Luckily, not all of their "genius" ideas make their way into actual Google products and services. Their two-step authentication did, which may have been somewhat flawed and weakened by the typical bullshit philosophy of making it as painless as possible for everyone. [A whopping ten non-changing codes? Weak, all lower case auto-generated passwords with no numbers or special characters for software and devices that do not support it?]
Still, I've been using it for quite a while on my Google accounts, but the best thing about it is, it's completely optional. Although I felt that what I was protecting was worth the extra security, if someone else thinks a password is enough, then that is still in fact the default as far as I know. I fully admit that it would be a pain in the ass to be forced to carry a phone with you every day wherever you go, whether you actually need it or not, just to log into *any* site.
Even as a user of Google's two-step authentication, I admit that it is often a PITA to have to break out the phone (but the Authenticator app does make it much nicer than text message authentication, especially when logging into multiple accounts). But, to me, the extra security (at least for those accounts) is worth it. And seriously, my own chosen passwords are a much bigger pain in the ass than the ten seconds it takes to pull out my phone and get a six-digit code.
Ah, so now we'd have to not only bum someone else's monitor/TV and Internet connection just to get access to our own documents which we're not even carrying with us, but we'll need to carry a keyboard/mouse combo everywhere we go as well and stock up on even more batteries? Wow... this is just getting worse and worse.
I'll just carry get a laptop if I need a portable system, and use a real desktop--with a good old-fashioned, no-nonsense wired keyboard and mouse--for anything halfway serious.
Unfortunately, whatever the government does to them, it will not be anywhere near good enough. These people used their power and tried to crush him to the fullest extent that they could manage to squeeze out of the words of the law, distorting actual facts to improve their case. The only judgment that I would say would be fitting to their crime would be to as obscenely unrealistic and disproportional as they were to Aaron. Unfortunately... the chances that they themselves will actually receive such a fitting judgment for their "crime" of far-beyond-reasonable judgment on another U.S. citizen will are pretty low... they will probably be treated like little angels, with the government slapping them on the wrist and then kissing it for them.
And if the person was not a suicide risk? Then the person still should not be slammed into the ground for such a petty "crime," if you could even call it that.
Just a couple of douchebags stretching a case to make it seem as bad as possible for extra fame, money and brownie points. Nothing more. Business as usual in the government.
Northeastern Ohio winter weather is often too damn cold anyway. If such a "global warming" tames winter weather and extends the growing season, then I'll be the last one to complain.
Well... I guess we'll find out when she dies and the news makes it to Slashdot. Even then, I wouldn't bet on it amounting to much--the article said she had a stroke at an early age, and that's normally something that usually comes at a later age...
Like, say... opening an ESRB-sponsored charity with the claimed aim of raising awareness of the mentally fucked and put some of the earnings toward the ESRB itself?
Actually, this would give the ESRB even more power than they have right now even if they don't redirect money in such a way. They would start using the power to censor what can be put on store shelves. Want a decent rating to make your game cheaper and more likely for people to buy? Pay up! Never know, they could make a crooked "game" out of such a nonsensical law and definitely leverage it to their advantage. And, of course, this would lead to even more wasted time and money in the courtrooms and richer lawyers. They'd love that.
Am I wrong in assuming that probably every corporation's website has a copyright notice in small print at the bottom of all of the pages, complete with an "all rights reserved" notice? Meanwhile social, user content-based sites are governed typically by a Terms of Service and Privacy Policy page (which can, of course change without notice)? So what's the confusion?
Doctors are smart. They should know how to operate that newfangled thing called "vibrate" mode. If they don't, then I sure wouldn't want to go to them for my own health.
You don't even need a smartphone with GPS functionality. Any cell phone has the capability of pinpointing your geographical location with pretty decent accuracy as long as it is turned on and connected to cell towers. And, of course, a traditional home phone line/number is traceable to the exact address/person... the only advantage is that you can't just take a home phone everywhere you go and use it, so it's locked to that location. Which is exactly why cell phones were invented and are currently eclipsing traditional phone lines in popularity.
When you are at a movie, do you even want incoming calls or notifications of anything? I sure as hell wouldn't.
Even then, with Google Voice you can still receive text messages and a list of missed calls even if you have your phone either turned off or in airplane mode to enjoy a movie while saving battery juice; you'll just be left alone for the duration of the movie (I see that as an advantage, not a disadvantage...), but as soon as the phone is connected again you'll be able to read and reply to any text messages or call back any missed calls. Seems like a far better solution to me. I tend to use airplane mode since it is faster than the shutdown/boot cycles yet still saves power and my phone has a battery-guzzling bug that reactivates at every reboot, but GV offers yet another choice: Do Not Disturb mode. All callers will be sent straight to voicemail, and you can set the GV app to notify you of new voicemail with a sound and/or vibration.
Of course, this means the phone will still be connected to all networks and draining battery power, and unsolicited calls made directly to your actual phone number will still be able to get through. [Double-edged sword though; people who are given the phone's number for emergency purposes will still be able to get through, which can be a good thing.]
So basically... cell phones already provide this functionality by default, and anything this new Microsoft patent tries to improve, Google Voice already does it better. Therefore, I am not impressed.
Do they mean, when the person puts the phone away in his or her pocket? I'm not sure exactly how light sensing is a good method of telling anything about the location of a phone, even when combined with GPS data...
If a company DDoSes one of their competitors to hurt them financially, that is not protest and would no doubt be taken up in the courts. Plus, they would probably end up hurting themselves far more, since people would find out what a sleazy company they are and avoid them.
Are you really saying that a denial of service attack is not simply a temporary disruption of service? That the two are somehow totally different things? I fail to see how so.
All they wanted in life was attention. They got it. Now they shut the fuck up. Overall, a happy ending... although it would be better if they would get their heads out of their asses and realize what the real problem is: mentally deranged psychopaths who are beyond fucked in the head. Not otherwise inanimate objects such as plastic discs, or even guns on their own without a lunatic wielding them.
He could have just shot his wife and said Linux did it. He could have easily pointed the blame on the ReiserFS implementation supplied in the gun's particular kernel.
Maybe they wanted it that way, because they don't want nosy people they know to easily find and harass them? Same with a new phone number; no one you know will know it until you tell them, and for most people in most situations, that is a bonus when it comes to privacy. And there tends to be something "special" and "personal" about custom nicknames, otherwise they wouldn't have made them up, and instead would have just used their own real name. I don't see why you're complaining, because judging by four Slashdot username, you're guilty of the same exact thing.
And most people tend to use one or two usernames across all web/Internet services. If you go ahead and use your own example of creating the same username (your name), and all of your friends choose a different "cute nickname" for themselves every day when signing up for a new service, then chances are you'll be first to be hacked royally across multiple sites/accounts. Everyone else would have to be hacked one-by-one, per site (unless their main e-mail is compromised and contains "welcome" messages with usernames). So there's a strong security feature hiding behind their method of using a different account name every day just to piss you off.
If they want you to know how to contact them using a particular method, they'll tell you... or you'll have some other way of communicating with them to ask if you really want to.
Google has to obey some sort of limits when it comes to collecting data, otherwise they risk get sued and/or examined by the government for illegal activity/privacy invasion... right? I really doubt that Google's data collecting as as extreme as people like you make it out to be. FWIW, I search Google and YouTube with the history turned off, and that's probably the key data they would use. If they sneak into everyone's personal e-mails, phone calls, voicemails, and/or text messages without permission, then they're just opening themselves up to some serious legal trouble.
Slashdot Mirror
Luckily, not all of their "genius" ideas make their way into actual Google products and services. Their two-step authentication did, which may have been somewhat flawed and weakened by the typical bullshit philosophy of making it as painless as possible for everyone. [A whopping ten non-changing codes? Weak, all lower case auto-generated passwords with no numbers or special characters for software and devices that do not support it?]
Still, I've been using it for quite a while on my Google accounts, but the best thing about it is, it's completely optional. Although I felt that what I was protecting was worth the extra security, if someone else thinks a password is enough, then that is still in fact the default as far as I know. I fully admit that it would be a pain in the ass to be forced to carry a phone with you every day wherever you go, whether you actually need it or not, just to log into *any* site.
Even as a user of Google's two-step authentication, I admit that it is often a PITA to have to break out the phone (but the Authenticator app does make it much nicer than text message authentication, especially when logging into multiple accounts). But, to me, the extra security (at least for those accounts) is worth it. And seriously, my own chosen passwords are a much bigger pain in the ass than the ten seconds it takes to pull out my phone and get a six-digit code.
What type of disaster? Are they referring to the BSOD?
Ah, so now we'd have to not only bum someone else's monitor/TV and Internet connection just to get access to our own documents which we're not even carrying with us, but we'll need to carry a keyboard/mouse combo everywhere we go as well and stock up on even more batteries? Wow... this is just getting worse and worse.
I'll just carry get a laptop if I need a portable system, and use a real desktop--with a good old-fashioned, no-nonsense wired keyboard and mouse--for anything halfway serious.
Unfortunately, whatever the government does to them, it will not be anywhere near good enough. These people used their power and tried to crush him to the fullest extent that they could manage to squeeze out of the words of the law, distorting actual facts to improve their case. The only judgment that I would say would be fitting to their crime would be to as obscenely unrealistic and disproportional as they were to Aaron. Unfortunately... the chances that they themselves will actually receive such a fitting judgment for their "crime" of far-beyond-reasonable judgment on another U.S. citizen will are pretty low... they will probably be treated like little angels, with the government slapping them on the wrist and then kissing it for them.
And if the person was not a suicide risk? Then the person still should not be slammed into the ground for such a petty "crime," if you could even call it that.
Just a couple of douchebags stretching a case to make it seem as bad as possible for extra fame, money and brownie points. Nothing more. Business as usual in the government.
Northeastern Ohio winter weather is often too damn cold anyway. If such a "global warming" tames winter weather and extends the growing season, then I'll be the last one to complain.
Pretty soon the chances of the White House being required to respond will be similar to the chances of winning the lottery.
Well... I guess we'll find out when she dies and the news makes it to Slashdot. Even then, I wouldn't bet on it amounting to much--the article said she had a stroke at an early age, and that's normally something that usually comes at a later age...
Like, say... opening an ESRB-sponsored charity with the claimed aim of raising awareness of the mentally fucked and put some of the earnings toward the ESRB itself?
Actually, this would give the ESRB even more power than they have right now even if they don't redirect money in such a way. They would start using the power to censor what can be put on store shelves. Want a decent rating to make your game cheaper and more likely for people to buy? Pay up! Never know, they could make a crooked "game" out of such a nonsensical law and definitely leverage it to their advantage. And, of course, this would lead to even more wasted time and money in the courtrooms and richer lawyers. They'd love that.
It can't. The real question is, how the fuck yet another mental case shooting up a school automatically the result of video games?
And once again, the answer is that they don't. People always have to pick something to blame that the majority of people like to do.
Still, the point is, whether required or not, corporations generally place a copyright notice on their site anyway. Correct?
Am I wrong in assuming that probably every corporation's website has a copyright notice in small print at the bottom of all of the pages, complete with an "all rights reserved" notice? Meanwhile social, user content-based sites are governed typically by a Terms of Service and Privacy Policy page (which can, of course change without notice)? So what's the confusion?
Doctors are smart. They should know how to operate that newfangled thing called "vibrate" mode. If they don't, then I sure wouldn't want to go to them for my own health.
You don't even need a smartphone with GPS functionality. Any cell phone has the capability of pinpointing your geographical location with pretty decent accuracy as long as it is turned on and connected to cell towers. And, of course, a traditional home phone line/number is traceable to the exact address/person... the only advantage is that you can't just take a home phone everywhere you go and use it, so it's locked to that location. Which is exactly why cell phones were invented and are currently eclipsing traditional phone lines in popularity.
When you are at a movie, do you even want incoming calls or notifications of anything? I sure as hell wouldn't.
Even then, with Google Voice you can still receive text messages and a list of missed calls even if you have your phone either turned off or in airplane mode to enjoy a movie while saving battery juice; you'll just be left alone for the duration of the movie (I see that as an advantage, not a disadvantage...), but as soon as the phone is connected again you'll be able to read and reply to any text messages or call back any missed calls. Seems like a far better solution to me. I tend to use airplane mode since it is faster than the shutdown/boot cycles yet still saves power and my phone has a battery-guzzling bug that reactivates at every reboot, but GV offers yet another choice: Do Not Disturb mode. All callers will be sent straight to voicemail, and you can set the GV app to notify you of new voicemail with a sound and/or vibration.
Of course, this means the phone will still be connected to all networks and draining battery power, and unsolicited calls made directly to your actual phone number will still be able to get through. [Double-edged sword though; people who are given the phone's number for emergency purposes will still be able to get through, which can be a good thing.]
So basically... cell phones already provide this functionality by default, and anything this new Microsoft patent tries to improve, Google Voice already does it better. Therefore, I am not impressed.
Do they mean, when the person puts the phone away in his or her pocket? I'm not sure exactly how light sensing is a good method of telling anything about the location of a phone, even when combined with GPS data...
And yet plenty of other people kill themselves as inmates, right inside prison walls. Your point is?
You talk as if they'll never see the light of day on the Internet again to spread their message. Sorry, but that's just not the case.
If a company DDoSes one of their competitors to hurt them financially, that is not protest and would no doubt be taken up in the courts.
Plus, they would probably end up hurting themselves far more, since people would find out what a sleazy company they are and avoid them.
Are you really saying that a denial of service attack is not simply a temporary disruption of service? That the two are somehow totally different things? I fail to see how so.
All they wanted in life was attention. They got it. Now they shut the fuck up. Overall, a happy ending... although it would be better if they would get their heads out of their asses and realize what the real problem is: mentally deranged psychopaths who are beyond fucked in the head. Not otherwise inanimate objects such as plastic discs, or even guns on their own without a lunatic wielding them.
He could have just shot his wife and said Linux did it. He could have easily pointed the blame on the ReiserFS implementation supplied in the gun's particular kernel.
Maybe they wanted it that way, because they don't want nosy people they know to easily find and harass them? Same with a new phone number; no one you know will know it until you tell them, and for most people in most situations, that is a bonus when it comes to privacy. And there tends to be something "special" and "personal" about custom nicknames, otherwise they wouldn't have made them up, and instead would have just used their own real name. I don't see why you're complaining, because judging by four Slashdot username, you're guilty of the same exact thing.
And most people tend to use one or two usernames across all web/Internet services. If you go ahead and use your own example of creating the same username (your name), and all of your friends choose a different "cute nickname" for themselves every day when signing up for a new service, then chances are you'll be first to be hacked royally across multiple sites/accounts. Everyone else would have to be hacked one-by-one, per site (unless their main e-mail is compromised and contains "welcome" messages with usernames). So there's a strong security feature hiding behind their method of using a different account name every day just to piss you off.
If they want you to know how to contact them using a particular method, they'll tell you... or you'll have some other way of communicating with them to ask if you really want to.
Google has to obey some sort of limits when it comes to collecting data, otherwise they risk get sued and/or examined by the government for illegal activity/privacy invasion... right? I really doubt that Google's data collecting as as extreme as people like you make it out to be. FWIW, I search Google and YouTube with the history turned off, and that's probably the key data they would use. If they sneak into everyone's personal e-mails, phone calls, voicemails, and/or text messages without permission, then they're just opening themselves up to some serious legal trouble.
Well, if there is one. I don't exactly use it myself or keep up-to-date on the latest news.