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At work: the CDN for Megaupload. I was also the guy who had to shut it down when the FBI seized it. Personal non-code project: The first adult LEGO fan confere

by kloch 4y ago

At work: the CDN for Megaupload. I was also the guy who had to shut it down when the FBI seized it. Personal non-code project: The first adult LEGO fan conference in 2000. While I got out of that business years ago it has been replicated by dozens of other annual cons around the world. Back then the LEGO group didn't really understand and was very weary of adult fans. Now there's a whole reality tv show about them with LEGO designers as the judges, and LEGO actively supports cons and clubs. Open source project: A project I released anonymously ~2010. Several github repos (unrelated to me) keep this project alive (the main one has ~600 stars and ~200 forks) and it's apparently used in several commercial products too. Website: ip4.me/ip6.me serves 3-5M queries per day. I want to find a good non-profit to take this over to keep it ad and javascript free forever.

scrollaway 4y ago
> I want to find a good non-profit to take this over to keep it ad and javascript free forever. Maybe worth reaching out to Mozilla. That's the only actual non-profit I can think of who I think would have both the ability and the incentive to keep it online.
- scrame 4y ago
  or maybe the internet archive?
- ignoramous 4y ago
  > I think would have both the ability and the incentive to keep it online. Ability? 5M/day for "what's my ip" is not much, and I'd wager most of us on this site would be able to keep it up and alive just fine. As for incentive... in addition to the Mozilla Foundation, orgs like Calyx, NLNet, Quad9 come to mind.
  - scrollaway 4y ago
    A non-technical nonprofit will fuck up regardless of the load. Beyond "keeping it online", it can be something as simple as "knowing how to configure the dns for it".
  - kloch 4y ago
    You are correct it uses very little resources, especially since most queries are http instead of https. Since there are no user accounts and it doesn't track anyone it doesn't even have a backend database to connect to. Just a couple dirt simple programs written in C with some very easy to remember domain names. I'm not getting any younger so it's really about survivability. Transferring to another individual HN'er probably wouldn't solve that.
    - tpankaj 4y ago
      I'm 25 and I'd totally take it on, but you're probably looking for an actual nonprofit if you want true survivability. As someone who has used this tool for at least 10+ years (as long as I've known what an IP address is), I'd love to help make sure it stays around.
      - Aeolun 4y ago
        Maybe it’s an option to found a nonprofit especially for this goal? If it doesn’t already exist anyway.
        tpankaj 4y ago
        The process is quite complex so it's usually too heavy handed for a project of this size. That's why people look for an existing nonprofit to take it on. But if kloch mainly wants a couple other people who care about the project to be around to make sure it continues, I'm onboard.
robswc 4y ago
>Website: ip4.me/ip6.me >At work: the CDN for Megaupload. I was also the guy who had to shut it down when the FBI seized it. >adult LEGO fan conference Wow, what a small world. That's what I love about HN. The people that make things you use are on it :) I wish I had something nearly as impressive. I just have open source stuff that people use. Nothing recognizable though.
MivLives 4y ago
Thank you for the Lego thing. My mom got into adult lego when she took apart my child hood lego and reassembled them to resell. Now we mail each other sets that the other is done with, and it gives us a great opportunity to connect. We're both anxious people and there's something relaxing about just assembling something where everything has a place. When she found out there's a lego con in my town, she made plans to come visit me so we can go together and I can show her around the city I just moved to.
- agotterer 4y ago
  That’s a wonderful story! My 3 and 6 year old love lego kits. Historically I found myself sitting with them and helping when they got stuck or directing them when I saw they made a mistake. More recently I decided to pick up my own kit and build along side them. I’m currently working on the Saturn V rocket. It’s been a lot more fun for me and a way to bond with my kids.
  - geocrasher 4y ago
    I am also in the middle of building the Saturn V Rocket. I picked it up after seeing that Amazon was stocking it again, which I thought was awesome since I missed out on the first run of them. I just got done with bag three. I haven't played with Lego since my teens. I'm in my mid-late 40's now. My kids are grown and I'm widowed, and I find a lot of peace in a lot of pieces ;)
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
AmblingAvocado 4y ago
Legoland in my city still requires adults to be accompanied by children to enter. Kind of bizarre.
- agotterer 4y ago
  That doesn’t surprise me. It’s a very child focused park and I’m guessing they want to control the experience and environment as best they can. A bunch of high schoolers running around might change the dynamic.
  - cookie_monsta 4y ago
    I am charmed by the innocence of this comment.
    - kqr 4y ago
      I am appalled by the lack of statistical awareness of this comment.
      - v-erne 4y ago
        I am astonished by lack of PR impact proportionality intuition of this comment :) (its not like we are talking here about black swan events - and one is more than enough for profits go down the drain)
        iambateman 4y ago
        I greatly enjoyed this comment.
jmt_ 4y ago
Please tell me you're legally allowed to talk more about Megaupload and the work you did - sounds like an absolutely amazing blog post, would love to hear as much as you're able to discuss. Also, I have a project in production at work where a device needs to grab its public IP address. My code has a list of sites that provide that info and I have ip4.me as a fallback in that list, so thank you for building it!
dev_0 4y ago
powerpurple 4y ago
what a chad

by kloch 4y ago

scrollaway 4y ago

> I want to find a good non-profit to take this over to keep it ad and javascript free forever. Maybe worth reaching out to Mozilla. That's the only actual non-profit I can think of who I think would have both the ability and the incentive to keep it online.

scrame 4y ago
or maybe the internet archive?
ignoramous 4y ago
> I think would have both the ability and the incentive to keep it online. Ability? 5M/day for "what's my ip" is not much, and I'd wager most of us on this site would be able to keep it up and alive just fine. As for incentive... in addition to the Mozilla Foundation, orgs like Calyx, NLNet, Quad9 come to mind.
- scrollaway 4y ago
  A non-technical nonprofit will fuck up regardless of the load. Beyond "keeping it online", it can be something as simple as "knowing how to configure the dns for it".
- kloch 4y ago
  You are correct it uses very little resources, especially since most queries are http instead of https. Since there are no user accounts and it doesn't track anyone it doesn't even have a backend database to connect to. Just a couple dirt simple programs written in C with some very easy to remember domain names. I'm not getting any younger so it's really about survivability. Transferring to another individual HN'er probably wouldn't solve that.
  - tpankaj 4y ago
    I'm 25 and I'd totally take it on, but you're probably looking for an actual nonprofit if you want true survivability. As someone who has used this tool for at least 10+ years (as long as I've known what an IP address is), I'd love to help make sure it stays around.
    - Aeolun 4y ago
      Maybe it’s an option to found a nonprofit especially for this goal? If it doesn’t already exist anyway.
      - tpankaj 4y ago
        The process is quite complex so it's usually too heavy handed for a project of this size. That's why people look for an existing nonprofit to take it on. But if kloch mainly wants a couple other people who care about the project to be around to make sure it continues, I'm onboard.

robswc 4y ago

>Website: ip4.me/ip6.me >At work: the CDN for Megaupload. I was also the guy who had to shut it down when the FBI seized it. >adult LEGO fan conference Wow, what a small world. That's what I love about HN. The people that make things you use are on it :) I wish I had something nearly as impressive. I just have open source stuff that people use. Nothing recognizable though.

MivLives 4y ago

Thank you for the Lego thing. My mom got into adult lego when she took apart my child hood lego and reassembled them to resell. Now we mail each other sets that the other is done with, and it gives us a great opportunity to connect. We're both anxious people and there's something relaxing about just assembling something where everything has a place. When she found out there's a lego con in my town, she made plans to come visit me so we can go together and I can show her around the city I just moved to.

agotterer 4y ago
That’s a wonderful story! My 3 and 6 year old love lego kits. Historically I found myself sitting with them and helping when they got stuck or directing them when I saw they made a mistake. More recently I decided to pick up my own kit and build along side them. I’m currently working on the Saturn V rocket. It’s been a lot more fun for me and a way to bond with my kids.
- geocrasher 4y ago
  I am also in the middle of building the Saturn V Rocket. I picked it up after seeing that Amazon was stocking it again, which I thought was awesome since I missed out on the first run of them. I just got done with bag three. I haven't played with Lego since my teens. I'm in my mid-late 40's now. My kids are grown and I'm widowed, and I find a lot of peace in a lot of pieces ;)

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

AmblingAvocado 4y ago

Legoland in my city still requires adults to be accompanied by children to enter. Kind of bizarre.

agotterer 4y ago
That doesn’t surprise me. It’s a very child focused park and I’m guessing they want to control the experience and environment as best they can. A bunch of high schoolers running around might change the dynamic.
- cookie_monsta 4y ago
  I am charmed by the innocence of this comment.
  - kqr 4y ago
    I am appalled by the lack of statistical awareness of this comment.
    - v-erne 4y ago
      I am astonished by lack of PR impact proportionality intuition of this comment :) (its not like we are talking here about black swan events - and one is more than enough for profits go down the drain)
      - iambateman 4y ago
        I greatly enjoyed this comment.

jmt_ 4y ago

Please tell me you're legally allowed to talk more about Megaupload and the work you did - sounds like an absolutely amazing blog post, would love to hear as much as you're able to discuss. Also, I have a project in production at work where a device needs to grab its public IP address. My code has a list of sites that provide that info and I have ip4.me as a fallback in that list, so thank you for building it!

dev_0 4y ago

powerpurple 4y ago

what a chad