Google, in a very forward-thinking move, outright purchased massive quantities of laid fiber at rock-bottom prices after the telecom crash that followed the dot-com crash. There was quite a glut of capacity that nobody needed at the time and had no use for. They picked up years and years worth of bandwidth expansion without having to go through all the trouble and expense of actually laying that fiber.
I could totally see the law firm saying "Okay. We give up. We'll file suits against the 5 Does separately." I'm sure that well over 5 Does received notice of intent to sue, and were extorted for settlements.
Of course, the law firm doesn't actually WANT to go through with a trial or anything (or even file suit, really), but if they don't file suit, even half-awake judges are starting to realize that these plaintiffs have no real desire to do anything but extort IP address owners for money with relatively little work and are denying the John Doe subpoenas necessary to obtain victim information.
I wish the BitCoin people could understand this. An ideal currency is one that remains stable in relation to whatever it is you choose to buy. You don't WANT your currency to appreciate in value if you want to use it as a currency instead of an investment. A "currency" with guaranteed massive deflation (because the currency cannot scale with the size of the economy) is simply destined to never be a significant means of trade, except as an "in-between" currency useful only for money laundering.
My computer is a tool. I have no desire to spend any intellectual energy whatsoever in making my computer work. I have work to do, both at work and at home, and I would prefer my computer simply never stand in the way of getting that work done. (At work, my job is protocol-level network equipment diagnostics, at home it's your typical surf, e-mail, light office work, games, etc.)
Just like I am mostly ignorant of the metallurgy and exact mechanical parts of the torque wrench I used to change out my brakes today, I have no need nor desire to understand the inner workings of my operating system. I understand the knowledge I require to do my job, just as I understand how brake calipers, pads, fluid, and rotors interact to stop my car. Knowing the secrets of torque wrench construction or OS operation is not something I have or want. While knowledge is a good thing, I have limited hours in my day, and do not have time to learn everything.
To be blunt, I have better things to do with my time than to use it making my computer work properly. I spend all day, every work day, making enterprise computer equipment work, and I do not want to dedicate any resources there, or at home, making my personal computers work properly also. For all its many faults, Windows works well enough to get my jobs done. Linux, with the tweaking, endless GUI "wars" (HOW long has the Gnome vs. KDE thing been going on?), driver morass, and stacks 'o Googling required for general operations, does not. The cheap Windows laptop I'm typing this on has never required more than occasional reboots for updates or crankiness. It has not required one iota of tweaking or a single download of some obscure driver or utility, nor the editing of a single configuration file, to make it work.
There is nothing wrong whatsoever to wanting something to "just work." Knowing HOW it works can be a valuable and enlightening process (there is a reason I have a degree in Computer Engineering, and I DO largely know how it works on a low level), but it should never be required, unless it is your job.
The aforementioned "cheap labor" flooding into the country is only a problem if you are the guy who wants to charge more. Why do you deserve the job more than he does?
If a certain skillset becomes more commonplace, why shouldn't that drive the price for those skills down? Are you saying that you like Supply and Demand only when it works in your favor?
A wage "commensurate with your skills" is equal to what you can get somebody to pay. If nobody is willing to pay what you want for your services, then your services are worth less than you thought at that moment.
This amount may be less than what you were paid before. It may be less than what it cost you to attain the skills. It may even be less than what you need to live. But your needs do not magically make your skills worth more.
Now, employers setting the bar for pay that low may be a poor long-term business decision. It may be short-sighted and foolhardy. But really that doesn't change the current amount your skills are worth to you.
Your comparison of Prostitutes vs. Pedophiles are not the same at all! Not on a legal or ethical perspective.
When a cop hints to a prostitute that he would like to take advantage of his/her services, he/she offers, and he/she gets arrested. Nobody gets hurt, and the offered services do not take place. Note that the cop cannot actually explicitly request illegal services, as that would be entrapment. (This works in real life because many actual johns are shy enough that they don't directly ask for what they want, so hookers can't use "not directly requesting illegal services" as a cop filter.)
If you request that pedophiles submit unique content to a honeypot, and they don't happen to have any on hand at the moment, an actual violent crime must take place before the criminal dutifully submits the incriminating evidence. And what do you do if you can't trace the evidence? Ask for more? When do you give up? How much crime do you actively solicit from a single perpetrator?
And no investigator in his/her right mind is going play the "would this have happened anyway?" game. That's a question that's impossible to answer.
Firstly, the period of 1800 to 1913 coincided with the industrial revolution and massive territorial expansion in the US. So, the massive increases in productivity and efficiency certainly cannot be attributed solely to deflation over a century. I'd say that the utterly massive technological improvements over that span, the opening up of vast untapped natural resources, plentiful immigration, and the shift from a nearly 100% agrarian economy (with only some manufacturing) to one with substantial industry probably also had something to do with it.
Also, the period of time you cite was hardly a period of uninterrupted economic stability. The repeated, severe, panics of that time span make the current recession look like the most minor blip on the proverbial economic radar.
I've pointed this out to you before, but you choose to utterly ignore it.
That's the way I would expect any FBI honeypot to be run. It would eliminate almost anybody who didn't hurt an actual child. From there, you wait, gather information, and eventually begin providing files that require a custom tool to extract them—a tool that surreptitiously phones home. You've now caught thousands of actual sexual predators.
Are you seriously suggesting the FBI solicit unique child pornography?
Think about that for a minute and get back to me if you don't realize why that is a pretty bad idea.
Just because I didn't define all those words (that is what we have legislators and courts, however imperfectly, for) doesn't mean you didn't present a false choice.
There are laws that define the permissible scope of warrants that answer all of your questions, and the answers vary depending on what is being monitored, what state the laws are written in, etc. It's reasonable grounds for discussion. compromise, and a solution (that's how that whole democracy thing is supposed to work.)
Saying that your only choices are 100% tyranny or 100% freedom is not a valid basis of discussion. Hence the name for it: Logical Fallacy. Real life is usually not an either/or question.
The computer experts at FBI Headquarters are not the same ones that go smashing down doors trying to find abused children.. In fact, the local "smashing down doors" bit is usually done largely by local law enforcement personnel. That means that anything useful the computer experts contribute is a bonus to what local law enforcement (or those in FBI field offices) were doing already.
And cracking open distributors is a very good way to find those that created the images... they had to be uploaded from somewhere. If the authorities are busting a drug dealer, they use that information to go after the bigger fish upstream. In addition, many articles about this topic have pointed out that admission to the most complete networks often requires the uploading of unique images. I'll leave it as a chilling exercise for the reader as to where those images might come from.
"they should be focusing 100% of their efforts on trying to identify A. the kids and/or B. the locations where the videos were shot."
Wow! I'm going to call the FBI right away and suggest they try and find out who and where those kids are so they can be rescued! I'm sure they haven't already thought of that one!
Yeah, I'm sure it's a piece of cake tracking down the precise identity of some random abused youth locked in a completely generic concrete basement. There are only millions upon millions of generic concrete basements out there in the world.
Is absolute tyrannical control over communications really the only alternative to pure unstoppable anonymity?
Maybe I'll take C), where the government obtains valid, reasonable, limited, warrants for the monitoring of communications, carries out those warrants, and finds the bad guys.
I can't believe this got modded "insightful"... methinks the mods (and the parent) need to read up on the logical fallacy called the False Dilemma.
I can highly recommend The Great Courses. They are a professionally-produced series of either Audio or A/V lectures, accompanied by a very thorough outline/supplement. The only drawback is that when a particular course isn't on sale, their prices are ridiculous. But they go through a regular schedule of rotating sales, so any particular course will be on sale every few months.
The courses are generally written to the level of an advanced High School class or early undergrad class, depending on the specific course. They are good way to pick up general literacy in a topic, if not complete mastery that would enable you to pass a college course.
I'd always wondered how they came up with the different "colors" for sound. Makes perfect sense. I suppose this is on Wikipedia somewhere, but I never bothered to check.
Ok, the appropriations committee wants to delay money for a new system to replace THOMAS. But THOMAS doesn't limit access now, it just sucks. Congress could want to withhold money for a number of reasons, some legitimate (they don't like the bidding process for the new system), some less so (they have a favored systems integrator in mind.)
But if the current system is just lousy, but works, how is withholding a replacement in any way "limiting public availability of pending bills?"
A Pink Noise Generator is wonderful! ("Pink" noise is a different set of frequency bands tuned to cover up conversation. "White" noise is roughly equivalent to radio static; it sounds a bit harsh.)
When ours shuts off after hours, if I'm still at my desk, you get a weird "open" feeling when it shuts off. And, if somebody else is still there, I can clearly hear them from across the cube farm.
I think your prospects of finding a local job are dim. You are no more likely to be hired there as a programmer there than a non-english-speaking coder would be in the US. It looks like you are an IT programmer, and quality IT programming is all about understanding business requirements well. You can't even read the business requirements, much less understand them. And no company is going to pay somebody to translate for you when they can just hire a local coder instead.
Concentrate your efforts on an English-speaking coding job that will let you work remotely. You may end up on a lot of middle-of-the-night conference calls, but you'll be better off than being an "English Teacher."
This center isn't about obtaining intelligence without a warrant, it's about executing a warrant that the FBI has obtained. An old (and I mean old) wiretap involved nothing more than a wire recorder and a pair of alligator clips at Ma Bell's central office. This center appears to be tasked with devising ways to execute surveillance warrants when the suspect is using technology that doesn't currently have "hooks" to tap.
What good is a packet trace if you can't turn the hex into useful data? How do you handle roaming VOIP? Are there currently "hooks" in the system for intercepting cellular data? You get the idea...
Now, none of that means that this technology won't be put to nefarious ends after it's developed, but the stated intent is benign enough.
Do the "editors" actually read the submissions before posting, or are they just slashcode administrators that happen to be in charge of the original website running the code?
He tried selling the book elsewhere, but due to Amazon only offering certain marketing supports to Amazon-exclusives ("lending", "free Prime Days", etc.) he had to go back to Amazon-exclusive after his sales dropped like a rock.
I've been using unRAID for years and it's a great solution for a small home NAS box. If you ever change your mind about using it, you simply turn your parity drive into a regular Linux boot disk, and the remaining drives are just regular Reiserfs2 filesystems. Most RAID systems and/or software would require much gymnastics to de-RAID them, if it could be done at all.
In addition, hardware-based striped RAID makes you dependent on the RAID controller; if it dies and you can't find a replacement compatible with the original's striping mechanism, your data just disappeared.
Are you saying that the FBI should phone ahead before executing a proper and valid search warrant? (Which could give those involved ample time to remove incriminating evidence.)
Yes, if they have a warrant to do so, the FBI can "go around removing servers at will." That's kind of the point of a warrant.
And I'm pretty surprised Riseup didn't have somebody at the data center follow the agents around and/or ask for an inventory of what was taken from where. IIRC, a full inventory of seized items is something you can request of any warrant executed on your property.
Slashdot Mirror
Google, in a very forward-thinking move, outright purchased massive quantities of laid fiber at rock-bottom prices after the telecom crash that followed the dot-com crash. There was quite a glut of capacity that nobody needed at the time and had no use for. They picked up years and years worth of bandwidth expansion without having to go through all the trouble and expense of actually laying that fiber.
I could totally see the law firm saying "Okay. We give up. We'll file suits against the 5 Does separately." I'm sure that well over 5 Does received notice of intent to sue, and were extorted for settlements.
Of course, the law firm doesn't actually WANT to go through with a trial or anything (or even file suit, really), but if they don't file suit, even half-awake judges are starting to realize that these plaintiffs have no real desire to do anything but extort IP address owners for money with relatively little work and are denying the John Doe subpoenas necessary to obtain victim information.
I wish the BitCoin people could understand this. An ideal currency is one that remains stable in relation to whatever it is you choose to buy. You don't WANT your currency to appreciate in value if you want to use it as a currency instead of an investment. A "currency" with guaranteed massive deflation (because the currency cannot scale with the size of the economy) is simply destined to never be a significant means of trade, except as an "in-between" currency useful only for money laundering.
My computer is a tool. I have no desire to spend any intellectual energy whatsoever in making my computer work. I have work to do, both at work and at home, and I would prefer my computer simply never stand in the way of getting that work done. (At work, my job is protocol-level network equipment diagnostics, at home it's your typical surf, e-mail, light office work, games, etc.)
Just like I am mostly ignorant of the metallurgy and exact mechanical parts of the torque wrench I used to change out my brakes today, I have no need nor desire to understand the inner workings of my operating system. I understand the knowledge I require to do my job, just as I understand how brake calipers, pads, fluid, and rotors interact to stop my car. Knowing the secrets of torque wrench construction or OS operation is not something I have or want. While knowledge is a good thing, I have limited hours in my day, and do not have time to learn everything.
To be blunt, I have better things to do with my time than to use it making my computer work properly. I spend all day, every work day, making enterprise computer equipment work, and I do not want to dedicate any resources there, or at home, making my personal computers work properly also. For all its many faults, Windows works well enough to get my jobs done. Linux, with the tweaking, endless GUI "wars" (HOW long has the Gnome vs. KDE thing been going on?), driver morass, and stacks 'o Googling required for general operations, does not. The cheap Windows laptop I'm typing this on has never required more than occasional reboots for updates or crankiness. It has not required one iota of tweaking or a single download of some obscure driver or utility, nor the editing of a single configuration file, to make it work.
There is nothing wrong whatsoever to wanting something to "just work." Knowing HOW it works can be a valuable and enlightening process (there is a reason I have a degree in Computer Engineering, and I DO largely know how it works on a low level), but it should never be required, unless it is your job.
On the other hand, why should we keep willing workers out of the country just so you get paid more?
The aforementioned "cheap labor" flooding into the country is only a problem if you are the guy who wants to charge more. Why do you deserve the job more than he does?
If a certain skillset becomes more commonplace, why shouldn't that drive the price for those skills down? Are you saying that you like Supply and Demand only when it works in your favor?
A wage "commensurate with your skills" is equal to what you can get somebody to pay. If nobody is willing to pay what you want for your services, then your services are worth less than you thought at that moment.
This amount may be less than what you were paid before. It may be less than what it cost you to attain the skills. It may even be less than what you need to live. But your needs do not magically make your skills worth more.
Now, employers setting the bar for pay that low may be a poor long-term business decision. It may be short-sighted and foolhardy. But really that doesn't change the current amount your skills are worth to you.
Your comparison of Prostitutes vs. Pedophiles are not the same at all! Not on a legal or ethical perspective.
When a cop hints to a prostitute that he would like to take advantage of his/her services, he/she offers, and he/she gets arrested. Nobody gets hurt, and the offered services do not take place. Note that the cop cannot actually explicitly request illegal services, as that would be entrapment. (This works in real life because many actual johns are shy enough that they don't directly ask for what they want, so hookers can't use "not directly requesting illegal services" as a cop filter.)
If you request that pedophiles submit unique content to a honeypot, and they don't happen to have any on hand at the moment, an actual violent crime must take place before the criminal dutifully submits the incriminating evidence. And what do you do if you can't trace the evidence? Ask for more? When do you give up? How much crime do you actively solicit from a single perpetrator?
And no investigator in his/her right mind is going play the "would this have happened anyway?" game. That's a question that's impossible to answer.
Firstly, the period of 1800 to 1913 coincided with the industrial revolution and massive territorial expansion in the US. So, the massive increases in productivity and efficiency certainly cannot be attributed solely to deflation over a century. I'd say that the utterly massive technological improvements over that span, the opening up of vast untapped natural resources, plentiful immigration, and the shift from a nearly 100% agrarian economy (with only some manufacturing) to one with substantial industry probably also had something to do with it.
Also, the period of time you cite was hardly a period of uninterrupted economic stability. The repeated, severe, panics of that time span make the current recession look like the most minor blip on the proverbial economic radar.
I've pointed this out to you before, but you choose to utterly ignore it.
That's the way I would expect any FBI honeypot to be run. It would eliminate almost anybody who didn't hurt an actual child. From there, you wait, gather information, and eventually begin providing files that require a custom tool to extract them—a tool that surreptitiously phones home. You've now caught thousands of actual sexual predators.
Are you seriously suggesting the FBI solicit unique child pornography?
Think about that for a minute and get back to me if you don't realize why that is a pretty bad idea.
Just because I didn't define all those words (that is what we have legislators and courts, however imperfectly, for) doesn't mean you didn't present a false choice.
There are laws that define the permissible scope of warrants that answer all of your questions, and the answers vary depending on what is being monitored, what state the laws are written in, etc. It's reasonable grounds for discussion. compromise, and a solution (that's how that whole democracy thing is supposed to work.)
Saying that your only choices are 100% tyranny or 100% freedom is not a valid basis of discussion. Hence the name for it: Logical Fallacy. Real life is usually not an either/or question.
The computer experts at FBI Headquarters are not the same ones that go smashing down doors trying to find abused children.. In fact, the local "smashing down doors" bit is usually done largely by local law enforcement personnel. That means that anything useful the computer experts contribute is a bonus to what local law enforcement (or those in FBI field offices) were doing already.
And cracking open distributors is a very good way to find those that created the images... they had to be uploaded from somewhere. If the authorities are busting a drug dealer, they use that information to go after the bigger fish upstream. In addition, many articles about this topic have pointed out that admission to the most complete networks often requires the uploading of unique images. I'll leave it as a chilling exercise for the reader as to where those images might come from.
"they should be focusing 100% of their efforts on trying to identify A. the kids and/or B. the locations where the videos were shot."
Wow! I'm going to call the FBI right away and suggest they try and find out who and where those kids are so they can be rescued! I'm sure they haven't already thought of that one!
Yeah, I'm sure it's a piece of cake tracking down the precise identity of some random abused youth locked in a completely generic concrete basement. There are only millions upon millions of generic concrete basements out there in the world.
Is absolute tyrannical control over communications really the only alternative to pure unstoppable anonymity?
Maybe I'll take C), where the government obtains valid, reasonable, limited, warrants for the monitoring of communications, carries out those warrants, and finds the bad guys.
I can't believe this got modded "insightful"... methinks the mods (and the parent) need to read up on the logical fallacy called the False Dilemma.
I can highly recommend The Great Courses. They are a professionally-produced series of either Audio or A/V lectures, accompanied by a very thorough outline/supplement. The only drawback is that when a particular course isn't on sale, their prices are ridiculous. But they go through a regular schedule of rotating sales, so any particular course will be on sale every few months.
The courses are generally written to the level of an advanced High School class or early undergrad class, depending on the specific course. They are good way to pick up general literacy in a topic, if not complete mastery that would enable you to pass a college course.
I'd always wondered how they came up with the different "colors" for sound. Makes perfect sense. I suppose this is on Wikipedia somewhere, but I never bothered to check.
Ok, the appropriations committee wants to delay money for a new system to replace THOMAS. But THOMAS doesn't limit access now, it just sucks. Congress could want to withhold money for a number of reasons, some legitimate (they don't like the bidding process for the new system), some less so (they have a favored systems integrator in mind.)
But if the current system is just lousy, but works, how is withholding a replacement in any way "limiting public availability of pending bills?"
A Pink Noise Generator is wonderful! ("Pink" noise is a different set of frequency bands tuned to cover up conversation. "White" noise is roughly equivalent to radio static; it sounds a bit harsh.)
When ours shuts off after hours, if I'm still at my desk, you get a weird "open" feeling when it shuts off. And, if somebody else is still there, I can clearly hear them from across the cube farm.
Civil-liberties-wise, what exactly is the difference between a remotely-piloted drone and a helicopter?
I think it's a silly idea and not of much use, but I'm not seeing civil liberties implications here.
I think your prospects of finding a local job are dim. You are no more likely to be hired there as a programmer there than a non-english-speaking coder would be in the US. It looks like you are an IT programmer, and quality IT programming is all about understanding business requirements well. You can't even read the business requirements, much less understand them. And no company is going to pay somebody to translate for you when they can just hire a local coder instead.
Concentrate your efforts on an English-speaking coding job that will let you work remotely. You may end up on a lot of middle-of-the-night conference calls, but you'll be better off than being an "English Teacher."
This center isn't about obtaining intelligence without a warrant, it's about executing a warrant that the FBI has obtained. An old (and I mean old) wiretap involved nothing more than a wire recorder and a pair of alligator clips at Ma Bell's central office. This center appears to be tasked with devising ways to execute surveillance warrants when the suspect is using technology that doesn't currently have "hooks" to tap.
What good is a packet trace if you can't turn the hex into useful data? How do you handle roaming VOIP? Are there currently "hooks" in the system for intercepting cellular data? You get the idea...
Now, none of that means that this technology won't be put to nefarious ends after it's developed, but the stated intent is benign enough.
Do the "editors" actually read the submissions before posting, or are they just slashcode administrators that happen to be in charge of the original website running the code?
He tried selling the book elsewhere, but due to Amazon only offering certain marketing supports to Amazon-exclusives ("lending", "free Prime Days", etc.) he had to go back to Amazon-exclusive after his sales dropped like a rock.
I've been using unRAID for years and it's a great solution for a small home NAS box. If you ever change your mind about using it, you simply turn your parity drive into a regular Linux boot disk, and the remaining drives are just regular Reiserfs2 filesystems. Most RAID systems and/or software would require much gymnastics to de-RAID them, if it could be done at all.
In addition, hardware-based striped RAID makes you dependent on the RAID controller; if it dies and you can't find a replacement compatible with the original's striping mechanism, your data just disappeared.
Are you saying that the FBI should phone ahead before executing a proper and valid search warrant? (Which could give those involved ample time to remove incriminating evidence.)
Yes, if they have a warrant to do so, the FBI can "go around removing servers at will." That's kind of the point of a warrant.
And I'm pretty surprised Riseup didn't have somebody at the data center follow the agents around and/or ask for an inventory of what was taken from where. IIRC, a full inventory of seized items is something you can request of any warrant executed on your property.