"All the News Corp. executives used to tell the same story"
Right there is the first indication that they were all lying. When everyone is telling the truth, or as much truth as they know, there will ALWAYS be inconsistencies. When there are no inconsistencies to be found, then you are looking at a conspiracy. Simple human nature tells you that much. You don't even need to have 20 years of investigative experience behind you to figure it out. Hell, ten years of parenting teaches that much to uneducated lackwits! Common sense, people - use it!
Incompetence and hamfistedness. Good reasons for anyone, or for any business, to move to the cloud, huh? No matter how reliable the servers are, you're still subject to someone's interpretation of a TOS, or a court ruling, or just some CEO's opinion of your content and/or data.
I like having all my stuff on my own hard drives, thank you - without any indexing by Google or any other service provider.
"Hacking" in it's purest form is exploring, probing, questioning, thinking, about a solution to a problem.
Thank you. I've often pointed out at places like CNN and other news forums, that the world's most famous "hackers" include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and LInus Torvalds. Even here, on slashdot, where people should know better, half or more of the idiots assume that hacking is or should be a criminal offense, punishable by death.
The general may or may not be capable of thinking outside the box - but I guarantee that he has troops who are capable. I was Navy, rather than Army. We spent a lot of time thinking, inside, outside, under and over the box. Of six commanding officers, one was a VERY imaginative person, two more were only slightly less imaginative, and the others were more or less average in that respect. Box thinkers, but capable of following a train of thought that left the boxy station.
Clue - military people are like civilians, in that everyone is an individual. You can't summarize how military people think - especially if you're not even a military person.
Backtrack Linux. They are giving away the entire aresenal - for FREE! Just download it, and you've got ALL THE FREAKING WEAPONS! Mass mayhem, for free, no regulation at all. It must be the endtimes, or some such drivel.
You're an idiot. The economy tanked while GW Bush was the president. I like Obama for some reasons, and dislike him for other reasons. But you don't get to rewrite history, and blame today's shit economy on him. He INHERITED this mess we're in.
Actually, I'm pretty much in agreement with BLKMGK on that. Every three months, it seems, there's a new freaking law put on the books. Why on earth do we need yet another law? Aaron's has already broken a number of laws regarding wiretapping and invasion of privacy. They have probably broken a number of laws concerning disclosure of the terms of a contract - nowhere have I read that the plaintiff was told about the spyware, or that it was incorporated into the contract in any fashion.
How 'bout we just apply the existing laws, whack Aaron's peepee with a huge rubber mallet, take all their profits for a non-trivial length of time, stick them with all the legal costs, effectively announcing to the world that "It ain't cool to spy on customers!"
I posted above, stating that it's alright for Aaron's to track their property - but that tracking should be as unintrusive as possible. It's simply wrong to take those screenshots, webcam images, and personal data. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and there are plenty of laws to cover it already.
That little fact is key to the case. Obviously, Aaron's sells computers with spyware on them, then neglects to remove said spyware when the computer is no longer their property to spy on.
But, I have problems with the scope of the spying anyway. All they NEED is some software that will give the home server the physical location of the computer. There are computers with such a feature enabled in the BIOS. Why isn't Aaron's using that feature, or something very similar? They certainly do NOT need screenshots, webcam images, or keyloggers. Just have the computer "phone home" to report it's IP address, then contact the phone company to determine where that IP address is physically located.
So - maybe they miss a laptop a few times, because it was being used at McDonald's at the time the IP addy report was sent. No biggy - just wait for another report to come in. It isn't like Aaron's is going to go broke because they have to wait an extra week, or even an extra month, to repossess a damned computer!
Tracking their property is ethical, I think, but that tracking should be as unobtrusive as possible, ie, they collect ONLY as much information as necessary to recover their property.
Actually - that page makes me think of two things. 1970's used car dealer commercials were pretty damned corny. This guy would have fit right into Youngstown, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh in that time.
But, the FIRST thing I though of when I saw the guy's pic was, "Oh no, Chinese Junior Samples!"
"If somebody asked me for directions to my house - " I tell 'em "Five miles north of Foreman, left on county road 116." If they aren't smart enough to find my house with those directions, I don't want them on my property. Hell, they might be dumb enough to do a swan dive into the well, or something, then sue me! And, it ain't just liberals who would do such a thing these days, either!
It's just mind boggling that people can't give or take directions anymore. Someone asked in a forum if the internet made you stupid. I wanted to argue "Not only NO, but HELL NO, the internet doesn't make you stupid!" Then, my kid walked through the room with his GPS positioning dohicky, apparently trying to figure out if he was home yet!
Your ass. George Bush, about ten congresses, and Barrack Obama have thrown that word around, til it's almost meaningless. Throw in all the cops and activist groups who define a misbehaving child as being "terroristic", and the word has lost all value. Some punk kid tells another punk, "I'm gonna tear your head off, and piss down the hole under it!" he is immediately branded a terrorist.
FFS, dicking around with electronic records does NOT constitute terrorism.
Pull your head out of your ass, take a few deep breaths so as to get some oxygen to your poor starved brain, and just TRY to think about what you've said.
The United States doesn't actually have 50 "states". In fact, there are - uhhhh - 46 states, I think, and 4 commonwealths. In practice, there is almost no difference between a state and a commonwealth. But, there are some subtle legal differences. Some of those differences come into play when discussing issues of "states rights".
I did a couple quick google searches, and I find as much mindless drivel as anything. If you care to learn more, you'll have to devote more than 60 seconds to research, sorry.
You're a douche. Have you missed all the studies about how the human eye works with the human brain to read? FFS, you can type an entire page of stuff with missing letters, misspellings, even missing words, and the reader will just read past them. Grow up and understand that while YOUR eyes and brain may bring you to a complete halt when a single letter is unexpected, most people don't do that.
I'll agree though, with your comment about driving. People who see what they expect to see are certain death on the highway.
Now, just because I agree with part of a douche's post doesn't mean he's not a douche. Don't go feeling good about yourself because of it!
Larry and Sergie and I were having dinner a few days ago, and talking about having the world by the short hairs. Yes, they really do have the world by the short hairs, no questions asked. But, occasionally, the do get an underendowed anonymous coward by the balls. There's just no hair to grab hold of, so they reach a little to far. Maybe you could wear a toupee down there, or something?
Why can't you change your life to become happy? I've done it. In fact, I had a discussion with my boss just a couple weeks ago. He finally caught on to the fact that I'm not a "company man". I laughed, and told him he was damned RIGHT that I wasn't a company man. No ulcers, no worries, no tossing and turning in bed at night. I flat out told him why I work there - it's because I like my work. Just fuck with me, and take the pleasure out of my work, and I'm history. Jobs may be hard to find nowadays, but I'll find something.
I hate grammar nazis, really. But - your post is rather intriguing. Would that properly be "Fuck yourselves, mods" or did you get it right with "Fuck yourself mods". Hmmmm./me scratches head
This question seems ironic, in light of the discussion that it is found in. Aren't we "techies"? Aren't we discussing anti-tracking, and along the way, advertising? I don't SEE advertisements at slashdot - and I've never bothered to "disable advertisements" due to my karma.
The Geek Police will probably be along shortly to revoke your card . . .
You do realize that the Ottoman Empire has been gone for quite some time? I made mention of the nation of Turkey, and your own link mentions:
The Republic of Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies the word genocide is an accurate description of the events (see Denial of the Armenian Genocide).[24] In recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide. To date, twenty countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view.
Personally, I've never researched the Armenian Disapora as it probably deserves. I don't have a real opinion on the debate as to whether it qualifies as a genocide. The fact that so many Armenians survive around the world suggests something slightly less than genocide, but as I say, I've not researched it.
But, again, the Ottoman Empire is gone, and it's a bit difficult to hold the nation that replaced it as accountable for the Ottoman's actions.
Yes, "we" in rural America are aware of a lot of things. Sorry, but if you were hoping to be accepted as a "good old boy", I think you missed. But, don't feel to badly - I'm not one either.
Yeah, and restaurants are PRIVATE entities. If they don't want to seat Blacks, Asians, or Catholics, they should be free to do as they feel necessary. If you don't like the policy, take your business elsewhere.
Yeah, it's a little bit of "divide and conquer" in the works here. 10, 15, perhaps 20% of air travelers get this "trusted" status. The rest of the herd has to tolerate the indignities, and obviously they deserve it. If they were "trustworthy", after all, they would be like "us", cutting in at the head of the line.
So, with a special class of elites to show off, the TSA will get away with yet greater indignities imposed on the unwashed masses.
Didn't Orwell work this same thing into his story?
Ho-hum. Yes, here in Rural America, we are aware of your biased misconceptions in the cities. Your brand of bumpkins are a rare breed, indeed. My kind of country bumpkins are found all over America. My kind make excellent doctors, lawyers, engineers, and more.
I think what you're really looking for in your analogy, is a snake oil salesman.
Slashdot Mirror
You're a fekking cynic. Do you have any other good traits, or is that your only one?
"All the News Corp. executives used to tell the same story"
Right there is the first indication that they were all lying. When everyone is telling the truth, or as much truth as they know, there will ALWAYS be inconsistencies. When there are no inconsistencies to be found, then you are looking at a conspiracy. Simple human nature tells you that much. You don't even need to have 20 years of investigative experience behind you to figure it out. Hell, ten years of parenting teaches that much to uneducated lackwits! Common sense, people - use it!
Incompetence and hamfistedness. Good reasons for anyone, or for any business, to move to the cloud, huh? No matter how reliable the servers are, you're still subject to someone's interpretation of a TOS, or a court ruling, or just some CEO's opinion of your content and/or data.
I like having all my stuff on my own hard drives, thank you - without any indexing by Google or any other service provider.
"Hacking" in it's purest form is exploring, probing, questioning, thinking, about a solution to a problem.
Thank you. I've often pointed out at places like CNN and other news forums, that the world's most famous "hackers" include Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and LInus Torvalds. Even here, on slashdot, where people should know better, half or more of the idiots assume that hacking is or should be a criminal offense, punishable by death.
The general may or may not be capable of thinking outside the box - but I guarantee that he has troops who are capable. I was Navy, rather than Army. We spent a lot of time thinking, inside, outside, under and over the box. Of six commanding officers, one was a VERY imaginative person, two more were only slightly less imaginative, and the others were more or less average in that respect. Box thinkers, but capable of following a train of thought that left the boxy station.
Clue - military people are like civilians, in that everyone is an individual. You can't summarize how military people think - especially if you're not even a military person.
Backtrack Linux. They are giving away the entire aresenal - for FREE! Just download it, and you've got ALL THE FREAKING WEAPONS! Mass mayhem, for free, no regulation at all. It must be the endtimes, or some such drivel.
You're an idiot. The economy tanked while GW Bush was the president. I like Obama for some reasons, and dislike him for other reasons. But you don't get to rewrite history, and blame today's shit economy on him. He INHERITED this mess we're in.
Actually, I'm pretty much in agreement with BLKMGK on that. Every three months, it seems, there's a new freaking law put on the books. Why on earth do we need yet another law? Aaron's has already broken a number of laws regarding wiretapping and invasion of privacy. They have probably broken a number of laws concerning disclosure of the terms of a contract - nowhere have I read that the plaintiff was told about the spyware, or that it was incorporated into the contract in any fashion.
How 'bout we just apply the existing laws, whack Aaron's peepee with a huge rubber mallet, take all their profits for a non-trivial length of time, stick them with all the legal costs, effectively announcing to the world that "It ain't cool to spy on customers!"
I posted above, stating that it's alright for Aaron's to track their property - but that tracking should be as unintrusive as possible. It's simply wrong to take those screenshots, webcam images, and personal data. Wrong, wrong, wrong, and there are plenty of laws to cover it already.
That little fact is key to the case. Obviously, Aaron's sells computers with spyware on them, then neglects to remove said spyware when the computer is no longer their property to spy on.
But, I have problems with the scope of the spying anyway. All they NEED is some software that will give the home server the physical location of the computer. There are computers with such a feature enabled in the BIOS. Why isn't Aaron's using that feature, or something very similar? They certainly do NOT need screenshots, webcam images, or keyloggers. Just have the computer "phone home" to report it's IP address, then contact the phone company to determine where that IP address is physically located.
So - maybe they miss a laptop a few times, because it was being used at McDonald's at the time the IP addy report was sent. No biggy - just wait for another report to come in. It isn't like Aaron's is going to go broke because they have to wait an extra week, or even an extra month, to repossess a damned computer!
Tracking their property is ethical, I think, but that tracking should be as unobtrusive as possible, ie, they collect ONLY as much information as necessary to recover their property.
Actually - that page makes me think of two things. 1970's used car dealer commercials were pretty damned corny. This guy would have fit right into Youngstown, Cleveland, or Pittsburgh in that time.
But, the FIRST thing I though of when I saw the guy's pic was, "Oh no, Chinese Junior Samples!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeDX6ESys10
"If somebody asked me for directions to my house - " I tell 'em "Five miles north of Foreman, left on county road 116." If they aren't smart enough to find my house with those directions, I don't want them on my property. Hell, they might be dumb enough to do a swan dive into the well, or something, then sue me! And, it ain't just liberals who would do such a thing these days, either!
It's just mind boggling that people can't give or take directions anymore. Someone asked in a forum if the internet made you stupid. I wanted to argue "Not only NO, but HELL NO, the internet doesn't make you stupid!" Then, my kid walked through the room with his GPS positioning dohicky, apparently trying to figure out if he was home yet!
Your ass. George Bush, about ten congresses, and Barrack Obama have thrown that word around, til it's almost meaningless. Throw in all the cops and activist groups who define a misbehaving child as being "terroristic", and the word has lost all value. Some punk kid tells another punk, "I'm gonna tear your head off, and piss down the hole under it!" he is immediately branded a terrorist.
FFS, dicking around with electronic records does NOT constitute terrorism.
Pull your head out of your ass, take a few deep breaths so as to get some oxygen to your poor starved brain, and just TRY to think about what you've said.
Totally
Fucking
Meaningless
Soundbyte
Drivel
The United States doesn't actually have 50 "states". In fact, there are - uhhhh - 46 states, I think, and 4 commonwealths. In practice, there is almost no difference between a state and a commonwealth. But, there are some subtle legal differences. Some of those differences come into play when discussing issues of "states rights".
I did a couple quick google searches, and I find as much mindless drivel as anything. If you care to learn more, you'll have to devote more than 60 seconds to research, sorry.
You're a douche. Have you missed all the studies about how the human eye works with the human brain to read? FFS, you can type an entire page of stuff with missing letters, misspellings, even missing words, and the reader will just read past them. Grow up and understand that while YOUR eyes and brain may bring you to a complete halt when a single letter is unexpected, most people don't do that.
I'll agree though, with your comment about driving. People who see what they expect to see are certain death on the highway.
Now, just because I agree with part of a douche's post doesn't mean he's not a douche. Don't go feeling good about yourself because of it!
Larry and Sergie and I were having dinner a few days ago, and talking about having the world by the short hairs. Yes, they really do have the world by the short hairs, no questions asked. But, occasionally, the do get an underendowed anonymous coward by the balls. There's just no hair to grab hold of, so they reach a little to far. Maybe you could wear a toupee down there, or something?
I wonder if there is any correlation between Bing users, and American Idiot watchers. God, I hope I never get to be part of the mainstream audience!
Why can't you change your life to become happy? I've done it. In fact, I had a discussion with my boss just a couple weeks ago. He finally caught on to the fact that I'm not a "company man". I laughed, and told him he was damned RIGHT that I wasn't a company man. No ulcers, no worries, no tossing and turning in bed at night. I flat out told him why I work there - it's because I like my work. Just fuck with me, and take the pleasure out of my work, and I'm history. Jobs may be hard to find nowadays, but I'll find something.
I hate grammar nazis, really. But - your post is rather intriguing. Would that properly be "Fuck yourselves, mods" or did you get it right with "Fuck yourself mods". Hmmmm. /me scratches head
This question seems ironic, in light of the discussion that it is found in. Aren't we "techies"? Aren't we discussing anti-tracking, and along the way, advertising? I don't SEE advertisements at slashdot - and I've never bothered to "disable advertisements" due to my karma.
The Geek Police will probably be along shortly to revoke your card . . .
You do realize that the Ottoman Empire has been gone for quite some time? I made mention of the nation of Turkey, and your own link mentions:
The Republic of Turkey, the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, denies the word genocide is an accurate description of the events (see Denial of the Armenian Genocide).[24] In recent years, it has faced repeated calls to accept the events as genocide. To date, twenty countries have officially recognized the events of the period as genocide, and most genocide scholars and historians accept this view.
Personally, I've never researched the Armenian Disapora as it probably deserves. I don't have a real opinion on the debate as to whether it qualifies as a genocide. The fact that so many Armenians survive around the world suggests something slightly less than genocide, but as I say, I've not researched it.
But, again, the Ottoman Empire is gone, and it's a bit difficult to hold the nation that replaced it as accountable for the Ottoman's actions.
ROFLMAO
Yes, "we" in rural America are aware of a lot of things. Sorry, but if you were hoping to be accepted as a "good old boy", I think you missed. But, don't feel to badly - I'm not one either.
So, I think you've just come to the conclusion that the military might rightfully disregard and disobey the orders of a civilian?
That's the point I was trying to make, after all.
Yeah, and restaurants are PRIVATE entities. If they don't want to seat Blacks, Asians, or Catholics, they should be free to do as they feel necessary. If you don't like the policy, take your business elsewhere.
Yeah, it's a little bit of "divide and conquer" in the works here. 10, 15, perhaps 20% of air travelers get this "trusted" status. The rest of the herd has to tolerate the indignities, and obviously they deserve it. If they were "trustworthy", after all, they would be like "us", cutting in at the head of the line.
So, with a special class of elites to show off, the TSA will get away with yet greater indignities imposed on the unwashed masses.
Didn't Orwell work this same thing into his story?
Ho-hum. Yes, here in Rural America, we are aware of your biased misconceptions in the cities. Your brand of bumpkins are a rare breed, indeed. My kind of country bumpkins are found all over America. My kind make excellent doctors, lawyers, engineers, and more.
I think what you're really looking for in your analogy, is a snake oil salesman.