Manny,

SSL is safe, as long as you don't accidentally accept a bad cert.  I
was accepting a cert for pidgin when I accidentally just hit enter for
a  cert that pop up as I was booting up on the local lan at its a
grind.  While pidgin was loading I had Firefox loading as well which
was logging in to gmail. When that happens, ssl is working fine, but
no longer matters.

Chris...

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 11:50 PM, Ragi Y. Burhum <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: "Roger E. Rustad, Jr." <[email protected]>
>> To: SoCal LUG Users List <[email protected]>
>> Date: Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:50:24 -0800
>> Subject: [LinuxUsers] Dan Tentler's script kiddie antics last night
>> Hey guys,
>>
>> I would like to formally address the "man in the middle" script kiddie
>> stuff that Dan Tentler was doing to the SoCal Linux group last night at the
>> coffee shop.
>>
>> Personally, I take issue with Dan...
>>
>> (a) Not formally and publicly disclosing that he was using Backtrack to
>> sniff other members' traffic.
>> (b) Not immediately getting rid of another member's gmail password once he
>> handed out a fake certificate and sniffed it with Ethereal.
>> (c) Doing what he was doing secretly, rather than for the edification of
>> the group
>> (d) Changing the of an otherwise friendly meeting.
>>
>> I consider Dan's actions last night tantamount to pick pocketing fellow
>> members when we're having a discussion that's not about pick pocketing.
>>
>> I also would argue that if we, as a group, are going to be cool with other
>> members (or, in this case, a friend of a member) secretly doing this kind of
>> thing to each other, then we have an obligation to inform newbies in our
>> group who do not know any better, particularly unsuspecting friends,
>> girlfriends, coworkers, or kids who sometimes accompany us.
>>
>> Our meetings are not mini Defcons or 2600 meetups, and it's not reasonable
>> for new people to come and expect this type of sophomoric crap to take
>> place. When one goes to Defcon, one can reasonably expect to get messed
>> with. It is the nature of the conference, and much of what is done is often
>> made public for everyone's edification (e.g. Wall of Shame).
>>
>> I like to think of SoCal Linux as a group of open source advocates who
>> work at places like Apple, Google, Microsoft, ESRI, etc. Kiddie scripting is
>> not, in my opinion, the tone of our group, and if we are going to be cool
>> with someone doing this sort of thing, then we should should ask the person
>> in question to formally disclose what s/he is doing beforehand or perhaps
>> make a public presentation about it, not do it on the side secretly.
>>
>> I would be curious to know what other people in the group think about
>> this. (Dan Tentler is cc'd on this, as well)
>>
>> Rog
>>
>
> NOT cool...
>
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-- 
"As we open our newspapers or watch our television screens, we seem to
be continually assaulted by the fruits of Mankind's stupidity."
 -Roger Penrose

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