Nov. 28th, 2004

mandolin: (homework)
Well, it's been a hectic weekend, and I got home last night, and have been TRYING to work on my portion of the paper. And I've finally realized what my problem is with it.

I've been biting off way more than I can chew.

The paper's only supposed to be 15-20 pages. There are 4 of us. So that works out to maybe 5-6 pages of paper apiece. (In case one member of our group can't fill out a section, I'm guessing 6.)

One group member already posted a 6-page, fairly concise draft of his section on viruses, trojans and worms.

It makes the amount of junk I have seem SPRAWLING.

See, I'm taking e-mail privacy (government surveillance, ISP snooping, employer snooping), and rounding off the report with data mining because it has to be touched on.

Between Carnivore, Councilman vs. USA, the Enron online data dump of '03, WebFountain, the Total Information Act, and Gmail... there is NO WAY this is only going to be 6 pages. Let's not forget that the US Code with regard to electronic surveillance is messy as all hell.

Also, there's certain sections I can't find a good "official" source to cover - we need to pay lip service to "how" privacy is violated, briefly touching on the technology used. I can't believe how hard it is to find LEGIT information on how packet sniffers work that will give me a basic overview and not bury me in the details. (Which I need to avoid. This is more about the social aspects.)

I'm tempted to say the hell with it and just use the HowStuffWorks entry on packet sniffers since the FBI and Dept. of Justice took down the generic overview of how Carnivore works. *sulk* Not to mention no one talks about how ISPs and employers scan e-mails (although since both sources are usually supplying the e-mail service, I think the "how" should be intuitive - network administrator privileges, anyone?).

Man, I cut the topic down from Networks and Personal Privacy to just the Internet and Personal Privacy... and I can't imagine the glut of info we'd have if I hadn't.

Bleah.

Oh, and the neighbor's alarm went off from 6:30 to 9:30 again this morning. *sigh* You know, I may just ask him if it happens again, if he'll allow me to call emergency maintenance to ask them to shut the alarms off. Seriously, it's an honest mistake, and I just want to know how to deal with it if it happens again.

Guh.

Nov. 28th, 2004 06:54 pm
mandolin: (homework)
Well, after about 4 hours sifting through info... I'm done for the night.

I need to find out when Dr. L is posting the exam grades. I did not do well, and since the paper is 35% of my grade... well, I'm spazzing a bit. I'd like to get an A in this class, but I'd seriously settle for a B if it's possible. I'm actually worried that I may have to miss the trip to South Carolina to get this done.

*sigh*

I'm registered for Database Program Development next semester, and the first chance I get I'm tracking down the professor to find out if it's double-numbered and if she, too, is going to put all grad students in charge of group projects.

If you hear screaming from the general direction of UMBC in the next week, um, you'll probably know what the answer was.

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Mandolin

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