Bill Binney pretty much let the cat out of the bag long before Snowden. It's just that he didn't leak documents so he got no press. Additionally, ECHELON hasn't been a secret for a long time. I find it humorous that anyone thought that somehow the internet was excluded, like it's some magical space where privacy is guaranteed. There's a lot of naivete out there.
I don't know where you got this notion from but it's largely false. Dell and others added a nominal charge to each machine to cover the cost of Windows. I believe it was about $35. The crapware was to pad profits on the machine because margins on hardware are very low. Even if you told them you didn't want Windows or anything installed, you still had to pay for it. In essence, everyone paid a Microsoft tax to buy a pre-built machine. Microsoft had an undeclared monopoly with all the benefits and none of the penalties. It took forever for the government to catch up and put a stop to it but by then the damage was done and lots of companies were laid waste by Microsoft and they anti-competitive business practices. They even paid the publishers of the day to talk about how wonderful their software was and how all of their competitors pretty much sucked.
In short, they're evil fuckheads and they'd still be doing all of this shit if they could get away with it.
You're seriously going to argue that Microsoft is an underdog? Because I find it difficult to swallow that a corporation sitting on $80 billion that still completely dominates laptop and desktop operating systems, plus office suites, and console gaming to be an "underdog" in anything. If they are getting their asses handed to them in the phone and tablet market it's because they ignored it for too long. That's not being an underdog, that's being fucking stupid.
Yeah, it's wildly overpriced for the value it provides. I'm generally fond of Amazon and I think Bezos is a genius but I think this idea is a real dud. Computers suitable for most office drones just aren't very expensive and any company that cares about employees being able to access desktops from remote locations already have VPNs setup.
Snowden stated that he's released all of the information he had The only thing that is restricting the release of information at this point is the journalists that he released it to. Those journalists have already said that they haven't even released the really juicy stuff yet. That's pretty impressive, if it's true, considering the significant revelations already made.
"He's no court whatsoever to sort out what is 'legal'...
Wrong. It was the illegal activities that supposedly drove him to release the information in the first place. He made no attempt to filter the information at all. And he didn't need to sell anything to an enemy since he has essentially given it for free to every enemy on the planet. So please spare me the notion that he "brought it before the American people". Also, what the fuck to you care if the USA is dead. You probably welcome it.
Finally, I do not control whether the US goes to war. That's for the Congress and the President to decide. So, nothing is wrong with me.
McCain's an ass but he's probably right. Snowden is no more principled than McCain or an investment banker. He released ALL of the intelligence information he gathered at the NSA regardless of whether that information revealed illegal activities, thus crossing the line from whistle blower to traitor. Put another way, the US has no intelligence gathering secrets anymore and it's spy agencies have been rendered largely useless (at least for now).
I've read 1984 and Brave New World so I'm pretty hip to what the stakes are. It doesn't change my opinion of the matter whatsoever. Also, didn't support either war. I'm against war except for self defense (so there would have to be an invasion for me to support it). Snowden has put this nation and its allies at great risk and it wasn't necessary. He could have just released information relating to illegal activities but he didn't and now there will be a big price to pay. He is a traitor.
You don't really know what you're talking about. You cannot determine inflation by looking at a single product (like a loaf of bread). It's based on a wide range of things and weighted based on it's relative impact to your pocket book. What's important isn't necessarily the number but the consistency in how it's computed. The government hasn't changed the inflation computation at all in about a dozen years. The most significant changes were made back in '83. If you used the methods they used prior to '83, the number would be much higher but it was also considered pretty wildly inaccurate and overstated the real impact on consumers. You could make an argument that they overcorrected for the problem but you can't just say it's all a bunch of bullshit. It's not an exact science. All they can do is make a close approximation and no matter what formula they use, there will be some people out there that aren't happy about it.
As for price anecdotes, my rent has gone up only 7% in thirteen years. That's pretty damn low inflation and the cost of housing is weighted highly in the inflation computation.
You do realize that the rich are experts at wealth redistribution, right? They have lobbyists whose sole job it is to get them tax credits and tax exemptions. It's incredibly naive to think you can get rid of wealth redistribution. It's never going to happen. All you can do is try to make it more fair. I will also add that wealth redistribution isn't all bad. Without it, you would have A LOT more poor people on the streets and hovels across the country. I don't want that shit here and I'm ok with putting some money into the till to prevent it. Go look at some countries where there's no wealth redistribution to the poor and it makes for a pretty horrific scene. If you haven't even travelled, then you probably don't know what I'm talking about but it's a special little piece of hell wherever it exists.
Even they will tell you that they don't expect to be profitable well into 2015. Plus they still don't really know how to monetize the site without pissing off users. You'd have to be a moron to buy this stock and I say this as someone who does speculative equity purchases.
If you actually got a bitcoin doing that (and I highly doubt it), then you got EXTREMELY lucky. The odds are heavily against you. If it were reliable to get a bitcoin in the way you did, then all of the coins would have been mined already. You can read lots of articles on how difficult it is to actually do and how you generally have to team up unless you have server farms dedicated to it.
Clearly you do not have an intellect capable of nuance so I'll try and make this easier for you. Saying he's the "Savior of the Planet" (excuse me while I vomit for a moment)...is like saying that a guy who committed a mass shooting in a shopping mall but later saved a baby is a hero. Is it more clear now? You don't get to ignore the bad things he did just because he did a good thing. In any event, I'm guessing you're not from the US so this conversation is pointless because you'll say the guy is a hero even if he set a maternity ward on fire because you have some deep seated hatred of the US anyway.
Petty mistakes?? Are you fucking kidding me? He revealed EVERY secret regarding how the US and its allies gathers intelligence. If you cannot fathom how big of a deal that is, then there's no hope for you. He's going to go down in history as one of the biggest traitors -- not just of the US but of the world.
As an American, I completely understood this film the first time I watched it; so did the friends I was with. In fact, it was so blatantly satirical I find it hard to believe anyone with average intelligence or better would see it any other way. I thought it was brilliant. I think the critics blew it off because they generally assume the worst with anything sci-fi.
Except for the fact that he released information top secret information even for activities that were perfectly legal. That's what makes him a traitor instead of a whistle blower. If you want a comparison, Bill Binney did it right. Snowden did not. Snowden was completely careless and has put the US and its allies at risk. Sadly,/. is a complete echo chamber regarding this issue so I'm certain I'll be voted down to troll in about 5 seconds. God forbid there's rational discussion on this issue.
Everyone hated the US beforehand. It really doesn't matter anymore.
Fortunately for the people of the US, we have all these other countries to look at that don't spy on their people or leaders of other nations. You know, because they all have people like Snowden revealing every secret of their spy agencies so we can compare their activities to ours.
Actually, if you look at the benchmarks it loses in everything but the GL benchmarks. Then go and look at the benchmarks at phonearena and the 5S hands the Nexus 5 it's ass on pretty much every test. Personally I'll reserve final judgement until I see an anadtech comparison but looking at everything out there right now, the Nexus 5 doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone 5s. That's not to say it's a bad phone, because it isn't. I'm just saying you're buying a fantasy if you think this thing is on par with the 5S.
Before I get called an Apple fanboy, you should know that I own two phones and they are both Samsung Android phones.
"Modern browsers" have real developer tools. IE 10 does not. Therefore, only IE 11 could possibly be considered modern. Since it represents less than 1% of all IE web traffic, it's probably fair to just lump them all together for the purpose of their argument.
Slashdot Mirror
Bill Binney pretty much let the cat out of the bag long before Snowden. It's just that he didn't leak documents so he got no press. Additionally, ECHELON hasn't been a secret for a long time. I find it humorous that anyone thought that somehow the internet was excluded, like it's some magical space where privacy is guaranteed. There's a lot of naivete out there.
Yeah, I'll trust some random guy on the internet with absolutely zero sources to back him up.
For all I know, you work for HUAWEI.
It won't change anything. You will still be spied on at will. Maybe not by the NSA but you will be spied on.
Canada is part of the ECHELON alliance so they're just as complicit.
I don't know where you got this notion from but it's largely false. Dell and others added a nominal charge to each machine to cover the cost of Windows. I believe it was about $35. The crapware was to pad profits on the machine because margins on hardware are very low. Even if you told them you didn't want Windows or anything installed, you still had to pay for it. In essence, everyone paid a Microsoft tax to buy a pre-built machine. Microsoft had an undeclared monopoly with all the benefits and none of the penalties. It took forever for the government to catch up and put a stop to it but by then the damage was done and lots of companies were laid waste by Microsoft and they anti-competitive business practices. They even paid the publishers of the day to talk about how wonderful their software was and how all of their competitors pretty much sucked.
In short, they're evil fuckheads and they'd still be doing all of this shit if they could get away with it.
You're seriously going to argue that Microsoft is an underdog? Because I find it difficult to swallow that a corporation sitting on $80 billion that still completely dominates laptop and desktop operating systems, plus office suites, and console gaming to be an "underdog" in anything. If they are getting their asses handed to them in the phone and tablet market it's because they ignored it for too long. That's not being an underdog, that's being fucking stupid.
Yeah, it's wildly overpriced for the value it provides. I'm generally fond of Amazon and I think Bezos is a genius but I think this idea is a real dud. Computers suitable for most office drones just aren't very expensive and any company that cares about employees being able to access desktops from remote locations already have VPNs setup.
You don't think a giant multinational corporation could make your life miserable if it really wanted to? You must live inside of a Disney movie.
Snowden stated that he's released all of the information he had The only thing that is restricting the release of information at this point is the journalists that he released it to. Those journalists have already said that they haven't even released the really juicy stuff yet. That's pretty impressive, if it's true, considering the significant revelations already made.
"He's no court whatsoever to sort out what is 'legal'...
Wrong. It was the illegal activities that supposedly drove him to release the information in the first place. He made no attempt to filter the information at all. And he didn't need to sell anything to an enemy since he has essentially given it for free to every enemy on the planet. So please spare me the notion that he "brought it before the American people". Also, what the fuck to you care if the USA is dead. You probably welcome it.
Finally, I do not control whether the US goes to war. That's for the Congress and the President to decide. So, nothing is wrong with me.
McCain's an ass but he's probably right. Snowden is no more principled than McCain or an investment banker. He released ALL of the intelligence information he gathered at the NSA regardless of whether that information revealed illegal activities, thus crossing the line from whistle blower to traitor. Put another way, the US has no intelligence gathering secrets anymore and it's spy agencies have been rendered largely useless (at least for now).
Just an FYI...
I've read 1984 and Brave New World so I'm pretty hip to what the stakes are. It doesn't change my opinion of the matter whatsoever. Also, didn't support either war. I'm against war except for self defense (so there would have to be an invasion for me to support it). Snowden has put this nation and its allies at great risk and it wasn't necessary. He could have just released information relating to illegal activities but he didn't and now there will be a big price to pay. He is a traitor.
You don't really know what you're talking about. You cannot determine inflation by looking at a single product (like a loaf of bread). It's based on a wide range of things and weighted based on it's relative impact to your pocket book. What's important isn't necessarily the number but the consistency in how it's computed. The government hasn't changed the inflation computation at all in about a dozen years. The most significant changes were made back in '83. If you used the methods they used prior to '83, the number would be much higher but it was also considered pretty wildly inaccurate and overstated the real impact on consumers. You could make an argument that they overcorrected for the problem but you can't just say it's all a bunch of bullshit. It's not an exact science. All they can do is make a close approximation and no matter what formula they use, there will be some people out there that aren't happy about it.
As for price anecdotes, my rent has gone up only 7% in thirteen years. That's pretty damn low inflation and the cost of housing is weighted highly in the inflation computation.
You do realize that the rich are experts at wealth redistribution, right? They have lobbyists whose sole job it is to get them tax credits and tax exemptions. It's incredibly naive to think you can get rid of wealth redistribution. It's never going to happen. All you can do is try to make it more fair. I will also add that wealth redistribution isn't all bad. Without it, you would have A LOT more poor people on the streets and hovels across the country. I don't want that shit here and I'm ok with putting some money into the till to prevent it. Go look at some countries where there's no wealth redistribution to the poor and it makes for a pretty horrific scene. If you haven't even travelled, then you probably don't know what I'm talking about but it's a special little piece of hell wherever it exists.
I think it's a great idea. Now I have a plausible reason for sticking my dick into my robot.
Even they will tell you that they don't expect to be profitable well into 2015. Plus they still don't really know how to monetize the site without pissing off users. You'd have to be a moron to buy this stock and I say this as someone who does speculative equity purchases.
If you actually got a bitcoin doing that (and I highly doubt it), then you got EXTREMELY lucky. The odds are heavily against you. If it were reliable to get a bitcoin in the way you did, then all of the coins would have been mined already. You can read lots of articles on how difficult it is to actually do and how you generally have to team up unless you have server farms dedicated to it.
Clearly you do not have an intellect capable of nuance so I'll try and make this easier for you. Saying he's the "Savior of the Planet" (excuse me while I vomit for a moment)...is like saying that a guy who committed a mass shooting in a shopping mall but later saved a baby is a hero. Is it more clear now? You don't get to ignore the bad things he did just because he did a good thing. In any event, I'm guessing you're not from the US so this conversation is pointless because you'll say the guy is a hero even if he set a maternity ward on fire because you have some deep seated hatred of the US anyway.
Petty mistakes?? Are you fucking kidding me? He revealed EVERY secret regarding how the US and its allies gathers intelligence. If you cannot fathom how big of a deal that is, then there's no hope for you. He's going to go down in history as one of the biggest traitors -- not just of the US but of the world.
As an American, I completely understood this film the first time I watched it; so did the friends I was with. In fact, it was so blatantly satirical I find it hard to believe anyone with average intelligence or better would see it any other way. I thought it was brilliant. I think the critics blew it off because they generally assume the worst with anything sci-fi.
Except for the fact that he released information top secret information even for activities that were perfectly legal. That's what makes him a traitor instead of a whistle blower. If you want a comparison, Bill Binney did it right. Snowden did not. Snowden was completely careless and has put the US and its allies at risk. Sadly, /. is a complete echo chamber regarding this issue so I'm certain I'll be voted down to troll in about 5 seconds. God forbid there's rational discussion on this issue.
Everyone hated the US beforehand. It really doesn't matter anymore.
Fortunately for the people of the US, we have all these other countries to look at that don't spy on their people or leaders of other nations. You know, because they all have people like Snowden revealing every secret of their spy agencies so we can compare their activities to ours.
Actually, if you look at the benchmarks it loses in everything but the GL benchmarks. Then go and look at the benchmarks at phonearena and the 5S hands the Nexus 5 it's ass on pretty much every test. Personally I'll reserve final judgement until I see an anadtech comparison but looking at everything out there right now, the Nexus 5 doesn't hold a candle to the iPhone 5s. That's not to say it's a bad phone, because it isn't. I'm just saying you're buying a fantasy if you think this thing is on par with the 5S.
Before I get called an Apple fanboy, you should know that I own two phones and they are both Samsung Android phones.
Wow, I'm trying to figure out how you could be more of a blatant Micorsoft shill but I can't think of anything.
"Modern browsers" have real developer tools. IE 10 does not. Therefore, only IE 11 could possibly be considered modern. Since it represents less than 1% of all IE web traffic, it's probably fair to just lump them all together for the purpose of their argument.