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User: pcwhalen

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  1. Kinda.... on Apple Allegedly Knew of iCloud Brute-Force Vulnerability Since March · · Score: 1

    "Banking is protected by law, any lost money will be reimbursed."

    The controlling federal laws are the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) and the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA)( (15 U.S.C. 1693 et seq.). If you report an ATM or debit card missing before someone uses it, the EFTA says you are not responsible for any unauthorized transactions.

    However, unlike credit cards, if someone makes unauthorized use of your debit or ATM card and if you do not learn of the transactions and report them after 2 business days but less than 60 calendar days after your statement is sent to you, you are liable for $500. After 60 days, “All the money taken from your ATM/debit card account, and possibly more; for example, money in accounts linked to your debit account.”

    http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/ar...

    "Cars and houses have insurance."

    Yes, but there are deductibles to pay, hundreds if not thousands of dollars before the insurance company begins to reimburse the insured.

    Civilians do not understand what /. readers know: internet security is illusory. That's why we have encryption. It's not that they don't have "a bloody clue." They are not computer literate, don't know what an IP address is and couldn't tell you why a denial of service attack is bad.

    Civilians have been told the internet is a safe place to buy things, send images by email and store payment data and the like. They believe it. Those people did what are in retrospect foolish things, merely because believed what they were told.

    The only way to never see yourself naked on the internet is to never take nude photos. Period. After that, it's just a matter of percentage of chance. Not fair or right, but true.

  2. Sure. Say this when you are 74. on Bioethicist At National Institutes of Health: "Why I Hope To Die At 75" · · Score: 1

    It's easy to say things like this when you are 40 or 50 or 60. I'm 50 and this sounds quite logical to me.

    Of course, at age 21 I never thought I'd see 30.

    When you are still alive at 74 and feeling ok, the instinct to survive doesn't allow for anything other than "keep going." No higher level thinking kicks in and says "Right. It's all down hill from here. Fuck it."

    You will want to see one more sunset, see your great-grandchildren, smile at one more memory.

    Ezekiel J. Emanuel is 63, he has 12 years left. Talk to me in 11, Doc.

  3. This guy personifies when NASA had creativity... on Jack A. Kinzler, Savior of the Skylab Mission, Dies At 94 · · Score: 2

    ... and balls. Guys like him reached for a slide rule, locked themselves in a room with only the materials known to be on the mission and not only came up with the solution, but instructed some nervous, heat-stroked astronauts to build it.

  4. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP on Alibaba Confirms Plans To Offer IPO In US · · Score: 1

    Which they don't follow. http://www.investopedia.com/te... There's ALL sorts of games you can play with revenue recognition alone.

    Anyone here want to rely on Chinese accounting practices? http://www.chinaaccountingblog...

    There are no securities laws in China similar to those in the US that require transparency so investors know what they are buying.

    Hell, this will be a great IPO, just flip it on the first day. Make your profit and watch it crash.

    And now to illustrate: the classic accountant's joke.

    There once was a business owner who was interviewing people for a division manager position. He decided to select the individual that could answer the question "how much is 2+2?"

    The engineer pulled out his slide rule and shuffled it back and forth, and finally announced, "It lies between 3.98 and 4.02".
    The mathematician said, "In two hours I can demonstrate it equals 4 with the following short proof."
    The physicist declared, "It's in the magnitude of 1x101."
    The logician paused for a long while and then said, "This problem is solvable."
    The social worker said, "I don't know the answer, but I a glad that we discussed this important question.
    The attorney stated, "In the case of Svenson vs. the State, 2+2 was declared to be 4."
    The trader asked, "Are you buying or selling?"
    The accountant looked at the business owner, then got out of his chair, went to see if anyone was listening at the door and pulled the drapes. Then he returned to the business owner, leaned across the desk and said in a low voice, "What would you like it to be?"

  5. Just $300,000 more over a lifetime? on Eric Schmidt On Why College Is Still Worth It · · Score: 1

    New York University is now $42,000 a year tuition for liberal arts 4 year undergrad. Add $13,000 for housing, $4,000 for meal plan and food, and $1,000 for books and supplies and you are at around $60,000 per year undergrad at NYU, or $240,000 for a 4 year liberal arts degree. This is for a school that ranks 32d nationwide in universities. (http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/new-york-university-2785)

    Tuition: (http://www.nyu.edu/bursar/tuition.fees/rate13/ugcas.html)
    Housing: (http://www.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu/resLifeHousServ/documents/AY20132014_Rates.pdf)
    Meal plan: (http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSE/NYU/MealPlans/)
    Books: (http://www.nyu.edu/content/dam/nyu/financialAid/documents/financialfacts.pdf)

    US News and World (http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2008/10/30/how-much-is-that-college-degree-really-worth) reports over a graduates lifetime, that degree really only adds $300,000 extra salary as a direct result of a degree. Why would you give up the opportunity cost of earning for 4 years at a job as well as $240,000 to get $300,000?

    Because the jobs you get for the rest of your life are not the ones where you ask "Paper or plastic?" Not the back breaking, "working for the Man" bullshit jobs that you get without a degree. Instead of jobs, graduates get careers: with health insurance, vacation and promotions. Quality of life is better.

    I am quite happy with what I got. I still talk with people from school. It was hard, but I feel I got my money's worth.

  6. Causal Nexus on Eric Schmidt On Why College Is Still Worth It · · Score: 1

    Is it that people do better because they went to college or that people who are willing to delay gratification, work hard, broaden themselves intellectually, converse with smart people who also become successful and build a network of successful people?

    The kind of person willing to shoulder debt and phone it in will never win. Just because you attended a college and got a degree doesn't mean it did anything for you.

    College is an opportunity to intern, find mentors, meet peer groups and try things you might want to do for a living. It's also a place to expand beyond the modalities of your earlier life. A Liberal Arts degree requires subjects that allow a person to appreciate the world in a better perspective.

  7. There's nothing these people leave alone. on A Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool · · Score: 2

    If you have been on your computer, cell phone or car with EZpass or OnStar: they know a lot about you. Even if you have 7 degrees of separation from the bad guys.

    You have to applaud the thoroughness. Misguided patriots, the lot.

  8. Re:I wonder on A Look at the NSA's Most Powerful Internet Attack Tool · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I'm not sure what country you're from, but in America, morals are for suckers and poor people.

    You are wrong.

    I am an American, I am far from poor and I am no man's fool. I live by the moral compass taught to me by my parents, my church and my conscience and I have done very well in my 50 years on Earth.

    The most precious commodity is the ability to sleep at night.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  9. You must be fucking kidding. on Mars Rover Opportunity Faces New Threat: Budget Ax · · Score: 1

    I did believe / understand this at first. We have hardware on ANOTHER PLANET that works and we want to abandon it?
    Get Kafka on the phone, new story idea.

  10. Re: Elitist America... er . No. Not this one. on CIA Accused: Sen. Feinstein Sees Torture Probe Meddling · · Score: 1

    At the outset, let's look at the moral of the story: You can't trust spies or spy agencies. Especially not the way the Senator has consistently told us we should trust the NSA.
    This is not a case where it's ok that Senator Feinstein got hoist by her own petard for info on her own computers. This is a case of her feeling the same overreaching by an intelligence agency she says doesn't and won't happen every day with the NSA. But it's the American people who are getting fucked here, not Diane F.
    We went over this in another post.
    The "CIA computers" were part of a document production system provided by the CIA pursuant to a Senate Committee subpoena. It contained CIA documents responsive to the Senate subpoena in electronic form instead of paper copies. The document depository was run by private contractors. That's not really that unusual.
    Apparently, when the CIA found out they had turned over to the Senate Committee a CIA draft report that was particularly harmful to the CIA's position, the draft report "disappeared" from the computerised document depository. The senior Senator from California believes the CIA caused it to disappear.
    It's like erasing portions of White House tapes that had been subpoenaed a la Nixon. Just because it was done by the CIA doesn't mean it was spying, merely criminal tampering with a federal investigation. That's all.
    Don't cheer that the asshat Senator got screwed by the CIA. It was us that got screwed by the CIA.

  11. Saw something that needed to be made public... on Senator Accuses CIA of Snooping On Intelligence Committee Computers · · Score: 1

    Regardless of the hypocrisy of Feinstein, this turn of events needed to be made public.

    But not in an open-forum. That's whistle blowing. And that's always wrong.

    Wait....

  12. Re:CIA searched the CIA's own computers? on Senator Accuses CIA of Snooping On Intelligence Committee Computers · · Score: 2

    You're right. And talk about the Fourth Amendment is entirely inappropriate in this context.

    Correct. She got it wrong here: this is not a 4th Amendment fact set.

    Just like she gets it wrong when she says it does NOT abridge one's 4th Amendment rights to have wholesale recording of citizen's phone data.

    She calls it like she sees it; whichever is politically expedient at the time.

    I do not like her, Sam-I-Am.

  13. This isn't spying, it's evidence tampering.... on Senator Accuses CIA of Snooping On Intelligence Committee Computers · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At the outset, let's look at the moral of the story: You can't trust spies or spy agencies. Especially not the way the Senator has consistently told us we should trust the NSA.

    The "CIA computers" were part of a document production system provided by the CIA pursuant to a Senate Committee subpoena. It contained CIA documents responsive to the Senate subpoena in electronic form instead of paper copies. The document depository was run by private contractors. That's not really that unusual.

    Apparently, when the CIA found out they had turned over to the Senate Committee a CIA draft report that was particularly harmful to the CIA's position, the draft report "disappeared" from the computerised document depository. The senior Senator from California believes the CIA caused it to disappear.

    It's like erasing portions of White House tapes that had been subpoenaed a la Nixon. Just because it was done by the CIA doesn't mean it was spying, merely criminal tampering with a federal investigation. That's all.

    Trust the CIA and the NSA. They will never over-reach or break the law.

  14. Life finds a way.... on Deadly Avian Flu Strain Penetrates Biosecurity Defenses In Seoul · · Score: 2

    In the age of the airliner, a poultry farmer wipes his nose the wrong way, shakes another guy's hand, 2d guy gets on a jet to Hong Kong, jet stops long enough to change crews and off to sunny California. Kills the guys in the first village, flight crew spreads it to Hong Kong, then right to the US in less than a day.

    We're fucked. Sooner or later. It's happened before.

    http://www.who.int/mediacentre...

  15. So, What Is A Hero, Then? on Edward Snowden and the Death of Nuance · · Score: 1

    Mr. Snowden put himself at great personal risk physically (from "extraordinary rendition" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E... and the like) and criminally (where he can have his liberty taken from him after some state action) and professionally (hard to work places where the US won't be looking for you).

    That is just. What he did was to bring great pressure on the US government to act. 100's of millions of dollars worth of security blown. Years of effort destroyed. He acted against his oath and against his country. There should be very strong repercussions for his actions. It is not a thing he did lightly nor without great thought. I presume that BECAUSE of the physical, criminal and professional danger he thought VERY HARD.

    Mr. Snowden acted knowing the dangers, to himself, to his country and to the citizens therein. He believed he had knowledge that others did not, that he had a duty to act as a result and that whatever the consequences to him personally, the good would outweigh the harm. Whether or not you agree that he acted wisely or not is what puts you in the hero / traitor camps. I believe there are gradations between the two. I believe Mr. Snowden falls there.

    He is a hero in that he believed that lawmakers were being deceived by the NSA to approve acts that were against the Constitutional rights of the citizens of the United States. He believed that if they really knew what was going on they would stop the NSA from those actions. I believe he was correct: that the NSA was wrong and the authority they acted under was gotten from Congress under false pretenses. That makes Mr. Snowden, in my mind, a hero.

    But I am an American with children that I wish to have sleep safely at night. It worries me that a person can do so much damage at such a low level of responsibility. I do not believe every whistleblower is right. I'm not sure it's something we should encourage. Because he did not use the channels already in place (with the Inspector General Act of 1978, Mr. Snowden could have attained the same goals at least in theory. http://www.dodig.mil/Programs/...) he could be considered a criminal. I blame him for not making the attempt.

    There is a huge problem with the NSA in this country. Someone had to act. Someone did, in contravention to the law. Mr. Snowden acted by his own reckoning "selflessly." He knew he would pay the price. Thank you Mr. Snowden. You were right. But you can never come home again.

  16. Re:One thing they are keeping quiet on Security Vendors Self-Censor Target Breach Details · · Score: 4, Informative

    Maybe. They do have a lot of job openings in Karnataka, Bangalore, India.

    https://targetcareers.target.c...

  17. Closing the Barn Door... on Security Vendors Self-Censor Target Breach Details · · Score: 5, Informative

    ...after all the cows got out.

    Day late and a dollar short to worry about BlackPOS. Variants of "Dexter, first documented by Seculert in December 2012, is a Windows-based malware used to steal credit card data from PoS systems."

    http://www.arbornetworks.com/a...

    They have had 3 flavors so far:
    1.] Stardust (looks to be an older version, perhaps version 1)
    2.] Millenium (note spelling)
    3.] Revelation (two observed malware samples; has the capability to use FTP to exfiltrate data)

    I can buy any of these programs with a Tor browser, an ICQ client and some Bitcoin at any carder site on line.

    A little late to be worried about snippets of code.

  18. Re: Who Are The FISA Judges? on FISA Judges Oppose Intelligence Reform Proposals Aimed At Court · · Score: 1

    Appeals are only brought by someone that objects. Appellate review doesn't happen on it's own. Someone has to bring the case.

    If no one knows what they've done, who objects to their rulings?

    No one.

    Who reviews them? Not the Supreme Court, unless someone objects.

    So, no. There is no one reviewing them.

    And all of the appointments ore of federal judges, yes. Very conservative pro executive branch. Most likely to expand NSA and government power.

    So there is much to fear.

  19. Re:Oh man ... on DNA Detectives Count Thousands of Fish Using a Glass of Water · · Score: 1

    Put lime in it. Wards off scurvy.

    You're welcome. And wear 50.

  20. Safe to go back in the water? on DNA Detectives Count Thousands of Fish Using a Glass of Water · · Score: 1

    But can it tell them when they're gonna need a bigger boat?

    http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/jaws/a-bigger-boat

  21. I heard Goldman Sachs still runs Bob on 3/4s of its PCs.

    http://toastytech.com/guis/bob.html

  22. Who Are The FISA Judges? on FISA Judges Oppose Intelligence Reform Proposals Aimed At Court · · Score: 2

    They are all picked by one man - Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts.
    http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/chief-justice-john-roberts-appointed-every-judge-on-the-fisa-court-20130812

    This was meant to be a body of jurists to check the validity of search warrants, but it developed its own body of case law. With no check on its power. None.

    The NY Times notes "In making assignments to the court, Chief Justice Roberts, more than his predecessors, has chosen judges with conservative and executive branch backgrounds that critics say make the court more likely to defer to government arguments that domestic spying programs are necessary."
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/26/us/politics/robertss-picks-reshaping-secret-surveillance-court.html?ref=charliesavage&_r=0

    So, yeah, I'd say the FISA judges don't want anyone looking over their shoulders.

  23. Re:What would be sweet... on TrueCrypt Master Key Extraction and Volume Identification · · Score: 1

    It seems they have the key to all the locks as soon as the lock gets built.

    http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/catalog-reveals-nsa-has-back-doors-for-numerous-devices-a-940994.html

    I think nothing is safe. Unless you're in a Faraday cage with a computer plugged into a UPS running a virtualized OS and ...

    Fuck it. The NSA can have my data. Jack booted pricks.

  24. Hardware Key to Encryption on TrueCrypt Master Key Extraction and Volume Identification · · Score: 2

    You mean like the Yubikey?
    http://www.yubico.com/products/yubikey-hardware/yubikey/

    Don't forget: you can still encrypt with a keyfile you keep on a microSD card in your wallet. [copy to a USB stick in a lockbox, in case you lose it or get robbed.] Then, they can have your key, they still need the file.

  25. Winamp on Winamp Purchased By Radionomy · · Score: 0

    It really whips the llama's ass.

    Oh wait. Too late for this comment.

    And too late to make any money off Winamp. Is Napster next? Let it die.