And a large portion of that 90% overhead is pumped directly back into the economy by providing employment and benefits for all those who provide the products and services necessary to locate, extract, refine, market, transport, and distribute the end products. Big corps of all types deserve high levels of constant scrutiny of their operations but these same corporations also provide a staggering amount of money into the overall economy. Direct employment, in-direct employment for vendors of all types, and even benefits for charitable organizations and causes which a lot of big corporations use to try and improve their public image. And yes the charitable contributions might be considered suspect and self serving but none the less the organizations do end up getting the money and support they need. None of these benefits excuse the blatant excesses, negligence, or reduce the level of responsibility in disasters such as an oil spill but targeting and vilifying a big corporation for the sole purpose of destruction ends up effecting a lot of people who depend on that corporation for their lively hood while those who have profited the most suffer little or no consequences, after all most of them are already so wealthy that even putting the corporation out of business will not change that simple fact.
Technology is released for technology sakes and to make loads of money before someone else beats you to market. Only afterwards do people start worrying about any possible privacy issues or other potential consequences. Barn door meet horse. Anyone expecting total privacy in today's world is wasting their time while simultaneously being annoying as hell in their constant shrieking and denunciations of "Big Brother" and the loss of their "rights". Even without an IP/MAC address look up database if someone is really looking for you they will have no problem doing it. Your only hope is to move to deep into the wilderness, ditch ALL your electronic gadgets, and then hope a satellite with thermal detection capabilities doesn't pass over your shack. You know back in the dawn of time there was a little known privacy invading bugaboo known as a phone book that had the temerity to not only list your name and telephone number but also *gasp* your address.
There exists plenty of ways a student can interface with a teacher either face to face or using the teachers school assigned e-mail account Limiting Facebook usage in this area is not depriving anyone of their rights or preventing communication between a student and their teachers.
Governments around the world tend to get a little concerned with anyone building something that requires acquiring radioactive materials that while are not weapons grade or even sufficient for nuclear energy production can still be used to enhance regular ordinance or used in some other manner to contaminate enclosed areas such as a subways or office buildings. I just know there are certain groups reading this article and wondering how many smoke detectors they can afford.
People always complain about the US selling weapons to the world but looking at all of the ongoing conflicts I do not see any insurgents, terrorists,freedom fighters, or psychopathic religious zealots using any US weapon systems. If you destroyed every manufacturer of AK-47's in the world most of these guys would be back to throwing rocks and Israel has certainly shown how to eliminate that particular threat. 70'e era RPGs may be effective on school buses and crowds of innocent and unwary pedestrians but I have never seen them using any Javelin ATGM systems.
Alas for people to recognize this would require them to acknowledge that the US is not the sole supplier of mayhem in the world and that certainly can not be tolerated. Just the expense to re-paint all the placards and posters railing against the US would be devastating to the "cause".
My subdivision home owners association oversees more people than the government of Greenland.
Re:Can the developers take over again, please?
on
The Next Firefox UI
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· Score: 1
I have been working in IT for 25+ years and have quite a few examples of what you describe but I have also seen examples of just the opposite. This issue was practically non-existent until Web applications and desktop console applications came on the scene and started evolving. After all you don't need to be very creative when it comes down to creating a text only command line. I personally suck at creating professional level graphics because of a slight color blindness handicap so I do not have the slightest interest in trying to master this particular skill set. That does not mean I can't define the basic GUI requirements needed to support the application. When I have no alternative and need to create the GUI I usually lean on existing applications for examples and ideas.
The law is just another government knee jerk response to a growing trend of people using malicious and false accusations to attack someone relatively anonymously. From teenagers to politicians the Internet is providing the tools where people can inflict intentional damage on someones character and life. No law can really prevent this so people should just take a deep breath, be aware of it, and deal with it as best they can.
One recent example of electronic "stalking" and "attacking" is the guy recently caught using the Internet to harass and ruin his neighbors life. He was a first time offender and was just sentenced to 18 years in jail for hacking his neighbors WI-fi and planting child pornography, sending fake Tax information to the IRS, setting up a fake Facebook page tied to the victims IP and e-mail address, sending obnoxious tweets, and attaching child porn pictures to an e-mail and sending it to the victims employer while making it look like the victim sent it himself. The victim had to hire a specialized law firm to audit his computers. The guy got caught because he sent an e-mail to the Vice President threatening to kill him and the secret service showed up at the victims work place to question him. Then the Secret Service cyber investigators got involved and finally caught the guy. The moron actually had a shelf full of books in his house with titles like "Crack WEP in 15 Days" and "Hacking WEP in 5 Easy Steps".
Re:Can the developers take over again, please?
on
The Next Firefox UI
·
· Score: 1
Usually I have found a big difference between what developers consider a good UI and what the actual users consider a good UI.
"it's also currently ranked number *eight* by users for Android bugs" This is interesting since this is missing functionality not a bug. Android phones do not advertise or provide this as default functionality. Maybe you used "bug" by mistake but if not there are significant differences in how bug reports and new functionality requests are prioritized and released with "bugs" usually getting the priority depending on the severity. If you are adding new functionality you might, I say might, be depending on the existing release features and if there are bugs your new features could be effected.
Don't forget the basic computer (automated processing) devices built by Turing and employed in WW2. Crude tech by today's standard but it showed the military the war fighting benefits of these gadgets and they jumped on the bandwagon with money and R&D. The Trinity project also was responsible for computer advancements including the use of punch cards for data input which Richard Feynman was responsible for implementing at the time.
The project this guy worked on dealt with the NSA data collection algorithms implemented to basically trap and filter damn near all the Internet traffic in the world. At one time this system was trapping the electronic equivalent of 6 Congressional Libraries every 6 hours and storing it on 1000's of servers located across the country. This guy complained that the data being collected included data from US sources which is precisely what the government said they would not do. The head engineer had even included a filter to prevent this from happening but NSA management order him to disable it and he quit to.
You can't describe any government on the planet without also including the word corruption somewhere in your description. The US government is no more corrupt than any other international government and in some instances the it is a great deal less corrupt. You want to see real corruption? Try Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Mexico, Venezuela, Pakistan, Egypt (and no the new government will not be any less corrupt than the old one), and damn near every country on the African continent. And unfortunately it is the US that has been providing these countries with all the goodies that mysteriously end up getting re-directed away from their intended destination into the leaders pockets. It's time for the US to cease all government aid to foreign countries. And I mean none, nada, not a penny. If someone wants any money let them openly request it in writing and explain exactly what it will be used for and allow outside auditors to monitor the transactions. Need a little military help? Put it in writing and be prepared to receive an itemized bill with 50% due up front. Hell, if the US government were not over run with idiots they could actually start making money on the military instead of giving it away for free. Sure this type of thing will lead to dictators and all kinds of other problems but as long as they keep it within their own borders who gives a shit. China, Russia both beat the US corruption index because they don't even pretend to be transparent and accountable in the first place and if any of their citizens do complain too much they are easy to remove. I am NOT saying there is no corruption in the US government but it hardly sets the standard either.
That might well be true but to tell you the truth I have never really cared one way or another in the specific Sony case. However I do have a problem with some of the justification arguments people have been supporting.
What the heck are you talking about? Just leaving valuables in plain sight is enough justification for stealing them? It seems like an awful lot of people are ready to turn a blind eye to any crime that happens to be committed using a computer and using excuses like "well after all it was insecure" or using some vague social protest rational to justify their actions. What is the difference between me running through my neighborhood and stealing my neighbors mail out of their mailboxes and hacking someones online e-mail account? The first action violates one of the oldest Federal Laws in existence while the second is blown off as inconsequential or just annoying. If there are 2 organizations you don't want to piss off in the US it is the IRS and the USPS. These guys make the CIA, NSA, and FBI look like fluffy bunnies when it comes to going after people they think are breaking their rules. I would prefer a holiday vacation in Guantanamo over an IRS audit.
So they had it coming? Forget about your animosity towards Sony in particular for a second and your arguments come pretty close to blaming the crime victim instead of the crime perpetrator. How you go walking through a neighborhood and checking to see if everyone has their doors locked and when you find one not locked they obviously expect things to be stolen so why not go in and help yourself?
Anyone using this type of tech can abuse it, including the freelance hackers out looking for their Lulz. I am sure the US government already has this capability and most likely some pretty fair defensive systems in place that are constantly evolving as more threats and weaknessess are identified. The increase in UAV reliance in military and intelligence ops alone should keep the sigint R&D adequately funded. Does the government use these types of capabilities illegally? I guess that depends on the area of operations and who is running the ops? This type of capability certainly provides the chance for misuse but do we stop developing this tech just because someone might do something bad with it? Certainly some tech can fall into this category such as the technology behind bio, chemical, and nuclear weapons but sigint tech?
Even with the best commercially available encryption if someone steals the hardware storing the encrypted data they have all the time in the world to try and access it. The disks were in the possession of a 3rd party at the time of the theft so a security audit of their premises and security procedures might be in order to help raise awareness and prevent future incidents.
To bad about 70% of the people in the country don't consider themselves to be either Dems or NeoCons so your opinion is based on a slanted premise. The good thing about the current fight over the budget/debt ceiling is it has forced the politicians to take loud and unequivocal stands on both sides which will be hard to explain away in the next election cycle. In elections the politicians that end up winning are usually the ones who were successful at portraying themselves as semi-moderates. After they get elected they are free to take headline making extremist positions because they are in office. But the ones interested in being re-elected try to not make any extremist statements they can't wiggle out of in the next election cycle. In this current fight all of the party leaders on both sides have taken positions they will find hard to explain away in the next election cycle.
"Its not free speech if I can get shot or get harassed in any other way for what I'm saying"
Did I imply this in anyway? All I said was that In the real world speech has consequences of varying degrees. If your not ready to accept the consequences you should probably keep it to yourself. Freedom of speech guarantees, with a few exceptions, that you can pretty much say what ever you want. If the government arrests you or kills you because of what you are threatening to say or have actually said it is against the law and there are remedies. However, just because a law or statute exists does not mean someone will never break it. You can only claim foul if someone denies your right of free speech and is not properly investigated and charged with violating the law. Freedom of speech does not protect you from charges of defamation, libel, or slander. In case's such as this you can be required to backup your speech with some facts and if you can't you will have to deal with the consequences laid out in the legal system. The person mentioned in this article is not being stopped from saying anything by anyone. He signed a non-disclosure agreement and if he breaks that agreement he will face the consequences but he is free to knowingly break his agreement and say anything he wants. Nobody forced him to sign the agreement but I imagine the agreement was tied to a financial exit package. Walking up to someone and calling them a fuck face and getting your teeth knocked out is another example of free speech and it's consequences. In this case you exercised free speech and the target violated the law by striking you. You might have some remedy against the person who hit you but not until after you finish picking up your teeth. It's also possible that in the end the person who hit you suffers no consequences because a jury or judge might just decide your provocative statement was responsible for your extended trip to the dentist. Lately freedom of speech has turned into the freedom to whine constantly and expect to be taking seriously because of your right to whine. Unless you lived in a state where freedom of speech is prohibited and punished as a matter of policy you can't really appreciate the freedom of speech provided by countries who do provide it.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of that speech. In the US you also have the freedom to shut the hell up. (laws against requiring self incrimination)
Hate them or really hate them MS did what any other for profit corporation would do. Combining technology products, marketing, exclusive manufacturing deals, strategic acquisitions, and contracted delivery chains created one the most successful companies in the world. From a purely business perspective it's hard to argue with success.
"Apple definitely seems to agree with that future vision" Apple has always kept tight control of the hardware platform their products run on and that almost put them out of business a few years back because they were being priced out of the market by commodity hardware. MS went the opposite route and targeted the commodity hardware platforms and that strategy served them well in the past. Thing's are different now and it will take time to see how it all works out in a few years time so I am not counting anyone out yet. I expect Apple to take over the #1 evil company title from MS in the near future so that will be fun to watch.
"Fortunately, there is Linux on most devices these days." Yeah it only took 30 years for the Linux phenomenon to ride to the rescue and it still hasn't broken MS dominance on the desktop which is what DOS was specifically built for. I don't remember any DOS smart phones out at the time so I guess we will never know how it would have held up as a mobile phone platform. But never fear I have it on good advice that next year will be the year of the long awaited Linux breakthrough on the desktop. Although this could be delayed due to some unspecified and minor legal issues that have not been completely ironed out yet. And of course the long awaited end of the desktop is still bound to surface sometime in the next 30 years and we can reevaute this issue again.
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And a large portion of that 90% overhead is pumped directly back into the economy by providing employment and benefits for all those who provide the products and services necessary to locate, extract, refine, market, transport, and distribute the end products. Big corps of all types deserve high levels of constant scrutiny of their operations but these same corporations also provide a staggering amount of money into the overall economy. Direct employment, in-direct employment for vendors of all types, and even benefits for charitable organizations and causes which a lot of big corporations use to try and improve their public image. And yes the charitable contributions might be considered suspect and self serving but none the less the organizations do end up getting the money and support they need. None of these benefits excuse the blatant excesses, negligence, or reduce the level of responsibility in disasters such as an oil spill but targeting and vilifying a big corporation for the sole purpose of destruction ends up effecting a lot of people who depend on that corporation for their lively hood while those who have profited the most suffer little or no consequences, after all most of them are already so wealthy that even putting the corporation out of business will not change that simple fact.
Technology is released for technology sakes and to make loads of money before someone else beats you to market. Only afterwards do people start worrying about any possible privacy issues or other potential consequences. Barn door meet horse. Anyone expecting total privacy in today's world is wasting their time while simultaneously being annoying as hell in their constant shrieking and denunciations of "Big Brother" and the loss of their "rights". Even without an IP/MAC address look up database if someone is really looking for you they will have no problem doing it. Your only hope is to move to deep into the wilderness, ditch ALL your electronic gadgets, and then hope a satellite with thermal detection capabilities doesn't pass over your shack. You know back in the dawn of time there was a little known privacy invading bugaboo known as a phone book that had the temerity to not only list your name and telephone number but also *gasp* your address.
There exists plenty of ways a student can interface with a teacher either face to face or using the teachers school assigned e-mail account Limiting Facebook usage in this area is not depriving anyone of their rights or preventing communication between a student and their teachers.
Governments around the world tend to get a little concerned with anyone building something that requires acquiring radioactive materials that while are not weapons grade or even sufficient for nuclear energy production can still be used to enhance regular ordinance or used in some other manner to contaminate enclosed areas such as a subways or office buildings. I just know there are certain groups reading this article and wondering how many smoke detectors they can afford.
People always complain about the US selling weapons to the world but looking at all of the ongoing conflicts I do not see any insurgents, terrorists,freedom fighters, or psychopathic religious zealots using any US weapon systems. If you destroyed every manufacturer of AK-47's in the world most of these guys would be back to throwing rocks and Israel has certainly shown how to eliminate that particular threat. 70'e era RPGs may be effective on school buses and crowds of innocent and unwary pedestrians but I have never seen them using any Javelin ATGM systems. Alas for people to recognize this would require them to acknowledge that the US is not the sole supplier of mayhem in the world and that certainly can not be tolerated. Just the expense to re-paint all the placards and posters railing against the US would be devastating to the "cause".
My subdivision home owners association oversees more people than the government of Greenland.
I have been working in IT for 25+ years and have quite a few examples of what you describe but I have also seen examples of just the opposite. This issue was practically non-existent until Web applications and desktop console applications came on the scene and started evolving. After all you don't need to be very creative when it comes down to creating a text only command line. I personally suck at creating professional level graphics because of a slight color blindness handicap so I do not have the slightest interest in trying to master this particular skill set. That does not mean I can't define the basic GUI requirements needed to support the application. When I have no alternative and need to create the GUI I usually lean on existing applications for examples and ideas.
The law is just another government knee jerk response to a growing trend of people using malicious and false accusations to attack someone relatively anonymously. From teenagers to politicians the Internet is providing the tools where people can inflict intentional damage on someones character and life. No law can really prevent this so people should just take a deep breath, be aware of it, and deal with it as best they can. One recent example of electronic "stalking" and "attacking" is the guy recently caught using the Internet to harass and ruin his neighbors life. He was a first time offender and was just sentenced to 18 years in jail for hacking his neighbors WI-fi and planting child pornography, sending fake Tax information to the IRS, setting up a fake Facebook page tied to the victims IP and e-mail address, sending obnoxious tweets, and attaching child porn pictures to an e-mail and sending it to the victims employer while making it look like the victim sent it himself. The victim had to hire a specialized law firm to audit his computers. The guy got caught because he sent an e-mail to the Vice President threatening to kill him and the secret service showed up at the victims work place to question him. Then the Secret Service cyber investigators got involved and finally caught the guy. The moron actually had a shelf full of books in his house with titles like "Crack WEP in 15 Days" and "Hacking WEP in 5 Easy Steps".
Usually I have found a big difference between what developers consider a good UI and what the actual users consider a good UI.
"it's also currently ranked number *eight* by users for Android bugs" This is interesting since this is missing functionality not a bug. Android phones do not advertise or provide this as default functionality. Maybe you used "bug" by mistake but if not there are significant differences in how bug reports and new functionality requests are prioritized and released with "bugs" usually getting the priority depending on the severity. If you are adding new functionality you might, I say might, be depending on the existing release features and if there are bugs your new features could be effected.
Don't forget the basic computer (automated processing) devices built by Turing and employed in WW2. Crude tech by today's standard but it showed the military the war fighting benefits of these gadgets and they jumped on the bandwagon with money and R&D. The Trinity project also was responsible for computer advancements including the use of punch cards for data input which Richard Feynman was responsible for implementing at the time.
The project this guy worked on dealt with the NSA data collection algorithms implemented to basically trap and filter damn near all the Internet traffic in the world. At one time this system was trapping the electronic equivalent of 6 Congressional Libraries every 6 hours and storing it on 1000's of servers located across the country. This guy complained that the data being collected included data from US sources which is precisely what the government said they would not do. The head engineer had even included a filter to prevent this from happening but NSA management order him to disable it and he quit to.
You can't describe any government on the planet without also including the word corruption somewhere in your description. The US government is no more corrupt than any other international government and in some instances the it is a great deal less corrupt. You want to see real corruption? Try Syria, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Mexico, Venezuela, Pakistan, Egypt (and no the new government will not be any less corrupt than the old one), and damn near every country on the African continent. And unfortunately it is the US that has been providing these countries with all the goodies that mysteriously end up getting re-directed away from their intended destination into the leaders pockets. It's time for the US to cease all government aid to foreign countries. And I mean none, nada, not a penny. If someone wants any money let them openly request it in writing and explain exactly what it will be used for and allow outside auditors to monitor the transactions. Need a little military help? Put it in writing and be prepared to receive an itemized bill with 50% due up front. Hell, if the US government were not over run with idiots they could actually start making money on the military instead of giving it away for free. Sure this type of thing will lead to dictators and all kinds of other problems but as long as they keep it within their own borders who gives a shit. China, Russia both beat the US corruption index because they don't even pretend to be transparent and accountable in the first place and if any of their citizens do complain too much they are easy to remove. I am NOT saying there is no corruption in the US government but it hardly sets the standard either.
That might well be true but to tell you the truth I have never really cared one way or another in the specific Sony case. However I do have a problem with some of the justification arguments people have been supporting.
What the heck are you talking about? Just leaving valuables in plain sight is enough justification for stealing them? It seems like an awful lot of people are ready to turn a blind eye to any crime that happens to be committed using a computer and using excuses like "well after all it was insecure" or using some vague social protest rational to justify their actions. What is the difference between me running through my neighborhood and stealing my neighbors mail out of their mailboxes and hacking someones online e-mail account? The first action violates one of the oldest Federal Laws in existence while the second is blown off as inconsequential or just annoying. If there are 2 organizations you don't want to piss off in the US it is the IRS and the USPS. These guys make the CIA, NSA, and FBI look like fluffy bunnies when it comes to going after people they think are breaking their rules. I would prefer a holiday vacation in Guantanamo over an IRS audit.
So they had it coming? Forget about your animosity towards Sony in particular for a second and your arguments come pretty close to blaming the crime victim instead of the crime perpetrator. How you go walking through a neighborhood and checking to see if everyone has their doors locked and when you find one not locked they obviously expect things to be stolen so why not go in and help yourself?
Anyone using this type of tech can abuse it, including the freelance hackers out looking for their Lulz. I am sure the US government already has this capability and most likely some pretty fair defensive systems in place that are constantly evolving as more threats and weaknessess are identified. The increase in UAV reliance in military and intelligence ops alone should keep the sigint R&D adequately funded. Does the government use these types of capabilities illegally? I guess that depends on the area of operations and who is running the ops? This type of capability certainly provides the chance for misuse but do we stop developing this tech just because someone might do something bad with it? Certainly some tech can fall into this category such as the technology behind bio, chemical, and nuclear weapons but sigint tech?
Even with the best commercially available encryption if someone steals the hardware storing the encrypted data they have all the time in the world to try and access it. The disks were in the possession of a 3rd party at the time of the theft so a security audit of their premises and security procedures might be in order to help raise awareness and prevent future incidents.
To bad about 70% of the people in the country don't consider themselves to be either Dems or NeoCons so your opinion is based on a slanted premise. The good thing about the current fight over the budget/debt ceiling is it has forced the politicians to take loud and unequivocal stands on both sides which will be hard to explain away in the next election cycle. In elections the politicians that end up winning are usually the ones who were successful at portraying themselves as semi-moderates. After they get elected they are free to take headline making extremist positions because they are in office. But the ones interested in being re-elected try to not make any extremist statements they can't wiggle out of in the next election cycle. In this current fight all of the party leaders on both sides have taken positions they will find hard to explain away in the next election cycle.
"Its not free speech if I can get shot or get harassed in any other way for what I'm saying" Did I imply this in anyway? All I said was that In the real world speech has consequences of varying degrees. If your not ready to accept the consequences you should probably keep it to yourself. Freedom of speech guarantees, with a few exceptions, that you can pretty much say what ever you want. If the government arrests you or kills you because of what you are threatening to say or have actually said it is against the law and there are remedies. However, just because a law or statute exists does not mean someone will never break it. You can only claim foul if someone denies your right of free speech and is not properly investigated and charged with violating the law. Freedom of speech does not protect you from charges of defamation, libel, or slander. In case's such as this you can be required to backup your speech with some facts and if you can't you will have to deal with the consequences laid out in the legal system. The person mentioned in this article is not being stopped from saying anything by anyone. He signed a non-disclosure agreement and if he breaks that agreement he will face the consequences but he is free to knowingly break his agreement and say anything he wants. Nobody forced him to sign the agreement but I imagine the agreement was tied to a financial exit package. Walking up to someone and calling them a fuck face and getting your teeth knocked out is another example of free speech and it's consequences. In this case you exercised free speech and the target violated the law by striking you. You might have some remedy against the person who hit you but not until after you finish picking up your teeth. It's also possible that in the end the person who hit you suffers no consequences because a jury or judge might just decide your provocative statement was responsible for your extended trip to the dentist. Lately freedom of speech has turned into the freedom to whine constantly and expect to be taking seriously because of your right to whine. Unless you lived in a state where freedom of speech is prohibited and punished as a matter of policy you can't really appreciate the freedom of speech provided by countries who do provide it.
Freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of that speech. In the US you also have the freedom to shut the hell up. (laws against requiring self incrimination)
Hate them or really hate them MS did what any other for profit corporation would do. Combining technology products, marketing, exclusive manufacturing deals, strategic acquisitions, and contracted delivery chains created one the most successful companies in the world. From a purely business perspective it's hard to argue with success.
"Apple definitely seems to agree with that future vision" Apple has always kept tight control of the hardware platform their products run on and that almost put them out of business a few years back because they were being priced out of the market by commodity hardware. MS went the opposite route and targeted the commodity hardware platforms and that strategy served them well in the past. Thing's are different now and it will take time to see how it all works out in a few years time so I am not counting anyone out yet. I expect Apple to take over the #1 evil company title from MS in the near future so that will be fun to watch.
"Fortunately, there is Linux on most devices these days." Yeah it only took 30 years for the Linux phenomenon to ride to the rescue and it still hasn't broken MS dominance on the desktop which is what DOS was specifically built for. I don't remember any DOS smart phones out at the time so I guess we will never know how it would have held up as a mobile phone platform. But never fear I have it on good advice that next year will be the year of the long awaited Linux breakthrough on the desktop. Although this could be delayed due to some unspecified and minor legal issues that have not been completely ironed out yet. And of course the long awaited end of the desktop is still bound to surface sometime in the next 30 years and we can reevaute this issue again.
Trust me the NSA doesn't need company approval to intercept data. Checkout the shit storm a system named ThinThread has created.