K (and stuff like that)

When you've got worries, all the noise and the hurry 

Seems to help, I know - downtown 

Petula Clark 

It's been pretty much forever since my last update. But I am still proud to own a real, old-fashioned blog like those that existed before the Facebook & co bubble, so here I am finally.

Things have changed, by the way. I'm in Amsterdam at the RIPE NCC again for some time, working on a visualization tool for K-root. We call it Visual-K: I presented a prototype few days ago at Graph Drawing 2011 in Eindhoven.

Time flows. Ideas flow. Cheers.

(Visual-K, prototype presented at GD'11)

Cheaters and Spoilers

No one gets hurt... 
Radiohead 

After my first experience as a sentinel during a test, I suddenly realize how poor many of the attempts to cheat and/or communicate are (including mine, of course). Here's what I learned (at your risk).

1. If you act weirdly you definitely get caught after seconds. Do not: look at your friend, stare at the sky, nervously cross your legs, and so on. Do not whisper. Do not be stupid.
2. Instead, if you need help from your friend sitting next to you, be smart enough to define a symbolic language before the exam. Make it evident that you're asking for a rubber, then replace "have a rubber?" with "capital of India?". Your smart friend nods and says "New Delhi". No one gets hurt. You get your answer seamlessly. Even too easy.

Changing the subject, cool stuff was published today! Enjoy the spoiler below, then go here for details. Ciao :)

(Caidagram example)

We are Hypereuropeans

I say, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. 
Chuck Palahniuk 

Warning: after years, this one post is finally NOT (entirely) about myself. Enjoy.

The fun of traveling is mostly about meeting people: testing cultural prejudices against real case scenarios, learning new stories that we readapt featuring ourselves as main characters, discovering what feels like home and what's radically different. And Americans, at least those I dealt with (many proud Californians plus some from all around the US), are so different. I swear. Here is why, in three handy paragraphs.

RELIGION aka AMERICANS ARE YOUNG
It is priceless to live traditions and beliefs in person, with an insight that survives once back in the Old Smoky Continent. Americans are religious, no matter if they talk about God or golf or easy money in Vegas, and not just like pawns in a church table game: they're crusaders, enthusiasts, active human beings, clever catechists. With feelings to admire. Those feelings we Hypereuropeans sadly buried centuries ago under inches of dust -- what are we left with? Our private bittersweet smile popping out whenever they rejoice in philosophy and true values and the Bible, because they are young and yet look like our grandparents.

(Scientology. Hollywood, CA)

MONEY aka AMERICANS ARE LUCKY
There's no better self-explanatory cityscape than the average neighborhood surrounding San Diego: upper-class condos, never-ending shopping malls and gas stations like mushrooms, contemporary cathedrals between hills and ocean. Grocery stores are just not for singles. Thick waste sinks, no trace left. You can smell Abercrombie & Fitch around the corner. Mexico is Layer1, on top of which the whole USA-ISO-OSI pompously stands (but also the Old Corrupted Continent features colorful inner layers, no surprise). White little dogs from SoCal on impeccable green grass, they come half-price and don't even take dumps. Old Town, Wells Fargo, that's where history is: yet half of those buildings are younger than my first word, mamma -- Hypereuropeans can hardly stand that.

(Not-so-american fridge. La Jolla, CA)

SEX aka AMERICANS ARE SLUTS
Provocative titles are only conceived to draw the attention (or maybe not). Booty shakers mimic the Big One that never comes, never never ever comes. Romanticism is reinvented daily, because thank God those creepy ancient Parisiennes are already sleeping thousands of miles away in the Old Sinking Continent when the night finally comes in San Francisco. Breast implants in Los Angeles officially declare they have feelings, too. And still when every single American waitress smiles while taking orders, you poor Hypereuropean, smart guy, mouldy living dead... you do still think it's about sex.

(Flyer. Hollywood, CA)

Once Again, Goodbye

I don't mind all your bad weather 
The Donkeys 

Time is over. From now on, no matter where I live, I will miss at least two places in the world. Thank you SoCal (and Northern California too! check out the video I made below), it was like sooooo ààà!wesome.

A new chapter is waiting...

The European Pilgrimage

I was just guessing at numbers and figures 
pulling the puzzles apart 
Coldplay 

The concept of day before leaving keeps teasing my subconscious, so here I am with a new entry before flying back (is back the right word anyway?) to San Diego. Online check-in, baggage optimization, tedious checklists & co are yet to be done, but I can still handle a little update.

Rome welcomed me (back?) in October with a cold and sunny weather, which happens to be my favorite combo. I got over the jetlag right on time and passed the admission test for a PhD at Roma Tre University! Then I went (back?) to Amsterdam and fell in love again with the city, no matter how rainy or windy it is. Spent two weeks at the NCC working in preparation for the RIPE meeting, had a great time with old and new people. Finally flied (back?) to Rome and attended RIPE61 in a fancy venue called Westin Excelsior; also contributed giving a small talk at the MAT working group about the stuff I did at CAIDA, gathered precious feedback and interest in my work, collected business cards, got a clearer picture about future projects and collaborations. And had a crazy blast at the social events...

Time to go. See you at the next eve!

(Westin Excelsior, Rome.)

Crazy Schedule

An electric concrete fantasy 

Strung Out 

Flying in a few hours to Rome; then Amsterdam, then Rome, then back in San Diego, in less than one month. I knew when I first arrived here my motto would be I either die or become someone... so let's see what nice compromise I can come up with.

I heard so many people saying they didn't like LA, that I actually did. And also LV of course. And most of what I saw in these busy, busy months - zero time for details, but I'm learning how to speak with pictures (here and here).

California hills, I'll be back!

(warm lights.)

Touching the Ocean...

Hiding the fact that I'm breaking apart inside

Poison The Well

Live and alive from UCSD, La Jolla, CA! It's been a busy, yet incredible, first week-and-a-half: let's sum up.

Been through an endless trip, including big hurry in JFK to get my plane for San Diego right on time (my luggage didn't make it though, was sent to LAX the day after and delivered home. Neat.). Lived with a wonderful family during the first days, enjoying 'the American experience' at its best, touching the ocean for the first time in my life and learning how smart and sarcastic kids a third of my age are. Then moved on campus, settled in my apartment, went on intensive shopping at the grocery store for basic stuff (which anyway was enough for 5 days, since everything here's SO BIG), met my workmates, set up accounts and stuff at CAIDA, got my hand scanned to access SDSC, apparently survived tons of paperwork and red tape, rented a car, already started searching for housing, eventually met my boss, made some friends, been driving around without getting lost (so far), and finally started enjoying the whole thing!

Some pictures follow. I haven't been taking many yet -- but I've been quite busy, haven't I? :)

(Stop motion animation frame.)

("Claudio's California slang".)

(Ocean.)

Goodbye, Rhome

Ppa-ppa-l'americano 

Radio Ibiza (Renato Carosone)

Time flies, money flies - and I'm flying off to California in 2 days. Yes -- actually time doesn't always fly, I guess it's time to wonder what to do on that plane... PSP? Movies? Sudoku? Gomorra? Spanish? Sleep? Experienced intercontinental flyers, you're fully welcome with your last minute suggestions.

San Diego, here we come!

(Alexanderplatz, Berlin.)

Pretty Good News

Destroy from the inside, erupt like volcano 

Jónsi 

I'm not really good at this, but it's time to show off just a bit. Let's make it quick, in chronological order:

• Historical BGPlay (my thesis work) finally exists, is on RIPE Labs and has been presented at the 60th RIPE meeting in Prague;
• I just graduated cum laude in Computer Science at my home university Roma Tre; and...
• ...I'm leaving in July for a summer internship at CAIDA in San Diego, California. YAY! Life is definitely good sometimes. Pretty often actually.

So now I have a two-month limbo to spend doing absolutely nothing serious - which is good. At CAIDA I'll be working on another visualization project, exploring some of the new research topics they're dealing with right now - which is good as well. As hell.

A friend of mine noticed that I made a good forecast when I first wrote about Amsterdam, citing the well-known song by Phantom Planet which goes like Caaaaalifooooorniaaaa here we coooooome. So what's gonna happen with the Icelandic song I mentioned this time? Destiny's call...

Here's my presentation for Historical BGPlay. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Amsterdhome

Time it makes you old, experience makes you wise 

Strung Out 

And that's it: back in Rome, tired, sleepy, killed by overbooking and risen again with the refund issued by KLM. Quite a hell of a day.

So I'd let the pictures speak for me! More can be found here. Goodnight...

(all good things..., by me) 

(were you and me began, by me) 

(...come to an end, by me) 

One month left...

I won't be back here 
though we may meet again 
Slint 

...and hundreds of deadlines approaching. Actually just half a dozen, which doesn't sound better anyway.

I've been working like a dog in these last two weeks, and hopefully our beloved Historical BGPlay will be available within a few days somewhere. Basically I just need to stop aiming at some platonic idea of perfection and say: 'Ok, that's it!'.

Some big news are floating in the air; yet it's not time to be more specific. Or at least, that's what I learnt so far from that famous skeptic Apostle whose incredulity is accounted in a well-known holy book - the very same one I saw once here in a bookstore next to mediterranean recipes and kamasutra's, but that's a different story. In the meantime some little meaningless hints might come in handy.

We'll see...

(switch. photo by me)

Snow over Amsterdam

I'm on my way to hell
Brand New

Here it is - the snow, reminding us all that time goes fast and the holidays are just round the corner. The cold started setting in last week, letting me wonder what should I do to survive in January; but whenever the sun peeps out I immediately revert back to a child, really.

Updates? So many that I wouldn't know how to start, other than picking randomly. The NCC is an erupting volcano, based on an incredible balance between efficiency and madness, and I'm really enjoying my hours there - whether it's time for a gnuplot graph or a beer after the soccer match. My house is going quite messy as well, I know I should make some effort to add some rationality... one day or another.

I eventually understood that there's no rule to get in touch with people, you just forget any useless criteria and find a folksy path in every circumstance. Every.

And yes, I easily found a way to waste the very first paycheck in my young inexperienced life. Hint? Look at the big picture.

(NCC's Christmas present. photo by me)

Souterrain

With the right drapes, the right paints,
the right frames, this could really work
Alexisonfire

Quick updates from Holland. Bring the popcorn.

It's been exactly one month since I started working, and I (almost entirely) realized the first step of my thesis described in the last post. On one hand this meant something like: well... what's next? The answer came today. We had a videoconference with my professors in Rome, deliciously outlining a couple of new steps that will keep me busy for at least one month or so. Wonderful.

Non-office hours? Of course. Rebuilding my life from scratch is quite tricky, but funny. By the way, I'm slowly falling in love with cooking. Not that I am really good at breaking a couple of eggs or other elementary stuff - but it's still a nice way to spend some time, hopefully getting nice results and even expressing oneself... And afterall, look at today's dinner! It's (actually was) so real.

(olives always make the difference. photo by me)

Extra picture today. Before going to bed, I'd like to share with you this bleak one taken in the elevator. Someone should keep me from stealing that nameplate before leaving this place...

(souterrain. photo by me)

Going Technical (not that much)

There's always a siren singing you to shipwreck
Radiohead

As the title suggests, this (pretty verbose) post is for anyone interested in what my work will roughly consist of. For those who do not master things like graph theory and routing protocols, it may still be interesting to read the example below, or to look at the bottom of this post for a colorful example.

The first step of my thesis concerns the enhancement of BGPlay, an application developed by the CompuNet Research Group at Roma Tre University and currently hosted by Oregon Route Views. It shows animated graphs with edges (peerings) connecting nodes (Autonomous Systems), therefore allowing an intuitive analysis of interdomain routing events related to a specified prefix, within a time interval. My contribution will be to adapt BGPlay's interface to the INRDB, a prototypical database realized by the Science Group at the RIPE NCC, containing historical data gathered from many authoritative sources. The aim is to provide an instrument for a long-term, coarse-grained analysis of major trends and events affecting the Internet throughout its (relatively) long history.

In plain words? Alice wastes hours on Facebook playing FarmVille. Her CowComputer unwillingly converts every passionate click into a Mooossage, sending it to some FarmerComputer somewhere. Before reaching the FarmerComputer, every message goes through many welcoming TransitFarms. If a FlockOfDumbSheep proudly blocks the path, the Mooossage is incredibly smart enough to find another way visiting different TransitFarms, without letting Alice notice any difference. If however a MadFarmer puts some misleading road signs on the way to the FarmerComputer, or if some NastyChickens tear down all the bridges to cross over the unfailing river, the Mooossage is only able to commit a honorific suicide. Well, in both cases BGPlay acts as the black box secretly hidden under the Mooossage's skin, allowing Alice to understand what led it to such an extreme action.

If you are still awake, here's a video showing a real case study: the Youtube prefix hijacking by Pakistan Telecom in February 2008. It was realized using the previous version of BGPlay, already hosted by the RIPE NCC for some time. Enjoy!

 (Youtube prefix hijacking. More info here)

Welcome to the RIPE NCC

We hope faith forever keeps us young
Gregor Samsa

Yesterday was my first day at the office. Actually nothing hard, because we still have to choose the proper direction of my future work, and also because the RIPE NCC greets newcomers by introducing them to the staff during the first week, under the guide of mentors (that are employees as well). As a consequence I only challenged myself with tasks like: printing six useless sheets just to check if the remote printer connection was up, almost falling down the typical Dutch stairs and so on...

Changing the subject, I finally bought a second hand bike. Very cheap, very rusty, and above all very Dutch: one noisy bell and no hand brakes. Only foot brakes. I definitely have to practice before falling into a canal.

Finally, just one quick mention about food: as you can see, italians always find their way!

(dinner. photo by me)

Home Sweet Home

I wanna live in a wooden house
Coldplay

Live (and most importantly alive) from Amsterdam! I'm currently seating at the table in the living room of this wonderful apartment, fighting off sleep while trying to drop a couple of lines.

My journey was quite killing. The plane landed in Eindhoven over one hour later than expected, so I missed the (conformable) direct bus to Amsterdam and had to come by train. Nevermind! My landlord let me into this house at 17:30, then I went to the nearest Albert Heijn to buy the essentials - including my first dinner: dried beef (at least that's what it seemed to be), cheese, bread, tomatoes, Bertolli oil. Really essential.

The house is very nice. I would have put some photos here if only I had brought my mini-USB cable from Rome. That's what happens when one's in a hurry. I will buy it as soon as possible.

In the meantime, say thanks to my MacBook and just take a look out of my window...

(Centraal Station, Amsterdam. photo by me)

Sounds Good

What a curious life we have found here tonight
Neutral Milk Hotel

Great news: there's a roof to sleep under waiting for me in Amsterdam! It's an apartment in the centre, just 10 minutes walking from the office. Needless to say I'm as happy as a clam.

There was even a funny mistake behind that. The very first email containing news about the house came with an innocent address, Stadhouderskade 78. Well, at least I made a big grin when I saw what Google Maps could show me about that:

(Heineken Experience. retrieved on Google Maps)

Indeed an interesting place to live, as I wrote in answer.
Four days left to departure. Amsterdam, here we come...

Leaving

California, here we come
Phantom Planet

It sounds incredible, but that's it: I am moving to Amsterdam on October 14th to work on my MSc thesis at the RIPE NCC. Some weeks ago I was still wondering what to do with myself - and then this offer came just like a calling from the heavens. It took me one night to realize that there was no choice but to accept it.

Maybe this will be the right excuse to exhume this poor blog left to itself, covered in dust! Updates will follow.

 

(RIPE NCC. retrieved on Google Maps)

Photo privacy on Facebook

'Cause fashion can't replace content

Raein

The exam session is finally over! Spare time is synonymous with violent gigs, devastating parties, and even with a brand new post about the social network we all treat as a brother.

As reported in these blogs, Facebook photos have been considered far from private since the beginning. The reason is clear: Facebook relies on a small number of Content Delivery Networks to host static contents (photos, videos, css, js...), so there's no check for the identity of the client. This means that everyone is able to see a photo, given a direct link to it.

Recently (and silently) something has changed. This is an old set of contiguous photo URLs from the same album:
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/1039372716/n1039372716_266356_3811.jpg
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/1039372716/n1039372716_266357_4117.jpg
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/1039372716/n1039372716_266358_4397.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/1039372716/n1039372716_266359_4698.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/1039372716/n1039372716_266360_4992.jpg
[...]
http://[serverName]/[(pseudo)directories]/[userID]/[size][userID]_[photoID]_[PIN].jpg

And here's a new one:
http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/2649_1096706251415_1039372716_300200_1526354_n.jpg
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/2649_1096706291416_1039372716_300201_1765863_n.jpg
http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/2649_1096706331417_1039372716_300202_7597791_n.jpg
http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/2649_1096706371418_1039372716_300203_1393878_n.jpg
http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/[...]/2649_1096706411419_1039372716_300204_4965159_n.jpg
[...]
http://[serverName]/[(pseudo)directories]/[firstID]_[albumID]_[userID]_[photoID]_[PIN]_[size].jpg

Can you spot a couple of differences?
1)the new albumID comes with some weird math, yet simple to be understood (and bypassed);
2)the PIN is now longer and, even worse, it seems to come from a random (or at least unidirectional) function. That can be demonstrated uploading small photos (just 1x1 pixels!) and staring at the relative PINs, with no chance to understand them. Obviously it is still possible to guess some PINs adopting a brute force approach, but too much time is needed to achieve some nice results.

Thumbs up for Facebook? Not yet.
So keep that photo from being replicated on hundreds of servers around the world...

 

(Raein. photo by A bout de Souffle Art)

More on Uniqueness

Who are you?

The Who

Some weeks ago I attended a lesson on user authentication, and soon I started looking at it just like another way to face the already mentioned problem of uniqueness.

When you ask yourself how can a computer recognize me?, you are actually asking who am I?. Computers (at least most of them!) are no more than tools, so we cannot expect them to answer such a hard question. Think of all the ways in which a modern authentication system could verify your identity: passwords, ID numbers, fingerprints, DNA sequences, and so on. Do you trust them? I don't (and thankfully I am not alone). Even more ambitious approaches like strong authentication or vouching, though being very attractive, sound quite poor to my ears.

Who are you?

When we meet someone new we first focus on his physical aspects, then we switch to more complex characteristics. Day after day we collect little pieces of his life: face expressions, laughs, words, experiences, stories, feelings. Our Jigsaw puzzle keeps growing (never being really complete).

What happens if we casually meet our friend's secret twin brother? We greet him, but after some words we understand there is something wrong. If he is particularly able to imitate his brother, he may keep misleading us for some time – surely not forever. The reason is clear: one wrong piece is enough to knock down the entire puzzle.

I definitely demand to see an authentication system that behaves as we do. Possibly before I pass away.

(photo by udronotto)