It will, however, make use of an external code that circumvents CSS... if you have that code installed separately.
That may sound like splitting hairs, but it's not. There is no code in VLC -- or from the folks at VideoLAN for that matter -- that circumvents any DRM. If you want that functionality, you have to install it separately. VLC is not responsible.
"Advanced users have the option of running DeviceJS 'raw'... meaning with out WigWag cloud support at all."
But this brings up another question: who wants to use DeviceJS at all?
Who in their right minds builds an end-user scripting system around JavaScript? How WEIRD. JavaScript was written by techies, for techies, for a specific problem domain. It is about the worst choice imaginable for a home-user programming system.
"I'm annoyed at the fact that it's useless without WigWam's cloud service."
I'm not just annoyed... I'm not even remotely interested in buying. Too many "What If" scenarios.
What if somebody sniffed your control commands? Maybe they know you're not home and can safely burglarize the place.
Or what if the company is sold to someone who is less than honest? THEY can tell a lot about your activities from your home automation signalling.
What if your internet goes out? What if...?
Why anybody would want to tie this to a cloud service is beyond me. I see a "cloud burst" coming, in which everybody suddenly gets disillusioned with all this USELESS reliance on cloud services. (Not that they're all useless... but a great many of them, maybe even the majority, serve no real purpose for the end-user. But they add complication and vulnerabilities, in both operation and security.)
"I feel dirty using Chrome. It's made by Google and I just assume they are snooping on me."
Join the club.
"For this reason I stick to Firefox even though Chrome is probably faster."
Not necessarily. In a recent benchmark, Firefox beat Chrome. But that isn't necessarily also true for the Android versions. Hard to know.
In any case, there is already TeamViewer for Android, which works nicely with Macs (and presumably Windows as well). I would really prefer one that doesn't use a 3rd party at all; if anybody knows of one I would appreciate hearing about it.
As for remote file transfer, I highly recommend Total Commander because it works in the classic 2-pane file manager style. Put the remote machine in one pane and your Android in the other, and just copy files back and forth. It's great. Other file managers work remotely too, but that's the only 2-pane solution of which I am aware.
"Good call here, tho this makes our hero Schneier look like a moron."
Well, I certainly do not thing Bruce is a moron!
But I have noticed this about many security researchers, as well as manufacturers of security equipment: they tend to focus on their own security specialty, while shutting out the environment surrounding it.
Thus you end up with nice, secure algorithms, that are implemented in ways that are full of holes. Or makers of "secure" electronic locks that are attached to cheap, vulnerable locking mechanisms. Etc.
In a case like this: the chip or circuit or software might not be able to be gamed... but all you have to do is put a switch or relay on the OUTPUT, and voila! Full control of that little red light.
A little wire underneath, or even a radio receiver. Push the button... red light!
It only "can't be gamed" if you have independent sources checking them out to make sure they're MADE not to be gamed, and that they stay that way AFTER manufacture.
This is the same fundamental problem they had with electronic voting booths. They couldn't be "gamed", either. But they were.
I was referring to ANY police reference to their information databases. These existed long before this big surveillance push became prevalent.
The case I was referring to, for example, was close to 20 years ago.
Also, in that state, license plate information (owner of vehicle, etc.) is NOT public information. It is, in some states, but some of those have repealed the public access because it led to stalkings, etc. As they should have expected it to do.
But in any case: I agree that we should not have a database of what license plates were seen where in the first place (except in the context of a specific crime investigation, with proper court approval). The police here cannot (legally) even look up your license plate unless they see you violating the law, such as a traffic violation.
"Not to mention that calendars on PCs don't work in the way that Y2k was described."
The epoch date did not work as "Y2K" was described, for most systems, true. No "patch" to the BIOS was necessary. But there were a few exceptions.
On the other hand, the SOFTWARE problem was very, very real and a very big issue.
I went to work for a software company in 1999 that (fortunately for me) had already dealt with its Y2K issue. But if it hadn't, it would have been a disaster for mid-sized manufacturing companies (i.e., 1000-10000 employees) all over the U.S. Their plant-floor software would have failed, all their inventory and financial planning, etc. Kaput.
But due to a lot of hard work by dedicated people, that didn't happen.
The Supreme Court, on its own, cannot just say, "Law X is unconstitutional".
There is a lot more to it than just that. However, I don't have time to get into a long discussion of the issue right now.
I will just say that despite what you may have been taught in school, our system was not designed to have the Supreme Court be the be-all and end-all arbiter of everything. States have a say in the matter too.
This is a Federal law that makes it a felony to deprive you of your rights "under color of law". And it applies specifically to government officials. Up to, and including, the President.
Also, I should point out that because of the way it is worded, if you read it quickly, you might get the impression that it applies only to racial prejudice and other such errors. Not so. It has been tested in courts and it applies to ANY of your Constitutional rights.
"Since Slashdot sees fit to block those languages, I think I'll take their cue and add Arabic, Russian, and Chinese language urls to my spam filter:)"
It isn't just "those languages" that/. blocks. Their character support has changed over time... but I don't know of ANY time during which it wasn't fundamentally broken.
"From the article: âoeIf a child had scores that varied this much, it might be a symptom that something was wrong,â said Robert Sloan, professor and head of computer science at UIC, and lead author on the study."
Yes, exactly. A 4 year old, maybe. But a severely mentally damaged 4 year old.
In this state it is illegal for police to look up your license plate unless they have at least "reasonable suspicion" that there has been either a crime (or traffic violation). They have to record their reason(s) for looking up information in the police database system.
That is not to say they never do it improperly. But when they have been caught, they were not just given a slap on the wrist. One cop a few years back was caught using the police data system to look up information on his girlfriend. He is no longer a policeman. (Not the only such case, either.)
I'm not going to spend hours or days trying to duplicate or track down evidence I've seen with my own eyes. And as for the people who lived there, when their stories largely concur (which is most of the time) I am inclined to take their word for it, not yours.
It depends entirely on the context. If you're referring to the generally paranoid, this is true. But if, on the other hand, those being referred to were those who were "paranoid" about THIS thing, then in fact they weren't paranoid at all.
"And this is why I tend to keep answering these threads. The common misunderstanding among the Western audience, drilled into them by decades of indoctrination is that "our financial system is better at everything."
And this is why I answered YOUR thread: stop assuming I'm a f*ing idiot.
What I wrote was not the result of "indoctrination". It is from having a teacher who lived there, and described his experience. And since then, I have known many, many people who used to live there, and now live in my area.
This is from what they told me, and from direct evidence, not from any sort of "indoctrination".
"As I recall it, the "russian tech is low tech" propaganda message..."
I wasn't spouting any "message". This is simple fact. A lot of Soviet tech was copied from the West. Take their attempt at a space shuttle (a direct but slightly lower-tech knockoff of the U.S. shuttle). And don't try to tell me it wasn't. I've seen the reports, analyses, and pictures.
Same with their fighter jets. Largely copied Western tech. Same with their ballistic missiles and space vehicles. Independently developed, to be sure, but all slightly lower-tech versions than their Western counterparts.
They're catching up a bit more, now. But guess what? They can, because their economy has changed.
"That is why it always amazes me that we get these people like the above, who think they can write their congressman and wave their little signs and anybody in power will give a wet fart about what they think when the sad reality is that its just like Jessie Ventura said."
That is a mischaracterization of what I wrote. I did not state or even imply that it would be easy. I simply think that it may be fixable without resorting to a full-blown revolution... which carries its own dangers. Very few revolutions have actually resulted in things being BETTER than before. Just ask the French.
"The simple fact of the matter, which so many refuse to accept, is this: you can NOT fix a corrupted system by working WITHIN that system...why? Because its corrupted silly!"
That's an assumption, not a statement of fact. If it were strictly true, then every government, everywhere, would simply slowly decline until the next revolution. I prefer to believe that the damage is not too deeply rooted to fix.
Slashdot Mirror
VLC does NOT "circumvent" CSS at all.
It will, however, make use of an external code that circumvents CSS... if you have that code installed separately.
That may sound like splitting hairs, but it's not. There is no code in VLC -- or from the folks at VideoLAN for that matter -- that circumvents any DRM. If you want that functionality, you have to install it separately. VLC is not responsible.
"Advanced users have the option of running DeviceJS 'raw'... meaning with out WigWag cloud support at all."
But this brings up another question: who wants to use DeviceJS at all?
Who in their right minds builds an end-user scripting system around JavaScript? How WEIRD. JavaScript was written by techies, for techies, for a specific problem domain. It is about the worst choice imaginable for a home-user programming system.
"I'm annoyed at the fact that it's useless without WigWam's cloud service."
I'm not just annoyed... I'm not even remotely interested in buying. Too many "What If" scenarios.
What if somebody sniffed your control commands? Maybe they know you're not home and can safely burglarize the place.
Or what if the company is sold to someone who is less than honest? THEY can tell a lot about your activities from your home automation signalling.
What if your internet goes out? What if...?
Why anybody would want to tie this to a cloud service is beyond me. I see a "cloud burst" coming, in which everybody suddenly gets disillusioned with all this USELESS reliance on cloud services. (Not that they're all useless... but a great many of them, maybe even the majority, serve no real purpose for the end-user. But they add complication and vulnerabilities, in both operation and security.)
"You're confusing security salesmen with security researchers."
No, I most definitely am not, as Bruce just demonstrated rather dramatically.
"I feel dirty using Chrome. It's made by Google and I just assume they are snooping on me."
Join the club.
"For this reason I stick to Firefox even though Chrome is probably faster."
Not necessarily. In a recent benchmark, Firefox beat Chrome. But that isn't necessarily also true for the Android versions. Hard to know.
In any case, there is already TeamViewer for Android, which works nicely with Macs (and presumably Windows as well). I would really prefer one that doesn't use a 3rd party at all; if anybody knows of one I would appreciate hearing about it.
As for remote file transfer, I highly recommend Total Commander because it works in the classic 2-pane file manager style. Put the remote machine in one pane and your Android in the other, and just copy files back and forth. It's great. Other file managers work remotely too, but that's the only 2-pane solution of which I am aware.
Allow a computer to design a faster TCP? Sure!
Let them actually implement it without knowing how it works? Oh, Hell no!
I'm not talking "Skynet" or anything here... but if it breaks, who's going to fix it?
"Good call here, tho this makes our hero Schneier look like a moron."
Well, I certainly do not thing Bruce is a moron!
But I have noticed this about many security researchers, as well as manufacturers of security equipment: they tend to focus on their own security specialty, while shutting out the environment surrounding it.
Thus you end up with nice, secure algorithms, that are implemented in ways that are full of holes. Or makers of "secure" electronic locks that are attached to cheap, vulnerable locking mechanisms. Etc.
In a case like this: the chip or circuit or software might not be able to be gamed... but all you have to do is put a switch or relay on the OUTPUT, and voila! Full control of that little red light.
A little wire underneath, or even a radio receiver. Push the button... red light!
It only "can't be gamed" if you have independent sources checking them out to make sure they're MADE not to be gamed, and that they stay that way AFTER manufacture.
This is the same fundamental problem they had with electronic voting booths. They couldn't be "gamed", either. But they were.
I was referring to ANY police reference to their information databases. These existed long before this big surveillance push became prevalent.
The case I was referring to, for example, was close to 20 years ago.
Also, in that state, license plate information (owner of vehicle, etc.) is NOT public information. It is, in some states, but some of those have repealed the public access because it led to stalkings, etc. As they should have expected it to do.
But in any case: I agree that we should not have a database of what license plates were seen where in the first place (except in the context of a specific crime investigation, with proper court approval). The police here cannot (legally) even look up your license plate unless they see you violating the law, such as a traffic violation.
"Not to mention that calendars on PCs don't work in the way that Y2k was described."
The epoch date did not work as "Y2K" was described, for most systems, true. No "patch" to the BIOS was necessary. But there were a few exceptions.
On the other hand, the SOFTWARE problem was very, very real and a very big issue.
I went to work for a software company in 1999 that (fortunately for me) had already dealt with its Y2K issue. But if it hadn't, it would have been a disaster for mid-sized manufacturing companies (i.e., 1000-10000 employees) all over the U.S. Their plant-floor software would have failed, all their inventory and financial planning, etc. Kaput.
But due to a lot of hard work by dedicated people, that didn't happen.
"Nobody argues there weren't things that really needed fixing."
Have you been living in a cardboard box?
Yes, people DO argue that very thing. Lots of people. Some of them even here on Slashdot. And no, I'm not talking about just sarcasm.
"I think it's also worth noting that the Y2K issue helped inflate the tech bubble so we ended up with the tech bust post 2K instead of the Y2K crash."
"Helped"???
Maybe like the way your dog "helps" you wash the car.
Y2K was a genuine (and big) issue, but it didn't employ a whole lot of people all by itself, compared to the rest of the tech industry.
The Supreme Court, on its own, cannot just say, "Law X is unconstitutional".
There is a lot more to it than just that. However, I don't have time to get into a long discussion of the issue right now.
I will just say that despite what you may have been taught in school, our system was not designed to have the Supreme Court be the be-all and end-all arbiter of everything. States have a say in the matter too.
This is a Federal law that makes it a felony to deprive you of your rights "under color of law". And it applies specifically to government officials. Up to, and including, the President.
Also, I should point out that because of the way it is worded, if you read it quickly, you might get the impression that it applies only to racial prejudice and other such errors. Not so. It has been tested in courts and it applies to ANY of your Constitutional rights.
Technically speaking, unconstitutional "laws" do not need to be repealed, because they were never properly laws in the first place.
And yes, that means those who enforced them should go to jail.
"Since Slashdot sees fit to block those languages, I think I'll take their cue and add Arabic, Russian, and Chinese language urls to my spam filter :)"
It isn't just "those languages" that /. blocks. Their character support has changed over time... but I don't know of ANY time during which it wasn't fundamentally broken.
"From the article: âoeIf a child had scores that varied this much, it might be a symptom that something was wrong,â said Robert Sloan, professor and head of computer science at UIC, and lead author on the study."
Yes, exactly. A 4 year old, maybe. But a severely mentally damaged 4 year old.
"This is the backstory that hasn't been covered."
In this state it is illegal for police to look up your license plate unless they have at least "reasonable suspicion" that there has been either a crime (or traffic violation). They have to record their reason(s) for looking up information in the police database system.
That is not to say they never do it improperly. But when they have been caught, they were not just given a slap on the wrist. One cop a few years back was caught using the police data system to look up information on his girlfriend. He is no longer a policeman. (Not the only such case, either.)
I'm not going to spend hours or days trying to duplicate or track down evidence I've seen with my own eyes. And as for the people who lived there, when their stories largely concur (which is most of the time) I am inclined to take their word for it, not yours.
Semantics. Meh.
It depends entirely on the context. If you're referring to the generally paranoid, this is true. But if, on the other hand, those being referred to were those who were "paranoid" about THIS thing, then in fact they weren't paranoid at all.
Neither one. It's because I know what a problem a revolution would be.
"And this is why I tend to keep answering these threads. The common misunderstanding among the Western audience, drilled into them by decades of indoctrination is that "our financial system is better at everything."
And this is why I answered YOUR thread: stop assuming I'm a f*ing idiot.
What I wrote was not the result of "indoctrination". It is from having a teacher who lived there, and described his experience. And since then, I have known many, many people who used to live there, and now live in my area.
This is from what they told me, and from direct evidence, not from any sort of "indoctrination".
"As I recall it, the "russian tech is low tech" propaganda message..."
I wasn't spouting any "message". This is simple fact. A lot of Soviet tech was copied from the West. Take their attempt at a space shuttle (a direct but slightly lower-tech knockoff of the U.S. shuttle). And don't try to tell me it wasn't. I've seen the reports, analyses, and pictures.
Same with their fighter jets. Largely copied Western tech. Same with their ballistic missiles and space vehicles. Independently developed, to be sure, but all slightly lower-tech versions than their Western counterparts.
They're catching up a bit more, now. But guess what? They can, because their economy has changed.
"That is why it always amazes me that we get these people like the above, who think they can write their congressman and wave their little signs and anybody in power will give a wet fart about what they think when the sad reality is that its just like Jessie Ventura said."
That is a mischaracterization of what I wrote. I did not state or even imply that it would be easy. I simply think that it may be fixable without resorting to a full-blown revolution... which carries its own dangers. Very few revolutions have actually resulted in things being BETTER than before. Just ask the French.
"For the leaders. To Stalin I'm sure it seemed to work quite well. It's all a matter of perspective."
I think "working" for one person or a few people, but nobody else, pretty much still means that it didn't work.
"The simple fact of the matter, which so many refuse to accept, is this: you can NOT fix a corrupted system by working WITHIN that system...why? Because its corrupted silly!"
That's an assumption, not a statement of fact. If it were strictly true, then every government, everywhere, would simply slowly decline until the next revolution. I prefer to believe that the damage is not too deeply rooted to fix.