> I contacted every government authority and they all wanted to keep it top > secret... >... > The ease of discovery and manufacture of this biological terror makes it > evident that our enemies may make an identical discovery very soon.
You just said you contacted every government authority: our enemies already know,
We need an irrevokeable authenticated delayed publication mechanism: some way to put a GPG-signed document into a pipeline such that it will be published at the end of X days no matter what anyone (including the author) does. Researchers could then send their discoveries to vendors with the notation "This vulnerability will come out of the IADP system in sixty days". Browbeating them for more time would be pointless and their priority of discovery would be secure.
There are no doubt many other uses for such a system as well.
How does being notified of vulnerabilities in the software you are running not make you more secure? If "security researchers" have a responsibility to tell anyone about security bugs they find it is the users who the bugs put at risk.
> This is trusting anyone who claims to have some authority which is even > worse.
Authority consists of nothing more than having your claims of authority believed. Cameron has more authority than these guys only in that more people believe his claims.
> So why have I never seen any USB drives that are made so that when a > particular (physical) switch on it was toggled, the data on it is not > modifiable by any computer it might be plugged into?
Because such a switch would cost money. That would mean the drive would cost more. As no significant number of people would see any reason to pay extra for the switch the product would not be widely available.
If Big W is collecting the money from the customers then they are liable for any injury the customers suffer. Collecting from their contractors is Big W's problem.
Actually politicians do this sort of thing all the time whether there is a crisis in progress or not. It's silly but it doesn't consume a significant fraction of their time (which is too bad because they spend much of the rest of their time doing serious damage). BTW California is not near bankruptcy. The government of the state of California is near bankruptcy (but will avoid it).
> Have you ever typed a document in, carefully checked for the numerous errors > that a spell checker will not catch only to have the errors JUMP out at you > once they hit print...
Yes, but I can get the same effect by displaying the document in a different format and font.
Slashdot Mirror
> that is because you live in a country which bans online gaming.
Do you seriously believe that said ban prevents betting?
> On the rare occasion I watch this sport I think to myself, "This is what it
> must feel like to not give a crap about hockey."
It is. I know, because I feel exactly the same way about soccer and hockey (and all other professional team sports).
> I imagine that was the same phrase they used when they were handling raw
> mercury without protection in science labs not too long ago.
For the very good reason that doing so is not particularly dangerous as long as you don't heat it.
> ...that's right America football not soccer...
Association football. Wouldn't want to confuse it with rugby football or gridiron football...
...for FIFA team training tables?
> "Microsoft Accepted by Old/Curmudgeonly"
Speak for yourself.
> The problem is that to unseat the iPod, it had to be a fantastic player.
No. To unseat the iPod it had to be perceived as a fantastically cool player. How well it actually worked was largely irrelevant.
> Contact Microsoft get them to sign NDA...
Mod parent +5 Funny!
> Most bad guys aren't skilled enough to find new exploits.
Probably true that _most_ aren't. However, it's a certainty that _some_ are. And some is all it takes.
> Microsoft should count themselves lucky I have no haxor skills and the
> people that do give them any notice in the first place.
Many of them don't, of course. They don't notify anyone. They just go to work subverting your computer.
> I contacted every government authority and they all wanted to keep it top ...
> secret...
>
> The ease of discovery and manufacture of this biological terror makes it
> evident that our enemies may make an identical discovery very soon.
You just said you contacted every government authority: our enemies already know,
So the WHO is the proprietary vendor of the human immune system with exclusive access to the source code? Or in other words the UN is God?
Surely you can come up with a worse analogy. How about one involving cars?
We need an irrevokeable authenticated delayed publication mechanism: some way to put a GPG-signed document into a pipeline such that it will be published at the end of X days no matter what anyone (including the author) does. Researchers could then send their discoveries to vendors with the notation "This vulnerability will come out of the IADP system in sixty days". Browbeating them for more time would be pointless and their priority of discovery would be secure.
There are no doubt many other uses for such a system as well.
> Neither response makes me more secure...
How does being notified of vulnerabilities in the software you are running not make you more secure? If "security researchers" have a responsibility to tell anyone about security bugs they find it is the users who the bugs put at risk.
> This isn't even just trusting authority though.
Yes it is.
> This is trusting anyone who claims to have some authority which is even
> worse.
Authority consists of nothing more than having your claims of authority believed. Cameron has more authority than these guys only in that more people believe his claims.
> So why have I never seen any USB drives that are made so that when a
> particular (physical) switch on it was toggled, the data on it is not
> modifiable by any computer it might be plugged into?
Because such a switch would cost money. That would mean the drive would cost more. As no significant number of people would see any reason to pay extra for the switch the product would not be widely available.
> Why run windows on these kiosks?
Because they are oblivious to the very existence of any other possibility.
If Big W is collecting the money from the customers then they are liable for any injury the customers suffer. Collecting from their contractors is Big W's problem.
All would be named in any lawsuits in any case.
Actually politicians do this sort of thing all the time whether there is a crisis in progress or not. It's silly but it doesn't consume a significant fraction of their time (which is too bad because they spend much of the rest of their time doing serious damage). BTW California is not near bankruptcy. The government of the state of California is near bankruptcy (but will avoid it).
> ...a rock that isn't dangerous to breathe?
Limestone.
> Anyone know why?
Sometimes even politicians have a sense of humor.
> This is yet another sign of how California, once the greatest most glamorous > state in the union, has become the nation's laughingstock.
Midwesterners have been laughing at California since before WWII.
> Have you ever typed a document in, carefully checked for the numerous errors
> that a spell checker will not catch only to have the errors JUMP out at you
> once they hit print...
Yes, but I can get the same effect by displaying the document in a different format and font.
Hemingway hard to read? Sarcasm, I hope.
Good points. You may feel that major changes are needed (and you may be right) but before you suggest them you must gain credibility.