Lectures at Hacking Feminism

Fist lecture in this series:

6 April 2016, 8PM
At LAG
By Becha
https://wiki.laglab.org/Hacking_Feminism

GOALS:

Empower each-other with knowledge
Learn the basics technical concepts of underlying Internet works
Discover & emphesise roles of women
Practice & get our hands dirty
Work on the alternatives together!
Personal goals: learn by teaching; develop series of lectures; practice practice practice!
What's your goals?

Internet Plumbing

Internet Plumbing is a word-game with multiple layers of meaning (ha! a recursive pun ;-)

Internet As a Series of Tubes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Series_of_tubes
Andrew Blum 2012 book " Tubes: A Journey to The Center of The Internet" , starts with the squirrel that ruins his Internet (connection/tube).
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/series-of-tubes
http://www.submarinecablemap.com/

Ubiquitous and complicated as plumbing?

Internet as a utility
just like "plumbing" (water & sewage), there is underlying "technology" to it, so complex, that no-one seems to grasp how all of it works
60% of the population of the planet does NOT have "teh Internets", and 30% does not have plumbing either (http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/sanitation.shtml)
Mary Midgley: "Utopias, dolphins, and computers - problems in philosophical plumbing "

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL968959M/Utopias_dolphins_and_computers

Women's role

Women in history of computing, engineering, internet
Female_experts -- Women who wrote about Internet: history, hacking, ethics, (hack)tivism, governance, economy, (anti)capitalism , climate change, philosophy
Ladies_Night#Gender_gap_in_tech
Ladies_Night#Increasing_the_gender_diversity
Ladies_Night#Anti-capitalism
Geek/cyber feminism: Ladies_Night#Feminism

Participate, take action, join

contribute to this wiki page
learn more!
join mailing lists discussions for technical policy development & Internet governance
learn to code & take part in FLOSS community
join a hackerspace
teach your skills to others

contact me: BECHA @ xs4all dot nl // @Ms_Multicolor

Basics

Internet is network of networks

Step by step

Local networks

"Small network" -- computers "talking" to each other
- Local Area Network = LAN
- With cables (ethernet), or Wireless (WiFi)
- How do they find each other? using unique numbers: MAC (ethernet) address (layer 2), translated by ARP (MAC to IP address)

IP addresses

About IP (Internet Protocol) addresses
- binary numbers, written as decimal (IPv4) or hexadecimal (IPv6)
- Can be "public" or "private" (=local)
- What is the format?

Exercise!! (ifconfig)

Typical / mainstream home (or small office) network
- Private IP addresses
- NAT = Network Address Translation - translated from multiple private to (usually) one public IP address
- Home router is (usually) a gateway, firewall, and NAT box at the same time
- ... and because of IPv4 exhaustion there is also double-NAT aka NAT444

    10.0.0.0        -   10.255.255.255  (10/8 prefix) 
    172.16.0.0      -   172.31.255.255  (172.16/12 prefix)
    192.168.0.0     -   192.168.255.255 (192.168/16 prefix)

Video on NAT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBqPzHEDzvo (not to watch during the lesson...)
Further reading about IPv6: User:Becha/DeeperIPv6

Where do the IP addresses come from?
- Hierarchical distribution (see charts)
- Principles: fairness, aggregation, conservation, registration
- Used to be "needs based", now open to "market forces"
- Policies for distribution ("rules") are developed in open, transparent, bottom-up process
- IPv4 is "legacy", has run out - but is still DE FACTO THE ONLY STANDARD in use!

Inter-connecting and Routing

Connecting "to the Internet"
- usually through commercial ISP (Internet Service Provider): dial-up, fibre, ... modem or router.
- "free Wifi"
- over mobile!
- alternatively: community-mesh-peer-to-peer : MeshNet

ISPs connecting with each other
- ISPs are "autonomous networks" (autonomous from each other)
- Using BGP and AS numbers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Gateway_Protocol
- routing = finding a "path" between networks
- Advanced concepts: announcing, prefix, route,

Monty Python's "Life of Brian": Funny way to illustrate BGP hijacking:

Judith: Release Brian!
Pilates: I shall... "welease" "Bwian"!
...
Guard: Where is Brian of Nazareth? I have an order for his release.
Brian: ... You stupid bastards!
Joker: Uh, I'm Brian of Nazareth.
Brian: What?
Joker: Yeah, I'm Brian of Nazareth.
Guard: Take him down.
Brian: I'm Brian of Nazareth!
random slave: I'm Brian!
Another random slave: I'm Brian!
Rich merchant: I'm Brian, and so's my wife!
Guard (pointing to Joker): Take him away and release him.
Joker: No, I'm only joking. I'm not really Brian.  I'm only pulling your leg. It's a joke! I'm not him!
Guard (hits him) 
Joker: Bloody Romans. Can't take a joke.

Later on: User:Becha/DeeperBGP

Exercise!! (ping) & Video!!! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzLPKuAOe50) (Youtube taken over / hijacked by Pakistan Telekom)

Relationships between "providers"
- direct peering: between more-less same size & same "importance" ISPs
- usually at IXP (Internet eXchange Point, e.g. Ams-IX, LINX...)
- "buying transit" from a "national Telco", usually
- large providers and carriers create a "backbone"

Further reading: Social scientist explains: Uta Meier-Hahn
- Internet Interconnection: Networking in Uncertain Terrain https://labs.ripe.net/Members/uta_meier_hahn/internet-interconnection-networking-in-uncertain-terrain
- The Regulatory Conditions of IP Interconnection 2016 https://labs.ripe.net/Members/uta_meier_hahn/the-regulatory-conditions-of-ip-interconnection
- October 2016: the death of transit? https://blog.apnic.net/2016/10/28/the-death-of-transit/

Video!!! "Internet Revealed, a movie about IXPs" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuBde4Sn3f0

Domain Name System

500px-An example of theoretical DNS recursion-nl.svg.png

How do humans find services on the Internet? -> BY NAME!
- numbers (IP addresses) are translated to names by DNS
- web-sites, servers, services have DNS "names"
- hierarchical distribution of names
- Advanced concepts: resolver, cashing, primary & secondary name-servers, master-slave, recursive resolver, labels, zones, A & AAAA records

DNS with NAT

Exercise!!

COMIC BOOK by "Simple" DNS: https://howdns.works/

Much later: User:Becha/DeeperDNS

Video / movie: "From .yu to .me" https://vimeo.com/95833310

Exercises

User:Becha/InternetPlumbing/Exercises

Videos

youtube hijack
How IXP's work
Net of Rights

Want to learn more?

ISOC on-line course: https://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/inforum-learn-online/inforum-course-introduction-network-operations
RIPE NCC training materials are free to use: https://ripe.net/training
See also "resources"

"Lesson 8: The Internet Is for Everyone" https://curriculum.code.org/csp-18/unit1/8/#:~:text=He%20wrote%20a%20memo%20entitled,%2C%20gender%2C%20creed%2C%20location%2C

CS Principles 2020-2021 https://curriculum.code.org/csp-20/

Networking Principles

Concepts

packets & packet switching
encapsulation
layered network model
(open) protocols & (open) standards
end-to-end principle
ports
server/client architecture
cryptography

Comparing OSI & TCP / IP layers

Original borrowed from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model

TCP / IP Model	OSI Model
Layer	OSI Layer	Protocol data unit (PDU)	Function	Examples
Application	7. Application	Data	High-level APIs, including resource sharing, remote file access, directory services and virtual terminals	TLS, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, SSH, Telnet, BGP!
Application	6. Presentation		Translation of data between a networking service and an application; including character encoding, data compression and encryption/decryption	CSS, GIF, HTML, XML, JSON
Transport	5. Session		Managing communication sessions, i.e. continuous exchange of information in the form of multiple back-and-forth transmissions between two nodes	RPC, SCP, NFS, PAP,
Transport	4. Transport	Segment (TCP) / Datagram (UDP)	Reliable transmission of data segments between points on a network, including segmentation, acknowledgement and multiplexing	NBF, TCP, UDP
Network / Internet	3. Network	Packet	Structuring and managing a multi-node network, including addressing, routing and traffic control	AppleTalk, ICMP, IPsec, IPv4, IPv6
Link layer	2. Data link	Frame	Reliable transmission of data frames between two nodes connected by a physical layer	IEEE 802.2, L2TP, LLDP, MAC, PPP, ATM, MPLS
Link layer	1. Physical	Bit	Transmission and reception of raw bit streams over a physical medium	DOCSIS, DSL, Ethernet physical layer, ISDN, USB

Cross-layer functions:

ARP is used to translate IPv4 addresses (OSI layer 3) into Ethernet MAC addresses (OSI layer 2).
Domain Name Service is an Application Layer service which is used to look up the IP address of a given domain name. Once a reply is received from the DNS server, it is then possible to form a Layer 3 connection to the third-party host.
etc

Resources

Many many more resources: books, videos:

Internet_Governance_and_hackers#How_does_the_Internet_work

Links:

Wonderful site for teaching Internet concepts to children: 
http://networks.land/

Acronyms!

RIPE NCC Glossary: https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/new-member/ncc_glossary_print.pdf/at_download/file

TCP/IP
IPv4, IPv6: Internet Protocol (IP) addresses
NAT: Network Address Translation
DNS: Domain Name System
ASN: Autonomous System Number
- used for BGP routing (Border Gateway Protocol)
IXP: Internet eXchange Point
SMTP
HTTP
CDN

Advanced topics

Layers as an allegory

Left: OSI Model T-shirt enhanced to include an 8th and 9th layer as defined by Evi Nemeth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evi_Nemeth // https://www.isc.org/product/isc-9-layer-osi-model-cotton-t-shirt/

(TODO: add ISC reference to Evi's wikipedia page!!)

Right: back of the T-shirt from the IETF75 in Stockholm, 2005

ABSTRACTION

Explaining complex concepts using layers is a useful abstraction.

Goal here is to illustrate layers by practical examples, and point out owners, developers, dangers, mitigations & alternatives.

This is not exactly technically correct, for the detail oriented people!

Number	Layer name	Example	Practically	Owner	Developed by	Vulnerabilities / Dangers	Mitigation / Securing	Alternatives
9	Organisation / Political	(Internet) Governance		technical community, civil society, governments	IGF (Internet Governance Forum), UN, ITU, IETF, ICANN,		awareness, take part!	someone will build a new *net, AlterNet :-)
8	Individual / Financial	Operating System (OS) + choice of software	Linux, FreeBSD, Minix...; iOS, Android, Windows...	User!	programmers & developers: FLOSS community; Apple, Google,Micro$oft	backdoors, surveillance, spying on users; lock-in; monopoly;	community participation; unionization of programmers; see articles here [yy]	knowledge, self-empowerment, solidarity
7	Application	7.3 -> VoIP	skype
		7.2 -> SMTP	email
		7.1 HTTP: web, WWW	web sites! LoLCats!	individuals, on their own servers! blogs (blogspot?), mainstream media, hosting companies; CDNs (Akamai, Amazon...); corporations: Google, Facebook, Twitter... YouTube..	W3c, IETF	censorship; silos; walled gardens; commercialization, consumerism;	technically: httpS, SSL, TLS; Tor; politically: activism, digital human rights; associations of users;	torrent! p2p! alternative social media!
6	Presentation	HTML, CSS, JSON
5	Session	BGP (actually layer 7...)	routing: exchanging AS reachability info via gossip: based on trust & peering agreements! physical routers by routers: Cisco/Juniper (commercial monopolists ;-)	Large ISPs; Tier1 / Tier2 ; IXPs!! RIRs give out AS numbers	"routing-wg" @ RIPE; *NOGs! (nano, nlnog, grnog; peering forums; Euro-IX); IETF; Open-Source community ; hackers	"route hijacks", government regulation & takeover (killer switch), hierarchies;	technically: BGPsec, IRR, RPKI; politically: influencing governance	p2p protocols, Betman [xx]; MPLS, SDN; Tor?!
4	Transport	UDP -> e.g. DNS (see above!)	www.belastingdiest.nl	User; Registrar, Registry, ccTLD, gTLD, ICANN, US government!	DNS OARC, IETF, root-nameserver operators, ICANN, IGF/UN/ITU	"balkanisation", US hegemony; internationalization; censorship;	technically: DNSSEC, DANE ; Tor; politically: participating in governance	Alternative trees; blockchain (namecoin); etc
3	Network	Internet / IP	ifconfig; IPv4, NAT, 10.10.10.10, IPv6	no-one: IP addresses are "leased"! (PI,PA,LIR,RIR,IANA,IETF)	RIR PDP, IANA, IETF	hierarchy, run-out, incompatibility, market forces; surveillance	IPSec	Blockchain? GSM? Radio?
2	Data-link		MAC addresses, Ethernet device drivers, WiFi drivers	licensed to users	Broadcom, Realtech, INTEL..	patents, closed source, Intellectual Property Laws	open source SW, open HW	?!
1	Physical	Network connections	Ethernet cables, WiFi antennas, fibers, satellites, satellite dishes, base-stations, under-sea cables ; POTS (old-fashioned phones -> BBS, dialup)	Individuals communities, ISP, "carriers", corporations, governments,	Hackers commercial companies, governments	"ownership" models; hierarchy of server-client model; pollution & distraction of Earth; surveillance	commoning; shared infrastructure; development of sustainable technologies (?!), recycling; awareness & activism	Community WiFi, Project Loon, Drones
1	Physical	HW - end user equipment	Computer, tablet, phone...	User	Commercial companies: Apple, Siemens, Samsung...	Un-ethical manufacturing, security backdoors, pollution caused by e-waste disposal,	Hard:	Open HW movement; fair-phone; DIY, Repair Cafes, fair-trade...