Recovering Partitions with TestDisk
Thursday, July 2. 2009
Unexplained
Monday, June 29. 2009
There are some things that just cannot be easily explained without calling someone a liar. For example, what happened to Neda Agha-Soltan?
There are two many conflicting stores. Someone must be lying. Considering that Iranian government representatives (ambassadors, clerics, and government-controlled media) change their story every other day, I'm going to have to side with the video footage and flood of independent witness reports: rooftop sniper by pro-government militia with a government cover-up.
And speaking of Iranian-run media... Today's Tehran Times has a picture on their front page that I just cannot explain.
Here's the picture:
This version of the picture is too small and too low quality to apply luminance gradient, error level analysis, or other complex analysis algorithms. All results would be inconclusive. The only tools I'm left with are "observation" and "measurement".
Here's the problem: where's the sun? The sun should only come in through one window. The picture has the sun in three windows. The central cameraman only has one shadow. Drawing a line from the shadow to the person goes straight to the middle window's sun. If those were spotlights and not the sun, then he should have three shadows. The Ayatollah (guy sitting down on the right) only has one shadow, and it only aligns with the right-most window.
Another problem is that the cameraman has a very long shadow, but none of the people on the floor have long shadows. Measuring from the camera-stand itself (floor to top of tripod), an object that is 30 pixels tall should have a shadow that is 21 pixels long. The sitting audience are about 30 pixels tall, but they don't have long shadows. Even the people right behind the cameraman are missing long shadows.
I really don't know how this could be possible, unless the image is spliced. Perhaps there is a higher quality version available elsewhere that does not have this problem... Then again, my mom thinks that this is because the Ayatollah is the "Sign of God" and can make the sun do whatever he wants.
It is also worth noting that this picture is not attributed to Getty Images, Reuters, AP, AFP, or any other image company that tries to provide undoctored images. No attribution is given, so that implies that it came from the Tehran Times Political Desk.
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had broken one of my rules about image analysis. A friend recently informed me that my findings just came out.
MUFON is the Mutual UFO Network. This month's MUFON Journal includes some of my image analysis applied to a couple of alleged UFO photos. When I was first asked to evaluate them, I was very hesitant... UFO "true believers" are crazy with bias. They want to believe so strongly that UFOs are real that they will ignore facts that show some photos are fake.
I was seriously concerned. It is very difficult to say that an image is real -- usually the results are inconclusive. If I determined that the images "could not be identified as fake", then I would be called a fraud by anti-UFO people, and the UFO people would call this a confirmation. ('Cannot identify as fake' is not the same as 'can prove it is real' or 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.) In contrast, if I found that they were fake, then the true believers would claim that the government got to me.
Fortunately, Richard Thieme (who will be speaking at Defcon 17) and the MUFON International Director, James Carrion, understood and addressed my concerns.
I was provided the pictures and absolutely no background information. The only question I was asked: "Have these pictures been digitally manipulated?" My initial reply was that these were some of the best forgeries that I have ever seen. I then detailed my findings, much of which was included in the MUFON Journal's article. (I understand that MUFON membership includes a copy of the Journal.)
Full disclosure: I was not provided any compensation for this work -- not even a cup of coffee. This work was strictly a donation on my behalf and it was not influenced by any person or government or anything else.
Finally, this was a one-time donation. Don't expect me to break my rules for other people with suspicious photos.
- Protesters who recorder her shocking death said that she was shot by pro-government Basij militia who were on a nearby roof.
- However, some reports that blame the Basij militia conflict with other reports. For example, the BBC reported:
That's when she was shot dead. Eyewitnesses and video footage of the shooting clearly show that probably Basij paramilitaries in civilian clothing deliberately targeted her. Eyewitnesses said they clearly targeted her and she was shot in the chest.
The problem that I have is with the phrase "clearly...probably". Either it is certain (clearly), or it is likely (probably), but it can't be both. Using both is like a "definite maybe" and really means nothing.
- The government-run Islamic Republic News Agency said that Neda was a case of mistaken identity. She looked like the sister of a terrorist. This makes me wonder: is it a standard policy in Iran to kill relatives of criminals? Is it a policy to shoot first and validate later? If this happened here, there would be rioting in the street. Oh wait, Iran's got that. (Unless you follow the government-run media, in which case, there are no riots nor protests.)
- Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri speculated that the CIA were behind her death. He said, "it could be the CIA". Uh, Ghadiri? The CIA are not that competent.
- While reports and video show that she was on the street, the government-run Iranian PressTV has decided that she was shot in an alley. This same report claims that there was a clash between protesters and security forces, and that no security forces were present. (Then who were they clashing with?) Quoting directly from the PressTV report:
She was shot dead on June 20 in an alley away from the scene of clashes between security forces and demonstrators in Tehran.
The man who drove her to hospital said in an interview that her death looked "highly suspicious", claiming there were no security forces or Basij members nearby.
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has decided that Neda's death is "suspicious" and called her death "propaganda".
"The massive propaganda of the foreign media, as well as other evidence, proves the interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation who want to take political advantage and darken the pure face of the Islamic republic," [Ahmadinejad] said in a letter to [Ayatollah Hashemi] Shahroudi, according to the [PressTV] news agency.
Wow... it took Ahmadinejad nine days to make a statement and all he can do is call it 'suspicious' and 'propaganda'? That seems like suspicious propaganda to me. You know, it is just a matter of time before Iran claims that her death was suicide, followed by "she's not dead" and "it was filmed in Langley".
There are two many conflicting stores. Someone must be lying. Considering that Iranian government representatives (ambassadors, clerics, and government-controlled media) change their story every other day, I'm going to have to side with the video footage and flood of independent witness reports: rooftop sniper by pro-government militia with a government cover-up.
Sunnyside Up
And speaking of Iranian-run media... Today's Tehran Times has a picture on their front page that I just cannot explain.
Here's the picture:
This version of the picture is too small and too low quality to apply luminance gradient, error level analysis, or other complex analysis algorithms. All results would be inconclusive. The only tools I'm left with are "observation" and "measurement".
Here's the problem: where's the sun? The sun should only come in through one window. The picture has the sun in three windows. The central cameraman only has one shadow. Drawing a line from the shadow to the person goes straight to the middle window's sun. If those were spotlights and not the sun, then he should have three shadows. The Ayatollah (guy sitting down on the right) only has one shadow, and it only aligns with the right-most window.
Another problem is that the cameraman has a very long shadow, but none of the people on the floor have long shadows. Measuring from the camera-stand itself (floor to top of tripod), an object that is 30 pixels tall should have a shadow that is 21 pixels long. The sitting audience are about 30 pixels tall, but they don't have long shadows. Even the people right behind the cameraman are missing long shadows.
I really don't know how this could be possible, unless the image is spliced. Perhaps there is a higher quality version available elsewhere that does not have this problem... Then again, my mom thinks that this is because the Ayatollah is the "Sign of God" and can make the sun do whatever he wants.
It is also worth noting that this picture is not attributed to Getty Images, Reuters, AP, AFP, or any other image company that tries to provide undoctored images. No attribution is given, so that implies that it came from the Tehran Times Political Desk.
Breaking Rules
I mentioned in an earlier blog that I had broken one of my rules about image analysis. A friend recently informed me that my findings just came out.
MUFON is the Mutual UFO Network. This month's MUFON Journal includes some of my image analysis applied to a couple of alleged UFO photos. When I was first asked to evaluate them, I was very hesitant... UFO "true believers" are crazy with bias. They want to believe so strongly that UFOs are real that they will ignore facts that show some photos are fake.
I was seriously concerned. It is very difficult to say that an image is real -- usually the results are inconclusive. If I determined that the images "could not be identified as fake", then I would be called a fraud by anti-UFO people, and the UFO people would call this a confirmation. ('Cannot identify as fake' is not the same as 'can prove it is real' or 'beyond a reasonable doubt'.) In contrast, if I found that they were fake, then the true believers would claim that the government got to me.
Fortunately, Richard Thieme (who will be speaking at Defcon 17) and the MUFON International Director, James Carrion, understood and addressed my concerns.
I was provided the pictures and absolutely no background information. The only question I was asked: "Have these pictures been digitally manipulated?" My initial reply was that these were some of the best forgeries that I have ever seen. I then detailed my findings, much of which was included in the MUFON Journal's article. (I understand that MUFON membership includes a copy of the Journal.)
Full disclosure: I was not provided any compensation for this work -- not even a cup of coffee. This work was strictly a donation on my behalf and it was not influenced by any person or government or anything else.
Finally, this was a one-time donation. Don't expect me to break my rules for other people with suspicious photos.
Stop Interfering
Thursday, June 25. 2009
Singing a new iTune
Saturday, June 20. 2009
Rumors circulated last January about Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs. Following complications from his pancreatic cancer treatment, he considered a liver transplant. Well, today the news is reporting that he had a liver transplant.
Being a big fan of Apple, I have to ask: where can I get an iLiver?
The human liver is one of the most complicated organs in the body. It is more critical than the heart, kidneys, or even the brain. We have artificial hearts, dialysis to offset damaged kidneys, and even machines to keep a body alive when the brain is dead -- but until now, we have not had anything that can replace the liver. God bless Apple for the iLiver.
The iLiver performs all of the basic functions: breaking down fats, creating amino acids, urea, and glycogen, and even filtering blood. However, the iLiver does much more...
Apple has always been on the forefront of medical research. And while they have not yet released a formal statement about the iLiver (due out after Thanksgiving), it is believed to follow Steve Jobs' view on other essential peripherals. The iLiver is smaller and much more energy efficient than a standard liver. It is a green device -- capable of being passed to other people when it is no longer needed. And most importantly, it has fewer buttons. Steve Jobs hates buttons.
The iLiver interconnects with the host body, but also includes five USB 3.0 connectors (codename 'Liver Spots'), a 3G wireless interface, and is Bluetooth enabled. Currently running the much-anticipated iBody 3.0 operating system, the iLiver is expected to be fully compatible with iPhone 3.0 and iTouch applications.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is also rumored to be venturing into other HCI systems. An iKidney and iBladder are reportedly in the works. Each component operates independently or can interface as an entire system. The company is even considering changing their slogan from "Think different" to "An Apple a day".
Being a big fan of Apple, I have to ask: where can I get an iLiver?
Unobstructed
The human liver is one of the most complicated organs in the body. It is more critical than the heart, kidneys, or even the brain. We have artificial hearts, dialysis to offset damaged kidneys, and even machines to keep a body alive when the brain is dead -- but until now, we have not had anything that can replace the liver. God bless Apple for the iLiver.
The iLiver performs all of the basic functions: breaking down fats, creating amino acids, urea, and glycogen, and even filtering blood. However, the iLiver does much more...
Veni Vidi Vici: iCame, iSaw, iConquered
Apple has always been on the forefront of medical research. And while they have not yet released a formal statement about the iLiver (due out after Thanksgiving), it is believed to follow Steve Jobs' view on other essential peripherals. The iLiver is smaller and much more energy efficient than a standard liver. It is a green device -- capable of being passed to other people when it is no longer needed. And most importantly, it has fewer buttons. Steve Jobs hates buttons.
The iLiver interconnects with the host body, but also includes five USB 3.0 connectors (codename 'Liver Spots'), a 3G wireless interface, and is Bluetooth enabled. Currently running the much-anticipated iBody 3.0 operating system, the iLiver is expected to be fully compatible with iPhone 3.0 and iTouch applications.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is also rumored to be venturing into other HCI systems. An iKidney and iBladder are reportedly in the works. Each component operates independently or can interface as an entire system. The company is even considering changing their slogan from "Think different" to "An Apple a day".
Another Tsunami
Thursday, June 18. 2009
The Internet Storm Center periodically mentions about fraudulent domains. Basically, right after a major event, scammers will register domain names related to the event. "There was a hurricane? Quick! Register domain names!" It is not just that it might happen, it is certain that it will happen.
Similarly, major events are associated with doctored images. Even though Iran has cracked down on mass media coverage, I have been waiting for the doctored images to arrive. Well, they're slowly trickling out.
Iran has barred the mass media from reporting on the situation in Iran. Most reports of the post-election rallies are from citizens with cell phones and digital cameras. They take the pictures and post them -- with little time for any image modification. So far, this flood of visuals seems clean and not modified.
In contrast, the Iranian government and government-run media are taking their time to release images. The delay means that they have time to modify images.
The DailyKos reported on one doctored image that appeared in the government-run newspaper.
People in the background were replicated in order to hide the edge of the crowd. In effect, they hid the true size of the crowd.
However, there is another problem with this image: it is undated. It was released in the media to show that there are ongoing post-election rallies for the incumbent Ahmadinejad as well as for challenger Mousavi. Up until this point, videos and footage had only shown pro-Moussavi rallies and not any for Ahmadinejad.
But there's a problem... As I mentioned when Iran released doctored missile photos: they didn't just modify photos. They modified old photos. Their 2008 missile launch was supported by photos from 2006. I did not just expect doctored images from the Iranian government; I expected doctored images from old photos! And I wasn't disappointed.
Here's the original:
The timestamp in the image's meta data matches the date from the open directory at the government-run MEHR news: Monday, June 08, 2009. That is BEFORE the election. They didn't just doctor a picture, they doctored an old picture.
To date, I have seen no photos of any post-election pro-Ahmadinejad rallies. Although there are reports of pro-Ahmadinejad rallies, they mainly come from the government-run media and do not include photos that can be dated or collaborated with non-government photos. Consider the number of citizen photos that are coming out, one would think that someone would have captured at least one picture of a pro- rally...
Ahmadinejad has a long history of rewriting history. For example, he is believed to have been a key hostage taker during the US embassy hostage crisis in 1979. Of course, Ahmadinejad has denied the association.
I'll let you decide whether the 1979 hostage taker looks like today's Ahmadinejad...
Then there was the conflicting reports around a boating incident in the Strait of Hormuz. Although the US has acted questionably, the Iranians supported their contradictory claims by releasing footage from a totally different incident.
And then there is his denial of the holocaust, claim that there are no gays in Iran (even though they keep killing the ones they find), and more...
With this established track record, it certainly comes as no surprise that Ahmadinejad would claim to win the election. Regardless of how the population voted.
There are many reasons to question this election's outcome. First, it should have taken days to count all of the votes, but it only took hours to declare the winner. Second, presidential nominees normally win in their home districts. I mean, nobody expected Obama to win in Alaska -- Alaska went to Palin. Yet, Moussavi's own hometown allegedly went to Ahmadinejad.
More interesting are reports of a suspicious death. Quoting the Guardian:
This situation is definitely becoming a tsunami.
Similarly, major events are associated with doctored images. Even though Iran has cracked down on mass media coverage, I have been waiting for the doctored images to arrive. Well, they're slowly trickling out.
A Few Drops Form A Flood
Iran has barred the mass media from reporting on the situation in Iran. Most reports of the post-election rallies are from citizens with cell phones and digital cameras. They take the pictures and post them -- with little time for any image modification. So far, this flood of visuals seems clean and not modified.
In contrast, the Iranian government and government-run media are taking their time to release images. The delay means that they have time to modify images.
The DailyKos reported on one doctored image that appeared in the government-run newspaper.
People in the background were replicated in order to hide the edge of the crowd. In effect, they hid the true size of the crowd.
However, there is another problem with this image: it is undated. It was released in the media to show that there are ongoing post-election rallies for the incumbent Ahmadinejad as well as for challenger Mousavi. Up until this point, videos and footage had only shown pro-Moussavi rallies and not any for Ahmadinejad.
But there's a problem... As I mentioned when Iran released doctored missile photos: they didn't just modify photos. They modified old photos. Their 2008 missile launch was supported by photos from 2006. I did not just expect doctored images from the Iranian government; I expected doctored images from old photos! And I wasn't disappointed.
Here's the original:
The timestamp in the image's meta data matches the date from the open directory at the government-run MEHR news: Monday, June 08, 2009. That is BEFORE the election. They didn't just doctor a picture, they doctored an old picture.
To date, I have seen no photos of any post-election pro-Ahmadinejad rallies. Although there are reports of pro-Ahmadinejad rallies, they mainly come from the government-run media and do not include photos that can be dated or collaborated with non-government photos. Consider the number of citizen photos that are coming out, one would think that someone would have captured at least one picture of a pro- rally...
Rewriting History
Ahmadinejad has a long history of rewriting history. For example, he is believed to have been a key hostage taker during the US embassy hostage crisis in 1979. Of course, Ahmadinejad has denied the association.
I'll let you decide whether the 1979 hostage taker looks like today's Ahmadinejad...
Then there was the conflicting reports around a boating incident in the Strait of Hormuz. Although the US has acted questionably, the Iranians supported their contradictory claims by releasing footage from a totally different incident.
And then there is his denial of the holocaust, claim that there are no gays in Iran (even though they keep killing the ones they find), and more...
With this established track record, it certainly comes as no surprise that Ahmadinejad would claim to win the election. Regardless of how the population voted.
A Reason to Riot
There are many reasons to question this election's outcome. First, it should have taken days to count all of the votes, but it only took hours to declare the winner. Second, presidential nominees normally win in their home districts. I mean, nobody expected Obama to win in Alaska -- Alaska went to Palin. Yet, Moussavi's own hometown allegedly went to Ahmadinejad.
More interesting are reports of a suspicious death. Quoting the Guardian:
The man who leaked the real election results from the Interior Ministry - the ones showing Ahmadinejad coming third - was killed in a suspicious car accident, according to unconfirmed reports, writes Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran.
Mohammad Asgari, who was responsible for the security of the IT network in Iran's interior ministry, was killed yesterday in Tehran.
Asgari had reportedly leaked results that showed the elections were rigged by government use of new software to alter the votes from the provinces.
Asgari was said to have leaked information that showed Mousavi had won almost 19 million votes, and should therefore be president.
This situation is definitely becoming a tsunami.
