Tag Archives: photos

More on Apple’s iPhone Backdoor

Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/08/more-on-apples-iphone-backdoor.html

In this post, I’ll collect links on Apple’s iPhone backdoor for scanning CSAM images. Previous links are here and here.

Apple says that hash collisions in its CSAM detection system were expected, and not a concern. I’m not convinced that this secondary system was originally part of the design, since it wasn’t discussed in the original specification.

Good op-ed from a group of Princeton researchers who developed a similar system:

Our system could be easily repurposed for surveillance and censorship. The design wasn’t restricted to a specific category of content; a service could simply swap in any content-matching database, and the person using that service would be none the wiser.

EDITED TO ADD (8/30): Good essays by Matthew Green and Alex Stamos, Ross Anderson, Edward Snowden, and Susan Landau. And also Kurt Opsahl.

Storing Encrypted Photos in Google’s Cloud

Post Syndicated from Bruce Schneier original https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2021/07/storing-encrypted-photos-in-googles-cloud.html

New paper: “Encrypted Cloud Photo Storage Using Google Photos“:

Abstract: Cloud photo services are widely used for persistent, convenient, and often free photo storage, which is especially useful for mobile devices. As users store more and more photos in the cloud, significant privacy concerns arise because even a single compromise of a user’s credentials give attackers unfettered access to all of the user’s photos. We have created Easy Secure Photos (ESP) to enable users to protect their photos on cloud photo services such as Google Photos. ESP introduces a new client-side encryption architecture that includes a novel format-preserving image encryption algorithm, an encrypted thumbnail display mechanism, and a usable key management system. ESP encrypts image data such that the result is still a standard format image like JPEG that is compatible with cloud photo services. ESP efficiently generates and displays encrypted thumbnails for fast and easy browsing of photo galleries from trusted user devices. ESP’s key management makes it simple to authorize multiple user devices to view encrypted image content via a process similar to device pairing, but using the cloud photo service as a QR code communication channel. We have implemented ESP in a popular Android photos app for use with Google Photos and demonstrate that it is easy to use and provides encryption functionality transparently to users, maintains good interactive performance and image quality while providing strong privacy guarantees, and retains the sharing and storage benefits of Google Photos without any changes to the cloud service

Impressions of Japan, Thailand and India

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-bangkok-japan.html

It has been a while since I blogged photos of my various travels, although I
have visited quite a number of countries in the past 12 months, and travelled
overland in a number of them. Here are a few selected shots from three: India
(November/December), Thailand (January), Japan (June).

Japan
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These pictures are from Kyoto, Nara and Takayama in Honshu, Japan.

Thailand
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All this is Bangkok, Thailand. Particular interest deserve the gold-based patterns used widely to adorn Thai architecture:

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And finally India (one picture NSFW!):

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This is Mumbai, Ellora, Ajanta, Aurangabad (in Maharashtra); Mandu, Sanchi, Gwalior, Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh); Orchha, Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh); Bangalore, Mysore (Karnataka).

Down the Amazon

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/amazon.html

After BOSSA in
Manaus/Brazil
we took a very enjoyable boat trip down the Amazon, to
Santarém and particularly Alter do Chão, a ridiculously amazing
island paradise with glaring white sand in the middle of the jungle:

Tapajos 2

The town is located on the Tapajós River:

Tapajos 1

Tapajos 3

Up the river you find the Tapajós National Forest:

Tapajos 4

From there we went on to São Luís, a beautiful old colonial town:

Sao Luis 1

Sao Luis 3

Sao Luis 4

Sao Luis 2

A windy and wet sailing catamaran ride from São Luís you find Alcântara, another old colonial town, now partly in ruins and deserted:

Alcantara 1

Alcantara 2

Alcantara 3

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Seven

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-7.html

Here’s the seventh and final part of my ongoing series.

One of the grandest sights in Delhi is Humayun’s tomb, a predecessor of the greatest mausoleum of them all, the Taj Mahal:

Humayun's Tomb

A little bit further down a view on the garden:

Humayun's Tomb

From a different corner:

Humayun's Tomb

We’ll finish with our last panorama that shows the courtyard the Jama Masjid of Old Delhi:

Jama Masjid

That’s all panoramas from this trip. Thanks for your interest.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Six

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-6.html

Here’s the sixth part of my ongoing series.

Leaving Jodhpur we continued our journey to Jaisalmer, a sand castle of a town in the Thar desert:

Jaisalmer

In the vicinity of Jaisalmer you’ll find cliche sand dunes like you’d expect from a grown-up desert:

Jaisalmer

Our next station after a long, cold and dusty train ride was Delhi. The principal mosque of Old Delhi is the Jama Masjid:

Jama Masjid

That’s all for now, tomorrow I’ll post the rest of my panoramas from this trip, all from Delhi.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Five

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-5.html

Here’s the fourth part of my ongoing series.

After Udaipur the next stop on our trip was Jodhpur, the blue city. Which is called that way due of the blue colour of many of its houses:

Jodhpur

On a hill next to Mehrangarh Fort, one of the biggest Forts in India (the big sand castle on the hill in the panorama above), you find the Jaswant Thada, a memorial of the Maharajas of Jodhpur:

Jodhpur

Inside the fort you’ll find highly decorated courtyards:

Jodhpur

That’s all for Jodhpur, tomorrow I’ll post more panoramas, from other stops of our trip.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Four

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-4.html

Here’s the fourth part of my ongoing series.

After Hampi we went to Bangalore to attend foss.in. (Fantastic conference, btw. The concerts at
the venue are unparalleled.) From there we flew up to Udaipur, in Rajasthan. Udaipur
is (among other things) famous for being the place where the central scenes of Octopussy were filmed.
Octopussy’s famous white palace is on Jagniwas Island in Lake Pichola:

Udaipur

This panorama was taken from another island in the lake, Jagmandir Island, which is visible in the following shot on the left:

Udaipur

Udaipur’s scenery, seen from the Maharaja’s City Palace down onto Pichola Lake:

Udaipur

That’s all for Udaipur, tomorrow I’ll post more panoramas, from other stops of our trip.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Three

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-3.html

Here’s the third part of my ongoing series.

Still in Hampi here’s another 360 from the Hills in Hampi down to the Achyutaraya Temple:

Matanga Hill

A little further down, before dawn, here’s a shot from the rocky path leading up the hill:

Matanga Hill

Our last picture for today is a view down from Hemakuta Hill which is
covered with old temples and other structures. In the middle you’ll see the
large Virupaksha
Temple
which is still in full use. In that temple you’ll find an amazing camera obscura, a
physics teacher’s dream that projects the temple tower onto a wall (projection,
subject, more interesting in reality. Really.)

Hemakuta Hill

That’s all for Hampi, tomorrow I’ll post more panoramas, from other stops of our trip.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part Two

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-2.html

Here’s the second part of my ongoing series.

Climbing down the hills, on the banks of the Tungabhadra river you find people washing laundry and bathing, and coracles waiting to be used for a trip through the river.

Tungabhadra River

The greatest of the ancient temples in Hampi is the Vitthala Temple:

Vitthala Temple

Set in in lush green scenery you find the Achyutaraya Temple, which you already might have seen, from above, in yesterday’s series:

Achyutaraya Temple

That’s it for today, tomorrow I’ll post more panoramas, both from Hampi and other stops of our trip.

India, 360 Degrees at a Time, Part One

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-360-at-a-time-1.html

Yes, I won’t spare you my panorama shots from my recent trip to India. After
arriving in Goa Badami was
our next stop. It’s a very pretty little town in northern Karnataka, and here’s
a panorama shot from the entrance of the town’s famous caves:

Badami

Next step was one of the most amazing places on earth, Hampi in central Karnataka. It
is definitely one of the greatest sights I have ever seen, and I guess I can
say I have seen quite a few in my life. A vast landscape of hills covered in
boulders, lush mango and banana plantations, rice fields, dotted with age-old
temples and impressive ruins. Locals crossing the river in coracles that look
like they belong in a time centuries ago. Women washing colourful laundry in
the river, pilgrims wading across the river in their black clothes. An India
that delivers every bit of that promise it makes to its visitors. The ruins
rival the grand sites in Greece and the landscape sometimes looks like a
Crysis in-game scene.

Taken from one of the hills in Hampi this is the sunset:

Hampi Sunset

And then, the next day at dawn make your way up the hills again and you can get an even greater view on the whole scenery:

Hampi Dawn

That’s it for today, tomorrow I’ll post more panoramas, both from Hampi and other stops of our trip.

Also, if you haven’t seen them yet, don’t miss my panoramas from my India trip the year before.

The Highest Man in Spain

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/canaries-360.html

Ever wanted to know what’s the view like being the highest person in all of Spain? — No? Hmm, can’t help you then. — Otherwise:

Pico del Teide

That’s on the summit of Pico del Teide at 3718m, on Tenerife island. Unless you leave solid ground this is as high as you can get in Spain. 163m lower it’s a bit more obvious that the Teide is a volcano:

Pico del Teide

And coming down to the surrounding caldera it’s even more obvious:

Pico del Teide

Pico del Teide

Pico del Teide

On a ridge next to the caldera you find the Teide Observatory:

Teide Observatory

The caldera is covered in old lava flows:

Caldera

Caldera

Vulcanism has created various interesting rock formations in the caldera:

Roques

Roques

Tenerife is not just about the Teide and its dusty caldera. In the north of the island you find the Anaga mountain range:

Tenerife North

Neighboring Gran Canaria was where our little trip started and ended, right after the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit. Gran Canaria has no Teide but a very impressive landscape nonetheless:

Roque Nublo

That’s the view from the Roque Nublo, the island’s most famous landmark. The rock itself is visible here (on the left):

Roque Nublo

India, Again

Post Syndicated from Lennart Poettering original https://0pointer.net/blog/photos/india-again.html

Right after my trip to
Brazil in November
I flew to Bangalore for FOSS.in 2008. It was one amazing conference! After
the bold
changes
they had announced I feared they might be a bit too … bold. But
they were not. FOSS.in worked out very well, it was a great success, and it
was good to see a lot of familiar faces again. (Which reminds me: Hey, the four of you from the
PulseAudio
Workout
, could you please drop me a line? I forgot to put down your
email addresses.)

After FOSS.in I flew up to Rajasthan for a much too short trip through this
marvelous state:

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Panorama

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That’s Pushkar, Jaipur, Fatehpur Sikri and the Taj Mahal (the real one, not the Hotel they bombed).