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Skype Hands Teenager's Information To Private Firm
New submitter andrew3 writes "Skype has allegedly handed the information of a 16-year-old boy to a security firm. The information was later handed over to Dutch law enforcement. No court order was served for the disclosure. The teenager was suspected of being part of a DDoS packet flood as a part of the Anonymous 'Operation Payback'."
According to the article, Skype voluntarily disclosed the information to the third party firm without any kind of police order, possibly violating a few privacy laws and their own policies.
"Skype Hand's Teenager's Information To Private Firm.
I see.
The information of the teenager of the hand belonging to Skype is to deprive a firm of something.
Yep. Makes sense.
Shall we blame MS for this? Or did they wash their hands of it?
What's this mean's?
Even the bigger companies with their own lawyers are scared of insulting the US Justice system by even remotely appearing to support illegal cyber crimes to the extent they will break minor laws to sure up their position. With the US now prepared to extradite anyone from anywhere for anything, everyone will fall into line. "And you know why, cos we've got the nukes" Tenacious D.
Yes. People would do well to read Bob the Angry Flower's guide to the apostrophe... you idiots!
________
Entranced by anime since late summer 2001 and loving it ^_^
Slashdot editors, have you no shame?
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
That's greengrocers' apostrophe, dumbass.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
What does this have to do with Skype being proprietary? An open source company could just as easily handed information over, assuming they ran a service which required payment.
In any event, if you read the article.. It turns out that the security firm was employed by both paypal and Skype, which would mean that the firm would fall under each companies privacy policies and would be allowed to access the data legally.
The security company, however, should not have given the information to the police without an order, although it's a bit fuzzy as to whether they are legally bound by the privacy policy of their employer.
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Corporations and individuals kneeling for the police - before any policeman ever yelled "Kneel !! ". We will see this ever more often. Welcome to our Brave New World.
Religous speak to God. Insane are spoken to by God. When all shut up, one can finally hear Shostakovich in peace
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
Why do so many non-native English speakers who write broken English are surprised and annoyed when people make them notice their errors ? Learn from your errors.
it's OK, we'll just use facetime.
To do something well is so worthwhile that to die trying to do it better cannot be foolhardy.
You are right, this is actually a win to centralized protocols. We need a standard encrypted p2p communication (im / voip / file sharing / etc) to be widely adopted asap. And then protest / revolt when they try to outlaw it.
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
They could have broken privacy laws with this but if they didn't: what if, based on the evidence that they had, they just simply thought the boy was being a major asswipe? There is no *obligation* to use Skype, right?
Religion is what happens when nature strikes and groupthink goes wrong.
And why are so many of these non-native English speakers paid to be editors on Slashdot's English language site?
Why do so many non-native English speakers who write broken English are surprised and annoyed when people make them notice their errors ? Learn from your errors.
That may very well be. But the OP was not just correcting a particular person, he was bewildered why there are so many people with imperfect grammar skills.
Exactly. The apo'strophe warn's the reader that the next letter i's an 's, right?
I see your BTAF's guide to the apostrophe and raise you one Oatmeal guide to using the apostrophe.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
That's greengrocers' apostrophe, dumbass'.
FTFY
It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
Not to mention capitalising every word of the sentence.
Their broke English should be fixed by editors. That is the point of editors, partly.
OK then, give me the correct plural and possessive for an object that belongs to a group of people called Chris (using "Chris" as the basis). How about an object belonging to a collective of women who like to identify themselves as "Ms." ?
The rules for apostrophes aren't as easy as a lot of Grammer Nazi's like to think it is. There are a bunch of rules, often contradictory where you have to learn which takes priority and it's compounded by vague "if it could confuse the reader" rules.
I think it's you who has the problem, sir, although you both seem to be suffering from an inappropriately low level of social restraint. Whoops, so do I, I guess it's John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Principle at work...
The poster who is annoyed by incorrect apostrophe usage is displaying traits that probably make him a good programmer or other engineer - attention to detail, and caring about correctness. He might have a few things to learn about social interaction, but in general I find that most people of this type can learn some simple rules to keep out of social trouble.
(I'm not saying the rules aren't complex, just that people of this type, myself included, are not disposed to learning all the complex heuristics and bodies of communal "knowledge" like which actor cheated on which actress, etc., that pass as "etiquette" these days).
Whereas you are just being an asshole, but alas, you don't seem to know it. I'm prepared to bet that the number of people who dislike you is *much* higher than you imagine it to be, and at least 2 higher today.
The private company being Dutch, and the boy being Dutch I'm sure this violates the European Data Protection law.
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
Actually, as a native English speaker living in Germany, I find Germans make these kinds of errors significantly less than native English speakers.
Germans make a lot of other mistakes in grammar, spelling and so on (including some hilarious mistranslations when they think in German and speak English); but things like the apostrophe rules don't seem to be as much of a problem for them (or at least, far easier than me dealing with German comma rules...).
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
It turns out that the security firm was employed by both paypal and Skype, which would mean that the firm would fall under each companies privacy policies
I don't know the local laws, however in some countries the laws are quite strict on how a company may hand out personal information, so hiring another company to do stuff and handing them the information might itself be reason for a lawsuit.
FYT
In any event, if you read the article.. It turns out that the security firm was employed by both paypal and Skype, which would mean that the firm would fall under each companies privacy policies and would be allowed to access the data legally.
No.
This violates EU Privacy law. Privacy law requires a specific purpose, it is not legal to say that "we share your personal data with third parties" in a contract: the parties must be specified. This is especially the case for terms and conditions documents*.
* I'm not sure if this distincition exists in American or even European law, but in Dutch consumer law (where it is referred to as "Algemene Voowaarden", literally translating to 'general conditions': these are the typical EULA/I-bought-something-in-the-store type documents that no-one actually reads), there is an additional blacklist (and "greylist") of terms and conditions that are declared dubious. Such terms include stripping customers of certain rights.
Fuck apostrophes.
Heh, as a non-native English speaker living in Germany I find that Germans make these kind of errors often ;-) Even worse, sometimes young people use the apostrophe as a possessive form in the German language, where it should not be used.
However, a lot of languages don't use apostrophe at all (Slavic languages, Asian languages etc) and those people tend to confuse its usage much more.
In any event, if you read the article.. It turns out that the security firm was employed by both paypal and Skype, which would mean that the firm would fall under each companies privacy policies and would be allowed to access the data legally.
Umm, no. He was hired by PayPal. Skype just squawked the data to him at his request.
Why do people have so many problem's with apostrophe's? Its not difficult.
Since we're nit picking...I wanted to illustrate how easy it really is.
Sure, the vast majority of English speakers are unable to make proper use of the apostrophe at all times, but who cares? it's not difficult!
Just follow these not difficult rules, like everyone else:
Rule 1 - Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed.
Examples: don't, isn't. You're right. She's a great teacher.
Rule 2 - Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession.
Examples: one boy's hat. one woman's hat. one actress's hat. one child's hat. Ms. Chang's house
NOTE: Although names ending in s or an s sound are not required to have the second s added in possessive form, it is preferred.
Examples: Mr. Jones's golf clubs. Texas's weather. Ms. Straus's daughter. Jose Sanchez's artwork. Dr. Hastings's appointment (name is Hastings). Mrs. Lees's books (name is Lees)
Rule 3 - Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied.
Example: This was his father's, not his, jacket.
Rule 4 - To show plural possession, make the noun plural first. Then immediately use the apostrophe.
Examples: two boys' hats two women's hats. two actresses' hats. two children's hats. the Changs' house. the Joneses' golf clubs. the Strauses' daughter. the Sanchezes' artwork. the Hastingses' appointment. the Leeses' books.
Rule 5 - Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name.
Examples: We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles. The Changs have two cats and a dog.
Rule 6 - With a singular compound noun, show possession with 's at the end of the word.
Example: my mother-in-law's hat
Rule 7 - If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then use the apostrophe.
Example: my two brothers-in-law's hats
Rule 8 - Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item.
Examples: Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood. Cesar's and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year. Indicates separate ownership.
Cesar and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year. Indicates joint ownership of more than one contract.
Rule 9 - Never use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns: his, hers, its, theirs, ours, yours, whose. They already show possession so they do not require an
apostrophe.
Correct: This book is hers, not yours.
Incorrect: Sincerely your's.
Rule 10 - The only time an apostrophe is used for it's is when it is a contraction for it is or it has.
Examples: It's a nice day. It's your right to refuse the invitation. It's been great getting to know you.
Rule 11 - The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples: She consulted with three M.D.s. BUT She went to three M.D.s' offices.
The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.
She learned her ABCs.
the 1990s not the 1990's
the '90s or the mid-'70s not the '90's or the mid-'70's
She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.
Exception:
Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.
Examples: Please dot your i's. You don't mean is. Ted couldn't distinguish between his 6's and 0's.
You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os.
To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6's.
Rule 12 - Use the possessive case in front of a gerund (-ing word).
Examples: Alex's skating was a joy to behold. This does not stop Joan's inspecting of our facilities next Thursday.
Rule 13 - If the gerund has a pronoun in front of it, use the possessive form of that pronoun.
Examples: I ap
A 'singular oddity' is an event that cannot be explained and only happens when you are alone.
BEEP sorry wrong answer. It does not matter. The problem is that Skype is owned by a US global corporation. The company thus answers to the US laws since that is what applies for it. If anything else happens the US global corporation would rather pay a bit of money to silence the person than actually care about the laws. I can understand why they are doing this for if the US global corporation pisses off the US laws then they would be susceptible to being shut down.
"You can't make a race horse of a pig"
"No," said Samuel, "but you can make very fast pig"
Everybody starts out with OCPD. Most people eventually stop giving a shit.
Yes, it's not like Slashdot has editors whose job it is to make sure headlines and summaries are gramatically correct and easily readable.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I'm prepared to bet that the number of people who dislike you is *much* higher than you imagine it to be, and at least 2 higher today.
Confirmed.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Microsoft voluntarily disclosed the information to the third party firm without any kind of police order, possibly violating a few privacy laws and their own policies.
Then I argue: is this really news?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
After being bought by a firm that is in bed with the US government and NSA...
Your post is absolutely hilarious. How little you really know about how the law works.
possibly violating a few privacy laws and their own policies.
Those concerns are so 20th Century.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Why do people have so many problem's with apostrophe's? Its not difficult.
What's a postrophe?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The events details in the article suggest that, Joep Gommers, senior director of global research at the Dutch IT security firm iSIGHT Partners, Skype and PayPal have all broken EU Directive 95/46/EC (Data Protection laws).
And the nastiness was unnecessary.
You must be new here.
Editors? Slashdot?
What makes the error inexplicable is the original article had the heading "Skype hands 16-year-old's personal information to IT company".
It's my understanding that All the calls on Skype are both encrypted an p2p. The centralized service is used just to initiate the call (show who is online, etc.). Working around that in a decentralized fashion is possible (hubs/channels like with DC++ and IRC, etc.) but more complicated and adds some issues... and the gains are not nearly enough to justify the change to most Skype users.
s/Skype/Microsoft/g
Upward mobility is a slippery slope - the higher you climb the more you show your ass.
Why do so many non-native English speakers who write broken English are surprised and annoyed when people make them notice their errors ? Learn from your errors. Practise what you preach. That should be: Why are so many non-native English speakers who write broken English surprised and annoyed when people make them notice their errors ? Learn from your errors.
It does not matter. The problem is that Skype is owned by a US global corporation. The company thus answers to the US laws
I see a'symmetry. The security firm is Dutch, the victim is Dutch. What doe's US law have to do with it, other than USians assuming that it applies worldwide?
Actually, now that I think of it, the security firm has been mapping and matching the data from two separate customers, both of which are (owned by) US-based corporations. It has then provided that compiled information to a third party (a non-US third party at that, and on its own volition). How does that not violate US private property laws?
You read headlines and summaries? You must be new here.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
What does this have to do with Skype being proprietary? An open source company could just as easily handed information over, assuming they ran a service which required payment.
Because Skype was bought by Microsoft. I love Big Brother!
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
If people just followed the first two rules, and didn't use them for plurals, they'd be doing well.
dumbass
You only spotted one bad apostrophe? I put four of them in - just to make sure nobody could possibly be stupid enough to miss the joke.
Thanks for proving me wrong...
No sig today...
Surely you meant to say you idiot's.
If data on people under 18 can't be given to the police, what's to stop everyone from claiming to be under 18 when convenient?
Would you trust the claimed age on the user profile of someone known to be abusing the system the profile is on?
Remember, on the Internet, noone knows you are a dog.
I tried this with my wife during labor. She was in agony and I kept yelling "Honey, use the apostrophe!!"
She was not amused.
Privacy law requires a specific purpose, it is not legal to say that "we share your personal data with third parties" in a contract: the parties must be specified. This is especially the case for terms and conditions documents*.
You mean like... Skype's
. ...
Our primary purpose in collecting information is to provide you with a safe, smooth, efficient, and customized experience. Skype collects and uses, or has third party service providers acting on Skype’s behalf collecting and using, personal data relating to you, as permitted or necessary to:
--snip--protect your and Skype’s interests, including in particular to enforce our Terms of Service and prevent and fight against fraud, (together, the Purposes).
Skype may disclose personal information to respond to legal requirements, exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims, to protect Skype’s interests, fight against fraud and to enforce our policies or to protect anyone's rights, property, or safety
And like Paypal's...
How we share personal information with other parties... Service providers under contract who help with our business operations such as fraud prevention, bill collection, marketing and technology services. Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit.
Ultimately, its the guy in the big chair that is responsible for the actions of anyone in his company.
We should also stop calling them skype, and call them what they are, a division Microsoft.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Please fix that extraneous apostrophe.
the firm would fall under each companies privacy policies and would be allowed to access the data legally.
Under Dutch law?
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
Why do so many English people have trouble believing people can learn other languages properly? My usual language is Spanish. I write English quite a lot but I can't remember the last time I spoke it.... certainly not in the last month.
No sig today...
You are right, this is actually a win to centralized protocols. We need a standard encrypted p2p communication (im / voip / file sharing / etc) to be widely adopted asap. And then protest / revolt when they try to outlaw it.
If you encrypt the IP address of the dude you're trying to call, how do you expect Skype (or your voip provider of choice) to route the call properly?
Right. It's impossible, by design.
Write boring code, not shiny code!
I speak Finnish natively, and I find the apostrophe rules simple. Maybe it's because I had to formally learn them as theory...
To the douchebags: The Internet cancer.
To Slashdot's editors: English guide.
The most important rule of all:
When in doubt, don't use an apostrophe.
Sure, if you design it to be impossible, impossible it will be. Or you could try to understand how p2p networks work. Hints: look for 'gnutella', 'gnunet', and 'secushare'.
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
TL;DR
No, I'm just not an editor.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
Actually, as a native English speaker living in Germany, I find Germans make these kinds of errors significantly less than native English speakers.
This can be easily explained: English as a foreign language is usually taught in primary schools and (also) in written form. Native speakers learn the basics of the language when they're little kids from their parents before they are able to write. Even when you start going to school, verbal communication is still used more (think of how many words you say during your day, even for insignificants tasks, and how many you write). If this kind of spelling mistakes are not corrected by teachers or parents, they can be easily carried on to adult age, especially for people whose daily occupation doesn't involve a lot of writing.
Understanding it is one thing (though there are confusing exceptions such as - what's the possessive form from the plural noun "wolves"?), not having an 'eye' for spotting errors is another. A wrong usage of the word "its" does not get picked up by spell-checking and a foreigner can easily overlook it while skimming through his/her text.You are probably better at this because in Finland people get spoon-fed English language from the TV from an early age.
Non-native speakers tend to be better when it comes to the elementary stuff (think it's vs. its), mostly because we were taught all the rules.
I think the majority of people who constantly write "their" instead of "they're" (or the other way around) are actually native English speakers.
Native speaker (*) keep confusing your and you're. If people can't be bothered by rule 1 and 2....I doubt they will bother with 13 rules
(*) I have rarely met a non native speaker confusing possession and verb , whereas I have read from and met a lot of native English speaker which should know better but don't care a bit.
For God's sake lose the apostrophe from 'Hand's'.
that meand it is inadmissible in court.
and the kid can sue.
Skype doesn't care about your privacy. What the other options for encrypted VoIP, IM and file transfer?
Oh, and fix that title. Seriously.
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
Do you know what a straw man argument is?
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Why do so many people have trouble believing that just because they are skilled in one area, everybody should be? Again - I'm not against correcting somebody, but is it really *that* surprising to you that most people don't speak flawless English? Welcome to teh internets, I guess...
that companies don't care about law. They do what they want and just wait for what happens. And then pay the fine. How many cases have happened and how many get public? As long as they don't get substantial fines they won't care. Oh, and it' s not only big companies, small ones aren't better.
And it shows that their own data protection promises aren't worth a dime.
A rather large amount of us don't have a problem with them; we simply don't give a fuck. If in a hurry and I happen to type their instead of they're, I also don't give a fuck. Out of so many things on a daily basis that are actually important, and so many other things that are not important at all but I still feel like spending my time on (it IS my time, after all), [']'s simply do not always make the list.
Furthermore, if you took a random sample of 1000 people, I would think you would probably come to this realization.
People. Don't. Care.
P.S.
It's not a big deal. We really don't care.
Why do have so many people problems accepting there are non-native English speakers? It's not difficult.
I accept that there are many people here who speak English as a second language (E2L). However, for a sample size of one (a mate's Polish wife), I have found that they are more than eager to learn when their pronunciation, grammar, or use of slang is inappropriate or incorrect. I certainly wouldn't call an E2L speaker a "dumbass" for not knowing such things, but I would point out the mistake with an explaination of why it is incorrect, if I am capable.
:)
For instance, your first sentence should be "Why do so many people have problems accepting that there are non-native English speakers?" "problems" are a property of a person, not the other way around, therefore the possessive verb comes before the predicate, not the subject. Hope this helps
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
>> Germans make a lot of other mistakes
Well we know you're not German.
Yes, it's not like Slashdot has editors whose job it is to make sure headlines and summaries are grammatically correct and easily readable.
FTFY.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
ok, so based on the article title...
We have a thing called a Skype Hand. This reminds me of all the zombie movies out there, where the heroine screams at the sight of a dismembered hand crawling across the floor... or grabbing her around the ankle... or wondering "where the hell is my watch? Someone stole by f**king Rolex!".
Skype Hand owns a teenager (scary thought... but it would make an interesting plot device in one of the zombie movies).
Information about the teenager who belongs to Skype Hand seems to have been sent to an entity called Private Firm (the phrase is capitalised, so unless there is a place or person called "Private Firm"I suspect this is some sort of clandestine organisation providing espionage and assassination services to pro-zombie organisations around the world).
The reasons why Skype Hand might have felt it neccessary to send this information to Private Firm is not clear, but given that this teenager is presumably*
(a) male;
and (b) constantly horny and ejaculating at any thought that involves women;
then I would speculate that the teenager has been trying to use Skype Hand as an attachment for masturbation, raising a number of problems:
- Skype Hand's passive/aggressive tendencies and apparent need to fulfill the submissive role with dominatrix (given that it both owns the teenager, and feels the need to submit to the teenager's wishes) point to unresolved psychological issues in its past.
- The age of the teenager and the age of Skype Hand might make this a case of child abuse by either a minor or an adult or, if both parties are over the age of consent, a case of unlawful coercion by the child if Skype Hand can show that it tried to refused but was forced into a sexual act against its will. I am not sure if this can be classed as a "Think of the Children!" moment, or if it would be neccessary to introduce an additional meme, presumably in the form of "Think of the zombies! (Or at least, what is left of them...)".
- The rights (or lack, thereof) of zombies and zombie appendages under the existing laws of The Netherlands and the European Union - this may be something that The European Court of Human Rights determines they and other legislative bodies outside The Netherlands have no jurisdiction over, resulting in the need for a new treaty between the countries of the European Union to establish the rights and citizenship of zombies within the Union, and to determine the extent to which other laws apply to them. No doubt Romania, with its extensive Vampire population, will be able to give valuable assistance (during the hours of darkness, at least) in crafting legislation to address the needs and rights of such a previously disregarded group.
In short, this situation opens a huge can of worms, which will probably make their way directly to Skype Hand and proceed to burrow into that unfortunate creature, who finally found the courage to stand up against his/its tormentor/oppressor, and who will apparently now be turned into worm food for taking a stand. Time is short, people (so is Danny deVito, but he is not in danger of being eaten by worms, afaik). Time is short, so before Skype Hand succumbs to the ravenous appetites of the voracious worms who have been unleashed (if I was a conspiracy theorist, I might think that the worms had been released on purpose, to silence Skype Hand, and prevent this situation coming to light, thus depriving zombies of their chance to gain legal standing) we must act to address the inequities inherent in treating zombies and their detached body parts as being beneath consideration.
* Based on demographics, internet memes, stereotypes and convenient assumptions.
Why Americans lacks mostly with their verbal and writing skills to get correct grammar, while germans or even french usually get them more often right?
(No, I am not from any of those countries)
For almost all mistakes, you only need to know rules 1, 2, 4, and 9. Rule 9 isn't even about apostrophes -- it's about possessives. Rule 10, for example, is completely redundant once you have rules 1 and 9.
The apostrophe goes immediately after the owner, that's to say the answer to the question, "Who does the following noun belong to?". This applies whether it's a regular plural or not.
Wolves' paws, men's feet, pigs' trotters.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Wolves'
That's not very confusing.
As you mention it, you can generally expect high-quality English from Finns. The accent is notoriously heavy, yet the grammar is great.
Well, as a native English speaker living in the United States of America, I YEEEHAW GIT ER DONE.
especially for people whose daily occupation doesn't involve a lot of writing
Like Slashdot editors.
Seriously, we need some damn editing around here.
Actually, I suffer from CDOP. It's like OCPD but the letters are in the RIGHT DAMN ORDER!
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
That's' greengrocer's' apo's'trophe, dumba's's'.
FTFY
If you're going to do it, do it big.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Not giving a fuck is a problem in general in today's society of sheeple.
Look, if you're going to do something, do it well, or don't bother.
Why do so many ACs who are bitching about other people's minor grammatical errors frequently make a complete hatchet job of subject/predicate tense and plurality agreements?
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
My biggest problem with English is that I already know all of these rules, but because when I learned how to speak it I wasn't taught what a gerund is, the names for the various tenses and cases, or many of the other technical terms for the rules of grammar. I can apply the rules fine, but i'm buggered if I have to explain them!
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
What he said, illiterate fuck's.
Chewbacon
The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
Headline: Cthulhu rise's from dread Rlyeh and begins devouring humanity!
Slashdot: Cthulha rises from R'lyeh, you apostrophe-abusing dumbass.
With this approach you are never going to learn a foreign language. Heck, you would not learn how to talk your mother language or anything more complicated than breathing for that matter.
Skype has hands?
The crux of the biscuit.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
is it really *that* surprising to you that most people don't speak flawless English?
On the tubes, no one can hear you speak.
Why do so many people believe that editors (of all people!) should be given a free pass on their command of the language they're choosing to publish in? Fucking no, if I can do a better job at writing correct English (as second language) than the people that are being paid to write English, then they should try flipping burgers instead.
Do you expect the same low standards from other professionals? Would you want to get your teeth examined at a "Dantist's booth", or would you want a "lowyur" to assist you in court? Or more to the point, would you confidently get in a cab that has dents and scratches all over the car? Would you hire a web programmer that can't tell you the difference between Java and Javascript?
You're saying that under dutch law an employee of a company isn't legally allowed to access data owned by the company?
I would find that hard to belive
If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
So you're saying that under EU law, every contractor a company uses must be listed in a privacy policy and TOS? I would think that would require them to be updated almost minutely for some companies... that seems very unworkable.
If you need web hosting, you could do worse than here
No, the article explicitly says that Skype was one of the security companies clients already.
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Same with Spanish and English. Often people who learn English as as second language (when properly educated) know the rules of grammar better than native speakers. I learned to read, write, and speak Spanish when I was 20 and I know that I write it a hell of a lot better than my native friends. The well educated ones accent properly, but most of the lower middle class to poor can barely use proper written grammar in their own language. I know a lot of poor native English speakers who have terrible grammar, as well.
This is goddamned complicated!
"Rule 1 - Use the apostrophe with contractions. The apostrophe is always placed at the spot where the letter(s) has been removed."
"Examples: don't, isn't. You're right. She's a great teacher."
Who knows what a "contraction" is? This rule helps no one.
Besides, yuve herd "dont" and "izent" and "your" all youre life, why spell them differently than you herd them?
"Rule 2 - Use the apostrophe to show possession. Place the apostrophe before the s to show singular possession."
"Examples: one boy's hat. one woman's hat. one actress's hat. one child's hat. Ms. Chang's house"
Possession? People don't understand possession until they've been charged rent for at least 5 years, or had their property rights challenged. Possession? Puh-LEEZ. (Also, the puh-leez are the people who come to take your property from you. Simple rule: if the puh-leez come, then you're things are the puh-leez's things. Note the apostrophe.)
"NOTE: Although names ending in s or an s sound are not required to have the second s added in possessive form, it is preferred."
"Examples: Mr. Jones's golf clubs. Texas's weather. Ms. Straus's daughter. Jose Sanchez's artwork. Dr. Hastings's appointment (name is Hastings). Mrs. Lees's books (name is Lees)"
As with the puh-leez, things don't really belong to people, so I'd ignore this rule, except if the puh-leez come. (If you haven't noticed, I'm against hierarchies and property, so I'm a 21st century anarchist. (it's t'rue!))
"Rule 3 - Use the apostrophe where the noun that should follow is implied."
"Example: This was his father's, not his, jacket."
More possession! They're trying to train you to respect ownership! F'ck that!
Rule 4 is more of the same! Don't le't any'one tel'l you the'ir stuf'f belong's ex'clusively to 'them! Ask' them wh'o will 'enforce it!
"Rule 5 - Do not use an apostrophe for the plural of a name."
"Examples: We visited the Sanchezes in Los Angeles. The Changs have two cats and a dog."
YES
"Rule 6 - With a singular compound noun, show possession with 's at the end of the word."
"Example: my mother-in-law's hat"
WHUT. Hey, more ownership possessive shit. F'ck that!
"Rule 7 - If the compound noun is plural, form the plural first and then use the apostrophe."
"Example: my two brothers-in-law's hats"
Sure, if your fantastic magical friends who can "own" things claim to, use the apostrophe for them. They'll probably shoot you otherwise, right?
"Rule 8 - Use the apostrophe and s after the second name only if two people possess the same item."
"Examples: Cesar and Maribel's home is constructed of redwood. Cesar's and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year. Indicates separate ownership.
Cesar and Maribel's job contracts will be renewed next year. Indicates joint ownership of more than one contract."
good use of "Cesar"!!! Wow, roman empire for the win over 2000 years later! Screw "property."
I'm Cave Johnson. We're done here.
With this approach you are never going to learn a foreign language.
Exaggerate much? The rest of the world acknowledges that there may be more than two answers to any question, we're desperately waiting for you in the US to catch on.
There is a world of possibilities between "I don't care" and "I'm an expert". For example, purposeful disobedience can be employed as a political means or as satire. There is also the very popular "I don't need to know because I have people who know it for me", which is fine until such people try to act on their lack of knowledge. And finally, there is the "I'm no expert yet but I strive to be one", or the more moderate "I'll never reach perfection but I will try to the best of my abilities". Both of which indicate a willingness to treat your conversational partner with respect instead of disdain.
Not caring about your communication is an antisocial trait. Attacking the people that correct you only reaffirms that. Not caring about your language when writing a post that will be read by thousands of people wastes other people's time. Not thinking before posting leads to comments like yours.
I'm at easily the 25th page of comments... it was just an apostrophe!
Obviously somebody's Skype hand had a baby thirteen to nineteen years ago. I'm not precisely what a Skype hand is, nor how it can procreate, but it sounds kinky.
Funny you should say that, as English is my third language.
Because sssibilants are ssscary.
I find your obsession with hats and apostrophes concerning.
The kid was one responsible for a DoS attack. Skype procured information on the attacker, forwarding it to their 3rd party security provider, after that it was forwarded to the police. How is this wrong? When my network is attacked by a user, you better believe I pull up their account info for the report. If their minors? I don't care, there will still be consequences, just not a severe, under the law.
The headline should read Microsoft hands teenagers information over.
They own Skype, they're responsible.
That is why if you want to make sure your messages are secure, you write them down on a piece of paper, put them into an envelope, and drop it into a random mailbox. Of course to be secure, you also have to encrypt the senders and receivers address on the outside of the envelope.
With this approach you are never going to learn a foreign language. Heck, you would not learn how to talk your mother language or anything more complicated than breathing for that matter.
I have sleep apnea, you insensitive clod!
I didn't say anything about spelling :*)
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
I'm afraid we are too deep in the OT territory - and I didn't mean to defend the "don't give a fuck" crowd anyway. If you are fluent in three languages, good for you. I bet you didn't start using them in public only after your grammar was flawless. Any one of them.
The chart has an error. It lists "90's fashions" as being a number or abbreviation. While it is attached to a number, the apostrophe is being used in its possessive form in that phrase.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Could not disagree more. How you present yourself in public is a representation of who you are. You're basically saying to the world, "I'm such a dipshit, I can't even remember 5th Grade grammar rules."
Furthermore, you're saying to the rest of the world, "I value you so little, that I will make it hard to read my writing by refusing to do basic proofreading."
(+1 to whoever finds my grammar mistake(s)).
"You're saying..."
Did you fail to spot the question mark at the end of my sentence?
it's not Skype Hand's, it should be Skype Hands. CHRIST. get it together.
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
Yes, it's not like Slashdot has editors whose job it is to make sure headlines and summaries are gramatically correct and easily readable.
I don't think they do. I think they have a couple of people to maintain the submission stream - to reject the viagra ads, etc, and to pick the best stories; but I don't think they actually have someone to proof-read the stories for grammar and spelling.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Actually, I think that's not meant to be possessive. Looks like an (attributive) adjective. But I can certainly see taking it as a possessive.
to reject the viagra ads
Great, another reason not to come! (to Slashdot, I mean)
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
"the parties must be specified."
Saying "Third parties acting on (company) behalf" is obviously not holding with the law in that country/country union.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Since we have slashdotted his server...
Poor Bob.
That's NAZI, not Nazi, you insensitive clod!
Here in America we speak American not English. There appears to be quite a difference. American-english has strayed into acronyms and text-speak shorthand from what I can tell. This shortening even invades the spoken language. It is sad really.
Actually, I suffer from CDOP. It's like OCPD but the letters are in the RIGHT DAMN ORDER!
OCPD and dyslexia are a dangerous combination apparently.
Sure, the vast majority of English speakers are unable to make proper use of the apostrophe at all times, but who cares? it's not difficult!
Just follow these not difficult rules, like everyone else:
Jesus Grammar Nazi Christ, GeekWithAKnife. If you're going to paste-post a punctuation manifesto, you should at least try proofreading it for punctuation errors so that you don't wind up looking like an arrogant and illiterate clod.
Capitalize the first letter after a question mark, like this: "... but who cares? It's not difficult!"
Learn how to hyphenate, like this: "Just follow these not-difficult rules, like everyone else:"
I'm sure there's more. I stopped reading after stumbling over those first two.
The point was not abstaining from doing something until you can do it perfectly. The point was that if you do something, do your best instead of doing a half-assed job on purpose.
My high school grammar teacher would have objected to "Strauss's". We werre not allowed to insert an "s" after the apostorphe in that kind of context.
And I admit that I have no idea of how to use an apostrophe to make a possessive of "Houses of Congress". Placing it after "Houses" is extremely confusing, and placing it after "Congress" is as bad or worse. (In such cases I avoid using the apotrophe to form a possessive, and use a preposition.)
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
it's not difficult!
That's a very long lecture about apostrophe use for someone who didn't even manage to get all the capitalization right.
Strange, I have an image of babies grunting 'eugh' and pointing. Babies learn language through cuddling adults providing word repetition and forcing them to express grammatical phrases. A necessary heuristic in modern society is 'near enough is good enough'. Unfortunately many adults apply it to the task of self-improvement and then try to impress others with their 30 seconds of education/practice.
Who reads anything else apart from the sigs, anyway? Isn't that what /. is for?
I don't know about BTAF's guide but the Oatmeal one has several incorrect pieces of information on it.
s/Skype/Micro'soft/g With all of the preparation's being made to usher in Skype in place of WLM, it's not a surprising move.
Ye's.
The Houses of Congress's doorman was appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court today...
If your grammar teacher is still with us and continues to disagree, then by all means remove the letter s following the apostrophe.
That is why if you want to make sure your messages are secure, you write them down on a piece of paper, put them into an envelope, and drop it into a random mailbox. Of course to be sure it never arrives, you also have to encrypt the senders and receivers address on the outside of the envelope.
FTFY