michaelwyres.com.au | musings of a geek

Software Problems For Missing E-Class Trams?

Read an interesting report this morning regarding the status of Melbourne’s new E-Class trams:

“Just over a fortnight into the life of the E-Class trams, they have disappeared from route 96 and from the network.”

As can be expected with anything brand new – (and in particular something as complicated as a tram) – there were always going to be teething problems. As such, I don’t think it is time to worry just yet.

It is however, a little concerning that problems with basic things like “jamming doors” and “air-conditioning” are popping up. Door and air-conditioning systems are not “brand new”.

“Mr Weber said he was aware of E-class tram problems including the doors of the 6002 jamming, and airconditioning problems on 6001.”

This comes after an incident where a service operated by an E-Class tram was terminated due to a “software problem”:

Further:

“A Yarra Trams spokesman Simon Murphy confirmed the E-class trams were off the network. He said further information about the reasons for their absence would be available soon.”

Can’t they just tell us why? Seems like an evasive response to me. This “software problem” has ominous overtones.

Let’s wait and see on this one though.

Dodo And The Extinct Password Protection

I have been with Dodo for home broadband service for more than a decade.

A lot of people might snigger at that, but in all honesty I have been subject to very few problems over that time, and their plans suit my needs. Their customer service department can be difficult to interact with, but I have so little need to deal with them directly, that this hasn’t caused me any significant heartache.

Last week, I noticed from the office that my home ADSL service was down, so I tried to login to their customer portal to see if there was anything there that might suggest what the problem was.

Problem was, I couldn’t remember the password – so I clicked on the “Forgot Password” link.

As you would.

It immediately became apparent that the only options for password retrieval or reset were “call our customer service department” or “sent to you via SMS to your mobile phone”.

Not really wanting to wait in a telephone queue, I took the “sent to you via SMS to your mobile phone” option – but I was bit concerned by this.

No option to offer up details – (such as answers to security questions or date of birth and billing address information) – just tell us your service number, and we’ll SMS it to you.

Just a big button that says “Send Me My Password”.

Thing is, that’s exactly what they did.

They sent me the password.

In plain-text.

Via SMS.

I’m not super concerned that the password was sent via SMS – (though they really shouldn’t be doing that either) – but the fact that they sent me the password in plain-text tells me one thing.

They store them in plain-text.

What the actual fuck?

They really should implement a challenge response mechanism to reset the password online, instead of just storing them in the clear and spitting them out on request, without seeking proof of who is requesting the password.

I will point out that the password to get onto their customer portal is not the same password that allows my ADSL service to authenticate to their servers, but I have to be concerned that if the portal password is stored in the clear, that the login password is stored somewhere in the clear also.

I have tried twice to contact Dodo – (here and here) – via their “9am to 6pm” Twitter service account, and haven’t gotten a reply.

So.

This is all pretty ordinary – care to explain this Dodo?

UPDATE: 18/11/2013 ==========

It has been pointed out to me by highly respected network engineer Mark Newton that “ISPs tend to store plaintext passwords because PPP CHAP auth requires it”. I trust Mark’s opinion on this – but I have worked in ISPs and never seen this. As I point out in the fourth last paragraph, it was not my authentication password that was sent to me, but my customer portal password, so I don’t believe this caveat applies in this instance.

Move Corio Station Closer To The Highway?

There is no doubt that Corio Station is something of a boil on the bottom of transport infrastructure in Geelong.

It is unmanned, located a long way from anything – (except the Shell Refinery, which has been served by the station since the 1950s) – and is a dark and miserable location. Certainly not a place you want to hang around for any great length of time – particularly at night.

Now a Geelong councillor wants to move the station closer to the highway:

“I want to put a bulldozer through the Corio one and build it closer to the highway,” he said.

Corio station – (or previously “Cowie’s Creek” and “Cowie”) – has been knocked down and moved or rebuilt a number of times since it was first located on the Dennington line – (the proper name for the Geelong line) – in 1890.

Doing something about the safety and amenity of the station is badly needed – it was last staffed in 1990.

But closer to the highway? That’s pretty hard.

Not only would you need to build a significant slew of the up and down lines to the new location, you also have to either slew the standard gauge freight line which runs alongside the broad gauge Dennington line to the new location as well, or either go under or over the slewed passenger lines to be able to move the station.

Consider the potentially slewed lines on the diagram below:

Not only would slewing the lines closer to the highway be massively expensive, you end up creating a ridiculous loop into an empty paddock – (owned by Shell) – that would slow down express passenger trains, and interstate freight trains.

The solution – (and much cheaper one at that) – is to fix up Corio station, and make it a manned station again.

It’s also infinitely more practical.

Doctor Which? Day Of The Doctor Prequel

Squeeee!

Unsubstantiated Claims Of Stopped Tasmanian NBN Rollout

Amidst the ramping up of the new Australian government, and with reviews of just about everything under the sun underway, we see yet more incorrect statements from incoming federal Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull in regards to the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Turnbull claimed on ABC Radio in Hobart that the rollout of the NBN in Tasmania had stopped, that “they’ve basically downed tools”:

“Mr Turnbull says the federal government will honour existing contracts if the contractor is able to meet them, but says he has seen no reports of progress in Tasmania for months.”

“”As far as we can see no work has been done by Visionstream for at least two months and they’ve basically downed tools,” says Mr Turnbull.”

“”The bottom line is that there is nothing I can do, not one thing I can do to stop the NBN rollout in Tasmania because it has been stopped for several months.””

The key statement here is “because it has been stopped for several months“, but it seems this claim is unsubstantiated.

The report continues:

“Mr Turnbull’s claims that no work has taken place in Tasmania in the last two months regarding the rollout of the fibre optic cable was instantly challenged by listeners to ABC Local Radio by text and on Twitter, as reports came in o [sic] people seeing Visionstream workers working in Kingston, Launceston and Beaconsfield in the last week.”

The following photos – (used with permission) – from local resident James Abbott, show work continuing both last week, and even this morning in the Acton Park area:

This shows – at the very least – that Turnbull is quite happy to speak out in the media about what he believes is the case, without truly confirming the veracity of his claims. It could even be just out-and-out deception.

It is certainly not the first time bogus claims about the NBN have come from he and his party, and it is becoming an ongoing pattern.

The comments appear to relate to the Telstra asbestos scare, in which duct and pit remediation work on behalf of NBN Co was halted, including in Tasmania.

This remediation work has well and truly recommenced, and work did continue in other areas not affected by the asbestos scare and shutdown of the remediation work.

Further comments from former advisor to Labor Communications Ministers Stephen Conroy and Anthony Albanese, David Hayvatt, back this version of events and further verify the misleading nature of Turnbull’s latest comments:

“This is technically incorrect because the contractor was still at work in areas not affected by the remediation pause, and has restarted work already.”

“This is typical Malcolm Turnbull. Rather than directly respond to the fact that he knows he misled Tasmanians he reaches for a distraction with a false claim about current roll-out.”

It is all very well – (and likely pertinent) – for the new government to conduct a review of just about everything on the books, including the NBN.

They would however be better served being a little more thorough and – (more importantly) – a little more accurate in what they say.

Right?

Because in this case, Turnbull is just wrong.

Again.

** UPDATE: 09/10/2013 15:55 ==========

Visionstream have subsequently also debunked Turnbull’s claims:

“The spokesperson said the company was currently undertaking “construction of fibre servicing area modules (FSAM) in Launceston, a large amount of aerial cabling across the state, and is issuing tenders for new construction civil works as work packages are released by NBN.””

** UPDATE: 10/10/2013 15:33 ==========

Further “in the field” evidence of continuing NBN work in Tasmania from Ben Lohberger here and here.

Geelong Council Fibbing Over GST?

Last week I found this really curious tip voucher from the City of Greater Geelong (COGG), apparently to apologise for a rise in landfill costs.

“The Federal Government’s GST and carbon tax and the State Government imposed EPA levy – which has gone up again – have caused tip fees to increase. In fact, state and federal fees account for just under 60% of the fee you’re charged at the gate.”

The GST? To my knowledge, the rate and base of the Goods and Services Tax has not changed since it was introduced 13 years ago. How the GST has therefore caused a sudden increase in the cost of taking a load of rubbish to the tip is kind of baffling.

The carbon price? There have been lots of warnings from the ACCC towards organisations claiming the carbon price is the reason for price increases. I don’t know how the carbon price affects the chain of events when it comes to landfill, so I won’t make a positive or negative assessment of that claim, despite it seeming to be a dubious claim.

The EPA levy? According to the EPA website, the price per tonne has gone up only $4.80 since last year.

In 2012-2013 it was $48.40 per tonne, and in 2013-2014 it was $53.20. That’s the cost to the council for dumping an entire tonne of waste into a landfill.

I don’t know about you, but the last time I did a tip run, I didn’t take an entire tonne there. I suggest I’d have to do 200 tip runs before I got to an entire tonne.

Or about $0.02 a run, based on the $4.80 increase.

This sounds like a complete load of codswallop.

Funny Smell Over NBN Co Board Resignations

Something smells a bit funny to me with this story of the entire board of NBN Co resigning. While there is no doubt that they have resigned, the mechanics of the situation don’t completely add up.

“Chairwoman Siobhan McKenna tendered her resignation along with other board members, but at this stage the Government has not accepted them.”

“Malcolm Turnbull has confirmed that he asked members of the NBN Co board, the government-owned company responsible for operating Australia’s broadband network, to resign last week.”

If the media reports are to be believed – (and granted, that’s an assumption) – the new government asked the board to resign, but the new government has not yet accepted the resignations?

Who insists on someone resigning, and then refuses to accept the resignation?

That’s like ordering the bottle of Bollinger, getting the waiter to open it, and then refusing to have a drink.

Or “thanks for that everyone, I have your signed resignations, but I’m going to sit here with a gun to your head and not accept them”.

Of course, there is every chance that one or both of the media reports are wrong, but it is curious that until today, Turnbull’s office has refused to comment on the matter, when it is apparent the machinations have been underway since at least last week.

This doesn’t gel with Turnbull’s promise to be transparent and open with the NBN project.

It’s curious that all this should happen, just when Telstra announces it has begun an FTTN trial, practically straight after the new government was sworn in, and on the back of Turnbull’s apparent backing of former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski to take over at NBN Co.

It has been speculated for some time that Turnbull was already talking to Telstra, long before the election.

It all feels just a little bit too convenient and coincidental to me. The planets are aligning a little too easily.

Something is afoot here.

What The Hell Myki?

While smartcard ticketing for transport networks is a fabulous idea, the debacle that is the implementation of the Myki system in Victoria just goes from bad to worse.

“He said the clock on the myki top-up machine was 15 minutes fast, so his pass was not technically active when he touched on before boarding the train.”

“When the call centre worker touched off at Southern Cross, he was docked $11 of myki money instead and could not use his myki pass until he paid back the $11 to get the card’s balance above zero.”

How the hell in this day and age, does a computer-based system that relies on time-sensitive transactional information, not get time synchronisation right?

Particularly since the Network Time Protocol (NTP), which is the standard for time keeping and synchronisation on computer networks – (and which was first defined in September 1985, almost 30 years ago) – should be in place?

Was the system engineering so bad on this project that not one engineer involved thought to use it?

I would find that difficult to believe – but it’s such a simple solution towards time-keeping on a network, that clearly they aren’t using it or it has been so incompetently implemented that the issues described in the above article are allowed to occur.

As an IT professional, I’m astounded by this.

Safety Car Spins…Under Safety Car!

Not much to say here except “too funny”:

Murdoch Then And There – What About Here And Now?

With the federal election run and won, delivering a result for better or for worse, for many people the question of the power and influence shown by Rupert Murdoch and his media empire over the result will likely remain a point of debate and contention – and for a very long time.

There has been plenty of debate over where a news organisation should and should not draw the line.

This article isn’t here to debate these questions. It is here to remind of the beginnings of the News International phone hacking scandal, and what it might mean for Australia.

From the excellent BBC Panorama program, a report from back then:

The similarities are profound to how Murdoch’s interests operate in Australia, yet the far more deeply-reaching scandal in the UK was shown to be systemic amongst their operations in that country.

What haven’t we uncovered in Australia?