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User: redelm

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  1. Re:Of course it's "lawful" on High Court Rules Detention of David Miranda Was Lawful · · Score: 1

    ... all the more reason for a "fruit of the poisoned vine" doctrine to be adopted in the UK. The whole stop should have been thrown out in the US if it were based on an unwarrented bug. Not that it will be, nor that "poisoned vine" is safe in the US.

    Agreed on the judge's odd mention (reliance?) of a failure to declare. Looks weak, but something for the Lords (err...Supremes) to rule upon. Perhaps deliberately.

    And fully agreed the length of time came from higher up. Easy enough to establish in a proper cross-examination if defense access to all the participants were allowed. Tough to keep a large conspiracy together.

    This was obviously an in absentia railroad job.

  2. Re:Of course it's "lawful" on High Court Rules Detention of David Miranda Was Lawful · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... so it is "absurd" to expect a government to be other than hypocritical? "Absurd" to expect a government to obey laws it creates?

    Perhaps so, but I am not so cynical. This "sovereign immunity" is purely predatory behaviour and utterly inconsistent with human rights and "consent of the governed". That does not mean it will stop soon, but it is chipping away.

    BTW, how did they know it was GCHQ docs? Did he confess? or Were they unencrypted and GCHQ attested?

  3. Reproduction ? on Book Review: Survival of the Nicest · · Score: 1

    "survival" of the fittest is mostly a euphemism for reproduction. Numbers matter, but so does quality for it influences grandchildren and beyond.

    So, are the scarce-gametes (women) attracted to nice guys? I don't see any evidence amongst all the feel-good unsupported normative prescriptions. I strongly suspect women are looking for men practicing optimum predatation. Although I doubt they are aware of this "goldilocks".

  4. "Let he who is without blame cast the first stone" on LA Times: Snowden Had 3 Helpers Inside NSA · · Score: 1

    'fess up -- who amongst us has NEVER EVER used someone else's login credentials to do some task? Perhaps the inexperienced, yet to understand security hypocrisy.

    The entire yelpdesk industry lives by taking Remote Control" of users' machines.

  5. Only 60? LUXURY! we worked 84+ on Your 60-Hour Work Week Is Not a Badge of Honor · · Score: 1

    (with apologies to Python's 4 Yorkshiremen) ... now the youngsters only work 72 hours per week plus turnover. For safety reasons, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

    But seriously, what matters is the reason. For the right reasons, long hours are fine. For the wrong reasons or in the wrong environment, 40h can be too much. Decide what matters most to you and follow it.

    Then you won't be getting up half an hour before you go to bed!

  6. Simple -- Correlation is NOT causality on Why P-values Cannot Tell You If a Hypothesis Is Correct · · Score: 1

    p-value is just the probability the data/observations were the result of a random process. So a great p value like 0.01 says the results were not random. They do not conform what made them non-random (ie theory).

    Epistimology is elementary, and often skipped by those who wish to persuade. "Figures do not lie, but liars figure."[Clemens]

  7. Hourly vs job-wise pay on Ask Slashdot: Should Developers Fix Bugs They Cause On Their Own Time? · · Score: 1

    You are being horn-swoggled by a boss who is confusing two types of contract: A builder will _not_ fix the wall without more pay if s/he is hourly. They will only fix the wall "gratis" if they have a contract for a specified job. Said contract will have some [unstated] provision for rework and the expectation of profit (especially on the change orders).

    There is risk in every job. If he wants a supplier (employee/contractor) to assume the risk, he has to pay for it. If he wants minimum cost, normally owners assume it for themselves and manage. Your boss wants to have his cake and eat it too. Disgusting overreach.

  8. dirlisting/autoindex ENABLED ? More likely ftp on Snowden Used Software Scraper, Say NSA Officials · · Score: 1

    For a spider (scraper?) to work, it has to get the filenames from somewhere, usually another file like ./index.html . I cannot see anyone building webpages of the memos, but they might very well be stored as files in some directory structure. Turning on dirlisting (or autoindex) is an invitation for total access -- http is a protocol for info you _want_ to spread. Not even the USG is that incompetent.

    What might have happened is that netadmins like Snowden had uid/pwd that allowed ftp access (necessary to fix files). Then run the directories just as `archie` did 20+ years ago.

  9. Re:Why? on Slashdot Tries Something New; Audience Responds! · · Score: 1

    I _am_ still using text `links` and like it very much thank you. `lynx` I reluctantly abandoned many years ago when it would not do frames. The new JS site browses just fine, don't know about posting.

    FWIW, I do have X installed, but try to avoid running it. When I do, it is mostly to open xterms. I vastly prefer my CLI but really don't want to convert anyone. I'm secure in my manhood and choices.

    As for mobile site, I believe the biggest concern is not CPU but screen resolution. Many phone displays have abysmal pixel count - 320 x 200 . Finger scolling is easier, but still work. Apple gets this right, and is almost enough for me to buy an iPhone.

  10. Excellent -- slows the US down on Russia Bans Bitcoin · · Score: 2

    Russia banning Bitcoin will have relatively little effect on the use of Bitcoin there since enforcement is highly selective and not dependant on established law.

    OTOH if Russia bans it, the US (and its hangers-on) will have to think twice about banning Bitcoin. Heaven forbid the old foe gets it right, and first. Absent strong motivation, the US does not want to be seen as supporting Russia, particularly not ideologically on some matter of principle.

  11. Yippee! Fewer Adobe customers on Adobe's New Ebook DRM Will Leave Existing Users Out In the Cold Come July · · Score: 1

    foot ... aim ... fire!

    Product "upgrades" always sound compelling to software "product managers" but are always less-so to customers. The managers do not suffer the upgrade costs (which are always far greater than relicence costs, especially when backwards compatibility is not advertised).

    Any upgrade is always marginal -- the initial app solved the problem and captured most of the benefits. An upgrade hunts for scraps. Many upgrades are forced by obsolescence -- if customers could keep the old system running, they would.

    Sure, with new systems you want the "latest" to have decent lifetime. And with really compelling uses (mobile), new systems will be bought.

    I do not see anything remotely compelling about the new Adobe DRM, Amazon will eat their lunch even faster.

  12. Good point. The question is whether TLAs can backdate NSLs so their ill-gotten trove can be used as evidence and not just threat identification/blackmail. Since NSLs are supposed to be secret, how can a judge rule on the [in]admissibility of evidence? One might hope that failing some authorization (warrent, unsealed NSL? etc) an intercept would be ruled inadmissible.

  13. Re:ONLY 0.2B ??? on NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Per Day · · Score: 1
    Thank you for the more precise stats. 14.1 B/day is not essentially different from my estimate of 9 B/day and does not change any conclusions.

    If anything, it is worse -- NSA is capturing 1.4%, some combination of good filters and missed streams.

  14. ONLY 0.2B ??? on NSA Collects 200 Million Text Messages Per Day · · Score: 1

    Averaged across my family, we send about 10 SMS/day each. So the total US would send around 3 BILLION per day, and the rest-of-the-world using customary multipliers 6+ BILLION.

    Either the NSA has 2% filters (scary) or is incompetent. Or [likely] both!

  15. Unintended consequences on Google and Microsoft To Block Child-Abuse Search Terms · · Score: 1

    How is keyword blocking going to help abuse victims find recovery resources? I thought most kiddie-pr0n was on the darknet.

    Far more innocents will be hurt than the intended targets.

  16. Stupidest patent -ever- on Facebook Patented Making NSA Data Handoffs Easier · · Score: 1

    In the surprisingly fierce competition for stupid patents, this one has a leg up on other candidates:

    The patent has costs for filing and much larger but nebulous costs for customer relations.

    The patent cannot be expected to bring in any revenue. Other who might licence the patent have no incentive to do so since they can bill the NSA for compliance costs. The NSA could direct these others to use the patent, which as an entity of the USGovt it can use royalty-free and so to subcontractors.

    Many patents are vain and inane. This one is stupid and destroys shareholder value.

  17. Reducing the number of time-zones is a very good idea, especially in the modern era of telecommunications and broadcasting.

    I suspect this is why the USSR operated all on Moscow time and why modern India is on a half-hour timezone to fit in. I'm not sure anything explains Venezuela, still less Newfoundland :)

  18. None too soon! on Debian To Replace SysVinit, Switch To Systemd Or Upstart · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I cannot abide the SysV (AT&T) mess'o'symlinks multiple-indirect startup scripts. One reason I've stuck with Slackware for almost 20 years. It uses BSD-style inits that have far less indirection and need far fewer lookups. Frankly, some of the BusyBox startup look attractive too -- one script to rule them all :)

  19. wtf? in the 21st Century? This looks like a clear violation of the US Anti-Trust rules against agreeing not to compete in a market. Or agreeing to boycott suppliers. Even a wink is illegal.

    I work for a similar mega-corp and we are continually drilled in the importance of Anti-Trust. Where were their lawyers?

    Monopsony is far worse than monopoly because you can always decline to buy. Does anyone have any explanation beyond rank corruption?

  20. Tit for tat on US Executions Threaten Supply of Anaesthetic Used For Surgical Procedures · · Score: 1

    I am delighted to see the RoW (EU) pay the US back in the same coin. For 200+ years, the US has exercised export restrictions (IMHO unconstitutional). Mostly, these restrictions have been strategic (oil against Japan in 1941, crude oil currently) but sometimes a matter of taste ("horses by sea").

    Diplomacy works a lot like the "Prisoners Dilemma" where tit-for-tat appears to be the optimal strategy.

  21. Already in a police state on The Cybersecurity Industry Is Hiring, But Young People Aren't Interested · · Score: 1

    Why the surprise? We all live in police states. From the recent scandals and revealations, that opinion is no longer fringe. If in doubt, just watch some evening news and try to find a story where police/justice/govt is _not_ involved. Small wonder people seek the distractions of sports & gossip.

    The tension imposed by the police state stresses everyone (not least the officers themselves). People naturally shy away from it. Even legitimate security efforts suffer under the toxic cloud. Fear of being sucked deeper _should_ keep people away. In applying to Booz-Allen, Mr. Snowden probably expected to be analysing corporate data, or maybe govt contractor data at worst. Surprise!

  22. Re:Scaled please? on Google Leads Among Consumer Tech Companies Lobbying Congress · · Score: 1

    Thank you. Market cap may not be a perfect deflator as it ignores debt (important for banks & utilities) but is 'way better than no size deflator.

  23. Scaled please? on Google Leads Among Consumer Tech Companies Lobbying Congress · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How about some results scaled by sales or by total assets? Google is big, so should spend the most.

  24. High interrupt load? on Why Does Windows Have Terrible Battery Life? · · Score: 1

    It has been awhile since I've tried serious measurements on MS-Windows, but a high interrupt load could easily cause trouble. If frequent enough, the CPU cannot cycle down to a low-power state (1000s of clocks) even if the processing required is minimal.

    Something like OS attention for all the broadcast packets (especially bad with NetBIOS) could increase the interrupt load from 100-1000/s to several orders of magnitude more.

  25. Re:Wrong optics on Guardian Ignores MI5 Warnings, Vows To 'Publish More Snowden Leaks' · · Score: 1
    None of the above. IMHO, there was an innocence and presumption that govt followed the law and was otherwise civilized. Snowden ripped this veneer away. The NSA was revealed as intrusive as the KGB or Stasi, more frightening because of greater efficiency albeit with less wet work.

    The loss of trust is by far the most damaging impact since the actual surveillence was already known but dismissed.