yes, they are. I even have a captcha solver tool here, but it's only effective 
50% of the time. Google is, by far, the worst offender of the lot when it comes 
to this type of http interception and presentation scheme.

-eric
from the central office of the Technomage Guild, Brave new world Dept.

On Mar 23, 2017, at 6:07 PM, Vara La Fey wrote:

> Mmm hmm. But at least nobody will know that you're streaming the footage of 
> his arrival.
> 
> Are these captcha-blockings you mention the same as when Google and others 
> intercept you when they detect that you're not trying to login from the same 
> IP as your previous logons? Back when I last used Tor to actually login to an 
> account, sites I used weren't doing that kind of interception. I've merely 
> browsed with Tor since.
> - Vara
> 
> On 3/23/2017 5:13 PM, Eric Oyen wrote:
>> That is the other problem I have seen with TOR. Any slower and the second 
>> coming of christ will arrive sooner. :)
>> 
>> -eric
>> from the central office of the Technomage Guild, Editors choice dept.
>> 
>> On Mar 23, 2017, at 4:02 PM, Vara La Fey wrote:
>> 
>>> I'm all for education. I'm a trans-girl, and believe me, I would like to 
>>> educate people a little about us. But I wouldn't take it upon myself to 
>>> intrude on their time for a 3 Minute Love unless they're trying to hurt 
>>> someone.
>>> I don't want people semi-forcing content on me. And the desired "campaign" 
>>> is exactly that. It's sad that everyone here who comments keeps asserting 
>>> the "safety" benefits, without a care in the world about the sheer 
>>> intrusiveness and the obvious socio-political abuses of systems like that 
>>> becoming commonplace. Which hopefully they won't.
>>> 
>>> I don't need a VPN and have never set one up, but I don't doubt the 
>>> security of a VPN/Tor combination. And if you are really afraid of snoops 
>>> and spooks, encrypt all your text traffic with large PGP keys. But I rarely 
>>> use Tor because it's horribly slow, and PGP because it's an extra few 
>>> steps. But they are always there for those special occasions.  :-)
>>> 
>>> - Vara
>>> 
>>> On 3/23/2017 3:16 PM, Eric Oyen wrote:
>>>> well, if you don't want to deal with bad certs, redirected https,etc, you 
>>>> can either not use that router/service or get a VPN and secure all your 
>>>> traffic. And yes, I will not use paywall systems of any kind, they have no 
>>>> business knowing what my credentials are.
>>>> 
>>>> Lastly, if I want real security, a combo of VPN and TOR cannot be beat. I 
>>>> use private internet access for the VPN and also have a TOR node setup 
>>>> here. the TOR node will not be connected until after the VPN comes up. why 
>>>> let my ISP know I am running a TOR node here at home? The only issue I 
>>>> have with this is that my search engine queries don't work right (mostly, 
>>>> I get blocked and asked to solve a captcha, which is not doable for the 
>>>> blind most times)
>>>> Anyway, do what you must, but education should be the first item on the 
>>>> list when it comes to net security.
>>>> 
>>>> -eric
>>>> from the central office of the Technomage Guild, Security applications 
>>>> dept.
>>>> 
>>>> On Mar 23, 2017, at 2:50 PM, Vara La Fey wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> First you were talking about open hotspots. Then you were talking about 
>>>>> https. Now you are talking about ssl.
>>>>> 
>>>>> But all the while you're still just talking about monitoring and 
>>>>> restricting the activity of 3rd parties on 4th party systems. And it 
>>>>> seems really important to you for some reason.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Please, waste time and effort and money patenting your spyware chaperone 
>>>>> system that monitors web activity with the intent of creating 
>>>>> consequences for activity which you - or your intended customer - opines 
>>>>> is "invalid". I doubt very many people will buy into it because there is 
>>>>> no upside for them. Even when they alter it to fit their own agenda, they 
>>>>> just anger their customers who can click OK for EULAs and enter logins, 
>>>>> but cannot bypass your 3 Minute Hate.
>>>>> 
>>>>> If it can detect an "invalid" certificate, then by changing a couple code 
>>>>> lines (if even), it can detect anything else about an attempted site 
>>>>> visit. Of course this ability is ancient now, but less evil 
>>>>> implementations of it merely censor by blocking, which is bad enough. 
>>>>> Yours is "educational" - and it's interesting that you put the quotes 
>>>>> around that word yourself - for the purpose of taking up other people's 
>>>>> time with propaganda.
>>>>> If it became common, it would become a mandatory advertising medium 
>>>>> anytime anyone clicked on a competitor's site, or a site with bad reviews 
>>>>> for your customer. If it became law, it would become a mandatory 
>>>>> propaganda delivery system anytime anyone clicked on a site containing 
>>>>> any kind of dissenting viewpoint.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Are you hoping to create one of those conditions? If so, which?
>>>>> Because this sure looks like more than just wanting to manipulate lesser 
>>>>> people into a system designed to reinforce your wishful feelings of 
>>>>> superiority. There has to be a more compelling reason that you're this 
>>>>> overly concerned about what 3rd parties do on 4th party systems.
>>>>> Which, btw, brings up the fact that your system is not equivalent to 
>>>>> EULAs or logins or pay systems, because the connection provider has the 
>>>>> right to set conditions for using their connection. Your spyware idea is 
>>>>> to harass people who are using other people's connections.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm not an expert on web connection technology per se, but it seems that 
>>>>> Tor would nicely wire around all SSL issues after the initial connection 
>>>>> to the now-restricted hotspot. You certainly make a great case for using 
>>>>> it, even if just on general principle. So what would you do about that?
>>>>> 
>>>>> I don't think your grandmother wants you monitoring her activity. I don't 
>>>>> think anyone wants you monitoring their activity. But you seem to want to 
>>>>> do it anyway. And no one but me is saying boo to you.  :-(
>>>>> 
>>>>> As to the trivia: I personally have never had trouble from visiting a 
>>>>> site with an "invalid certificate" of any kind, because that stuff simply 
>>>>> isn't 100% maintained. Obviously I am careful where I go and what I click 
>>>>> and download anyway. I do not so easily ignore "known malware site" 
>>>>> warnings, and if in doubt about a site I reflexively check the web 
>>>>> address. MyBank.Phishing.com and Phishing.com/MyBank do not get clicks 
>>>>> from me. But that's all beside the point.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 3/20/2017 9:57 PM, Brien Dieterle wrote:
>>>>>> On Mar 20, 2017 3:36 PM, "Vara La Fey" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> OMG!!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> First of all, you'd be mis-educating them if telling them that 
>>>>>> certificate "validity" has any real meaning. (But now you're talking 
>>>>>> about http.)
>>>>>> I mean validity as in trusted roots that have been shipped with your OS 
>>>>>> or browser.  Surely you don't mean these are meaningless. AFAIK they are 
>>>>>> very reliable as long as you                                 never 
>>>>>> accept bogus certs.  If you accept bogus certs "all the time", I really 
>>>>>> hope you know what you're doing.  Pretty much any important site should 
>>>>>> have working SSL.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> There is a reason why all the browsers freak out when you get a bad 
>>>>>> cert, but users still click "add exception".  My captive education 
>>>>>> portal would give real consequence to this with the 3 minute power point 
>>>>>> slideshow and mandatory quiz.  I wonder if this is already patented. . .
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Second, why do you think you have any right to put speed bumps in the 
>>>>>> way of people who are doing nothing to you? 
>>>>>> Plenty of businesses do this already for captive portals and forcing 
>>>>>> users to log in, pay, or accept an EULA.  They are already tampering 
>>>>>> with your SSL connection in order to redirect you to the portal. I'm 
>>>>>> just suggesting to use this technology for "educational" purposes.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Third, if your grandmother needs internet "safety" education, just 
>>>>>> educate her, or refuse to keep fixing the problems she encounters in her 
>>>>>> ignorance - if she really is all that ignorant. I hope you wouldn't 
>>>>>> install a browser re-direct without her consent, because then you'd be 
>>>>>> just any other malware propagator with just any other self-righteous 
>>>>>> rationalization.
>>>>>> Well, I'm lazy.  I'd much rather have an ongoing passive education 
>>>>>> program for anyone that uses that router.  Maybe only 1 in 1000 requests 
>>>>>> trigger the "test", or once a month per mac address maybe.  If grandma 
>>>>>> fails the test I can get an email so I can call her up and gently 
>>>>>> chastise her.  "Grandmaaaa, did you accept a bogus SSL certificate 
>>>>>> again? Hmmm?"
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> As far as consent goes, I'm only talking about routers you own or have 
>>>>>> permission to modify.  That should go without saying.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Fourth, if you need educational "speed bumps" on your router, you are 
>>>>>> free to have them. One of the great things about freedom - from 
>>>>>> government or from meddling busybodies - is that you get to be free too.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> My post is in the context of businesses or individuals that provide 
>>>>>> Internet to the public.  Presumably businesses and individuals have the 
>>>>>> freedom to do this kind of SSL interception, since they've already been 
>>>>>> doing it for years without any repercussions.  Personally I'm disturbed 
>>>>>> that businesses will try to get me to accept their SSL cert for their 
>>>>>> Wi-Fi portal, but I know the technology leaves little choice.  One trick 
>>>>>> is to ignore the cert and try again with a non SSL address.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> It is pretty ironic that the first thing these captive portals ask users 
>>>>>> to do is blindly accept a bogus SSL cert.  It is really just a sad state 
>>>>>> of affairs that we are literally training people to accept bad SSL 
>>>>>> certificates.
>>>>>> For years my Firefox has had an option to "always use HTTPS", and I'm 
>>>>>> sure all other modern browsers do as well. Plus, Mozilla.org has a free 
>>>>>> plugin - I think it's from EFF.org                                       
>>>>>>     - called "HTTPS Everywhere". It's all very easy to use, and will be 
>>>>>> almost entirely transparent to Grandma.
>>>>>> This won't do anything to protect you/grandma from bogus ssl certs.  
>>>>>> Imagine connecting to a bad AP at Starbucks that is proxying all your 
>>>>>> SSL connections.  Your only defense is trusted roots and knowing not to 
>>>>>> accept bogus SSL certs.  If only we had a captive router-based SSL 
>>>>>> education program... ;)
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 3/20/2017 3:14 PM, Brien Dieterle wrote:
>>>>>>> A system like I described would just be an "educational tool" to 
>>>>>>> encourage people to use HTTPS (properly).  It wouldn't stop you from 
>>>>>>> accepting bogus certificates-- just a speed bump.  Now that I've 
>>>>>>> thought about it I'd really like to install something like this on my 
>>>>>>> grandparent's router. . .   heck, my own router. . .
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 2:50 PM, Vara La Fey <[email protected]> 
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> Oh HELL no!! What kind of hall-monitor nanny mentality do you want 
>>>>>>> people to adopt??
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I accept "bogus" certificates all the time because the whole idea of 
>>>>>>> certificates is crap in the first place - they are NOT maintained - and 
>>>>>>> years ago I got tired of that procedure warning me about "invalid" 
>>>>>>> certificates for sites that were perfectly valid.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I've never had a problem. Of course I'm also careful where I go, 
>>>>>>> certificate or not.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> - Vara
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 3/20/2017 2:12 PM, Brien Dieterle wrote:
>>>>>>>> Maybe every commercial router should do SSL interception by default.  
>>>>>>>> If a user accepts a bogus certificate they are taken to a page that 
>>>>>>>> thoroughly scolds them and informs them about the huge mistake they 
>>>>>>>> made, forces them to read a few slides and take a quiz on network 
>>>>>>>> safety before allowing them on the Internet.  Maybe do the same for 
>>>>>>>> non-ssl HTTP traffic, etc.. . 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 1:55 PM, Matt Graham <[email protected]> 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Mon, Mar 20, 2017 at 12:29 PM, Victor Odhner <[email protected]> 
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I’m really annoyed that so many companies offer open WIFI when it 
>>>>>>>> would be
>>>>>>>> so easy to secure those hot spots.  Restaurants, hotels, and the 
>>>>>>>> waiting
>>>>>>>> rooms of auto dealerships are almost 100% open.
>>>>>>>> [snip]
>>>>>>>> On 2017-03-20 13:20, Stephen Partington wrote:
>>>>>>>> This is usually done as a means to be easy for their customers.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Pretty much this.  Convenience is more valuable than security in most 
>>>>>>>> people's minds.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> they’d be happy to do the right thing if we could explain it to the 
>>>>>>>> right people.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I'm not sure this would happen.  Setting up passwords and then 
>>>>>>>> distributing those passwords has a non-zero cost and offers zero 
>>>>>>>> visible benefits for most of the people who are using the wireless 
>>>>>>>> networks.[0]  And as another poster said, what about football/baseball 
>>>>>>>> stadiums?  Distributing passwords to tens of thousands of people is 
>>>>>>>> sort of difficult.  "Just watching the game" is not an option; people 
>>>>>>>> want to FaceTweet pictures of themselves at the game.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> OTOH, the last time I looked at the access points visible from my 
>>>>>>>> living room, almost all of them had some sort of access control 
>>>>>>>> enabled. Maybe there's a social convention forming that "my access 
>>>>>>>> point" ~= "my back yard" and "open access point" ~= "a public park"?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> [0] Having a more educated user population would make the benefits 
>>>>>>>> more visible, but it's very difficult to make people care about these 
>>>>>>>> things.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>>>> Crow202 Blog: http://crow202.org/wordpress
>>>>>>>> There is no Darkness in Eternity
>>>>>>>> But only Light too dim for us to see.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>>>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>>>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss 
>>>>>>> mailing list - [email protected] To subscribe, 
>>>>>>> unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: 
>>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing 
>>>>>> list - [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to 
>>>>>> change your mail settings: 
>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>>>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>>> --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing 
>>>>> list - [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to 
>>>>> change your mail settings: 
>>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>>> 
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------
>>>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>>>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>>> --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing 
>>> list - [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to 
>>> change your mail settings: 
>>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
>> 
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
>> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
> http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list - [email protected]
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings:
http://lists.phxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss

Reply via email to