Ransomware

Ransomware is nothing new. Neal Stephenson wrote one of his worst novels on the topic. A few years ago, a school I worked for lost months worth of files because we were attacked and hadn't backed up our files. It really sucked to lose months worth of planning, but maybe something more is going on.

Over at NEO-NEOCON, there is speculation about just who Marcus Hutchins is. We face, I think, a serious dilemma. The most important thing to keep in mind is Snyder's advice to remain calm when the unthinkable happens. This exploit is just a harbinger of things to come. What needs to happen is a real investigation into what happened.

For the next few weeks, the Tangential Dispatch will be devoting most of its time to covering this latest Ransomware attack.

What we need to combat cyber attacks is what we already have: a relatively decentralized system. What we don't need to combat cyber attacks is a more centralized system.

Establish a Private Life

Timothy Snyder in On Tyranny has provided us all with twenty important lessons to keep in mind. My particular favorite is Number 14: Establish a Private Life. Many of us, perhaps myself included, are guilty of spending too little time protecting ourselves online.

The recent wave of ransom ware that swept Asia and Europe and barely gave America a miss is a case and point. People online are trying to private public. Certainly some brave souls fight against this trend, but major firms have an interest in acquiring as much data as possible. And some will use underhanded methods to acquire it.

There is a simple solution to this problem. Instead of engaging in an encryption decryption arms race, we should simply live non digital lives. What do I mean by that? I mean forsaking places like Reddit and online forums and engaging in local politics.

 A civic life lived offline is worth far more than a civic life fed by upvotes and downvotes.

Not A Trump Supporter

I find myself in a difficult position. I am not a Democrat. I am not a Trump supporter. I am not a civic nationalist. I am not an ethnic nationalist.

I believe in institutions. Truth be told, I have my doubts about American institutions. I think past tinkering has already placed us in an untenable position, but I believe that we must respect those institutions nevertheless. Why?

Because those institutions are the product of our liberal democracy. We liberal democrats, we classical liberals, must keep that simple fact in mind. Colin Powell had his famous Pottery Barn rule for Iraq: You break it, You bought it.

The same applies in our present crisis. We broke it. Now we have to fix it, whilst respecting the institutions that have made us a Shining City on a Hill for the world at large.

No matter the man, we should never join ourselves to a cult of personality.

I believe our institutions are strong enough to weather the storm, especially if the average citizen defends and safeguards them.

Reddit and Politics

I've reached a simple conclusion, one that many people have probably already reached on their own.

Reddit is the hemlock of civil society.

In real life people are atomizing themselves. Online people are Balkanizing themselves. Truth be told, this is a false dichotomy. A lot of things are going on, but I believe people are devaluing themselves and finding values in tribes.

Reddit is a platform, a battleground, for digital tribes. Reddit allows these digital tribes to engage in rhetorical combat. Upvote allies. Downvote enemies. This is nothing new.

I belong to the first generation that took the internet for granted. Sure, it was expensive and frustrating, but you could always count on a connection. But the generation before us were the true trail blazers of the internet. They were the first trolls, the first sock puppets, the first tribes.

Centuries ago, Rousseau answered a simple question with a simple answer. Has civilization benefited humanity? No, it hasn't, he answered. A simplistic answer, but at least he has the guts to bite the bullet.

When asked about the French Revolution, Zhou Enlai said it was too early to tell. Perhaps he's right.

Astrill Still in Business

A few months ago, around the time of Chinese New Year, the government decided to really go after VPNs.It go so bad, that I decided not to renew my subscription for an entire year.

I'm happy to say that things have gotten back to normal.I still have the occasional difficulty using Astrill on my iPad, but it is great on my laptop.

Even if you're not in a country that censors the internet, Astrill is still a great investment.I love Astrill for one simple reason: it lets me watch,listen or read pretty much anything I want.

When my subscription ends in July, I will happily buy a one year subscription.

Music Monday: The Chopstick Brothers

This week, surprise, surprise, The Chopstick Brothers 筷子兄弟 (kuaizi xiongdi), remain at the top of the Baidu Music charts with the song Little Apple 小苹果 (xiao pingguo). Just as little can imply cute in English, 小 can imply cute in Chinese.And that's how I interpret the song.

Other than that, there isn't much to say about this song. It's annoying. I feel like I've been hearing it for years. In fact the song isn't that old. It came out on their album 老男孩之猛龙过江 which happens to also be a movie, one I have never seen.

I'm sure there's much more to say on the subject, but you won't hear it from me. Curious, and being something of a sadist, I did explore their work some. It wasn't really time well spent, in my opinion.

Next week, we'll be looking at a newish release by Wang Faye, which is infinitely more interesting than 小苹果． 
 

Astrill

Astrill is completely fucked. Now, if that were completely true, I wouldn't be writing this. But most days I don't use a computer. I just make do with my iPad. And Astrill is completely fucked on that.

Frankly, it's quite frustrating, dealing with this bullshit. I cannot begin to explain the just how large of an inconvenience the Great Firewall is. Now, when it was merely an inconvenience, it was sufferable. But it is no longer merely an inconvenience. It really does make one think about moving.

That said, I've gone a whole damn year without a VPN. It isn't really necessary,just like internet isn't really necessary, but the world is so much more damn convenient with it.

All I can say is this, I hope someone is developing new means of circumventing the Great Firewall. For me, it is an inconvenience, but for other people, for people that can't afford to shell out a $100 for a product that only sometimes works, it really is a problem.

That's what I think China is doing. They're attacking services like this to dissuade marginal users from using them. If that's not what they're doing, that's what they should be doing.

Some people, regardless of China's aspirations concerning cyber sovereignty, will find ways of accessing the wider web. By mounting sporadic attacks on VPNs, China inconveniences these users, but doesn't really force them seek out new technologies. At the same time, these attacks me people with upcoming renewals rethink those renewals. That's exactly what happened to me. Astrill became unusable right when my expiration date was approaching, so I said, fuck it; I don't need a VPN.

Really, what we need is satellite links for laptops. Elon Musk, make it happen. I'd love to see the CPC block that.     

Back

I'm surprised to be writing this. I'd quite forgotten this blog of mine. I'm surprised to see certain posts have been so popular. Needless to say, I've changed quite a bit since I first started this blog. And now that I am contemplating restarting it, I think it necessary to chuck a few posts, indeed the majority of posts, down the memory hole.

I won't destroy these posts completely. Consider it an edit. In the future the blog will focus much more time and energy on the Chinese language. I'm still rather incompetent at it, but at least I'm experienced in my incompetence.

In any case, I hope you enjoy my return. I know I will.

Moving

To my dismay and trepidation, I will be moving in a few weeks. I'll either move to Nanjing, Shanghai, or a new apartment in Wuhu. My plans, of yet, are uncertain.

In many respects, this year, my third year in country, was my true sophomoric year. I made the mistake of forgetting where I was. I won't forget again. Not again. So let new adventures start.

Astrill for iPad

So, things at this blog are slowing down. One of the reasons for that is my old macbook died on me. I decided to scale down to an iPad instead of buying a new lap top. That itself hasn't been a prolem. Pacing and writing on an iPad is pretty enjoyable. The real reason for the slow down is a lack of reliable VPNs for the iPad.

I've been using Astrill because they've never done me wrong, but the iPad app is far from ideal. It's sluggish and a lot of times, especially on weekends it simply won't connect.

In any case, I hoping to sort things out soon; I'll be sure to let you know if I find a better VPN for iPad.

North Korea

Is all the crap coming from North Korea for domestic consumption? Probably, but who is the target audience? Is it the average North Korean? Perhaps. Is it for others within the leadership? The selectorate? How big is the North Korean selectorate? Is this kid just insane?

One of the fall back arguments against DPRK having Nukes, or at least Iran having Nukes, is that they're irrational. 

I disagree. This tantrum isn't meant for domestic consumption. It's meant to instill uncertainty into the  minds of analysts. This is rational behavior. It's risky, but the risk has to be taken. The American response has been satisfactory. All DPRK needs is the US to say and show that it takes the threat seriously. The US responded ideally. Why it's almost as though we've given the Nutcase face sending B-2s to pratice killing him.

And so, let's just hope he isn't insane.