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NOW CALLED:
THE MINISTRY FOR PUBLIC SECURITY

The Aim:

To exemplify the point that there is only so far we should go on the route to absolute security, and the globalisation of information. We have to understand that privacy is a fundamental part of our lives, and can affect our social groups in a very negative way.
www.ministryforpublicsecurity.eu (broken link)

TOP NEWS

15th May 2006 - Watch This Space

(the tension is paramount)


11th May 2006 - Handin In

Hoorah, I have now handed it in, a good day early seeing as I present on Monday, felt I needed the time to make sure I don't stutter it all down the drain. But almost there, almost relaxed.

p.s. MI3 was hella good!!!


6th May 2006 - Almost there

Hmm, i'm pretty much there now, only a few small ammends to make, a few that people have suggested to me which will be cool! I can feel the stress draining off of me.


30th April 2006 - AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I am running off of very little sleep right now due to some serious debugging issues which I think have been sorted. The problem arose when I realised how the system clock differs between machines, and ammend this issue, particularly in MSNs XML logs. There was also a problem with users that had only created on profile, carriage returns seemed not to work correctly.


24th April 2006 - Domain Sorted www.ministryforpublicsecurity.eu

At last it has been sorted out, I have the domain, and it all seems to work fine, which is an excellent step in the right direction. The project appears to run fine, and the redirections are almost sorted. Now I just need to finish testing the programme.


20th April 2006 - Ammending MSN speed

Due to my lack of XML knowledge, the MSN log parser was running very slowly as it was scanning everyword, so today, I have run a crash course in XML code, and I think I am close to cracking the problem, and having it run at a similar speed to GAIM and Trillian.


18th April 2006 - Domain Problems

I have the temporary site pretty much ready now, but UK2 are being a real pain in terms of setting up my domain, they took my money, but haven't locked the address or given me access to it. So a bit more waiting on that front I think.


19th March 2006 - Temporary page created, final styles begun!

I am in the process of creating a micro-site which will house my project (not sure how many pages it will be though), it is currently on this server here, but will eventually go to a new URL when a final project name has been decided upon!


4th March 2006 - Code testing commences

I finally have a prototype for the program working now, so if you could all test it, you require a PC, and use either MSN, GAIM, or Trillian as an internet messenger! Let me know of ANY problems please at chestnuttree@retrobadger.net


27th January 2006 - Midway Assessment

Presented my project today, didn't go too bad, the lecturers seem to think that if I keep on the course i'm going, and get it all done how i've said, I should be on for a 65, which is mid 2:1, so I am happy. They did give me a little bit of feedback though which I can use:

1. I am approaching my project from too many angles, try to narrow it down more. - Focus on Observation, and the user being that of an official, observing our conversations via this software! Background theory being that of observation, and the fear of it, keep the information on Northways Sociogram, but don't add any more!

2. What I am going to make is clear, so getting on with the physical part is fine!


Here is a copy of the powerpoint presentation that I used on the day

Powerpoint Presentation


20th January 2006 - My Chat With Geoff 5*

The chat went better than expected, and I have now come out with an adaptation of my original idea, and a new lease of excitement and interest over what I am producing, here are some of the main points:

1. Felt 2dimensional - so looking back to an old idea, and using a very Orwellian (and WWII) idea of having a middle person in our communications observing, and taking information, and in some ways, telling is what to do

2. So am going to focus on parse this weekend, it is now going to produce multiple documents - a new document for each month (except current month), and one as a user profile.

3. The main program is now going to look at the chats, and on lines of long communication it will assess the chat, and look as to its risk, and desirability, leaving a note tag on the line if an issue.

4. There are also 2 potential extras if I have time:

4a. Analyses previous chats to look at shifts in friendship types, and looks at those risks.

4b. Analyses all other chats within EVERY user that is on the database, looking for more preferable chats, showing why, and the root to get in contact with them.

5. Going to do more research and flesh out project idea as well, got more quote potential for my research - Schema, 1984, Telephone Monitoring



19th January 2006 - Project so far

Parser is close to completion now, it works for MSN, GAIM, and TRILLIAN. Just need to tidy it up a bit now and get it to allow the user to select a folder if it isn't in the default location. I have also got a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow to talk about where the project is heading, and whether ammendments should be made to steer it in a more appropriate direction, kind of like a traffic policeman!


KNOWN ISSUES:

1. Problem with outputting large images, can only grab images that are on the current stage!

2. YAHOO messenger cannot be parsed, logs are encrypted.

3. Draw command draws a line, which then disappears when the user scrolls the screen, so will try using an image cast member.

4. The line length can get too long, so I need to think of an algorithm that stops getting long so quickly as the suration gets longer, so it slow up!



8th January 2006 - Second visual program begun

I have started to produce the program that will use the log files to produce the visual output, this is not going too bad at the moment, it is far from easy, and making it look nice at the end may end up being a problem due to dynamically drawing straight lines (strange i know!). Anyway, when I get it working to a reasonable level i'll put up a JPEG image of it. I am going to try and work on that now, and also try and set the log parser to look at a set period of time, using a start date, and a total days variables.


I also recently had an email from my lecturer, who would like me to present my project, and as I have a lot of little bits that dont yet work, I have decided to take a slight detour and do some very basic visual designs, so as I can explain what I am hopeing to create. If you want to have a look, they are in the DESIGN WORK page.



22nd December 2005 - Messenger Parsing Program is taking shape!

My first task in constructing the program is to create a piece of software that parses log files from the communication software, the hard part has been done, it works in GAIM logs at the moment, now I just need to slowly get it to lok into other logs from other communication systems, and get that to work if possible. This part I am feeling quite confident about, it can be done, eventually.


I am still partially concerned about creating the output though, I know I could create something physical using pen and paper, which is an option if all else fails, but I would prefer to get this to work automatically, reading the logs from an online folder, with the future potential for a drop-box style arrangement. The main problem with this is in creating a visual reinactment, I have the info, but I need to have users coming from one user in a random way, and so on, and then getting it to link duplicate users together on the screen rather than repeating them. I am concidering doing both, and if I m unable to do the program, see what I can get it to do, and then finish off the rest by hand.