Thursday, March 17, 2005

Commotion at the Competition

Somehow the people at Softec weren't ready to accept my group and our project into the software competition. No reason was given. But since we already were there, they had to take us in. We approached the Society Advisor, Mr. Belal Hashmi. Considering the brotherhood that we are in, he had no choice. But the software competition people were a tad pissed off. Khair we got in and were alloted a place. This was all happening on Friday night, at around 11:30 pm. We put up our system, signed for the monitor and accessories, and began setting up our project so that we'll not be in for any problem the next day. But lo, Nanda had to download the project [It was his system though] from somewhere, as according to him, the latest copy was on his superway account. And by the quirk of fate, the superway site is blocked on the Lahore campus server [No I dont know the reason]. We searched around in his Hotmail and GMail accounts, but to no avail. The copy was only on superway account, and it was inaccessible. It seemed like wasted effort. We didn't know any internet cafes in Lahore, and waisay bhi it was around midnight. But then I thought, being a computer science graduate must have some benefits, right? I used to surf via some anonymous proxies, and I went to those. But, they went as far as the login page, and then one or the other ad would pop up, requiring to signup in order to proceed. Frustrating. Then I remembered a bouncing technique that used to happen with the CNN site. But they had discontinued it too. Nothing was in our favor, the lab technicians said that the problem would be solved only in the morning, when the network administrator comes in. But according to reports, I have too much self-confidence to walk away from bad situations, and I thought, there should be some way outta it. And then it hit! Why not try it via the DNS? I queried the DNS of the superway site, and tried to login through the DNS entry and presto! It was there! Without any anonymizer help or anything! These Network Administrators could simply be dumb or something. Blocking a site and leaving a loophole large enough for anyone to pass through! Anyways we did our work, downloaded our project, set it up, and went to sleep paying due respects to the Lahore crew. Wonder what Ayaz Ahmed would say if he hears about this!

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