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We have two presentations for February, from Yael Grauer and der.hans.

Yael will discuss hacker-show Mr. Robot and what it gets right about tech. Hans will cover etckeeper, a tool for tracking configuration changes.

For more info, Meeting time and location see:
http://phxlinux.org/index.php/meetings/14-east-valley-meeting.html


Yael Grauer: What Mr. Robot Gets Right

Description: Not only does Mr. Robot set the bar for dystopian hacker suspense thrillers, it’s also a great hacking show that’s true to the culture and portrays technology authentically.

In this presentation, Yael will discuss what Mr. Robot gets right... and the mostly free, mostly open source programs used by the characters on the show.

Biography: Yael is a freelance tech reporter covering online privacy and security, mass surveillance, and digital freedom. She has written for WIRED, Ars Technica, Slate, Motherboard, the Intercept, Forbes Tech, and more. She also co-hosts Monday Morning Dumpster Dive, a podcast on Friday news dumps that also airs on KJZZ.

For fun, Yael enjoys hiking, gardening, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and spending time with her husband and their puppy.


der.hans: etckeeper - revision control for /etc/

Description: Ever debug a service problem for hours just to discover it was a new typo in a configuration file? Ever have someone (maybe you) bork a conf file and not realize it for days? Put /etc/ into version control, then track what changes and when.

etckeeper tracks changes in /etc/ with version control. It ties into package management systems for automagic checkins after updates.  It also records important metadata such as permissions and ownership that version control systems (VCS) usually do not track.

Use the VCS you know and let etckeeper help you with some of the oddities found in /etc/.

An imporatant feature is detecting inadvertant changes or tracking what someone (maybe even you) did late at night or early in the morning. By tracking changes, you can document them, replicate them elsewhere or even back them out.

Biography: der.hans is a Free Software, technology and entrepreneurial veteran. He is a repeat author for the Linux Journal with his article about online privacy and security using a password manager as the cover article for the January 2017 issue.

He is chairman of the Phoenix Linux User Group (PLUG), BoF organizer for the Southern California Linux Expo (SCaLE) and founder of the Free Software Stammtisch.

He presents regularly at large community-led conferences (SCaLE, SeaGL, LFNW) and many local groups.