Hello fellow Slashdotters. Glad to see this topic is getting attention here. I'm the guy who started the Hacked by Mitt Romney Facebook group.
I was unknowingly signed up for Mitt Romney's page back on August 23rd. It was news to me that I was a Romney fan, but there I was, listed as a fan on his page. As an old-school geek who's been on the Internet for 20 years and works as a sysadmin (you know, they guy who tells others in the office not to click on things), I am certain that I did not click on anything by mistake.
Curiously, Facebook's Activity Log shows every like I've registered on the service since my account was created, yet it DOESN'T show me ever liking Mitt Romney's page. That's the biggest clue that this is some sort of hack. If I screwed up and clicked on something by mistake, this should be reflected in the Activity Log, right? But it's not. Then again, maybe I'm a super-hacker, able to scrub entries from Facebook records. But probably not!
I emailed Bill Pennington, the expert that the Mother Jones reporter contacted, asking him for his thoughts. He replied: "Sadly the people that hold all the cards are FB and I don’t really buy their story of accidental clicks on the mobile site, maybe some but not all."
My own research shows that there's virtually no way what happened to me (at least) is due to Facebook mobile. All of that is on my blog, www.markturner.net.
I am very, very angry that someone (perhaps Romney's campaign, perhaps someone working on his behalf) would put words into my mouth and hijack my online reputation for a cause in which I do not believe. I have little faith that Facebook will be forthcoming on how this is happening.
What I DO hope is that other Slashdot users can help uncover more of what's going on. Am I completely wrong? Overlooking something basic? Why do so many Facebook users report the same thing, even those without smartphones?
Oh, please! This is nothing but pilot-created bullshit designed to cover their asses. The plane was off course due to a laptop? A gameboy?
Um, is there a chance that Johnny Pilot is to blame here? Isn't that what pilot-in-command is supposed to mean?
Pilots aren't trained as radio engineers. They're trained to fly planes. Sometimes they do this poorly, but to point the finger at a child's toy is utterly ridiculous.
Planes are designed to inhabit the most RF-congested place on the planet: the airspace. What do you think causes the most interference? Little Timmy's cd player in row twelve, or the 100,000 watt, 1,000-foot radio towers near the airport?
Blaming these devices assumes the public is dumb and can't see the scam the airlines have perpretrated in pushing the expensive in-flight phone service. Give us some facts rather than this "suspected" crap. Let's see someone reputable reproduce these so-called anomolies before pinning the blame on them.
Cellphone-toting airline passengers are literally being taken for a ride.
This stuff is hilarious! A sample story from 1998:
IBM announces a 25 gigger Hardware Posted by Hemos on Wednesday November 11, @10:11AM from the why-i-could-put-3/4-my-cd-collection dept.
Booker writes "So IBM announces a 25 gig hard drive... does the world need this yet? Unless this is in a RAID, would you really want to trust 25 gigs on a single drive? What would you use this for? 400+ hours of MP3s comes to mind... "
The goal [is] to create a plane that might be simple to build and maintain, would be reliable, would produce no emissions, and would be inherently quiet.
Ibiblio was around long before most dot com's and has outlived most of them as well. Aside from a few name changes, it has stayed true to its roots.
Given the way the dot-com bust has changed the Internet landscape, would something like Ibiblio still be possible today? How has the Internet changed since Ibiblio was created?
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but look at the polar view of his flightpath. He's not near the equator, and he never crosses it.
What people seem to forget is that Fossett is flying a balloon, not a plane.
Unlike planes, balloons are at the mercy of the wind. As any sailor, pilot, or meterologist knows, there is very little wind at the equator. In order for Fossett to make his trip, he needed to find good, strong winds. He's no dummy, so he also charted a course away from ornery countries who don't appreciate millionaires flying through their airspace.
While it may not have been an equatorial course, it was still challenging nonetheless. Most people would have given up well before their sixth try.
While rockets may be useful for putting people into space, don't miss the story of Gerald Bull, the genius Canadian engineer who planned to put satellites into space using a "supergun."
To quote from the website mentioned above:
By the time he was done, he could launch a 180 kg projectile at 3600 m/s, which is about a third of escape velocity. He could hit altitudes of 180 km. That's not orbit, nor is 3600 m/s nearly enough to get things into orbit, but it showed what could be done. The whole project cost in the area of $10 million, chicken feed by missile standards.
He lived an unusual life, to be sure, working for various shady governments, mostly in a simple effort to make his vision reality. His work for Iraq, however, apparently cost him his life. He was assasinated in 1990.
Bull's dream of cheap satellite launches was left unfulfilled. And so the world still pushes all that heavy fuel into space.
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. has agreed to pay the state of Connecticut $325,000 for using fake reviews attributed to a Connecticut newspaper in promoting its films.
[...]
"What Sony did was like having a chef pose as a food critic and then give his own restaurant four stars," said James Fleming, the state's consumer protection commissioner.
Why are americans so hell-bent on imposing their value systems on everyone else? What the chinese do should be their business. If american companies want to do business with China, it will of course be done on the Chinese's terms -- critizising the companies for this is counter-productive.
Because it's the right thing to do, troll! Some things ought to be more important than the almighty dollar. We might not be able to stop China from oppressing its people, but we damn sure don't have to help them do it.
Western companies whoring themselves to the Chinese government should question whether this blood money is worth it. While I still enjoy my freedom of speech, I will be happy to let them know what I think.
As the subject of my post stated, terrorists don't care what hurdles get thrown between a plane flight and its passengers. The passengers, however, do care. At least the ones with better uses of their time.
"...clueless idiots...Idiots trying...Idiots who waste time..." It's clear from your language that you value your time and don't appreciate people wasting it. So why spend more time stuck in the security gauntlet?
"Both driving a car and taking a flight have rules of the road. If you don't like them then don't drive, and/or don't fly. "
As it happens, one "rule" I don't like is spending the same amount of time just boarding a flight as the flight itself. Don't you see what's wrong with this picture? It doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't be this way.
Is security lax? You betcha. Are there ways to streghthen it? Absolutely. But push the passenger (a.k.a. the "customer") too far and you will doom the airline industry.
All of these draconian rules will simply drive more and more people away from flying.
It's already a pain in the ass to board a plane two hours before takeoff, strip down to your underwear for the security screeners, and then wait on the tarmac for three more hours when the airport gets evacuated because the minimum-wage security screener was napping when somebody snuck through.
All this while the terrorists will do what they've always done: they'll case the airport, a little bit at a time, probing for every weakness. Then, when they're ready, they'll strike. And all we can ever do is play catch-up, closing the barn door after the horses are gone.
Now, I'm all for making the skies safe, but at some point the burdens outweigh the benefits. People already put up with a hell of a lot to fly somewhere. Add any more hassle and those planes will be flying empty.
Slashdot Mirror
Hello fellow Slashdotters. Glad to see this topic is getting attention here. I'm the guy who started the Hacked by Mitt Romney Facebook group.
I was unknowingly signed up for Mitt Romney's page back on August 23rd. It was news to me that I was a Romney fan, but there I was, listed as a fan on his page. As an old-school geek who's been on the Internet for 20 years and works as a sysadmin (you know, they guy who tells others in the office not to click on things), I am certain that I did not click on anything by mistake.
Curiously, Facebook's Activity Log shows every like I've registered on the service since my account was created, yet it DOESN'T show me ever liking Mitt Romney's page. That's the biggest clue that this is some sort of hack. If I screwed up and clicked on something by mistake, this should be reflected in the Activity Log, right? But it's not. Then again, maybe I'm a super-hacker, able to scrub entries from Facebook records. But probably not!
I emailed Bill Pennington, the expert that the Mother Jones reporter contacted, asking him for his thoughts. He replied:
"Sadly the people that hold all the cards are FB and I don’t really buy their story of accidental clicks on the mobile site, maybe some but not all."
My own research shows that there's virtually no way what happened to me (at least) is due to Facebook mobile. All of that is on my blog, www.markturner.net.
I am very, very angry that someone (perhaps Romney's campaign, perhaps someone working on his behalf) would put words into my mouth and hijack my online reputation for a cause in which I do not believe. I have little faith that Facebook will be forthcoming on how this is happening.
What I DO hope is that other Slashdot users can help uncover more of what's going on. Am I completely wrong? Overlooking something basic? Why do so many Facebook users report the same thing, even those without smartphones?
Mark Turner
Hacked by Mitt Romney Facebook group
Radio silence? An 802.11b-equipped ship is a sitting duck.
When someone builds an 802.11b-operated swab or deck buffer, then I'll be impressed!
FYI, Powerpoint is a clone of Harvard Graphics
Oh, please! This is nothing but pilot-created bullshit designed to cover their asses. The plane was off course due to a laptop? A gameboy?
Um, is there a chance that Johnny Pilot is to blame here? Isn't that what pilot-in-command is supposed to mean?
Pilots aren't trained as radio engineers. They're trained to fly planes. Sometimes they do this poorly, but to point the finger at a child's toy is utterly ridiculous.
Planes are designed to inhabit the most RF-congested place on the planet: the airspace. What do you think causes the most interference? Little Timmy's cd player in row twelve, or the 100,000 watt, 1,000-foot radio towers near the airport?
Blaming these devices assumes the public is dumb and can't see the scam the airlines have perpretrated in pushing the expensive in-flight phone service. Give us some facts rather than this "suspected" crap. Let's see someone reputable reproduce these so-called anomolies before pinning the blame on them.
Cellphone-toting airline passengers are literally being taken for a ride.
This stuff is hilarious! A sample story from 1998:
IBM announces a 25 gigger
Hardware Posted by Hemos on Wednesday November 11, @10:11AM
from the why-i-could-put-3/4-my-cd-collection dept.
Booker writes "So IBM announces a 25 gig hard drive... does the world need this yet? Unless this is in a RAID, would you really want to trust 25 gigs on a single drive? What would you use this for? 400+ hours of MP3s comes to mind... "
Read More...
64 comments
The goal [is] to create a plane that might be simple to build and maintain, would be reliable, would produce no emissions, and would be inherently quiet.
In other words, recreate the blimp.
For the love of God, please vote for her!
Vote for her because her ideas rock.
But also vote for her because she is running against Howard Coble, who is in the back pocket of the RIAA.
If you love the First Amendment and hate the DMCA, send Grubb to Congress!
how would you reform copyright?
Ibiblio was around long before most dot com's and has outlived most of them as well. Aside from a few name changes, it has stayed true to its roots.
Given the way the dot-com bust has changed the Internet landscape, would something like Ibiblio still be possible today? How has the Internet changed since Ibiblio was created?
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but look at the polar view of his flightpath. He's not near the equator, and he never crosses it.
What people seem to forget is that Fossett is flying a balloon, not a plane.
Unlike planes, balloons are at the mercy of the wind. As any sailor, pilot, or meterologist knows, there is very little wind at the equator. In order for Fossett to make his trip, he needed to find good, strong winds. He's no dummy, so he also charted a course away from ornery countries who don't appreciate millionaires flying through their airspace.
While it may not have been an equatorial course, it was still challenging nonetheless. Most people would have given up well before their sixth try.
My advice? Never pay heed to generalizations...
To quote from the website mentioned above:
He lived an unusual life, to be sure, working for various shady governments, mostly in a simple effort to make his vision reality. His work for Iraq, however, apparently cost him his life. He was assasinated in 1990.
Bull's dream of cheap satellite launches was left unfulfilled. And so the world still pushes all that heavy fuel into space.
He was a true hacker.
Friday I was looking into getting a microscope. Some of the video ones at Edmund Scientific cost over US$500. This is a bargain!
Thanks, Slashdot!!
If you consider a machine just the hardware without the software ... then it's life will end as you bash>fdisk /dev/sd0.
Is this where zombie processes come from?
It may be a bit offtopic, but since you asked (and hey, this is Slashdot after all)...
Sony Pictures settles suit over phony reviews
Why are americans so hell-bent on imposing their value systems on everyone else? What the chinese do should be their business. If american
companies want to do business with China, it will of course be done on the Chinese's terms -- critizising the companies for this is counter-productive.
Because it's the right thing to do, troll! Some things ought to be more important than the almighty dollar. We might not be able to stop China from oppressing its people, but we damn sure don't have to help them do it.
Western companies whoring themselves to the Chinese government should question whether this blood money is worth it. While I still enjoy my freedom of speech, I will be happy to let them know what I think.
As the subject of my post stated, terrorists don't care what hurdles get thrown between a plane flight and its passengers. The passengers, however, do care. At least the ones with better uses of their time.
"...clueless idiots...Idiots trying...Idiots who waste time..."
It's clear from your language that you value your time and don't appreciate people wasting it. So why spend more time stuck in the security gauntlet?
"Both driving a car and taking a flight have rules of the road. If you don't like them then don't drive, and/or don't fly. "
As it happens, one "rule" I don't like is spending the same amount of time just boarding a flight as the flight itself. Don't you see what's wrong with this picture? It doesn't have to be this way, and it shouldn't be this way.
Is security lax? You betcha. Are there ways to streghthen it? Absolutely. But push the passenger (a.k.a. the "customer") too far and you will doom the airline industry.
Read what happened to Microsoft Chief Architect Charles Simonyi when he got profiled at an airport.
All of these draconian rules will simply drive more and more people away from flying.
It's already a pain in the ass to board a plane two hours before takeoff, strip down to your underwear for the security screeners, and then wait on the tarmac for three more hours when the airport gets evacuated because the minimum-wage security screener was napping when somebody snuck through.
All this while the terrorists will do what they've always done: they'll case the airport, a little bit at a time, probing for every weakness. Then, when they're ready, they'll strike. And all we can ever do is play catch-up, closing the barn door after the horses are gone.
Now, I'm all for making the skies safe, but at some point the burdens outweigh the benefits. People already put up with a hell of a lot to fly somewhere. Add any more hassle and those planes will be flying empty.
So all this time the "MAKE MONEY FAST!!!" spam was just an SEC hoax? Whodathunkit?
A super-secret Al-Queda laptop magically falls into US hands.
Those US hands just happen to be reporters for the Wall Street Journal.
Even though the drive is encrypted, said reporters somehow figure out it's an Al-Queda laptop.
Our reporters, being extroadinarily tech-savvy like most reporters, put their newsroom supercomputers to work decrypting the drive.
The evidence they find miraculously provides the first ties between Richard "The Hapless Shoe Bomber" Reid and Al-Queda.
What an incredible stroke of good fortune! Figure the odds!
If you believe this story, I've got a great ski resort in Tora Bora to sell you.
He was/is a citizen of the USA.
Er, no. Reid is a Brit. That's why he had a British passport.
"Leave only rovertracks. Take only pictures."
Err, right you are.
I guess my old economics textbook could be used for better things than propping up my monitor...
If everyone starts buying Xboxes, the cost will go down.
Now that's rich. I challenge you to name any Microsoft product where the price has dropped with mass production.
The cost of PC's has fallen to become an unbelievable value. The cost of the Microsoft software kindly preloaded on those PC's? Just the opposite.
Some "innovation," Bill. Sheesh...