I’ve had an email from someone saying that the pro version of the app is available on Google Play, but not the free version. This seems to be down to different types of device and different versions of Android.
I’ve uploaded the two most recent APKs. There were only minor changes between 2.1.2 and 2.1.3.
Downloads:
| SetDNS version 2.1.2 | Download |
| SetDNS version 2.1.3 | Download |
A couple of times this year I’ve had to deal with a website hack that injects “spam” into the RSS feed. Specifically there were generic viagra related links and keywords placed into the first RSS entry when picked up by the google reader spider.
To be honest, I’d quietly put up with it and clear it in my own time, but I also host a friend’s blog on my server too (the internationally renowned Bickerstaffe Record). This had fallen to the same problem on a couple of occasions, so rather than just reinstall everything I thought I’d better take a look to see what’s happening.
I don’t normally delve into technical stuff here, but this should be quite quick and painless.
I knew that both sites were running the latest version of wordpress, so to be certain that everything was ok, I unpacked a copy of the latest wordpress into a new directory and ran a diff on both folders:
% diff ./wordpress/ ./www/
This reported that there were no differences between the distribution and the installed code. So the problem had to be with either the plugins or the configuration files.
Much of the research kicked up problems of iframe hacks and also remv.php files (check this). However neither related to the RSS feed being manipulated.
Finally I looked for hidden (dot) files with this:
% find . -name ".??*" -print ./wordpress-automatic-upgrade/js/.wp-wpau.cache.php ./akismet/.akismet.old.php
Running this on the second wordpress blog returned similar results – same file contents, but both in the akismet folder.
The files started with the following:
% head wordpress-automatic-upgrade/js/.wp-wpau.cache.php < ?php /*?#?#,,sess,XJyb3JfcmV b3J0a 5nKDApO 0KJGFjdD0i 0FDVElPTl0iOyBnbG9iY gJGFycl90bXBfc2hlbG sJGJ1a xkX3RtcF9zaGVsbDsgJGJ1a xkX3RtcF9zaGVsbD0iMC4yIjsNCiRhcnJfdG1
and
% cut -c 1-400 ./akismet/.akismet.old.php < ?php (0xf7001E)?0x8b:(0xaE17A)?0xDEc52:(0xBfe8E)?0xFCD: (0xE48a98)?0x1cDEe:(0x033A)?0xa1F:(0x8B953)?0xdAF6e80:(0x0c)?0xaFdD: (0xdb2d3)?0x6D3:(0x4F60)?0xFd1f:(0xD63)?0xC1Cb46:(0x885d6)?0x5728: (0xc78)?0xa9e:(0xC2Ad)?0xa17e6:(0xf963)?0x0Ce:(0xb8a94)?0xeC9fB: (0x94B)?0xaDeF6B2:(0x9c64b4)?0x18a:(0xCCC6C)?0x1ab:(0xFdccD)?0x6E65: (0x67Ee)?0x2A3c:(0xeB)?0xfCBfD:(0xcc62b)?0x5E1A50:(0x6c)?0x5eed: (0x4F3f)?0xE1e
Deleting these two files stopped the problem, there's no other evidence of changes in either the database or in the wordpress folder.
Why did it happen? Well, I was lazy and wanted the wordpress automatic updates to work without too much thought - so I left the file permissions sufficiently open to allow web-based updating. Of course, this meant they were also open to be exploited, which is what happened.
Considering the location of the hidden files, I assume that there is a problem in one of the plugins.
I've changed both the ownership of the files and permissions as follows:
% cd /path/to/site/www
% chown -R steve:steve . # basically any user not in the apache group
% find . -type d -exec chmod 755 {} \;
% find . -type f -exec chmod 644 {} \;
Let’s hope that’s the end of it. Hope this helps someone.
Came across this article at the mysociety blog this evening (when reading up about the history of the data retention laws). I’ve mentioned before about the “free our bills” campaign that mysociety are running and this extends that vision to the next step of using the internet as an enabling tool for citizens interacting with Government.
Great stuff. Briefly, they suggest the following:
Hire yourself some staff who know what the Internet really means for government, and fund a university to start training more who really understand both worlds: you’re going to need them. There just aren’t enough employed in any government anywhere yet to save you from being hopelessly outstripped by external progress. (note to self I must write to our MP about it)
Free your data, especially maps and other geographic information, plus the non-personal data that drives the police, health and social services, for starters. Introduce a ‘presumption of innovation’ – if someone has asked for something costly to free up, give them what they want: it’s probably a sign that they understand the value of your data when you don’t.
Give external parties the right to interface electronically with any government or mainly public system unless it can be shown to create substantial, irrevocable harm. Champion the right fiercely and punish unjustified refusals with fines.
Commission the world’s first system capable of large scale deliberation, and hold a couple of nation wide sessions on policy areas that you genuinely haven’t made your minds up on yet.
When people use your electronic systems to do anything, renew a fishing license, register a pregnancy, apply for planning permission, given them the option to collaborate with other people going through or affected by the same process. They will feel less alone, and will help your services to reform from the bottom up.
A late night uninstalling vista and re-installing windows XP. I give up after what must be 18 months of struggle, one new laptop and endless bloody tinkering to try and get it working the way I want.
Would I recommend it to anyone? No. If you can avoid it, do. If you must get it, then stick to a few basic applications and leave it at that.
God willing Windows 7 will be an improvement.
Not sure why, but I’m getting duplicate postings on this site. There must be something funny going on behind the scenes, and perhaps it’s time for a wordpress upgrade. Grrr… Something to sort out this evening.
Update: update worked. Happy now… back to family guy.
TheyWorkForYou is a great resource for seeing how your local MP has been representing you in Parliament. When I last dropped in on their site they were promoting their Free Our Bills! campaign.
Quite sensibly they have been encouraging Parliament to publish proceedings in a way that can be better understood by computers. This might sound irrelevant, but it could change the way that people engage with the way that our legislation is made.
For example, if you were interested in a particular issue and wanted to follow the debate and progress of legislation through parliament, then legislation that can be ‘understood’ by a computer would mean that you could be kept informed quicker and easier. Similar to the way that XML and RSS feeds keep people up to date on a plethora of other information sources.
It would hardly cost the taxpayer anything, but could radically change the way that people engage with law-making. If you have the time, please show your support.
I’ve changed around the layout of the site – well, to be honest I’ve picked up a new theme on the wordpress website. It was always a bit odd that I was a Labour councillor with a blue website (in an area where we only have Labour and Conservative councillors).
Plus… there’s a bit of space for me to play with the snipperoo widget panel on the right.