Mar 24
TDYR 324 – The Sad, Fragmented World of Messaging Systems
Our messaging systems are a mess - how do you know how to reach someone? They are spread across so many different messaging / chat systems. I wrote about this today on my Disruptive Telephony blog - and recorded this audio commentary. Here's the blog post: http://www.disruptivetelephony.com/2017/03/xkcd-comic-perfectly-captures-sad-fragmented-state-of-messaging-chat-systems.html
