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Privacy not included

Mozilla has just started a new campaign: Privacy Not Included. If you are looking around for a Christmas gift for friends and family, have a look here first. Mozilla helps and states the possible privacy and security flaws a gadget has. At least now, if you choose a product which invades your privacy (or that of a friend or spouse), you know about it before you buy it. You will get bonus points from your geeky spouse when their present is private and secure ;-)

Password fail: Aliexpress

After my Dutch rant, now it is time to do an English one. I've noticed (generally speaking) that customer support does not reply to messages about password insecurity. Since these kind of security flaws do not get fixed, perhaps mentioning them out in the open is the way forward. Nowadays 'social media' are 'news' sources and they respond best to a 'drama' type of news. So let's give that a try, in the hope that the insecurities get fixed and we all get a more secure and safer future.

Today I created an account at AliExpress and noticed the following:

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George Orwell - 1984

A while ago George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was very popular again. It was even sold out at several online bookstores, which really surprised me. Anyway, I put in on my "must read" list and did not have to time to read it until now.

Since I commute often (by car), I am a fan of listening to audiobooks. I just got to listening it and it truly is an amazing book, a must read (or listen to)!

It is possible to see quite a lot of parallels with the world today, or at least, the general direction that we are moving towards. Big brother is watching you. The dystopian future described by Orwell is actually feasible (and partially happening nowadays), just have a look at certain totalitarian countries. Education (and information) should be and flow freely and let's be honest, that is the only way to a brighter future for everyone.

I wanted to share my sources to obtain a copy this e-book (or audiobook):

Android without a Google account

My girlfriends phone broke this week and I gave her my spare (old) Samsung Galaxy S4, which I had replaced due to glitches (like not seeing the SIM card regularly). But it worked most of the time and a simple reboot would fix the issue. At the end of the next day she told me that her mobile internet was not working and I was surprised. I did not modify anything, so the Telfort configuration must have come from the network. On their website you are able to find the correct settings, but you have to follow a terribly inefficient, phone specific wizard and are guided step-by-step (e.g. user friendly) to correctly configure the settings. The settings basically boil down to:

APN: internet
MCC: 204
MNC: 12
Accesspoint type: default,supl

Then I simply saved and enabled this and all was well again.

For those who are interested, a proxy server (with port) was configured and encryption was enabled.

Fixed Telfort mobile internet on my girlfriends phone

My girlfriends phone broke this week and I gave her my spare (old) Samsung Galaxy S4, which I had replaced due to glitches (like not seeing the SIM card regularly). But it worked most of the time and a simple reboot would fix the issue. At the end of the next day she told me that her mobile internet was not working and I was surprised. I did not modify anything, so the Telfort configuration must have come from the network. On their website you are able to find the correct settings, but you have to follow a terribly inefficient, phone specific wizard and are guided step-by-step (e.g. user friendly) to correctly configure the settings. The settings basically boil down to:

APN: internet
MCC: 204
MNC: 12
Accesspoint type: default,supl

Then I simply saved and enabled this and all was well again.

For those who are interested, a proxy server (with port) was configured and encryption was enabled.