Zagaja.com

Is your computer or software secure? Despite what the experts or vendors want to tell you, the answer is probably no. This point was driven home to me yesterday when Citizen Lab published a report on three iPhone exploits. These exploits are called 0-days because it has been 0 days since they were known to the public and security researchers. These exploits fetch a large price on the private market and the only reason the intended target was not infected is because he was suspcious of the link. No software updates or other measures can defend you against a properly executed 0-day. It is up to you to reocgnize an attempt to infect you and be vigilant.

As I have been working on my Code for Boston Project I have spent lots of time reviewing pull requests. While it is easy to review pull requests when you are working with someone in the same space everyday, it is a bit more challenging when someone is remote. I think that the good pull requests tend to have a few things in common:

Earlier this week I had the privilege of attending the Forbidden Research conference with others from Berkman Klein. There the speakers posed the question of “[h]ow can we most effectively harness responsible, ethical disobedience aimed at challenging the norms, rules, or laws that sustain society’s injustices?” This was explored both through panel discussions and also some announcements that were made at the conference. At the end of the conference I felt refreshed and motivated.

One of the things that I consistently struggle with when I run organizations is deciding when to delegate something versus when to do it myself. A well functioning organization should have lots of people in it that can split the work and get things done without large amounts of intervention. However getting an organization to a point where it is well functioning is a challenge. In a well functioning organization people need the authority, time, and ability to get things done. When new people join an organization they often are still learning how things work. There is a cost to on boarding on both ends.

One of my goals when I started my fellowship at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society was to incorporate auotmated software testing into my workflow. Sections on automated software testing are included in popular tomes like the Rails Tutorial but these tutorials also will suggest that you can skip learning about testing. Many people often do. I think the main reasons people skip testing is that it is a second programming language to learn, and its purpose is not well explained.