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User: Steve+B

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  1. Re:the real problem on Listen To a Microsoft Support Scam As It Happened · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Why do you think governments should step in?

    Because suppression of fraud is one of the basic responsibilities of a government.

  2. Re: Bad idea on Snowden Reportedly In Talks To Return To US To Face Trial · · Score: 0

    Awww, they're so cute when they still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and politicians' honesty....

  3. Re:Ugh. Just ugh. on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    Not Eliza -- more like PARRY:

    PARRY was written in 1972 by psychiatrist Kenneth Colby, then at Stanford University.[1] While ELIZA was a tongue-in-cheek simulation of a Rogerian therapist, PARRY attempted to simulate a paranoid schizophrenic.

  4. Re:Dear Michael Rogers, on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    The Feds' insistence on sweeping up all the innocent-communication "noise" is drowning out the signals. (e.g. "Hey, you might want to keep an eye on those Tsarnaev brothers -- see attached description of the stuff they were doing while they were still here in Russia.")

  5. Re:Actually, ADM Rogers doesn't "want" that at all on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    Indeed. This proves beyond any sane doubt that the targets are not foreigners (who for obvious reasons would ignore any "legal framework" and avoid using defective-by-design NSA-approved encryption). The targets are domestic.

  6. Re:Actually, ADM Rogers doesn't "want" that at all on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    If companies want to take the direction of removing themselves from the encryption picture altogether, that is their prerogative.

    And yet that is precisely what the government is pissing and moaning and setting its hair on fire about. Showing that sort of contempt for citizens' private prerogatives is what caused them to forfeit our trust in the first place.

  7. Re:Facts not in evidence on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    Actually, "both of the above" (foolish and malicious) fits the available evidence best. For instance, Rogers' answers at Monday's cybersecurity forum were both pathetically lame (foolish) and contemptuous of American values (malicious).

  8. By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them on NSA Director Wants Legal Right To Snoop On Encrypted Data · · Score: 1

    And their fruits are rotten and infested with vermin.

  9. Re:If they break into people's homes.... on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 1

    That's another advantage of forcing the snoops back to "direct access" methods -- every so often one of them will get caught red-handed snooping on the wrong (i.e. clearly innocent and rich/influential) target, re-focusing attention on them and forcing another round of retrenchment until it blows over.

  10. Re:Cost/benefit ratio on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 1

    Now, if a backdoor is found by the bad guys, it will be used almost immediately to destroy a company.

    If it's found by really bad guys (e.g. North Korea on a day when Dear Supreme Grand High Panjandrum is feeling especially trollish), it can be publicly circulated to destroy every company.

  11. Re:Translation ... on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 3, Informative

    Anybody can yell "Police" or wear a jacket reading "Police". I recall reading about at least one home-invasion gang doing just that.

  12. Re:And is this a bad thing? on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Forcing them to switch to "direct access" methods puts pressure on them to follow the law. First, as I noted in my earlier comment, the non-scaling time and manpower costs (each tail, bug, etc requires significant additional resources) forces careful selection of targets. Second, "direct access" methods put the snoops at a nontrivial risk of getting caught and/or leaving recoverable evidence each time they use them illegally.

  13. That's Exactly What They SHOULD Be Doing on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 2

    "Direct access" methods (tailing people, planting surveillance devices, etc) do not scale anywhere near as easily as network surveillance -- each "direct access" target requires a significant fixed cost in resources and manpower. This imposes discipline on the snoops and forces them to pick and choose actual suspects instead of trying to scoop up everything.

  14. Re:tag the participants for surveilance on Washington DC's Public Library Will Teach People How To Avoid the NSA · · Score: 1

    Hey, Bob, attend this class, make a list of attendees. Oh man, this is too easy!

    It was easy; the instructor gave me a copy of the list. Now, we just need to pull up the physical and e-mail addresses of Mr. Dover, Mr. Jass, Mr. Jablome....

  15. Cooperative Game... With Possible Exceptions on Designing the Best Board Game · · Score: 1

    That's one advantage of mostly cooperative board games where there might be a hidden "traitor" among the players who wins if the group loses (e.g. Shadows Over Camelot, Battlestar Galactica). With that possibility on the table, players can't just trust somebody else to make decisions and have to pay attention to what everyone else is doing (usually in these games, exposing the traitor has some reward, at least insofar as it curtails his ability to continue undermining the group).

  16. Re:It's a TRAP! on Yahoo To Add PGP Encryption For Email · · Score: 2

    webmail kinda implies that the provider will either be storing the key or at the very least be able to access it

    Obviously they need access to the PUBLIC keys in order to encrypt messages to the designated recipient. The whole point of public-key cryptography is that revealing the public key doesn't compromise security.

  17. Re: Sublime irony on Auditors Release Verified Repositories of TrueCrypt · · Score: 1

    "secret 3G/4G reception inside of the CPU"

    Ruh roh! I'd better put my CPU in the middle of a metal box or something....

  18. Re:I for one on Rethinking How Congress Pushes Copyright Laws · · Score: 1

    Maybe the MAIFAA already did that "study", and makes sure to remind him about "those pictures of you and the goat" when handing him the latest bill he is instructed to introduce on their behalf.

  19. How To Explain This Bill To Your Right-Wing Inlaws on Rethinking How Congress Pushes Copyright Laws · · Score: 2

    "Didya hear about Lamar Smith's bill to create another Obama-appointed czar?"

  20. That Gets Back To Their Definition Of "Emergency" on Feds: We Need Priority Access To Cloud Resources · · Score: 1

    A state trooper needs the description of a gunman recently seen in the area? OK.

    A state trooper needs to get his quote of parking tickets filled ASAP? Not so much.

  21. The "Known Reserves" Fallacy on Why Sustainable Power Is Unsustainable · · Score: 1

    If the companies that sell X have access to a 15-year supply, they aren't going to spend money looking for more. As a result, anybody who looks at known reserves and doesn't understand the reality described in the previous sentence is going to run around yelling "ONOZ WE'RE GONNA RUN OUT OF X IN 15 YEARS OMG!!!1!"

  22. Soverign Immunity on Taser International Wins Lawsuit to Change Cause of Death · · Score: 1

    This is one of those cases where the government should assert its prerogative and tell Taser International to go piss up a rope.

  23. Re:What they told me on The U.S. Patent Backlog · · Score: 1

    "63K starting salary for a EE/CE/CS graduate is below the market rate"

    An EE/CE/CS graduate who successfully cross-trains in paralegal skills to do the job, at that. Gee, wonder why they can't hire or keep enough people to handle the workflow...?

  24. Re:How do they know? on White House Says Phone Wiretaps Will Resume For Now · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nope. Under existing law, neither of those is a problem... for legal surveillance with a legitimate national security authorization.

    This is about a coverup for administration crimes, nothing else.

  25. Re:Pick one: DRM or copyright infringement lawsuit on Sony BMG Dropping DRM · · Score: 1

    "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries"

    In the American consitutional system, copyright and patent prerogatives are a grant of grace from Congress ("The Congress shall have Power... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.") The whole thing could be abolished tomorrow, and it wouldn't infringe anyone's guaranteed rights in the slightest (whether it would be bad public policy is a separate question).