Fun thought: perhaps the US government is using reverse psychology in a clever scheme to secure American technologies. Think of it - if the government had mandated the use of strong encryption to protect citizen's data you would expect tech companies to complain about burdensome regulations and the onerous cost of implemention. By actually demonstrating the existential threat tech devices pose to privacy, they've got companies voluntarily scrambling to incorporate strong encryption into their products. Brilliant!
youtube-dl does a good job of removing ads, as well as geo and age restrctions. I stopped using youtube when Google took it over because they fucked up commenting. It used to be fun, now it's not. If somebody sends me a link to a youtube video I'll just snatch it with youtube-dl. No ads, no geo resrictions, no age restrictions, no muss, no fuss.
Honestly, how Google could fuck up an existing good service like youtube is beyond my understanding, and yet they still did it.
That is why evolution hasn't managed to already create the kill all humans virus.
Evolution hasn't but humans have. In the book "The Demon in the Freezer" Richard Preston reports at length about human engineered bio weapons, specifically genetically modifed anthax and smallpox virus. Thought smallpox was eradicated? Guess again. There are stockpiles of the stuff all over the world, including North Korea, China, Pakistan, India and of course the US and Russia. He even describes a method of splicing the interleukin 4 gene with smallpox to make a 100% lethal to human weapon. The Russians, reportedly, have tons of the stuff mounted on warheads.
Anyways, it's a fascinating (and a bit gruesome) book if you're interested in the topic.
For a tech site Slashdot sure has its cluster of Luddites.
I'd consider myself more a late adopter of technology. Before getting into an autonomous vehicle, I'd like to see evidence on how well they work on a steep incline during a snowstorm. What happens under zero traction conditions - black ice is common in my area and streets flood leaving rocks left behind which act like ball bearings when you drive over them. How well do these cars operate off road?
More importantly, my concern is how these cars will perform when a malicious agent intentionally tries to cause failure. There are people out there who intentionally cause "accidents" to collect the insurance money. I'd need to see how autonomous vehicles handle real world hazards before risking my life.
...There is no need to encrypt communication between your browser and this site... In case you haven't notice. SSL/TLS and encryption are useful only to prevent someone to eavesdropping the conversation and to authentify one or both parties.
Those sound to me like very good reasons for using encryption regardless of whether it is "needed" or not. If i always use encryption, then I don't have to think about when to switch it on and off. It's always on.
I don't think anyone thinks it will prevent a targeted attack, but it does keep my ISP from sending me emails regarding all the Scooby Doo parady porn someone keeps downloading using my account.
Your statements are incorrect and the analogy is false.
How are my statements incorrect? You failed to mention that.
I expect[sic] you know that.
Wrong, I don't know that. Also, the word you were going for was "suspect, not "expect". To suspect means you have an idea, but no proof. To expect means to regard someone as doing something in the future. Learn the difference.
Using ad block will result in anti ad block s/w[sic] and ppl[sic] more exposed to drive by phishing/[sic] hijacking ads
Usng ad block will result in anti ad block smith and wesson and purple more exposed to drive by fishing pole attacks? I can't figure out what you're trying to say because it's not in English. We use the English language on Slashdot.
But you deserve nay are entitled to view it for no cost to you.
A website is essentially an advertisement - for the person or company that put it up. Putting ads on an ad is redundant. That's why you don't see commercials on the Home Shopping Network. It's already one big advertisement.
Presumably one puts a website up because they have information they would like to share. If that's true, then the site owner should pay the costs of distributing that information.
explain to me what you, a consumer, need 256 AES encryption for that you can't use 128 AES encryption for.
Easy answer - it's none of your business. Could be anything. Use your imagination. If I thought you needed to know, I'd tell you, but I don't and won't. That's how privacy works.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a mental illness and a form of child abuse. Her parents had a port permanently installed in the child's intestines when there was no medical reason to do so, and were now petitioning the doctors at BCH for even more invasive treatments.
Doctors at BCH examined the child, remember, and found no medical evidence to explain her symptoms. Removing the child from her parents is not something they undertook lightly, but in this case was warranted - the child's symptoms were much improved after being removed from her abusive parents. That her parents then turned "social media" to garner sympathy should also raise a big red flag. I'm going to side with the medical experts on this one.
It takes a special talent to miss the point so completely.
While it is true you can buy aspirin over the counter for a fraction of a penny per pill, that is not the same price you will be billed if you are hospitalized in the US and a nurse gives you the exact same aspirin. OP suggested, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, a price of $50 USD per pill. That's only about twice as much as reported here.
In L.A. I would not be surprised if they charge $50 per aspirin.
The idea, I imagine they believe, is that when you have to go to suffficient lengths to keep your data confidential, you will actually draw even *more* attention in the process, and even if you are not guilty of anything in particular, may find yourself more heavily scrutinized by the powers that be than the average individual.
The use of strong encryption in no way implies that you are "guilty" of anything or have "done something wrong."
It means you have taken proper and necessary steps to secure your data against unauthorized access. That is what all good digital citizens should be doing. Many don't, and that's why we see stories every week about a large data breach of names, addresses, social security numbers, etc. being handed over to criminals.
Since everyone is subject to suspicionless, unwarranted surveillance, it doesn't seem to me to be useful to be concerned about drawing even "more" attention to yourself. You're already under surveillance, by doing nothing at all. That's why we use of encryption.
Don't American politicians learn about basic civics anymore? What about the ideals upon which America was founded? Where's the reverence for principles such as "no unreasonable searches".
I was wondering the same thing. To me, Rubio just demonstrated why he is unqualified to hold the office he is campaigning for. The funny thing is, it was an unforced error. Saying nothing would have been much smarter than coming out against the Constitution.
42) Assange gets a brand new bullet opening his third eye as soon as his head gets out of the embassy.
I've just realized I honestly don't trust my government not to do that. There was a time I did. I've just seen too many cases of government officials feeling (or actually being) unconstrained by the Constitution and rule of law to believe that they won't disappear/torture/kill Assange. That's depressing, actually.
4. Reducing time between comments? That's only a concern if you have crap karma, and it's easy to go from zero to excellent in a few days, so anyone making any real contributions will quickly find this is not a problem.
I assure you as someone with the highest possible Karma rating that it is very much a problem for those of us who use basic security and privacy measures.
The number of times I've seen the message "Slow down, Cowboy! it's been 40 minutes since your last post! Give someone else a chance!
That's a bit of a slap in the face considering APK spams the board consistently and apparently no one cares.
HTTPS: This is the only site I visit that does not use HTTPS.
Unicode: I understand the reason not to support every Unicode character. That could be (ab)used by a malicious person to screw up your board. But there is a subset of Unicode characters Slashdot could support so users can copy and paste the material they need to. The ones that are perfectly safe and cover 99% of the use cases we need.
You report a crime, then you yourself can be detained and/or brought in and confined/imprisoned for questioning, even if you yourself are not suspect of any wrongdoing: it can be very stressful, bothersome, and inconvenient to spend days in police custody answering questions
That doesn't sound right. I reported a felony exactly two weeks ago and an officer just handed me a witness statement form. Filled it out, went down to the station to hand it in. Took about 20 minutes. I might have to testify if it goes to trial someday, but I think it's more likely they'll just plea.
As to the main topic, I thought it was already the law that IT workers were to report CP, much the same as doctors are required to report certain things. I don't fix PCs, though, so I don't really know.
... if money is speech (and I agree that it is, because money is used to buy media time to promote a message)...
Perhaps it is, but ideally money does not equal speech. The idea that the more money you have the more speech you have (or more specifically, political access) is counter to the idea that all men are created equal.
The biggest problem with backdoors is not that they weaken encryption, although that's terrible.
The biggest problem I have is that they are implicitly asserting that they have the authority to everyone's data. My view is that they do not.
I view my personal data as classified, by me, for my eyes only. If anyone wants to see it they can ask nicely, and I'll decide whether to allow them access. Encryption is one tool I can use to ensure my private data stays private.
In an interesting article here former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden claims* to be strongly against backdoors in encryption. It's law enforcement (FBI, DEA, etc) that are pushing for backdoors, not US intelligence (NSA). Hayden's rather chilling rationale is that since the NSA doesn't have to follow any rules, they can do bulk data and metadata collection and largely obviate the need to break encryption.
* Not that you can believe a thing he says, it's still useful to be clear on whether it's law enforcement or an intelligence agency deceiving you.
The only real reason to run Windows outside of a VM today is, essentially, games and all the other applications that require certain hardware features. Which are few and far between by now.
The only reason I keep a Windows partition around is to run Cubase. I really wish there was something comparable for Linux, but the so-called "pro audio" tools for Linux aren't anywhere near the same quality.
Microsoft is tired of supporting old ass insecure software.
You mean the bug-ridden insecure software that they wrote, and then sold to you? And now you want to but the newest bug-ridden insecure software form the same company while everyone, including Microsoft laughs their asses off on how gullible people can be.
My sides are splitting. As long as there are astoundingly stupid people like you in the world, there's no reason to improve software quality. It's much more profitable and fun just to sell you more bugs.
As long as they got warrants (even if they're "John Doe" warrants), they're in the clear, methinks.
I suspect you are right but the problem I have is that the only information a judge receives when deciding whether to issue a warrant is provided soley by the LEO and the prosecution. There should be some mechanism for the accused to defend himself against malicious prosecution, IMHO.
Given the opportunity to only present one side of the story I could paint anyone as a baby-shaking, dog-kicking, drug-dealing, devil-worshiping, child-molesting, panty-sniffing terrorist psychopathic monster.
What judge is going to deny a warrant based on that presentation.
This is why governments are spying on in game conversations nowadays.
Or so they claim. I suspect some enterprising agents found a way to get paid for playing games all day. That's what I'd do if I thought I could get away with it.
Slashdot Mirror
Fun thought: perhaps the US government is using reverse psychology in a clever scheme to secure American technologies. Think of it - if the government had mandated the use of strong encryption to protect citizen's data you would expect tech companies to complain about burdensome regulations and the onerous cost of implemention. By actually demonstrating the existential threat tech devices pose to privacy, they've got companies voluntarily scrambling to incorporate strong encryption into their products. Brilliant!
youtube-dl does a good job of removing ads, as well as geo and age restrctions. I stopped using youtube when Google took it over because they fucked up commenting. It used to be fun, now it's not. If somebody sends me a link to a youtube video I'll just snatch it with youtube-dl. No ads, no geo resrictions, no age restrictions, no muss, no fuss.
Honestly, how Google could fuck up an existing good service like youtube is beyond my understanding, and yet they still did it.
That is why evolution hasn't managed to already create the kill all humans virus.
Evolution hasn't but humans have. In the book "The Demon in the Freezer" Richard Preston reports at length about human engineered bio weapons, specifically genetically modifed anthax and smallpox virus. Thought smallpox was eradicated? Guess again. There are stockpiles of the stuff all over the world, including North Korea, China, Pakistan, India and of course the US and Russia. He even describes a method of splicing the interleukin 4 gene with smallpox to make a 100% lethal to human weapon. The Russians, reportedly, have tons of the stuff mounted on warheads.
Anyways, it's a fascinating (and a bit gruesome) book if you're interested in the topic.
For a tech site Slashdot sure has its cluster of Luddites.
I'd consider myself more a late adopter of technology. Before getting into an autonomous vehicle, I'd like to see evidence on how well they work on a steep incline during a snowstorm. What happens under zero traction conditions - black ice is common in my area and streets flood leaving rocks left behind which act like ball bearings when you drive over them. How well do these cars operate off road?
More importantly, my concern is how these cars will perform when a malicious agent intentionally tries to cause failure. There are people out there who intentionally cause "accidents" to collect the insurance money. I'd need to see how autonomous vehicles handle real world hazards before risking my life.
...There is no need to encrypt communication between your browser and this site... In case you haven't notice. SSL/TLS and encryption are useful only to prevent someone to eavesdropping the conversation and to authentify one or both parties.
Those sound to me like very good reasons for using encryption regardless of whether it is "needed" or not. If i always use encryption, then I don't have to think about when to switch it on and off. It's always on.
I don't think anyone thinks it will prevent a targeted attack, but it does keep my ISP from sending me emails regarding all the Scooby Doo parady porn someone keeps downloading using my account.
I know. I'm just having fun with him because he's easy to troll.
Your statements are incorrect and the analogy is false.
How are my statements incorrect? You failed to mention that.
I expect[sic] you know that.
Wrong, I don't know that. Also, the word you were going for was "suspect, not "expect". To suspect means you have an idea, but no proof. To expect means to regard someone as doing something in the future. Learn the difference.
Using ad block will result in anti ad block s/w[sic] and ppl[sic] more exposed to drive by phishing /[sic] hijacking ads
Usng ad block will result in anti ad block smith and wesson and purple more exposed to drive by fishing pole attacks? I can't figure out what you're trying to say because it's not in English. We use the English language on Slashdot.
But you deserve nay are entitled to view it for no cost to you.
A website is essentially an advertisement - for the person or company that put it up. Putting ads on an ad is redundant. That's why you don't see commercials on the Home Shopping Network. It's already one big advertisement.
Presumably one puts a website up because they have information they would like to share. If that's true, then the site owner should pay the costs of distributing that information.
explain to me what you, a consumer, need 256 AES encryption for that you can't use 128 AES encryption for.
Easy answer - it's none of your business. Could be anything. Use your imagination. If I thought you needed to know, I'd tell you, but I don't and won't. That's how privacy works.
Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a mental illness and a form of child abuse. Her parents had a port permanently installed in the child's intestines when there was no medical reason to do so, and were now petitioning the doctors at BCH for even more invasive treatments.
Doctors at BCH examined the child, remember, and found no medical evidence to explain her symptoms. Removing the child from her parents is not something they undertook lightly, but in this case was warranted - the child's symptoms were much improved after being removed from her abusive parents. That her parents then turned "social media" to garner sympathy should also raise a big red flag. I'm going to side with the medical experts on this one.
It takes a special talent to miss the point so completely.
While it is true you can buy aspirin over the counter for a fraction of a penny per pill, that is not the same price you will be billed if you are hospitalized in the US and a nurse gives you the exact same aspirin. OP suggested, perhaps tongue-in-cheek, a price of $50 USD per pill. That's only about twice as much as reported here.
In L.A. I would not be surprised if they charge $50 per aspirin.
The idea, I imagine they believe, is that when you have to go to suffficient lengths to keep your data confidential, you will actually draw even *more* attention in the process, and even if you are not guilty of anything in particular, may find yourself more heavily scrutinized by the powers that be than the average individual.
The use of strong encryption in no way implies that you are "guilty" of anything or have "done something wrong."
It means you have taken proper and necessary steps to secure your data against unauthorized access. That is what all good digital citizens should be doing. Many don't, and that's why we see stories every week about a large data breach of names, addresses, social security numbers, etc. being handed over to criminals.
Since everyone is subject to suspicionless, unwarranted surveillance, it doesn't seem to me to be useful to be concerned about drawing even "more" attention to yourself. You're already under surveillance, by doing nothing at all. That's why we use of encryption.
Days like this I wish I'd never helped create the Internet or the tools you use, or let it escape from academia.
Cheer up, it's not the tools that are broken. It's greed. Avarice, one of the deadly sins, is wholly responsible for this abominable legislation.
Don't American politicians learn about basic civics anymore? What about the ideals upon which America was founded? Where's the reverence for principles such as "no unreasonable searches".
I was wondering the same thing. To me, Rubio just demonstrated why he is unqualified to hold the office he is campaigning for. The funny thing is, it was an unforced error. Saying nothing would have been much smarter than coming out against the Constitution.
42) Assange gets a brand new bullet opening his third eye as soon as his head gets out of the embassy.
I've just realized I honestly don't trust my government not to do that. There was a time I did. I've just seen too many cases of government officials feeling (or actually being) unconstrained by the Constitution and rule of law to believe that they won't disappear/torture/kill Assange. That's depressing, actually.
4. Reducing time between comments? That's only a concern if you have crap karma, and it's easy to go from zero to excellent in a few days, so anyone making any real contributions will quickly find this is not a problem.
I assure you as someone with the highest possible Karma rating that it is very much a problem for those of us who use basic security and privacy measures.
The number of times I've seen the message "Slow down, Cowboy! it's been 40 minutes since your last post! Give someone else a chance!
That's a bit of a slap in the face considering APK spams the board consistently and apparently no one cares.
HTTPS: This is the only site I visit that does not use HTTPS.
Unicode: I understand the reason not to support every Unicode character. That could be (ab)used by a malicious person to screw up your board. But there is a subset of Unicode characters Slashdot could support so users can copy and paste the material they need to. The ones that are perfectly safe and cover 99% of the use cases we need.
You report a crime, then you yourself can be detained and/or brought in and confined/imprisoned for questioning, even if you yourself are not suspect of any wrongdoing: it can be very stressful, bothersome, and inconvenient to spend days in police custody answering questions
That doesn't sound right. I reported a felony exactly two weeks ago and an officer just handed me a witness statement form. Filled it out, went down to the station to hand it in. Took about 20 minutes. I might have to testify if it goes to trial someday, but I think it's more likely they'll just plea.
As to the main topic, I thought it was already the law that IT workers were to report CP, much the same as doctors are required to report certain things. I don't fix PCs, though, so I don't really know.
... if money is speech (and I agree that it is, because money is used to buy media time to promote a message) ...
Perhaps it is, but ideally money does not equal speech. The idea that the more money you have the more speech you have (or more specifically, political access) is counter to the idea that all men are created equal.
The biggest problem with backdoors is not that they weaken encryption, although that's terrible.
The biggest problem I have is that they are implicitly asserting that they have the authority to everyone's data. My view is that they do not.
I view my personal data as classified, by me, for my eyes only. If anyone wants to see it they can ask nicely, and I'll decide whether to allow them access. Encryption is one tool I can use to ensure my private data stays private.
In an interesting article here former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden claims* to be strongly against backdoors in encryption. It's law enforcement (FBI, DEA, etc) that are pushing for backdoors, not US intelligence (NSA). Hayden's rather chilling rationale is that since the NSA doesn't have to follow any rules, they can do bulk data and metadata collection and largely obviate the need to break encryption.
* Not that you can believe a thing he says, it's still useful to be clear on whether it's law enforcement or an intelligence agency deceiving you.
The only real reason to run Windows outside of a VM today is, essentially, games and all the other applications that require certain hardware features. Which are few and far between by now.
The only reason I keep a Windows partition around is to run Cubase. I really wish there was something comparable for Linux, but the so-called "pro audio" tools for Linux aren't anywhere near the same quality.
Microsoft is tired of supporting old ass insecure software.
You mean the bug-ridden insecure software that they wrote, and then sold to you? And now you want to but the newest bug-ridden insecure software form the same company while everyone, including Microsoft laughs their asses off on how gullible people can be.
My sides are splitting. As long as there are astoundingly stupid people like you in the world, there's no reason to improve software quality. It's much more profitable and fun just to sell you more bugs.
As long as they got warrants (even if they're "John Doe" warrants), they're in the clear, methinks.
I suspect you are right but the problem I have is that the only information a judge receives when deciding whether to issue a warrant is provided soley by the LEO and the prosecution. There should be some mechanism for the accused to defend himself against malicious prosecution, IMHO.
Given the opportunity to only present one side of the story I could paint anyone as a baby-shaking, dog-kicking, drug-dealing, devil-worshiping, child-molesting, panty-sniffing terrorist psychopathic monster.
What judge is going to deny a warrant based on that presentation.
It was called "duck tape" because when wet, it shed water like a duck.
Well, that beats my theory that it was originally used when you needed to get all your ducks in a row.
This is why governments are spying on in game conversations nowadays.
Or so they claim. I suspect some enterprising agents found a way to get paid for playing games all day. That's what I'd do if I thought I could get away with it.