y.st./source/pages/en/weblog/2015/12-December/19.xhtml

<?php
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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => "Professor Shyguy&apos;s $a[USB] drive and Lo-Fi is Sci-Fi&apos;s music",
	'body' => <<<END
<p>
	According to an email I received from the Daily Kos, the attempts in the upcoming government funding bill to defund the $a[FCC] so that they cannot enforce their net neutrality rules have been removed and do not seem to be coming back.
	Net neutrality does seem to be threatened though, as Jeb Bush claims that if elected, he will abolish net neutrality.
	Likewise, Donald Trump wants to lock down the Internet in some unspecified way.
	Neither of these two can be allowed to become the president of our country.
</p>
<p>
	I started preparing to run <a href="https://github.com/ReclaimYourPrivacy/eschalot">eschalot</a> on <a href="/en/domains/cepo.local.xhtml">cepo</a>, but I got distracted due to seeing a strange directory in my home directory.
	I think that I found the issue that caused $a[Tor] to give me the wrong fingerprint when I queried it before, though I do not fee like testing my theory right now.
	In my home directory on <a href="/en/domains/cepo.local.xhtml">cepo</a>, a file called <code>~/.tor/fingerprint</code>.
	I think that in trying to find the fingerprint of my $a[Tor] instance while using a different system user than the one that $a[Tor] is running as, I caused $a[Tor] to generate a new fingerprint for my system user account.
</p>
<p>
	While looking through the <code>~/.tor/</code> directory, I also found three key files.
	<code>~/.tor/keys/secret_id_key</code> and <code>~/.tor/keys/secret_onion_key</code> appear to be onion address key files while <code>~/.tor/keys/secret_onion_key_ntor</code> appears to be a binary data file.
	I spoke with the people on <a href="ircs://irc.oftc.net:6697/%23Tor">#Tor</a> though, and a user by the name kernelcorn assured me that these files are used for $a[Tor] relay node purposes; they are not in any way used for hidden services or onion addresses.
</p>
<p>
	The $a[USB] drive from <a href="http://professorshyguy.com/">Professor Shyguy</a> arrived today.
	The directory structure is a bit of a mess though.
	For the most part, things are reasonably organized, but the <code>./MP3s/0000 - Odds.
	 Also ends/</code> directory leaves me a bit confused.
	For one thing, one of his <a href="https://professorshyguy.bandcamp.com/album/happy-parallel">Happy Parallel</a> album is in there.
	It is a released album, what is it doing in the odds and ends directory? Four tracks from <a href="https://professorshyguy.bandcamp.com/album/triforce-tour-triforce-collected">Triforce Tour - Triforce Collected</a> are also in there, though the rest of the album is entirely missing from the $a[USB] drive.
	Supposedly, this drive contains his collective released works plus some extra, but most of this album is missing.
	I am also not sure how to interpret parts of this odds and ends directory because Professor Shyguy said that the odds and ends directory, which contained the otherwise unreleased works, were not under copyright, but the directory contains &quot;Still Alive&quot;, a song that is shown on his Bandcamp account as having all rights reserved.
	Should I treat it as a nonfree track or a free track? To make it more complicated, the copy of the track on the $a[USB] drive claims to be part of an album called &quot;Discography&quot;, meaning that I cannot say that this is definitely under the restrictions posted on the website, as it is an alternative releasing of the song.
	I have seen songs released on multiple albums where one album was entirely free, while the other album is entirely nonfree, including the duplicate track.
	I suppose I will put it in the nonfree group to be safe instead of adding it to my collection.
	Lastly, some of the tracks are only on the drive in $a[MP3] format, meaning that to obtain either the lossless files or the Vorbis files, I will need to repurchase the respective albums online.
	I will probably finish going through the $a[USB] drive&apos;s files tomorrow, comparing them against the music available on his Bandcamp account, both to find what is missing and find exactly which files are most likely to fall under his &quot;not copyrighted&quot; claim.
</p>
<p>
	The $a[USB] drive itself is kind of interesting.
	He took an old Game Boy cartridge, removed the circuit board, carved away most of the inner plastic shelf just inside the bottom, and used the small piece of this shelf that he left intact to hold in a $a[USB] drive by sticking the shelf fragment through the hole on the drive.
	The drive can now pivot into the cartridge shell for protection and pivot out for use.
	He also glues a tiny plastic fragment to the pivoting end of the $a[USB] drive, giving the user a place to grip the drive and send it back out, should it pivot a little too far into the cartridge.
	The screw in near the bottom of the cartridge seems to prevent it from pivoting way too far back.
	And for aesthetics, he replaced the original game label with a branded label of his own, showing his artist name, domain name, and art from his latest album.
	While this thing is clearly hand made (and the label even has the text &quot;MADE IN A LIVING ROOM&quot;), it looks like it took a lot of thought in order to figure out how to build these.
	They are no whimsical project; they required planning.
</p>
<p>
	Cyrus was playing some music by Lo-Fi is Sci-Fi again, causing me to once again miss their music.
	Since my data loss back in February, I have not managed to find high-quality copies of their music.
	Their Bandcamp page has been removed, their website has been replaced by some &quot;coming soon&quot;-type page, and in every place that I knew that they once had a profile, this profile has vanished.
	Today, I broke down and asked <a href="http://marcwithac.bandcamp.com/">Marc With a C</a> and <a href="http://chriszabriskie.com/">Chris Zabriskie</a> about it, as they are the duo that once formed this now-disbanded band.
	Marc said that I should ask Chris, as it was Chris&apos; music; Marc just played drums and sang backup.
	Chris said that he had to dig them out of storage, but he <a href="http://chriszabriskie.com./lofi/">uploaded them to his website</a>.
	Sadly, they are in $a[MP3] format, leading me to believe that the high-quality $a[FLAC] files may be lost forever.
	Still, it is awesome to have songs such as I Do It &apos;Cause It&apos;s Right and Technology back in my music library.
</p>
<p>
	My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
</p>
END
);