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User: omnichad

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  1. bots != botnet. A bot can be a computer you own. All of the accounts were created in the same manner and all are behaving the same.

    Whether it can be proven or not has nothing to do with whether the contract terms are legally valid.

  2. Re:Switch(true) on Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Right - here's a better resource for that:
    http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/s...

    It seems that it does have to evaluate to a literal value. One of the benefits of using interpreted language, I guess. Most of what I work with wouldn't benefit much from being compiled.

  3. the "rich" paying "their fair share" ... and then run off and buy a $600K beach house, his 3rd home.

    Does the IRS have a donate button on their web site or something? If taxes aren't raised, a private citizen can't pay more taxes. OK, so the Treasury actually has a donate option.

    Buying a house is objectively better for the economy than hoarding money.

  4. Re:But facebook likes 'em on Your Political Facebook Posts Aren't Changing How Your Friends Think (qz.com) · · Score: 2

    This past week on Facebook, I've clicked on two ads that were interesting to me, and one of them even got me to sign up for a webinar for my own personal interest.

    Contrast this with actual users on Facebook - there's almost nothing I want to see. The confirmation bias and echo chamber are so strong, that I can't even stand people talking about candidates I like.

  5. Re:Switch(true) on Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Works in both PHP and Javascript. You linked to bad code all around on stackoverflow.

    Their example works out to:
    userInputtedInt == >= someNum && <= someOtherNum

    It doesn't even make sense.

    The right side of that is two invalid expressions (a comparison operator missing one side) &&'ed together. My example does a different comparison:
    true == $a < 5;

    Both sides of the comparison are boolean. It works.

  6. They have a pretty standard severability clause - and those hold up in court just fine. If part of the contract is invalid / unenforceable, the rest still stands.

    IANAL, but I'd say "no bots / no scraping" is probably perfectly valid legally speaking.

  7. The botnet created accounts, under influence of a programmer's hand. That programmer "agreed" to the terms of use. Unless we're going to say that assistive technology acts of its own free will.

  8. Re:Crime? on LinkedIn Sues 100 Individuals For Scraping User Data From the Site (betanews.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes. They're trying to turn a civil suit about a breach in contract into a criminal charge of anti-circumvention (DMCA) of their IP blacklist procedures and CFAA and criminal trespass for the access to the nearly public profiles that anyone with a free account can view.

  9. Re:Is data scraping illegal? on LinkedIn Sues 100 Individuals For Scraping User Data From the Site (betanews.com) · · Score: 2

    When it's an automated tool (just like scanning from the yellow pages)

  10. It's Illegal activity, but LinkedIn went too far on LinkedIn Sues 100 Individuals For Scraping User Data From the Site (betanews.com) · · Score: 2

    The charges are a bit trumped up and ridiculous. The illegal access by using a bot and breaking the legally binding user agreement is enough.

    Claiming that it's a violation of the DMCA (anti-circumvention) and CFAA to circumvent their blacklisting procedures is silly. Not being on a blacklist is not a thing you "circumvent" nor is it a different kind of illegal access than using the bot in the first place.

  11. 90% of cars on road != 90% of cars owned on Electric Vehicles Can Meet Drivers' Needs Enough To Replace 90 Percent of Vehicles Now On The Road (phys.org) · · Score: 1

    I think this study fails to see people as people instead of only in aggregate. If an electric only met my needs 90% of the time, I still need a different vehicle for 1/10 trips - and so would almost everyone else. That's not the same thing as 90% of people not needing internal combustion - and the study even mentioned a need for car sharing. And that is not a small percentage, when you consider the overhead of coordinating a car share.

    So yes, the road could be mostly barren of internal combustion if everyone was on board, but that lost convenience is a cost that most people will still want to pay for if the other choice was sharing a car.

  12. Re:Switch(true) on Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    Mostly PHP and Javascript. It's supposedly more efficient to run vs. an if-else block. I just think else if chains are messy - it's probably just because if it's properly indented, I like that the switch block is all indented as one cohesive unit.

  13. Re:Nokia was going downhill well before that on Former CEO of Angry Birds-Maker Rovio Hired To Revive Nokia's Phone Business (techcrunch.com) · · Score: 2

    no real plan for the smartphone revolution

    Even if they had doubled down on simplicity, they'd have a marketshare and a chance.

  14. Re:Switch(true) on Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 1

    When I've used it, it was the more readable option. So that should say something. If you have a series of value ranges in a conditional, it's the easiest to read IMO.

  15. Switch(true) on Ask Slashdot: What Are Some Bad Programming Ideas That Work? (infoworld.com) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    switch(true) {

          case $a < 5:

          do something;

          break;
    ...

    }

    A bit messy, but a lot cleaner than a stack of if/then/else for a set of of conditions.

  16. Re:Great, can we get keyboard naviation from Netfl on Firefox 49 For Linux Will Ship With Plug-in Free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video Support (mozilla.org) · · Score: 1

    I'd recommend not. If you can avoid a TV with Smart functionality, you can have a box that's easily replaced to upgrade even after the TV warranty is over.

    Also, if you want a Roku TV, you have to buy one made by TCL. Their TV's aren't terrible, but having a choice is worth the extra money for a separate box.

  17. Re:Great, can we get keyboard naviation from Netfl on Firefox 49 For Linux Will Ship With Plug-in Free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video Support (mozilla.org) · · Score: 1

    Definitely see my recommendation for Roku in my other post, then. I was a one-device guy before Roku. Great UI, even if Netflix subverts it a bit too much. https://www.roku.com/how-it-wo...

  18. Re:TOR END POINT = chilld sex offender on Australian Authorities Hacked Computers in the US (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    What about making sense with your question/statement? I couldn't decipher that.

  19. Re:Fake "Panic" keys on Canadian Fined For Not Providing Border Agents Smartphone Password (www.cbc.ca) · · Score: 2

    That seems like a tedious way to go about it. Why not just delete the encryption key so it's over instantly?

  20. Re:What happens when wetware bcomes a thing? on Canadian Fined For Not Providing Border Agents Smartphone Password (www.cbc.ca) · · Score: 1

    if your attempt to access was not sincere (that is, you were doing so only under duress, or compulsion by another party

    Let's get employers on this right now. Sorry, boss! I can't do that work for you, because I don't want to.

  21. of course a media player needs privileged access to the kernel.

    It does in a world where DRM-laden video is possible. Unless you have a secure path to HDCP, you'll have no streaming services like Netflix. Do you remember before? There wasn't unencumbered video. There was nothing at all.

  22. Re:Great, can we get keyboard naviation from Netfl on Firefox 49 For Linux Will Ship With Plug-in Free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video Support (mozilla.org) · · Score: 1

    Laziness != Convenience && Laziness != WAF

    You can map keyboard keys to IR remote presses, making it work like an easy to understand consumer electronic device.

  23. Re:Great, can we get keyboard naviation from Netfl on Firefox 49 For Linux Will Ship With Plug-in Free Netflix, Amazon Prime Video Support (mozilla.org) · · Score: 1

    Just get a Roku for your streaming services. It may not integrate into your HTPC, but it's always-on and low-power. If you have a universal remote already, it supports IR even if it comes with a Bluetooth remote.

  24. Re:TOR END POINT = chilld sex offender on Australian Authorities Hacked Computers in the US (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    What do you mean by Tor end point? A Tor exit node only finds you traffic to non-dark web sites.

    A Tor relay only shares encrypted data between other nodes. You have to target the actual end user with malware to succeed in identifying them. And that's what this article is about - hacked PCs.

  25. Re:Partially agree... on No Man's Sky Launches On Steam and GOG and It's Off To A Rocky Start (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    But I was mostly a console gamer - NES through Wii U and first gen PSX all read-only with no patches ever needed.