If you work in corporate IT, I'm confident that this story will sound familiar. You know all the tricks, all the ways to secure your network, all the practises necessary to maintain a basic level of security for your company. And they don't even seem that hard to implement. And then you run into the three biggest obstacles. Management, budget, and users.
Case in point, yesterday I had one of my users complain that they kept having to put in their password to open their email client. I reminded her that she did not want her password stored, and she agreed, but argued that she should not have to put it in every time.
Naturally, I have encouraged users not to allow their programs to save their passwords, even though management does not allow me (in nonspecific terms, not specific ones) to completely forbid it. All it takes is a basic complaint from a user and I get an earful from my boss about how I'm making it "harder for them to get their work done" with no room to change his mind.
If this is a problem, you can imagine how difficult it would be to roll out encryption across the company for email, for example. In fact, yesterday I seem to have finally convinced one of our users that not only should she lock or log off her computer when she leaves her desk, but that she shouldn't give everyone who asks for it her password so they can use her computer. We'll see if that one sticks.
And that's why World War II veterans wanting to see a completely unstaffed memorial to the war they themselves fought in had to storm the ridiculous barricades like it was Omaha Beach.
I think this time at least a few people will see through the stage props and realize they've caught the government at their own game. Whether they'll bother to do anything about it, if they can even figure out that they should, is doubtful.
It's not the lack of technology. It's the lack of geological stability. Fukushima is over 40 years old. The text provided on this subject here seems to convey a questionable assertion that it was intentionally built in its current position, but in a seismically active place like Japan, it is more likely that while the tank is built on a slope, it was built level. The shifting of the ground beneath the tank has probably caused the tank to lean a bit to one side.
As far as software itself, one coworker whose family member was a Windows kernel hacker informed me upon seeing my Linux laptop that there were also a fair number of Windows kernel hackers running Linux. This last bit sent up a lot of red flags in my head.
Beyond that, I will be vague out of respect for the fact that my knowledge comes from time working there. The notable lack of controls, wide-open resources (to the worldwide network of employee sites), and the sheer number of known-term contractors constantly cycling out who were in positions of significant responsibility with access to a massive amount of internal data was very unsettling from a security standpoint. If Microsoft was that lax with their own data, I cannot imagine them being any better with mine.
Agreed. I have been backing Malala for basically every humanitarian award since the incident, and despite Snowden's actions being incredibly important, Malala wins on such a fundamental level that nobody can possibly expect to compete with her on this if there is even a shred of honesty in this award. Seems so many awards have really turned into worthless tokens.
For me, it's not a matter of cost. It's a matter of role. I don't have a problem with the government selling off their helium. I just have a problem with the fact that the government basically controls the market for helium by sheer volume of stock.
Going back to a design from 10 years ago would give them less opportunity to hide adverts and trackers in the code. It's much easier when the site code is needlessly complex and hard to analize.
but it only works if you follow through on that knowledge to get an early foothold. You can identify as many future trends as you want without effectively getting to market early enough for it to matter with a good enough product to stick. The only thing that accomplishes is it gives you the ability to say "I knew that was coming!" And it's not just those who don't get into the market. It's also those who don't keep up with the competition. Palm and Blackberry offered the most widely used products of their type at one point, and now people giggle if you still have one.
I think we largely agree on the main points. I don't know about the suspect list though, governments have shown a tendency to abuse those schemes. I'd prefer actually requiring probable cause to issue a warrant, and acting upon a warrant. A simple list of suspects is a bit broad.
As far as taxes themselves, I generally agree on evasion, but I also think part of the problem (at least in the States) is the mess of an income tax system our government relies on. It's backwards, complex, full of holes, and practically encourages people to cheat on their forms. It would be much better to rely on a concept more like the FairTax proposal because it would pretty much remove the burden on people, and place it into existing systems used for present sales taxes. That way, it doesn't matter who stores how much in what location. The taxation comes when the money is spent rather than forcing individuals to muddle through a bizarre set of paperwork full of obscure terms and nonsensical exemptions that surely were bought and paid for by some lobbyist or other.
I think it says more about mobile networks than it does about him.
That said, once upon a time I worked at Microsoft, back in the just-after-9/11 days. Seeing how the place worked is one of the reasons that I haven't owned a system that ran Microsoft since 2001.
There are some particular issues involved in this particular case.
First, the tyranny of the US government in its belief that is has a right to force its civil law on foreign companies. Admittedly, Wegelin made the mistake of having US arms of its business, but the Swiss government failed to protect the Swiss operation. We've seen similar issues with various foreign banks for dealing with Iran despite the perfectly legal status in their own nations, simply because they deal with US entities. I can't go too deeply into that one because I don't think anyone fully understands the whole Iran sanctions/US sanctions vs UN sanctions/etc. situations, but it appears that the US has been bullying banks of various nations for operating legally in their own countries.
Second is that in this case, the bankers were indeed well aware of what was going on. There's a vast difference between being a knowing accomplice and intentionally avoiding information. I work in the healthcare industry at present, and I'm actually legally obligated to not become privy to any more information than is necessary to do my job when it comes to patients. I see no reason a bank couldn't operate the same way, actively avoiding any unnecessary information beyond the basic information and balances required for a given account.
We've seen how the US government does in the railroad business. Do you really want them in the tourism business?
That said, if we could convince someone to start an airship service over national parks like the Grand Canyon or Alaska's wilderness, I bet you'd see a lot of takers. But it had better be privately-run instead of operating at a taxpayer-subsidized loss.
that's one thought. But I don't know that the demand is high enough for the supply to really pay off anytime soon. Especially when natural gas could easily re-enter the business.
What I was responding to was the idea that it is a bank in Switzerland's responsibility to determine whether foreign money was earned in harmony with the laws of whatever countries it has come from. That is the responsibility of the country from which the money came. Switzerland operates under Swiss law, and nobody else's, and thus in terms of storing the funds, Swiss banks operate (for the most part), quite legally, under Swiss law. Even if their clients have varying legalities in their varying countries.
The only reason for what we presently have as far as government involvment in the helium business is that the Strategic Helium Reserve was created for military reasons, and now we're simply selling off the stockpile. The stored quantity is massive. I think the government needs to get out of the business, but at the same time, I think it's doubtful that they are taking measures to make that possible.
The Strategic Helium Reserve began in the early 20th century as a gas supply for airships, and because the prime source of coolant for the space/missile programs of the Cold War. Most of our helium is collected during natural gas production.
That was essentially what Surface RT proved by failing. The key advantage of tablets over laptops for many uses is that they are lighter, cheaper, smaller, and simpler. Apple understood this from the beginning, with their separation of iOS from mainstream OSX. Android did not attempt to be a mainstream Linux, and marketed accordingly. Microsoft, on the other hand, seems to have forgotten the KISS principle and tried to give us the kitchen sink when the market asked for a glass of water.
Well if you're looking for something good they've done, I think shutting down such a large portion of the government was a good thing compared to what they normally do.
I'm admittedly biased in favour of my favorite, Python, but I have had projects where the CPAN just offered better options and I used Perl instead. It's a well-developed community, even if I still prefer Python itself.
Slashdot Mirror
If you work in corporate IT, I'm confident that this story will sound familiar. You know all the tricks, all the ways to secure your network, all the practises necessary to maintain a basic level of security for your company. And they don't even seem that hard to implement. And then you run into the three biggest obstacles. Management, budget, and users.
Case in point, yesterday I had one of my users complain that they kept having to put in their password to open their email client. I reminded her that she did not want her password stored, and she agreed, but argued that she should not have to put it in every time.
Naturally, I have encouraged users not to allow their programs to save their passwords, even though management does not allow me (in nonspecific terms, not specific ones) to completely forbid it. All it takes is a basic complaint from a user and I get an earful from my boss about how I'm making it "harder for them to get their work done" with no room to change his mind.
If this is a problem, you can imagine how difficult it would be to roll out encryption across the company for email, for example. In fact, yesterday I seem to have finally convinced one of our users that not only should she lock or log off her computer when she leaves her desk, but that she shouldn't give everyone who asks for it her password so they can use her computer. We'll see if that one sticks.
And that's why World War II veterans wanting to see a completely unstaffed memorial to the war they themselves fought in had to storm the ridiculous barricades like it was Omaha Beach.
I think this time at least a few people will see through the stage props and realize they've caught the government at their own game. Whether they'll bother to do anything about it, if they can even figure out that they should, is doubtful.
It's not the lack of technology. It's the lack of geological stability. Fukushima is over 40 years old. The text provided on this subject here seems to convey a questionable assertion that it was intentionally built in its current position, but in a seismically active place like Japan, it is more likely that while the tank is built on a slope, it was built level. The shifting of the ground beneath the tank has probably caused the tank to lean a bit to one side.
As far as software itself, one coworker whose family member was a Windows kernel hacker informed me upon seeing my Linux laptop that there were also a fair number of Windows kernel hackers running Linux. This last bit sent up a lot of red flags in my head.
Beyond that, I will be vague out of respect for the fact that my knowledge comes from time working there. The notable lack of controls, wide-open resources (to the worldwide network of employee sites), and the sheer number of known-term contractors constantly cycling out who were in positions of significant responsibility with access to a massive amount of internal data was very unsettling from a security standpoint. If Microsoft was that lax with their own data, I cannot imagine them being any better with mine.
Agreed. I have been backing Malala for basically every humanitarian award since the incident, and despite Snowden's actions being incredibly important, Malala wins on such a fundamental level that nobody can possibly expect to compete with her on this if there is even a shred of honesty in this award. Seems so many awards have really turned into worthless tokens.
For me, it's not a matter of cost. It's a matter of role. I don't have a problem with the government selling off their helium. I just have a problem with the fact that the government basically controls the market for helium by sheer volume of stock.
Going back to a design from 10 years ago would give them less opportunity to hide adverts and trackers in the code. It's much easier when the site code is needlessly complex and hard to analize.
It's worse than that. It looks like a blog using a theme that came with their CMS as the default.
but it only works if you follow through on that knowledge to get an early foothold. You can identify as many future trends as you want without effectively getting to market early enough for it to matter with a good enough product to stick. The only thing that accomplishes is it gives you the ability to say "I knew that was coming!" And it's not just those who don't get into the market. It's also those who don't keep up with the competition. Palm and Blackberry offered the most widely used products of their type at one point, and now people giggle if you still have one.
I think we largely agree on the main points. I don't know about the suspect list though, governments have shown a tendency to abuse those schemes. I'd prefer actually requiring probable cause to issue a warrant, and acting upon a warrant. A simple list of suspects is a bit broad.
As far as taxes themselves, I generally agree on evasion, but I also think part of the problem (at least in the States) is the mess of an income tax system our government relies on. It's backwards, complex, full of holes, and practically encourages people to cheat on their forms. It would be much better to rely on a concept more like the FairTax proposal because it would pretty much remove the burden on people, and place it into existing systems used for present sales taxes. That way, it doesn't matter who stores how much in what location. The taxation comes when the money is spent rather than forcing individuals to muddle through a bizarre set of paperwork full of obscure terms and nonsensical exemptions that surely were bought and paid for by some lobbyist or other.
I would tend to agree, but surely contracting the operation out for a fee and a cut would be more reasonable than funding it.
I think it says more about mobile networks than it does about him.
That said, once upon a time I worked at Microsoft, back in the just-after-9/11 days. Seeing how the place worked is one of the reasons that I haven't owned a system that ran Microsoft since 2001.
There are some particular issues involved in this particular case.
First, the tyranny of the US government in its belief that is has a right to force its civil law on foreign companies. Admittedly, Wegelin made the mistake of having US arms of its business, but the Swiss government failed to protect the Swiss operation. We've seen similar issues with various foreign banks for dealing with Iran despite the perfectly legal status in their own nations, simply because they deal with US entities. I can't go too deeply into that one because I don't think anyone fully understands the whole Iran sanctions/US sanctions vs UN sanctions/etc. situations, but it appears that the US has been bullying banks of various nations for operating legally in their own countries.
Second is that in this case, the bankers were indeed well aware of what was going on. There's a vast difference between being a knowing accomplice and intentionally avoiding information. I work in the healthcare industry at present, and I'm actually legally obligated to not become privy to any more information than is necessary to do my job when it comes to patients. I see no reason a bank couldn't operate the same way, actively avoiding any unnecessary information beyond the basic information and balances required for a given account.
We've seen how the US government does in the railroad business. Do you really want them in the tourism business?
That said, if we could convince someone to start an airship service over national parks like the Grand Canyon or Alaska's wilderness, I bet you'd see a lot of takers. But it had better be privately-run instead of operating at a taxpayer-subsidized loss.
that's one thought. But I don't know that the demand is high enough for the supply to really pay off anytime soon. Especially when natural gas could easily re-enter the business.
What I was responding to was the idea that it is a bank in Switzerland's responsibility to determine whether foreign money was earned in harmony with the laws of whatever countries it has come from. That is the responsibility of the country from which the money came. Switzerland operates under Swiss law, and nobody else's, and thus in terms of storing the funds, Swiss banks operate (for the most part), quite legally, under Swiss law. Even if their clients have varying legalities in their varying countries.
The only reason for what we presently have as far as government involvment in the helium business is that the Strategic Helium Reserve was created for military reasons, and now we're simply selling off the stockpile. The stored quantity is massive. I think the government needs to get out of the business, but at the same time, I think it's doubtful that they are taking measures to make that possible.
If pseudo-police is how you envision proper banking, I'm not sure we're going to reconcile your totalitarian bent and my libertarian one.
The Strategic Helium Reserve began in the early 20th century as a gas supply for airships, and because the prime source of coolant for the space/missile programs of the Cold War. Most of our helium is collected during natural gas production.
Wait, keeping the US in the wholesale heilum business is a senator's job? I don't follow your logic here.
That was essentially what Surface RT proved by failing. The key advantage of tablets over laptops for many uses is that they are lighter, cheaper, smaller, and simpler. Apple understood this from the beginning, with their separation of iOS from mainstream OSX.
Android did not attempt to be a mainstream Linux, and marketed accordingly. Microsoft, on the other hand, seems to have forgotten the KISS principle and tried to give us the kitchen sink when the market asked for a glass of water.
That's like saying Seagate and Western Digital are unscrupulous because some of their users store illegal data on hard drives they manufactured.
Well if you're looking for something good they've done, I think shutting down such a large portion of the government was a good thing compared to what they normally do.
I'm admittedly biased in favour of my favorite, Python, but I have had projects where the CPAN just offered better options and I used Perl instead. It's a well-developed community, even if I still prefer Python itself.
tl;dr