• (23:02) @hesa http://twitpic.com/eima - Yep... P #
• (23:28) both cats having nap with me. so didn't want to get up. #
• (07:34) @hesa "I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fireoff the Shoulder of Orion... #

• (20:28) @melbournegirl Fring? #
• (09:02) doing family history research. Fuck the Internet has a lot of stuff on it. Meet my great X many grandfather - http://tinyurl.com/543h4o #

• (21:40) hearting Angie Hart for helping me survive another trans-Pacific flight. A tad in love with her. #
• (02:18) @lu_lu You haven't eaten for 4 days? And you're drinking? Way cool... :P #
• (02:19) @lu_lu oopps - that should have been directed at @hesa :) #
• (02:36) @lu_lu you weren't kidding? I thought it was just me - I haven't eaten a proper meal for days - jet lag crapola #
• (02:37) @lu_lu of course I think if I have a drink I'll probably sleep for about two days #
• (05:06) @lu_lu why did I read that as "overflowering"... hmmm #
• (18:31) @kelisha I'll take her if it's ANY trouble... :P #
• (18:34) @melbournegirl sending mental good wishes and virtual soap. #

• (00:40) @prashantrajan As an Apress author I'd dispute that. Pretty broad generalisation given their portfolio of books. #

• (23:54) @mspecht ah missed this one - I was in International - near Gate 8 - the gate of external waiting... #
• (23:55) @zackster No that was SF - lots of Border security questions... #
• (08:07) @hesa cooling intake valve but I am sure there was some heather or bull in there somewhere :P #
• (09:13) @hesa Oh I see. lol. Jet-lagged brain and Twitter linking back to a different tweet. From Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star right? #

Everyone should go out now and download or buy a copy of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother and give it to a teenager. I don't know a lot of teenagers (the court mandates that :P ) but I am going to seed a few copies about.

It's not the world's greatest novel - not even close - but it is an important novel. It's also a little heavy on the rhetoric and I don't know a lot of teenagers who talk like the main character (more's the pity).

Much like the Max Headroom's tagline of "20 minutes into the future", Little Brother is set in a RSN San Francisco. A San Francisco that has a little of the smell of Big Brother. The same smell a lot of Americans, British and Australians can sense as our civil liberties are slowly eroded in the name of "national security".

The main character, Marcus, is a 17 year old high school student interested in computers, gadgets, role-playing and girls. Shortly after the opening of the book a major terrorist incident occurs: the bombing of the BART and the Bay Bridge. In the aftermath of the incident Marcus and three of his friends are detained and interrogated as suspected terrorists. After a week of detention all but one of them is freed but warned that the government is watching them and told to tell no one they were detained.

Marcus decides to take action and possibly revenge for his missing friend and that's where the story starts getting interesting.

The main aspect of the book that appealed to me is the first rate introduction to the whys and hows of privacy and security. An introduction that even paranoids like me can appreciate. Doctorow explains PKI, RFID hacking and a bunch of other security mechanisms, counter-measures. Most importantly, Little Brother teaches the reader how to THINK about privacy and security.

This is the key thing missing from a lot of actual "grown-up" security books - thought leadership. A lot of these security books provide mechanisms and systems to measure risk and apply controls. Less often do they teach people how to think about threats, how to distil threats into risks and how to apply controls to mitigate those risks. Very rarely, if ever, do they teach you how to think like the attacker.

Little Brother is like a distilled HOWTO on being a sneaky bastard. It teaches you that paranoia, properly applied, is not only healthy but logical given the threats to our privacy and security.

Little Brother also demonstrates that sometimes attacking the control is almost as effective as attacking a target. Rendering the control inoperative not only lowers the protection of the target but can result in the target's defenders being tied up trying to protect the control instead of the target.

Overall, an excellent book that offers some really useful insights for both adults and teenagers. Go give it to a teenager and hopefully they'll trust someone over 25 long enough to read it.

You can download the book for free at:

http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/

Or you can buy it via your book store or Amazon.

• (23:59) love you qantas - plane delayed again - stop fucking with my schedule. #
• (00:01) @melbournegirl I had no idea you were so hardcore a geek grrl (and that reference clearly dates me :) ). You do Ruby? #
• (00:09) @hesa and excellent music too - Leonard Cohen (via Concrete Blond), Pixies, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth and it introduced me to Lenny Bruce! :) #
• (00:17) @melbournegirl I don't Rails but I Ruby. And other geek things... :P #
• (00:26) @melbournegirl to be honest music, booze, and bonkers all seem reasonable choices over a Cisco certification. Certainly be my preference. #
• (01:59) Stuck in Sydney airport again. Yah fucking Qantas yet again. 4 hours delayed this time. #
• (04:06) Still on the ground in sydney. Another sodding fault. Arrghghg! #
• (18:38) On the ground in sf finally. #

• (19:00) On the way to San Francisco - be back Friday... #

• (22:06) Off to spotswood via kensington to go to scienceworks and be a large kid #
• (01:48) Myer basement oh hated of places. Hurry and buy clothes Ruth. #
• (11:32) @hesa I loved that movie. Terrible crush on Samantha Mathis. Used to own it on video - wonder if it's on DVD... goes to look... :) #

• (02:07) @ourmanintokyo In the US next week. #
• (02:08) @rchanter ho ho ho and a bottle of medicinal spirits... how's the holiday going? #
• (02:19) @zackster Yep - you had Obama right? #
• (02:23) @melbournegirl At least you're going home. Me still office. Over office. #
• (02:27) @zackster he'd be stupid not to. Beats the AFL any day. You doing anything for stupid football day? Ruth and I are going to Scienceworks #
• (02:31) @zackster I didn't even know who was playing until earlier in the week. #
• (02:41) @melbournegirl I don't know why you expect Connex to EVER deliver. They are HOPELESS... #
• (02:44) maybe I should go have a drink #
• (02:48) @melbournegirl is your rack making him nervous or is he nervous overall??? :P #
• (03:01) @melbournegirl seems reasonable. very generous of you to provide the service. #
• (07:23) @ourmanintokyo worrying trend - please take better care of yourself. Have you seen Underbelly? Will pass on xox to Den and B. #
• (07:26) @kattekrab good luck #
• (07:28) @melbournegirl I should be working. Should be writing but can't be fucked. Watching Underbelly instead. #