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Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

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Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#21

Post by PavlovsCat »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
gfodor wrote: post #5

This is kind of a dick move to use IMHO. Clearly they are not giving you the space to store arbitrary stuff. It's a neat hack and props to the author but if enough people use this it will not only cause Yahoo! to have to build countermeasures but will also set an ugly precedent for Yahoo! product managers to consider before doing nice things like they did today.

This is hacker news isn't it? Re-purposing things in ways that the original designers did not envision is one of the cornerstones of hacking.

Like pooping in urinals?

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#22

Post by jacquesm »

PavlovsCat wrote: post #21
jacquesm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is hacker news isn't it? Re-purposing things in ways that the original designers did not envision is one of the cornerstones of hacking.

Like pooping in urinals?

Imagery aside, no more like building a house in a storage locker.

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#23

Post by chippy »

jacquesm wrote: post #19
MichaelApproved wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That ruins the service for the rest of us. The phrase "this is why we can't have anything nice" applies perfectly to this post and comment.

Maybe we should re-brand the service we're posting this on to 'ConsumerNews' then?

KeepYahooAliveNews

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#24

Post by jacquesm »

nodata wrote: post #20
ValentineC wrote: post #15

Flickr aside, I am surprised nobody (AFAIK) has come up with a way of sanitizing uploaded image files yet. I wonder if there's a way for GD/ImageMagick to detect the image data and strip everything else. (And if EXIF data is needed for photographs, import all non-binary EXIF data into the system first.)

mogrify -strip imagename.jpg But it won't help. You could just make your data a real image.

Decompress and subsequent recompress would do this just fine.

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#25

Post by Someone »

ValentineC wrote: post #15

Flickr aside, I am surprised nobody (AFAIK) has come up with a way of sanitizing uploaded image files yet. I wonder if there's a way for GD/ImageMagick to detect the image data and strip everything else. (And if EXIF data is needed for photographs, import all non-binary EXIF data into the system first.)

Many do, but it isn't always "sanitizing". http://www.iptc.org//site/Home/Media_Releases/IPTC_study_sho...:

"According to a study by the International Press Telecommunications Council (IPTC), major social networks like Facebook, Twitter or Flickr remove copyright information and other useful embedded data from pictures posted by their users"

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#26

Post by pfortuny »

jacquesm wrote: post #18
gfodor wrote: post #5

This is kind of a dick move to use IMHO. Clearly they are not giving you the space to store arbitrary stuff. It's a neat hack and props to the author but if enough people use this it will not only cause Yahoo! to have to build countermeasures but will also set an ugly precedent for Yahoo! product managers to consider before doing nice things like they did today.

This is hacker news isn't it? Re-purposing things in ways that the original designers did not envision is one of the cornerstones of hacking.

Well, yes. Until you find out that they are analysing your documents and send you an email explaining why you no longer can access them.

I guess 'noise' does not a photo make.

Of course I doubt they will implement that kind of filtering, but this 'invention' is not that original/difficult/interesting, I guess.

The fact that the original designers did not say anything about this does not mean they did not envision it, by the way. Simply that they may very much either do not care or have a recovery plan.

EDIT: this is obviously easily circumvented with a lot of traffic going on but it is just a simple idea.

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#27

Post by nodata »

jacquesm wrote: post #24
nodata wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

mogrify -strip imagename.jpg But it won't help. You could just make your data a real image.

Decompress and subsequent recompress would do this just fine.

What would do what fine? mogrify -strip removes what he asks...

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#28

Post by pfortuny »

nodata wrote: post #20
ValentineC wrote: post #15

Flickr aside, I am surprised nobody (AFAIK) has come up with a way of sanitizing uploaded image files yet. I wonder if there's a way for GD/ImageMagick to detect the image data and strip everything else. (And if EXIF data is needed for photographs, import all non-binary EXIF data into the system first.)

mogrify -strip imagename.jpg But it won't help. You could just make your data a real image.

You might as well change a single byte. A tiny modification and BANG! nobody notices and the service is pretty useless as a general back-up solution.

They could even implement that in their TOS: "whenever you upload a photo you agree to a random byte being modified on one of the pixels on the border."

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#29

Post by PavlovsCat »

jacquesm wrote: post #22
PavlovsCat wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like pooping in urinals?

Imagery aside, no more like building a house in a storage locker.

a.) flickr is a photo sharing site, no? the UI certainly seems to be optimized for mediocre or even pretty photos, not random noise. If I started pasting huge blocks of mime64 in HN comments to store encrypted personal stuff, or unencrypted cat pictures, would that be in the spirit of hacking, too? Or rather in the spirit of laming? (also notice the fact that I know better than to actually DO this even just ONCE, just to prove a point, because one never knows what random thing might incur a hellban)

b.) imagery aside, more like stepping into a storage locker, saying "I could theoretically live here!", everybody having their minds blown, and then not living in the storage locker because that'd be just pointless and awkward.

How about this: a tool to put something into series of high-ISO photos via steganography (and allow it to be updated, too) which can't be detected without the correct key.

Re: Store arbitrary files with Flickr's new 1TB storage limit

#30

Post by swombat »

PavlovsCat wrote: post #29
jacquesm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagery aside, no more like building a house in a storage locker.

a.) flickr is a photo sharing site, no? the UI certainly seems to be optimized for mediocre or even pretty photos, not random noise. If I started pasting huge blocks of mime64 in HN comments to store encrypted personal stuff, or unencrypted cat pictures, would that be in the spirit of hacking, too? Or rather in the spirit of laming? (also notice the fact that I know better than to actually DO this even just ONCE, jus…

Arguably, you could use HN as a storage mechanism because it just marks comments as dead, it doesn't actually delete them.

Hell, you could even write a utility to spuriously create HN accounts, stuff them full of comments that will be deaded but still accessible, and use that as a data store.

Whilst there is some "hacker spirit" to it, it is absolutely, totally a dick move. And yes, it is like shitting in the urinals, then smearing your shit all over the taps and the mirrors, because why the hell should the rest of us be able to use the facilities for what they were supposed to be used for, if you can have your fun for a few days?

We need a new name for this. It's not "Tragedy of the commons", it's more like "Tragedy of the common troll".

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