So you are now saying that you have proof that the NSA is actively spying on judges in order to collect information so they can pressure the judge to make a particular ruling?
"It is impossible to convey information at a speed faster than c. " It could be possible and we just have not discovered it yet. Unless you know something and just haven't got around to sharing yet. We have a lot of theories and mathematical constructs but if just one of these theories is wrong we would have to re-evaluate all of the assumptions. Especially since some of the baseline theories are based upon mathematical equations that have needed to numerical constants added to make the equations actually work.
So you don't like the courts decision so they must be being blackmailed by the NSA? This kind of reasoning has made the truth inconsequential in todays society. Anything that validates your particular viewpoint automatically becomes true and every thing else is a conspiracy and patently untrue.
It certainly has had non-US nationals working with and for NASA ever since Von Braun was sent to the US after WW2. He was the key rocket designer used in the first moon landing while also working on the US ICBM program. China sends their scientists and astronauts to the US for consulting and training. And it is not nationalism to point out anything that might be considered good coming from the US. Of course I know that is preposterous in today's climate when history is being re-written everyday by people who do not know anything about history outside of what they read on their favorite online blog. One idiot throws out a line of unsupported bullshit and 40 more idiots join the fan club. After all If 40 people agreed with the first idiot it has to be true doesn't it? And then the facts get replaced by dogma and idiocy the continues spreading.
The back to the stone age choice of course. It's a total waste of people and money to end a conflict without any ambiguity as to who one and who lost. If you are not prepared for that course of action you should do nothing. And today the US should have a firm policy that does nothing until someone directly threatens American interests.
When it comes to advanced tech capabilities (plus possession of really big pair of balls) the NSA has shown the world they have pretty much powned the Internet. I doubt they waste much time developing web sites. And when other countries setup their own space initiatives they rely heavily and almost exclusively on technology and operational experience collected from the US or old USSR programs. And while there is nothing wrong with using information gained from someone else's efforts none of them pioneered the technology and processes needed to get to the Moon or anywhere else for that matter. The only other country that can honestly claim they innovated something new is the USSR although chances are good the KGB was able to get hold of any US research to help them keep up. The US is still at the forefront of developing space technology. The replacement of the shuttle program with the X-37 program offers a re-usable space that can provide quick turn around times, ground breaking orbital maneuvering capabilities, stealth, and vastly increased mission time. With the manned version of the X-37 being built the US will own earths orbital spaces. If China or any other country even comes close to claiming exclusive rights to the moon or any where else you would see the US space programs go full tilt with no concerns about the cost. Say what you want about the US but the general population loves a good "us versus them fight" which can provide ample political cover for increasing the government funding. After all it was the US vs. USSR cold war power struggle that made the US moon missions possible.
The US government screwed the armed services in Vietnam and Iraq. The military successfully killed everything that they were pitted against only to have the politicians come in and stop the military right before they finished the job. In the first Iraq war the military was stopped from marching into Baghdad and finishing the job which resulted in the US having to go back 10 years later to do what they should have done the first time around.
The US has better things to do than waste resources on running a orbital delivery service. The US still retains the capability to deliver supplies to the space station if there was an emergency using their X-37 space plane. I wonder when Russia, China, or any other country will voice strident protests concerning the X-37 which gives the US a perfect platform from which to conduct anti-satellite missions.
Implementing existing technology is a lot different than creating it. I can plug a power cord into the outlet to power my computer and use it but I sure as hell couldn't build a computer from scratch or construct a power grid. Using existing technology also allows you to bypass the costly R&D expense. There is really nothing wrong with using existing technology no matter where it came from but in this case some people seem to believe China is leaping ahead of others when it comes to technological innovation. To be fair the US, USSR, France, England, and a few others all benefited from the German technology and scientists seized after WW2. The US actually brought Von Braun to the states to lead their rocket programs and he played a significant role in the first Moon landings while advancing the development of the US ICBM's at the same time. My comment is a response to all those who are claiming that the Chinese lander means they are somehow leaping over the US when it comes to advancing space technology. The same people who use the termination of the shuttle program as an example of disappearing US space programs. The shuttle program ran it's course and provided a wealth of data on space operations as well as provided a test bed for new technologies over the past 25 years. The shuttle program was replaced by the unmanned X-37 space plane which has been conducting orbital ops for the past 3 years and a manned version that holds up to 6 people is already being tested.
It only took Chine over 40 years to achieve the same OMG moment that the US had in 69. And their lander is unmanned to boot! Not to mention that China's space program consists of Russian technology sold in the USSR yard sale when they were hard up for cash and they basically stole the rest from the US and the other countries that actually R&D new technology and not just use the technology others have developed. Should the US ramp up to have another OMG moon landing just to prove they can still do it? Why not just spend the money on advancing robotic landers and probe technology to investigate the solar system?
Lockeed has designed, built, and delivered ground breaking avionic technology for over 50 years. They are the poster child of Free Enterprise Innovation. We will not enter space in any meaningful way until the technology needed to protect and sustain a human being become more mature. We have had the technology to plant someone's ass on Mars ever since the 60's. Supporting someone once they are there is an entirely different animal. The technology could advance rapidly if we wanted to spend unlimited funds in a crash project but even then why would you pay all that money to put someone on Mars when the unmanned landers already there are capable of providing the same amount of data.
The "free speech zones" first became headline news when it involved protesting during an presidential election period. It was determined the security risk of letting an uncontrolled number of people mob the people protected by the secret service was to big. They setup the zones so people could still express their views and not unnecessarily endanger those being protested against. It's a sensible tradeoff that in today's world is hard to argue against.
Nobody has ever shown any detailed proof of government backdoors in their products. But hey facts really have nothing to do with today's shallow thinking.
"security-by-obscurity." is the default security for internet traffic. The sheer amount of traffic alone makes the data hard to analyze unless you know before hand who you are trying to locate. The most advanced keyword algorithms can return millions of hits per day which require additional human attention. Maybe it's why the government stopped trying to collect the bulk internet traffic a few years ago because it required a huge amount of resources but produced no real benefits. Any chance Snowden will release the documents related to scaling down and abandoning the entire program?
If the US needed someone in orbit I am pretty sure they could make it happen without to much trouble. They have used the unmanned X-37B in operations for nearly 2 years and the manned version is already being tested. Let someone else be responsible for the taxi and delivery services to the space station and let the US concentrate on developing more advanced technology. The type of technology China can steal once all the R&D has been conducted by others.
The first thing people should to do is understand the difference between privacy versus anonymity. The former can be somewhat achieved depending on ones actions but not 100% and the latter is impossible to achieve unless you live in a cave and do not use any modern electronic devices while also staying away from anywhere that might be under video surveillance such as stores, ATM's, and even roads. The government has had the ability to track or identify someone long before the Internet came on the scene. SS numbers, birth certificates, drivers licenses, marriage licenses, property deeds,car registry, and the mother load of personal information contained in your federal and state tax filings. Phone metadata has also existed in one form or another by the service providers for billing purposes.
"The american government has repeatedly shown they have no real interest in space exploration "
How do you explain all the unmanned probes flying around and even flying out of the solar system? Or the various Mars landers which have been instrumental in testing the various technologies and capabilities needed for further space exploration? Or the X-37B reusable space plane that has been flying missions into orbit for the last 4+ years? Or the manned version of the X-37B currently being tested? Looks like someone in the US is still interested in space exploration and developing the technologies needed to expand space exploration. Add in the private companies willing to risk huge sums of money for potential profits well into the future and space exploration is being pursued quite vigorously. Also you may want to check into the Chinese defense budget a little closer. Their budget has been growing exponentially over the past 15 years and that is assuming that the budget numbers the Chinese government publishes. If they want to go to the moon good for them. The US has already been their a couple of times and discovered there really is not a whole lot to see other than some rocks. Maybe in the future it will be possible to build a base on the moon but there are still some technologies needed to protect humans for extended trips into space.
Now here is the main problem I have. If the NSA is actually capable of doing all they are accused of why would Wikileaks offer any barrier to them finding out where the data came from?
Snowden's transgressions have absolutely nothing to do with freedom of speech. He has admitted taking a job for the express purpose of stealing classified information. That is not a trumped up charge or part of any new law. If he had released only the information related to internal US surveillance programs he could have probably got a slap on the hand in return for not releasing the information on foreign intelligence programs. However with the unconditional support of glory seeking and book deal craving journalists he walked himself right into a text book definition of violating espionage laws which are over 80 years old and have noting to do with the Patriot Act or any other new law. Now he has no leverage and he will be under threat of arrest for the remainder of his life. Assange on the other hand didn't actually steal anything he just passed on the information. Not being a US citizen he cannot be charged with espionage. He did not enter into any binding agreements that restricted the dissemination of any of the data. The most he could ever have been charged with is receiving stolen property and even that charge is far fetched because the different press organizations do the same thing. And the US government is probably content that Assange has basically checked himself into prison. He is living in a small bedroom inside an embassy that could ask him to leave at any time. Could jail really be any worse?
People like to protest but no one ever seems to be able to offer up a viable and realistic course of action to correct whatever injustice they are protesting against. Tearing down governments, industries, or other society structures is relatively easy but without a clear plan of action for afterward you usually end up making things worse than they were before the protesting.
The FBI, CIA, or the NSA are not collecting credit card information or other personal data used to commit online fraud against the average citizen. If your credit card information or your SSN has ever been compromised your screwed. If you live in the US I assure you the government already has a lot of your personal data. Just your SSN and Tax Returns provide everything the government would need to find you if they wanted to. Of course they have had this data long before the Internet ever came into play. The FBI, CIA, and NSA are not randomly publishing the confidential information in every media outlet on the planet regardless of the consequences large or small. The FBI, CIA, and NSA are not launching nuisance attacks to tie up or deface websites. As a matter of fact there has been no verifiable proof that the FBI, CIA, or NSA has caused any harm to US citizens or misused the data collected. So far all the complaints and accusations are about what they "could" do not what they are actually "doing" with the information. If everything published about the NSA capabilities is true then they would certainly be able to identify the people behind these type of attacks. After all they are supposedly intercepting and storing all the traffic moving on the Internet. The have supposedly cracked SSL, TOR, and other encryption systems used by companies and individuals. They are suppose to be able to compromise Google data centers as well as other large data centers at will. With all these capabilities tracking IP's back through multiple proxies is child's play in comparison. But it's always possible that the capabilities ascribed to the NSA are exaggerated in the extreme. Personally I am more worried about private and public corporations collecting and selling my data and online habits to others for profit. Hell Google drives down every street they can find collecting addresses and scanning for active Wi-Fi signals. Of course they just want to improve their mapping applications and they swear they are telling the truth about their motives.
His sentence is primarily to make others stop and re-think their actions. The people engaging in hacking into systems seem to think they are doing nothing wrong so the law really doesn't apply to them.
You do know that the biggest US creditor is the US Federal Reserve? All others holding US debt such the Chinese who buy US securities only account for around 4-6% of all outstanding debt.
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So you are now saying that you have proof that the NSA is actively spying on judges in order to collect information so they can pressure the judge to make a particular ruling?
"It is impossible to convey information at a speed faster than c. " It could be possible and we just have not discovered it yet. Unless you know something and just haven't got around to sharing yet. We have a lot of theories and mathematical constructs but if just one of these theories is wrong we would have to re-evaluate all of the assumptions. Especially since some of the baseline theories are based upon mathematical equations that have needed to numerical constants added to make the equations actually work.
So you don't like the courts decision so they must be being blackmailed by the NSA? This kind of reasoning has made the truth inconsequential in todays society. Anything that validates your particular viewpoint automatically becomes true and every thing else is a conspiracy and patently untrue.
It certainly has had non-US nationals working with and for NASA ever since Von Braun was sent to the US after WW2. He was the key rocket designer used in the first moon landing while also working on the US ICBM program. China sends their scientists and astronauts to the US for consulting and training. And it is not nationalism to point out anything that might be considered good coming from the US. Of course I know that is preposterous in today's climate when history is being re-written everyday by people who do not know anything about history outside of what they read on their favorite online blog. One idiot throws out a line of unsupported bullshit and 40 more idiots join the fan club. After all If 40 people agreed with the first idiot it has to be true doesn't it? And then the facts get replaced by dogma and idiocy the continues spreading.
The back to the stone age choice of course. It's a total waste of people and money to end a conflict without any ambiguity as to who one and who lost. If you are not prepared for that course of action you should do nothing. And today the US should have a firm policy that does nothing until someone directly threatens American interests.
When it comes to advanced tech capabilities (plus possession of really big pair of balls) the NSA has shown the world they have pretty much powned the Internet. I doubt they waste much time developing web sites. And when other countries setup their own space initiatives they rely heavily and almost exclusively on technology and operational experience collected from the US or old USSR programs. And while there is nothing wrong with using information gained from someone else's efforts none of them pioneered the technology and processes needed to get to the Moon or anywhere else for that matter. The only other country that can honestly claim they innovated something new is the USSR although chances are good the KGB was able to get hold of any US research to help them keep up. The US is still at the forefront of developing space technology. The replacement of the shuttle program with the X-37 program offers a re-usable space that can provide quick turn around times, ground breaking orbital maneuvering capabilities, stealth, and vastly increased mission time. With the manned version of the X-37 being built the US will own earths orbital spaces. If China or any other country even comes close to claiming exclusive rights to the moon or any where else you would see the US space programs go full tilt with no concerns about the cost. Say what you want about the US but the general population loves a good "us versus them fight" which can provide ample political cover for increasing the government funding. After all it was the US vs. USSR cold war power struggle that made the US moon missions possible.
The US government screwed the armed services in Vietnam and Iraq. The military successfully killed everything that they were pitted against only to have the politicians come in and stop the military right before they finished the job. In the first Iraq war the military was stopped from marching into Baghdad and finishing the job which resulted in the US having to go back 10 years later to do what they should have done the first time around.
The US has better things to do than waste resources on running a orbital delivery service. The US still retains the capability to deliver supplies to the space station if there was an emergency using their X-37 space plane. I wonder when Russia, China, or any other country will voice strident protests concerning the X-37 which gives the US a perfect platform from which to conduct anti-satellite missions.
Implementing existing technology is a lot different than creating it. I can plug a power cord into the outlet to power my computer and use it but I sure as hell couldn't build a computer from scratch or construct a power grid. Using existing technology also allows you to bypass the costly R&D expense. There is really nothing wrong with using existing technology no matter where it came from but in this case some people seem to believe China is leaping ahead of others when it comes to technological innovation. To be fair the US, USSR, France, England, and a few others all benefited from the German technology and scientists seized after WW2. The US actually brought Von Braun to the states to lead their rocket programs and he played a significant role in the first Moon landings while advancing the development of the US ICBM's at the same time. My comment is a response to all those who are claiming that the Chinese lander means they are somehow leaping over the US when it comes to advancing space technology. The same people who use the termination of the shuttle program as an example of disappearing US space programs. The shuttle program ran it's course and provided a wealth of data on space operations as well as provided a test bed for new technologies over the past 25 years. The shuttle program was replaced by the unmanned X-37 space plane which has been conducting orbital ops for the past 3 years and a manned version that holds up to 6 people is already being tested.
It only took Chine over 40 years to achieve the same OMG moment that the US had in 69. And their lander is unmanned to boot! Not to mention that China's space program consists of Russian technology sold in the USSR yard sale when they were hard up for cash and they basically stole the rest from the US and the other countries that actually R&D new technology and not just use the technology others have developed. Should the US ramp up to have another OMG moon landing just to prove they can still do it? Why not just spend the money on advancing robotic landers and probe technology to investigate the solar system?
The legal structure has not changed in regards to Snowden's case. The charges against him have been on the books for a long time.
Lockeed has designed, built, and delivered ground breaking avionic technology for over 50 years. They are the poster child of Free Enterprise Innovation. We will not enter space in any meaningful way until the technology needed to protect and sustain a human being become more mature. We have had the technology to plant someone's ass on Mars ever since the 60's. Supporting someone once they are there is an entirely different animal. The technology could advance rapidly if we wanted to spend unlimited funds in a crash project but even then why would you pay all that money to put someone on Mars when the unmanned landers already there are capable of providing the same amount of data.
I really hope you are joking. How do you prove a negative? "We can't find something therefore it must exist!".
The "free speech zones" first became headline news when it involved protesting during an presidential election period. It was determined the security risk of letting an uncontrolled number of people mob the people protected by the secret service was to big. They setup the zones so people could still express their views and not unnecessarily endanger those being protested against. It's a sensible tradeoff that in today's world is hard to argue against.
Nobody has ever shown any detailed proof of government backdoors in their products. But hey facts really have nothing to do with today's shallow thinking.
"security-by-obscurity." is the default security for internet traffic. The sheer amount of traffic alone makes the data hard to analyze unless you know before hand who you are trying to locate. The most advanced keyword algorithms can return millions of hits per day which require additional human attention. Maybe it's why the government stopped trying to collect the bulk internet traffic a few years ago because it required a huge amount of resources but produced no real benefits. Any chance Snowden will release the documents related to scaling down and abandoning the entire program?
If the US needed someone in orbit I am pretty sure they could make it happen without to much trouble. They have used the unmanned X-37B in operations for nearly 2 years and the manned version is already being tested. Let someone else be responsible for the taxi and delivery services to the space station and let the US concentrate on developing more advanced technology. The type of technology China can steal once all the R&D has been conducted by others.
The first thing people should to do is understand the difference between privacy versus anonymity. The former can be somewhat achieved depending on ones actions but not 100% and the latter is impossible to achieve unless you live in a cave and do not use any modern electronic devices while also staying away from anywhere that might be under video surveillance such as stores, ATM's, and even roads. The government has had the ability to track or identify someone long before the Internet came on the scene. SS numbers, birth certificates, drivers licenses, marriage licenses, property deeds,car registry, and the mother load of personal information contained in your federal and state tax filings. Phone metadata has also existed in one form or another by the service providers for billing purposes.
"The american government has repeatedly shown they have no real interest in space exploration "
How do you explain all the unmanned probes flying around and even flying out of the solar system? Or the various Mars landers which have been instrumental in testing the various technologies and capabilities needed for further space exploration? Or the X-37B reusable space plane that has been flying missions into orbit for the last 4+ years? Or the manned version of the X-37B currently being tested? Looks like someone in the US is still interested in space exploration and developing the technologies needed to expand space exploration. Add in the private companies willing to risk huge sums of money for potential profits well into the future and space exploration is being pursued quite vigorously. Also you may want to check into the Chinese defense budget a little closer. Their budget has been growing exponentially over the past 15 years and that is assuming that the budget numbers the Chinese government publishes. If they want to go to the moon good for them. The US has already been their a couple of times and discovered there really is not a whole lot to see other than some rocks. Maybe in the future it will be possible to build a base on the moon but there are still some technologies needed to protect humans for extended trips into space.
Now here is the main problem I have. If the NSA is actually capable of doing all they are accused of why would Wikileaks offer any barrier to them finding out where the data came from?
Snowden's transgressions have absolutely nothing to do with freedom of speech. He has admitted taking a job for the express purpose of stealing classified information. That is not a trumped up charge or part of any new law. If he had released only the information related to internal US surveillance programs he could have probably got a slap on the hand in return for not releasing the information on foreign intelligence programs. However with the unconditional support of glory seeking and book deal craving journalists he walked himself right into a text book definition of violating espionage laws which are over 80 years old and have noting to do with the Patriot Act or any other new law. Now he has no leverage and he will be under threat of arrest for the remainder of his life. Assange on the other hand didn't actually steal anything he just passed on the information. Not being a US citizen he cannot be charged with espionage. He did not enter into any binding agreements that restricted the dissemination of any of the data. The most he could ever have been charged with is receiving stolen property and even that charge is far fetched because the different press organizations do the same thing. And the US government is probably content that Assange has basically checked himself into prison. He is living in a small bedroom inside an embassy that could ask him to leave at any time. Could jail really be any worse?
People like to protest but no one ever seems to be able to offer up a viable and realistic course of action to correct whatever injustice they are protesting against. Tearing down governments, industries, or other society structures is relatively easy but without a clear plan of action for afterward you usually end up making things worse than they were before the protesting.
The FBI, CIA, or the NSA are not collecting credit card information or other personal data used to commit online fraud against the average citizen. If your credit card information or your SSN has ever been compromised your screwed. If you live in the US I assure you the government already has a lot of your personal data. Just your SSN and Tax Returns provide everything the government would need to find you if they wanted to. Of course they have had this data long before the Internet ever came into play. The FBI, CIA, and NSA are not randomly publishing the confidential information in every media outlet on the planet regardless of the consequences large or small. The FBI, CIA, and NSA are not launching nuisance attacks to tie up or deface websites. As a matter of fact there has been no verifiable proof that the FBI, CIA, or NSA has caused any harm to US citizens or misused the data collected. So far all the complaints and accusations are about what they "could" do not what they are actually "doing" with the information. If everything published about the NSA capabilities is true then they would certainly be able to identify the people behind these type of attacks. After all they are supposedly intercepting and storing all the traffic moving on the Internet. The have supposedly cracked SSL, TOR, and other encryption systems used by companies and individuals. They are suppose to be able to compromise Google data centers as well as other large data centers at will. With all these capabilities tracking IP's back through multiple proxies is child's play in comparison. But it's always possible that the capabilities ascribed to the NSA are exaggerated in the extreme. Personally I am more worried about private and public corporations collecting and selling my data and online habits to others for profit. Hell Google drives down every street they can find collecting addresses and scanning for active Wi-Fi signals. Of course they just want to improve their mapping applications and they swear they are telling the truth about their motives.
His sentence is primarily to make others stop and re-think their actions. The people engaging in hacking into systems seem to think they are doing nothing wrong so the law really doesn't apply to them.
You do know that the biggest US creditor is the US Federal Reserve? All others holding US debt such the Chinese who buy US securities only account for around 4-6% of all outstanding debt.