[dgplug-users] [dgplug newsletter] issue #5

Wed Jul 11 06:02:15 PDT 2018

Good evening #dgplug,
Here comes the latest issue of our newsletter, as usual you can also
find it online here https://dgplug.org/newsletter/issue_0005/

We can't wait to start with the next issue that will be dedicated to
blogging. Until that is available, don't forget to post your interesting
links in the according github issue (you'll find the link below in the
letter).

Best regards,
your editors team

dgplug Newsletter #5
====================

Worlds Apart
------------

The introduction of information technology has ever since challenged
lawmakers and lawyers, as it is in many aspects not comparable to
anything else our world has seen before. Suddenly, you can copy
information and media of arbitrary types infinitely and without
noteworthy cost.

As one of the earliest groups to see the potential computers and their
implications on our lives, early hackers defined some general rules that
evolved into the [Hacker
Ethic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hacker_ethic), that promotes
freedom of information and its sharing.

At the same time, lawmakers have been constantly trying to control and
restrict these new freedoms; The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
[CFAA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Fraud_and_Abuse_Act) is a
somewhat dated and impresicisely worded but nevertheless active law,
that, if used according to the letter, can criminalize many of our every
day activities. Among others, it prohibits violations against *Terms of
Service* of websites. As a prominent example, Aaron Swartz was accused
of multiple terms of service violations before he committed suicide in
2013. In 2018 a [US court now decided][github_comments_13], that
automatic webscraping of publicly available information is not a crime,
even if stated differently in the terms of service.

While this is a small victory, it is still ridiculous how lawmakers and
terms of service restrict our freedom, obstruct research and lock away
knowledge.

[John Perry Barlow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow)
(JPB) was an American political activist and founding member of the
[Electronic Frontier Foundation](https://eff.org) and the [Freedom of
the Press Foundation](https://freedom.press). Kushal wrote a [blog
post](https://kushaldas.in/posts/remembering-john-perry-barlow.html)
about the symposium held after JPBs death earlier this year. However,
being American may not have been the way JPB would have described
himself. In his [Declaration of Independence of
Cyberspace][github_comments_11] he rather declares cyberspace as a
non-physical space, not bound to political or geographical borders, nor
bound by their laws. He declares himself and *us* as citizens of this
cyberspace. Given the unique nature of this digital world, that so
significantly differs from the physical and political world, the
declaration states, that *we* will create *our* rules in this space
respectively, as this shall not be incumbent on any government.

While we all are *citizens of both worlds* we should make the effort to
harmonize their relationship. Being hackers, laws that are in conflict
with our ethical codex should be opposed.

Recent activities of \#dgplug members
-------------------------------------

- [fardroid23 - Home Theatre!][dgplug planet_1]: Farhaan writes about
how he and some friends put together some old/unused hardware to
assemble a full blown home theatre using Atomic Toolkit.
- [Kushal Das - Tor Browser and Selenium][dgplug planet_4]: The Selenium
WebDriver is a powerful tool for browser automation. This can be
particularly helpful for automated tests of web sites and web apps.
Kushal describes how to set up Selenium in Python to automate the Tor
Browser.
- [Kushal Das - PyQt5 thread example][dgplug planet_5]: PyQt5 is a
Python driver for the popular Qt GUI development framework. Kushal
describes how to use QThreads to perform lengthy operations without
blocking the GUI.
- [Anwesha Das - How to use Let’s Encrypt with nginx and docker][dgplug
planet_7]: The Electronic Frontier Foundation's project Let's Encrypt
offers an easy to use free service to get signed ssl certificates for
your website. Serving your pages in https has never been easer. It's all
there, in Anwesha's article.
- [Anwesha Das - Is PyCon 2018 your first PyCon?][dgplug planet_8]:
Anwesha had the fantastic idea to write a guide for first time PyCon
attendants. Are you afraid of being lost between talks, events,
presentations and hallways full with hundreds of Python programmers?
This guide might be for you.
- [fardroid23 - Writing Chuck – Joke As A Service][dgplug planet_9]:
Learning Go, Farhaan wrote a Go based fortune clone, that prints random
Chuck Norris jokes that are cached on your drive.

Further reading
---------------

- [kushaldas -
https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https][github_comments_12]: Using
HTTPS and Tor Browser increases security and privacy while browsing the
web. But how? This info page of the EFF colorfully explains what
information is shared with (or can be extracted by) several parties
(ISP, hackers, NSA etc.) when using different combinations of Tor
Browser and HTTPS enabled or disabled.
- [sayanchowdhury -
https://manikos.github.io/how-pythons-import-machinery-works][github_comments_14]:
Python imports can be tricky for beginners, when differentiating between
packages, modules and classes and what parts of those to import. This
simple but effectively written article starts with the basics of Python
imports, but also gives a much deeper insight into the python import
machinery.
- [jasonbraganza -
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2018/04/how-to-sleep-better/][github_comments_16]:
Why do we need to sleep? What happens if we do not get enough sleep? And
how can we sleep better? The history of hackers is a history of nights
spend in front of a terminal. This article addresses a topic we should
not neglect.
- [Schubisu -
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/18/17253784/google-domain-fronting-discontinued-signal-tor-vpn][github_comments_22]:
Although never an oficially supported feature, domain-fronting through
Google has been widely used by other services to overcome censorship
through internet blocks. Sadly, an update in Google's App Engine now
removes this feature.
- [kushaldas - https://saveourprivacy.in/][github_comments_15]: The
Right to Privacy has been declared a fundamental right for Indian
citizens in 2017. The real debate however has just started. Big
companies and governments still collect vast quantities of personal data
that often is not secure, as recent examples have shown. This can be
changed only by raising awareness. #SaveOurPrivacy is fighting for a
privacy and data protection law in India, and they need your help!

Did we miss something?
----------------------

Since this project is still in its infancy, we may have overlooked
content that you would like to have included. We will work on constantly
improving this letter and review external sources. If you think there is
something we've missed, feel free to add your ideas for the [next
issue][link:next_issue].

[img:logo]: ../../static/img/dgplug_logo.png
[link:dgplug]: https://dgplug.org
[link:planet]: http://planet.dgplug.org
[link:students_planet]: http://students.planet.dgplug.org
[link:next_issue]: https://github.com/dgplug/newsletter/issues/13

[dgplug planet_1]:
https://farhaanbukhsh.wordpress.com/2018/06/11/home-theatre/
[dgplug planet_4]: https://kushaldas.in/posts/tor-browser-and-selenium.html
[dgplug planet_5]: https://kushaldas.in/posts/pyqt5-thread-example.html
[dgplug planet_6]: https://mjbraganza.com/writing-day-33-akimbo/
[dgplug planet_7]:
http://anweshadas.in/how-to-use-lets-encrypt-with-nginx-and-docker/
[dgplug planet_8]: http://anweshadas.in/is-pycon-2018-your-first-pycon/
[dgplug planet_9]:
https://farhaanbukhsh.wordpress.com/2018/04/20/writing-chuck-joke-as-a-service/

[github_comments_11]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WS9DhSIWR0
[github_comments_12]: https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https
[github_comments_13]:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/04/dc-court-accessing-public-information-not-computer-crime
[github_comments_14]:
https://manikos.github.io/how-pythons-import-machinery-works
[github_comments_15]: https://saveourprivacy.in/
[github_comments_16]:
https://www.bakadesuyo.com/2018/04/how-to-sleep-better/
[github_comments_22]:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/18/17253784/google-domain-fronting-discontinued-signal-tor-vpn