This is why there is zero oversight from Kickstarter/Amazon - they get their 20% cut if the projects gets funded. There's no way Amazon.com is going to walk away from $125,000 in free money when they have absolutely no risk.
(We've heard this song before - from ISPs back in the day who claimed they were "common carriers" and "only providing a network" to avoid being charged as accessories to piracy).
They'll take their 125k, and if questioned, simply state they were providing a platform, and that they are not responsible for what users do with it.
They have Congressional authority. That is the whole "delegation of powers" thing where Congress is too lazy to legislate so they just delegate the power to an unaccountable, unelected agency that lives under the executive branch, which can regulate "as it sees fit."
You can develop the most awesome weapon ever invented, but if you didn't do it in an influential Congressman's district, you can forget about the military buying it.
A stingray is basically just a base station emulator, right? It should be theoretically easy to detect whether or not your phone is connected to one based on the output power setting on your phone's radio, and knowing the distance to the legitimate towers around you.
Since all phone adjust their power output to the minimum necessary to maintain a link to the base station, If the power setting on your phone is too low for the distance, there is a good chance you are connected to something much closer to you.
All we need is an app that knows where all of the towers are located (freely available information on the web) and that can make a reasonable calculation as to how much power should be required to maintain a link for a given phone position.
Bureaucracies exist for one reason and one reason alone: to grow themselves larger.
We see it in every level of government, and in every single institution there is, whether it be medical, educational, or professional. The "institution" grows and grows and grows while those who work "in the trenches" do worse and worse and worse and the bureaucrats do better and better and better.
What is funny about this whole thing is that the same privacy "advocates" who pretend to be so outraged at the mere possibility of being spied upon are the same people who constantly ask me why I haven't bought a Nest yet or installed an Internet-enabled home security system.
Truth is, there are smarter thermostats than the Nest out there already, that do not require any communications at all except with the HVAC system, and a security system need not hand your video over to a marketing company in order to be effective.
Internetting things for the sake of Internetting things was always and is now a terrible idea.
"he amendment would block the NSA from using any of its funding from this Defense Appropriations Bill to conduct such warrantless searches."
It only covers THIS appropriations bill. They'll just sneak funding into another one to make it up.
You have to pay careful attention to the language these people use.
" In addition, the amendment would prohibit the NSA from using its budget to mandate or request that private companies and organizations add backdoors to the encryption standards that are meant to keep you safe on the web."
So, money that is NOT budgeted, as in part of planned spending, as in slush fund money, is fair game.
Any time an amendment talks about what they cannot use particular money for, as opposed to simply prohibiting the action, it will be full of loopholes.
When there is an amendment that prohibits the ACTION, then we'll have something to be happy about. Nothing in this amendment prohibits the spying.
"when your friend circle doesn't just include the dozen people you actually hang out with regularly, but also the hundreds or thousands of acquaintances you have online"
To me, these are the same people, and it's more like "tens" of people. I don't have online "friends" that aren't my friends in real life.
I get 4 to 5 calls a day from an automated scammer trying to get me to "claim my $200 AT&T bill credit" by logging into a fake AT&T site using all kinds of sensitive personal information.
The scammers take that information and use it to buy phones and plans under the victim's account and ship them overseas where they can be used by whoever.
You are leasing your router from them. They own it, as well as the network. As long as they provide you with the service level you are paying for (which is some certain speed with absolutely no guarantees of speed or uptime), you really have no right to complain.
As long as these people are allowed to bundle the router with the service and force you to use it, oh well too bad so sad.
Slashdot Mirror
Or a swift kick in the nuts.
This is why there is zero oversight from Kickstarter/Amazon - they get their 20% cut if the projects gets funded. There's no way Amazon.com is going to walk away from $125,000 in free money when they have absolutely no risk.
(We've heard this song before - from ISPs back in the day who claimed they were "common carriers" and "only providing a network" to avoid being charged as accessories to piracy).
They'll take their 125k, and if questioned, simply state they were providing a platform, and that they are not responsible for what users do with it.
They have Congressional authority. That is the whole "delegation of powers" thing where Congress is too lazy to legislate so they just delegate the power to an unaccountable, unelected agency that lives under the executive branch, which can regulate "as it sees fit."
Why is class warfare a mission of the EFF?
You can develop the most awesome weapon ever invented, but if you didn't do it in an influential Congressman's district, you can forget about the military buying it.
Add this to the list of things that will never ever happen.
Guess who gets to go to prison when some "complete stranger" starts downloading kiddie pr0n through my home Internet connection.
A stingray is basically just a base station emulator, right? It should be theoretically easy to detect whether or not your phone is connected to one based on the output power setting on your phone's radio, and knowing the distance to the legitimate towers around you.
Since all phone adjust their power output to the minimum necessary to maintain a link to the base station, If the power setting on your phone is too low for the distance, there is a good chance you are connected to something much closer to you.
All we need is an app that knows where all of the towers are located (freely available information on the web) and that can make a reasonable calculation as to how much power should be required to maintain a link for a given phone position.
Any thoughts?
Forget subsequent trials. It will also undermine the previous trials and those convictions could be thrown out.
All of those officers lied on the stand and should be charged as such.
Bureaucracies exist for one reason and one reason alone: to grow themselves larger.
We see it in every level of government, and in every single institution there is, whether it be medical, educational, or professional. The "institution" grows and grows and grows while those who work "in the trenches" do worse and worse and worse and the bureaucrats do better and better and better.
What is funny about this whole thing is that the same privacy "advocates" who pretend to be so outraged at the mere possibility of being spied upon are the same people who constantly ask me why I haven't bought a Nest yet or installed an Internet-enabled home security system.
Truth is, there are smarter thermostats than the Nest out there already, that do not require any communications at all except with the HVAC system, and a security system need not hand your video over to a marketing company in order to be effective.
Internetting things for the sake of Internetting things was always and is now a terrible idea.
That's who wins. Every time. No matter what regulators do, that's who wins.
From the news:
"he amendment would block the NSA from using any of its funding from this Defense Appropriations Bill to conduct such warrantless searches."
It only covers THIS appropriations bill. They'll just sneak funding into another one to make it up.
You have to pay careful attention to the language these people use.
" In addition, the amendment would prohibit the NSA from using its budget to mandate or request that private companies and organizations add backdoors to the encryption standards that are meant to keep you safe on the web."
So, money that is NOT budgeted, as in part of planned spending, as in slush fund money, is fair game.
Any time an amendment talks about what they cannot use particular money for, as opposed to simply prohibiting the action, it will be full of loopholes.
When there is an amendment that prohibits the ACTION, then we'll have something to be happy about. Nothing in this amendment prohibits the spying.
It is precisely because of this kind of thinking that the idea of having to come up with $100 right now makes you panic.
$100 is a huge pile of money to a lot of people.
Fuck you, Amazon. I'm not paying $750 for your spyware-ridden piece of garbage.
You're a "planner" type of person and you don't have contact information for people in your circle?
"when your friend circle doesn't just include the dozen people you actually hang out with regularly, but also the hundreds or thousands of acquaintances you have online"
To me, these are the same people, and it's more like "tens" of people. I don't have online "friends" that aren't my friends in real life.
Is Starbucks also going to pay the employees' income tax on the amount of annual tuition benefit in excess of $5250?
The super-long rear seatpost will put incredible torque on the top tube joint and eventually break the frame.
Seriously, Amazon.com should have evaluated, selected, and implemented a new encryption system in 24 hours! I am OUTRAGED! /sarcasm
Shit doesn't happen immediately...
I get 4 to 5 calls a day from an automated scammer trying to get me to "claim my $200 AT&T bill credit" by logging into a fake AT&T site using all kinds of sensitive personal information.
The scammers take that information and use it to buy phones and plans under the victim's account and ship them overseas where they can be used by whoever.
Shouldn't peer review have caught this before the papers were published?
It is already illegal to drive your friend to the airport without a permit. You need a driver's license to operate a motor vehicle.
They stand to make millions on the new discrimination market.
You are leasing your router from them. They own it, as well as the network. As long as they provide you with the service level you are paying for (which is some certain speed with absolutely no guarantees of speed or uptime), you really have no right to complain.
As long as these people are allowed to bundle the router with the service and force you to use it, oh well too bad so sad.